How to Set Up Announcements

[eLapsRaceTiming]

Announcements are set up on the Race Setup page (2nd Menu from the top), and then either click the Announcements button:



Or click the Sound / Announcements tab:



By default there are 5 different announcement types, although custom announcements can be added as required.

All default announcements have an initial in square brackets that identify when the announcement will be spoken. The initials are 'W' and 'R'.

W = Warm up period (the count down period before a race actually starts)
R = Racing (the time during which a race is run)

For example, the announcement "All cars to Grid [W]" speaks the output "All cars to grid" and will be announced only during the warm up time period.

The default announcement types are explained below:

All cars to Grid [W] - this announcement speaks the output "All cars to grid, prepare for start" and will be announced only during the warm up time period.

All cars to Pit [W] - this announcement speaks the output "All cars to pit, prepare for start" and will be announced only during the warm up time period.

X time remaining [W,R] - this announcement speaks the output "X time remaining" (where X is the actual time left in the warm up / race) and will be announced during the warm up and racing time periods.

Race Order [R] - this announcement speaks the output "Current race order..." and then speaks out the race position, car number and driver name (if configured to do so, see below for further details). This announcement will be announced only during the racing time period.

Next to Race [R] - this announcement speaks the output "Next to race..." and then speaks out the next race listed in the race schedule. This announcement will be announced only during the racing time period.

Announce Qualifying
This drop down sets the announcement that is spoken immediately prior to qualifying starting. This feature is only used during 'Manual Staggered' start modes (see How to Create an Event).

Announce Finals
This drop down sets the announcement that is spoken immediately prior to a final starting.

Periodic Announcements
The periodic announcement scheduling functionality has been designed to account for varying race lengths, and as a result, the scheduling is configured using the longest race in the race schedule (typically the main final).

For example, announcements configured to repeat every 3 minutes in a 45 minute race will start at the 42 minutes mark and repeat every 3 minutes until the end of the race. This may mean that some shorter races have the first '3 minute announcement' starting at a time less than 3 minutes from the start of the race. In these situations, extra announcements can be added, or alternatively, the existing announcement times can be adjusted as required.

By default the Periodic Announcements list comes pre-populated with the following announcements:

X time remaining every 3 minutes.
Race order every 5 minutes.
Next to race at the 2 minute mark.
X time remaining at the 1 minute mark.
X time remaining at the 30 second mark.



Editing Announcement Speech
To edit the actual text that is spoken in any announcement, click the small button next to the drop down lists.

Add New Announcement Text
To add new announcements, click the small button next to the drop down lists.

Managing Periodic Announcements
To insert a new announcement in the periodic announcement list, first choose the announcement from the drop down list, and then set up the following:

Time
If 'Repeat' is OFF (un-ticked), this is the race time that the announcement is spoken.
If 'Repeat' is ON (ticked), this is the time interval that the announcement is repeated throughout a race.

Repeat
Setting this to ON (ticked) will repeatedly add the chosen announcement at the time interval entered. For example, with a time interval of 0H 2M 0S (2 minutes), ticking the Repeat box and clicking the Add button will automatically insert the announcement every 2 minutes. The first announcement will be inserted 2 minutes from the start of the race.

Announce Twice
Setting this to ON (ticked) will set an announcement to be spoken twice.

Announce Driver Name
Setting this to ON (ticked) will speak out the entry's 'Speech Text' (see How to Create an Entry) during a 'Race Order' announcement.

Add Button
Adding an periodic announcement (using the settings configured above) is achieved by clicking the Add button.

Delete Button
To delete an announcement, click the announcement row in the Periodic Announcement list, and then click the Delete button.

Save Button
To edit an announcement, click the announcement row in the Periodic Announcement list, alter the announcement settings as required and then click the Save button.