FIE Havana Firmware Chip
Eigertek continues to demonstrate its commitment to customers and the fencing community with the release of the "Havana" firmware for the Eclipse scoring machine.
As reported in the November 2003 issue of Escrime, the official FIE magazine, the FIE Special Commission met in Havana on October 3, and submitted the following recommendations for foil and saber rules changes:
- Decrease the foil lockout time from 750 milliseconds (350 milliseconds at international competitions) to 200 milliseconds. Lockout is the window of time after a fencer scores a hit that the opponent may also register a hit.
- Increase the foil debounce time from 1-5 milliseconds to 14-16 milliseconds. Debounce is the amount of time that the foil tip must remain depressed to register a touch. The spring weight for foil increases from 500 grams to 750 grams.
- Decrease saber lockout time from 350-400 milliseconds to 120 milliseconds.
The Special Commission recommended that these changes be applied to all Junior World Cup competitions in the 2004-2005 season. The FIE has not announced whether these recommendations will be officially approved.
By purchasing the Havana chip, you can practice foil and saber with the proposed timings to prepare for the rules changes should they be approved by the FIE and the USFA. We at Eigertek anticipate that these changes will encourage counterattacks in foil and saber, and discourage flicks in foil. Foil flicks will be more difficult, requiring harder hits.
Note: With the Havana chip, the two dials on the Eclipse circuit board retain their functions, however, the lower (R10) dial "FIE championship” setting is replaced with the “Havana” timing values. The factory setting on the Eclipse still provides the current official FIE values for foil.
The Havana firmware is available now from American Fencer's Supply for a suggested retail price of $25. American Fencer's Supply can be contacted at (415) 863-7911. You can also visit their website.
