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Handicap Task Scoring FAQs

Q. Where is the scoring program and what does it do?

A. Handicap Task Scoring was installed at the same time as Handicap Task Calculator and you will find the program shortcut in the Handicap Task folder on your Programs menu. The Handicap Task Scoring program adds the handicap specific task for the glider to its igc file. 

Q. What does the scoring program add to the igc files?

A. In order to display a flight with the correct task for the glider's handicap SeeYou needs detailed task information added to the igc file. This is also necessary for SeeYou to detect whether the pilot has made the turns and completed the flight prior to scoring the competition. The scoring program adds these LCU::C records to the igc file and places the updated file in the Scoring folder.

Q. How does the scoring program know which files to import?

A. IGC short file names have the following format YMDCXXXN.igc where the first three letters indicate the year (0-9), month (1-C) day (1-V). Handicap Task Scoring calculates the date code from the task date and matches this to the file names found in the Flights folder. The program also recognises IGC long file names in the form YYYY-MM-DD-LLL-XXX-NN.igc

Q. What do the other letters in the IGC file name mean?

A. IGC file names have the following format YMDCXXXN.igc The C code is the manufacturer code e.g L for LX Navigation. XXX is the logger serial number and the final N is the number of the flight made on the same day (1-Z)! The program uses the CXXX part to identify the pilot, glider, and handicap data for the flight.

Q. Does the scoring program understand IGC long file names?

A. Yes. The program can work with long file names in the form YYYY-MM-DD-LLL-XXX-NN.igc where YYYY-MM-DD is the date, LLL the manufacturer code, XXX the logger serial number, and NN the number of the flight. The program will display LLL-XXX in the logger serial number column.

Q. If I want to create a LoggerPilotGliderHandicaps.csv file in Excel how do I do that?

A. Open Excel and create a new spreadsheet with four columns headed LoggerSN, Pilot, CompID, and Handicap. Enter the four letter logger code CXXX (see above) for each logger to be used, together with the pilot, glider, and handicap data in the rows below. Save this file in the Contest folder as a csv file with the name LoggerPilotGliderHandicaps.csv. If in doubt let Handicap Scoring produce a file and edit that.

Q. Can I import pilot, glider, and handicap data from a cuc file?

A. Yes. Delete the LoggerPilotGliderHandicaps.csv file in the Contest folder. The next time you process files, the program will ask if you want to import data from a cuc file. This must be called HandicapTask.cuc and be saved in the Contest folder. You can also merge data from cuc files using the PILOTS menu item.

Q. How can I edit the pilots, gliders, and handicaps shown?

A. The pilot, glider, and handicap data is stored in a csv file called LoggerPilotGliderHandicaps.csv indexed by logger serial number, and which is saved in the Contest folder after processing. You can edit this file using a text editor such as Wordpad or in Excel. Alternatively just edit the data directly in the scoring program or copy from the current trace using the right click menu. The file will then be updated with this new data after processing.

Q. Which scoring script should I use?

A. Handicap Task Suite installs three scoring scripts in the Contest folder along with a sample cuc file. The Handicap Task Scoring script was developed using the FAI rules adapted to be suitable for use in UK Handicap Task competitions with minima for a 1000 point day set at 200k and 2.5 hours. The minimum task distance for a competition day is set at 60k. These criteria are the same as in the 2015 BGA rules for Regional competitions.

The second script, 2015a.txt, is the official script for BGA rated competitions and will score all types of BGA supported competition tasks and will adjust scores depending upon the number of gliders that pass 'Y'. This script reports and scores based upon handicapped speeds and distances. Both speeds and distances flown to finish or landout are reduced by a factor based upon the highest handicap that the task was set for and the total task length. i.e. the handicap task length will be that of the 100 handicap glider. The effect of this is that landout distances may be shown as either greater or less than the actual distance flown depending upon whether the highest handicap flying (or set for) is greater or less than 100.

Note that it is not necessary to enter the wind direction and speed into the tag line as wind is accounted for when setting the task.

The third script, 2014h.txt, is a slightly modified version of the official BGA 2014 script which will correctly report the handicapped speeds as above, but will score and report gross distances to the finish and landout positions in the same way as See You does in the task statistics. Your pilots and organisation may prefer this. The script will arrive at the exact same number of points as 2015a for each flight and day. This script is not, however, authorised for use in BGA rated competition, and does not have the 20M 2 seat class option. 

Q. How do I use SeeYou Competition?

A. See the help on the SeeYou website here


In order to score Handicap Tasks properly you need to tick the Contest Option "Use task from IGC file". If you intend to use the BGA scoring script you also need to tick the Contest Option "Need task legs data in scoring script", a capital H and the task length for the 100 handicap glider in the day tag field.

Q. How can I contact the author to give feedback on features and bugs?

A. Contact Jim White by email at jim at whitefamily.uk If you detect a bug please first try to replicate it then give me enough detail in your email for me to replicate it also. I will then try to fix the problem in the next release. If you have ideas that would improve future versions, I would be pleased to hear them too.