Had my 2nd child so been a bit busy
That must be something! :eek: :biglaugh: I always thought the wife had those… :knockout: 
LOL
Check your PMs, please, and congratulations! :ihat:
OK, so far so good. I have a foot in the door at the AMYA.
But now, Mr. Brawner (the webmaster) is asking me why the old recording is not correct, so he can present the new recording(s) to the Board to replace the old one (here we go again, with the “it ain’t broke” philosophy of the old recording)
but I will cite to him the reasons we discussed here, and mention a few names of important people that have agreed to make the change…
I have found that the official AMYA countdown we use at my club has only nine beats between 39 and 30, instead of ten. I discovered it several years ago and I am telling you this from memory. It could be between counts 49 and 40. No one seems to notice and I guess only a purist would care. Technically, the countdown is off by one beat.
We got our copy of the countdown at the beginning of the 1990’s or earlier. I don’t know if AMYA has updated the countdown since that time. If they have, and they corrected it, then this point is moot. If they haven’t…well, “it’s broke”.
I suggest you verify my finding before pointing fingers.
As far as I know, we’ve had the same thing since about 1995, but I didn’t notice the time was off. At l east the new ones people made are correct.
But now, Mr. Brawner (the webmaster) is asking me why the old recording is not correct, so he can present the new recording(s) to the Board to replace the old one (here we go again, with the “it ain’t broke” philosophy of the old recording)
The point of my post was not to comment on the correctness of the new countdowns people are making or to be conversational, but to provide you with evidence of an incorrect (and, therefore, “broken”) existing countdown.
Go and verify that the countdown you want to have replaced has the missing beat and, if it does, present it to Mr. Brawner showing that the old recording is not correct and needs to be replaced.
The recordings submitted don’t have any beats, but the timing for the signals are correct. I think the old recording was made by someone with a mechanical metronome and a stopwatch. That is why the oral signals are off-beat (especially because the person says “seconds til mark” which takes a couple seconds to say, as in “one-minute-30-seconds-til-mark”) and so there is at least that one beat missing. We have a guy with a digital timer on the radio (why bother when there is a recorded countdown?) and you can hear how the signals are off, but nobody said anything?
I’ve been going over that old recording using a good watch with a second hand, and one thing I can tell you is that even though it’s not exact, and the beats are off ( missing) about one every minute, I measured “about” 2 minutes from the moment he starts to say “TWO minutes till mark” to the bell. All the other verbal signals up to the 50 second mark are not properly timed tho, and that was my original complaint; you are just guessing how much time is left until you get to the last 60 seconds. At the time it was made, and with the inaccuracy of the metronome (you can’t set it for exactly 60 bpm) it is not really bad.
I will till advocate the use of the new recordings, since they were made correctly, per the rule, and all the signals are well spoken, exactly timed, and understandable.
We just have to get “the board” to agree with things, then get everyone to change over.:scared: which will happen eventually…
I got a reply from the AMYA…
The “Board” has rejected the request to replace the deprecated audio recording for the reasons that some people here cited early in the discussion. That is; “it aint broke” and that all the extra stuff isn’t prohibited, therefor it’s “allowed” even though the rule calls for ONLY certain signals to be made.
From Mr. Brawner:
After using the same tape for forty years, you can understand how members would feel at ease with it. However, your desire to correct any timing or clarity issue is appreciated. While Appendix E, Rule 26 requires certain audible calls, it does not limit any additional calls and/or sounds. Upon hearing the many options, the preferred file would include:
An American voice male and/or female.
The clicks or metronome sounds.
Verbal calls at:
2 minutes, 0 seconds
1 minute, 30 seconds
1 minute, 15 seconds
1 minutes, 0 seconds
50 seconds
40 seconds
30 seconds
20 seconds
15 second
10 seconds
9 seconds
8 seconds
7 seconds
6 seconds
5 seconds
4 seconds
3 seconds
2 seconds
1 second
He forgot the gun or the signal at zero?
Do you think the AMYA Board wants an “American” version, with an American voice and the clicks?
I appreciate the help from all my mates all over the World, but the AMYA doesn’t seem to care for what’s really appropriate or correct.
Bummer,
But at least the new ones exist, and If you get American accents I’ll drop 'em in no problem. Takes 2 seconds (please don’t time me :P)
Cheers
Andrew