What is the purpose of the Black Boxes NCAA Officials wear during games?

[South GA BBall Ref]

I have actually used the PTS in the state tournament (private school) in GA and all is correct as indicated above with the exception of the frequency of the Fox 40. Actually it is the force of the air from the whistle that causes the transmission of a signal to stop the clock. A common procedure to make sure the transmitter is working prior to the start of the game is to blow a burst of air across the microphone to stop the clock.

[BktBallRef]

Originally Posted by South GA BBall Ref

I have actually used the PTS in the state tournament (private school) in GA and all is correct as indicated above with the exception of the frequency of the Fox 40. Actually it is the force of the air from the whistle that causes the transmission of a signal to stop the clock. A common procedure to make sure the transmitter is working prior to the start of the game is to blow a burst of air across the microphone to stop the clock.

Correct. We have close to a dozen schools that use it. Blowing air into the mic stops the clock. It has nothing to do with the frequency of the whistle. But I guess they think it sounds more technical.

[Scrapper1]

Originally Posted by South GA BBall Ref

Actually it is the force of the air from the whistle that causes the transmission of a signal to stop the clock.

Wasn't there a game in a conference tournament last year in which the clock stopped because an official was talking to a player?

[Brad]

Originally Posted by South GA BBall Ref

...all is correct as indicated above with the exception of the frequency of the Fox 40. Actually it is the force of the air from the whistle that causes the transmission of a signal to stop the clock.

Sorry, but that is not correct.

The system listens for three distinct tones from the Fox 40 whistle and stops the clock. I met Mike a long time ago at a camp in Tennessee where he was demonstrating the system. In fact, he mentioned to me that Fox 40 and him made some sort of agreement so that it would work with their whistles -- otherwise he was going to come out with his own whistle as well!

The system will not stop just because air is blown into it... If it did that it would be stopping all the time falsely!