It’s ood practice before the start of a bout to press the weapon tip
onto your shoe to ensure the unit is re isterin hits. It’s also ood
to press the weapon tip to the opponent’s bell uard and confirm
Unlike wired fencin , you can’t use your un loved hand to press
the tip and test for a score response. Hitmate detects your hand
the same as a uard, and does not re ister a hit. If you hold the
tip pressed too lon , Hitmate will switch itself off.
Guard hit detection
The bell uard is earthed throu h the fencer’s body, and Hitmate
detects contact with earth when it re isters a non-scorin hit to the
uard. Occasionally, a sweat-soaked tunic can be conductive to
earth. If Hitmate appears not to re ister hits after workin well for
a period of time, consider whether the opponent’s tunic has
become affected by sweat.
Operational checks
If intermittent operation is suspected, it’s useful to have some
fail-proof tests available. With Hitmate and the Console switched
on, the first test is to press the épée tip on to any insulated surface,
such as your shoe, and confirm that a hit is re istered.
Next, try pressin the tip to an electrical round, such as the
metalwork of a radiator or water tap. A touch to a ood earth such
as this should never re ister on the console as a hit.
These two tests are all that is needed to confirm that Hitmate is
workin correctly. The next two tests check the couplin between
Hitmate and the fencer’s body.
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