Start systems

From Libre Aquatics Wiki, the free aquatics reference

A start system is the starter’s equipment that begins a race: a unit with a microphone, a start tone (horn), and a strobe light, connected to loudspeakers and, on deck-wired systems, to visual indicators at the blocks. Pressing the start sounds the tone, flashes the strobe, and simultaneously sends a start pulse to the timing system so the race clock begins with the signal. Officials and watch timers are directed to start from the strobe flash rather than the horn, because the speed of sound makes a tone-based watch start late, and the strobe gives a fair start to athletes who are deaf or hard of hearing.

History and the acoustic problem¶

Races were once started by a single poolside signal: a whistle, a gun, or a horn. A single sound source reaches the far lanes later than the near ones. Sound travels about 343 m/s in air, so across a 25 m or 50 m pool the delay between the nearest and farthest lane is on the order of a tenth of a second, enough to matter in a race decided in hundredths. The solution, credited to the Swiss timekeeper Omega and later adopted across the sport, was to place a loudspeaker behind each starting block and drive them together, so every athlete hears the command and the signal at the same instant.¹² Modern start systems build this principle into one unit: the start tone, the strobe, and, on deck-wired systems, a light at each block all fire together with the electronic start pulse to the timer.

How a start system works¶

The starter speaks to the field through a microphone and begins the race by pressing a start button. The start system then acts at once: it sounds the start tone through its speaker or the deck loudspeakers, flashes a strobe, flashes any block speedlights or visual indicators, and sends a start pulse to the timing system, which starts the race clock on that pulse. A second press signals a false-start recall. Because light travels far faster than sound, the visual signal is the reference for a fair start, while the audible tone is for the athletes on the blocks, who have a loudspeaker at each platform.

Governing-body requirements¶

World Aquatics, the international federation for the sport, sets the equipment standard the design follows. Its swimming rules require the starter to have a microphone for oral commands and, if a starting pistol is used, a transducer; both must be connected to loudspeakers at each starting block so that the commands and the starting signal can be heard equally and simultaneously by each athlete. The same rules require false-start detection equipment to be installed, and at the Olympic Games and the World Aquatics Championships the commands and starting signal are communicated through loudspeakers mounted at or by each starting platform.³ An athlete who initiates a start before the signal may be disqualified under the one-start rule.³

For athletes who are deaf or hard of hearing, a visual starting signal is provided for by rule, though not by the World Aquatics swimming regulations, which do not address it. USA Swimming requires a visual signal, a strobe light or the starter’s arm signals, positioned where the swimmer can see it, and allows lane reassignment so it can be seen.⁴ World Para Swimming requires a strobe or starting light for athletes with a hearing impairment, and allows a team leader to request additional arm signals from the starter.⁵ Independent equipment patents have described the same combination for decades: a 1992 Seiko patent for a swimming-race timing system covers start-signal detection together with a visual display for deaf swimmers.⁶

False starts and reaction time¶

The one-start rule is the reason the start pulse and the detection equipment are engineered as they are. The start pulse marks time zero for the race, and the timing system measures each swimmer’s result from it; false-start detection equipment at the blocks lets officials confirm a start given before the signal.³ Deck-wired start systems extend the same instant to the relay-judging platforms, whose speedlights and sensors are used to judge relay exchanges against the recorded start and finish.

Products¶

Several companies make aquatic start and timing equipment. The principal manufacturers are Colorado Time Systems (CTS), a common supplier in United States swimming, Daktronics, Swiss Timing (Omega), and Seiko; smaller United States makers include International Sports Timing (IST) and Superior Swim Timing (SST).⁷ This section catalogs the documented systems by manufacturer.

CTS sells two families with similar names. The Infinity family is portable and self-contained; the Championship family is deck-wired and drives lane speakers, underwater speakers, and the speedlights on relay-judging platforms. Both were preceded in the 1990s by the SS series of loudspeaker start systems, whose documented member is the SS2.

Product	Part number	Family / tier	Status
Infinity Start System	`INF-SSM`	Infinity, portable, entry	Discontinued 2024
Infinity Pro Start System	`INF-PRO`	Infinity, portable, entry	Current
SS2 Electronic Start System	`SS2-1` … `SS2-10`	SS series, loudspeaker, legacy	Discontinued
Championship Start System (CHAMP-SSM)	`CHAMP-SSM`	Championship, deck-wired, legacy	Discontinued (pre-2005)
Championship Start System	`SS`	Championship, deck-wired, full	Discontinued
Championship Elite Start System	`SSE`	Championship, deck-wired, full	Current

Within each family the newer model succeeds the older one. The SS2 is the oldest documented system, from the 1990s SS series that preceded both families. The Infinity Pro replaced the Infinity. The Championship line runs through three generations, the legacy CHAMP-SSM, the current-era Championship (SS), and today’s Championship Elite (SSE). Each article covers one model in full, its specifications, connections, and part-number variants, and how it differs from its near-namesake; this page is the shared overview they refer back to. Separate from these acoustic start systems, CTS also makes the Dolphin Starter Unit (R-1004-0507), a wireless start-trigger that starts the Dolphin stopwatch timing system rather than a horn or strobe starter.

Daktronics makes one start system, the portable HS-200 Horn Start, sold as the starting companion to its OmniSport 2000 timing console; its start outputs also connect to other manufacturers’ timers.

Product	Part number	Family / tier	Status
HS-200 Horn Start	`0A-1056-0116` (wired), `0A-1056-0136` (HS-200R wireless)	Portable, horn start and public address	Supported; listed in Daktronics’ discontinued-product resources

International Sports Timing (IST) makes the portable SWIMSTART, which connects to IST, CTS, Daktronics, or Omega timers and sold an under-block speaker system as an accessory.

Product	Part number	Family / tier	Status
SWIMSTART Electronic Start	`SWIMSTART`	Portable, loudspeaker start and public address	Current

Superior Swim Timing (SST) makes the portable Atlantis, sold directly and through SwimNerd, with lane speakers and harnesses as accessories.

Product	Part number	Family / tier	Status
Atlantis Swimming Starter System	Not published	Portable, loudspeaker start and public address	Current

Swiss Timing, whose equipment appears under the Omega brand at international meets, makes electronic starting devices for swimming, athletics, and speed skating, driving in-block lane speakers or mobile loudspeaker sets. The StartTime II and StartTime III are the earlier acoustic units, given from a microphone unit and configured by DIP switch (the II) or a setup menu (the III); the StartTime IV that succeeded them introduced the company’s electronic e-gun, first used at the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics, and the StartTime V succeeded the IV in 2015; the IV and V are not cross-compatible.

Product	Article number	Family / tier	Status
StartTime II	Not published	Electronic starting device (acoustic)	Discontinued (superseded by StartTime III)
StartTime III	Not published	Electronic starting device (acoustic)	Discontinued (superseded by StartTime IV)
StartTime IV	3481.900 (microphone unit), 3481.901 (e-gun)	Electronic starting device	Discontinued (superseded by StartTime V)
StartTime V	3481.930 (microphone unit), 3481.931 (e-gun)	Electronic starting device	Current

Seiko makes two separate lines of electronic starter, and only one of them is swimming equipment. The deck generators are certified for the sport: Seiko lists them as conforming to World Aquatics rules and as Japan Swimming Federation Class AA and Class A, and their start signal goes to the Seiko printing timer on a wire.⁸ The current model is the PS-1400, which replaced the PS-1300 between February and May 2026; before those came the much larger PS-1200, which was about 30 kg where its successors are about 14.5 kg.

Product	Part number	Family / tier	Status
PS-1400 Electronic Start Sound Generator	`PS-1400`	Swimming, deck generator with speaker expansion	Current
PS-1300 Electronic Start Sound Generator	`PS-1300`	Swimming, deck generator	Discontinued 2026
PS-1200 Electronic Start Sound Generator	`PS-1200`	Swimming, floor-standing deck generator	Discontinued 2013/14

The second line is the portable エレクトロニックスタータ, a flash pistol with a battery-powered speaker box, sold as general sports equipment without any governing-body certification.⁹ Seiko’s discontinued-product index dates the whole chain, and each generation has its own operating manual.

Product	Part number	Family / tier	Status
Seiko Electronic Starting System	`PS-110J` (and `PS-110`, 2009–2022)	Portable, cross-sport starter	Current
Seiko PS-109 Electronic Starter	`PS-109`	Portable, cross-sport starter	Discontinued 2008
Seiko PS-107 Electronic Starter	`PS-107`	Portable, cross-sport starter	Discontinued 2002
Seiko PS-105 Electronic Starter	`PS-105`	Portable, cross-sport starter	Discontinued 1997

References¶

Swiss Timing, Swimming. ↩
Monochrome Watches, Omega’s Gold Medal Olympic Timekeeping Equipment (on the loudspeaker placed behind each starting block to equalise the start signal). ↩
World Aquatics, Competition Regulations (Part Two: Swimming Rules), articles 4.3, 4.4, and 15.16.3 (starting devices). ↩ ↩² ↩³
USA Swimming, Article 105: officiating swimmers with a disability. ↩
World Para Swimming, Rules and Regulations (February 2026), rule 11.1.6. ↩
Google Patents, EP0557888B1, Timing system for swimming race (Seiko Instruments; start-signal detection with a visual display for deaf swimmers; priority 1992). ↩
Wikipedia, Aquatic timing system. ↩
Seiko Time Creation, Swimming Systems Catalogue (December 2025), p. 6. ↩
Seiko Time Creation, Electronic Starting System PS-110J Operating Manual (document I-7813-3). ↩

Last updated July 27, 2026.