Last August I wrote about the Black Box, the radio recorder we built for our paragliding events. That post ended with a promise: make the system public, so anyone can listen in during the events we run. That part is done, and a few other things grew along the way.
Flying Karlis Events, with Camping de Monteglin and Chabre Club, has organized 6 international competitions so far, with 2 more coming in summer 2026. Here is what the Black Box does today.
Anyone can listen now
During our events, the Black Box streams the Safety frequency to a public Telegram channel, Chabre Club – LIVE. Anyone, anywhere, can open the channel and listen to the pilots and the safety team talking, delayed by up to 15 seconds. Your family does not need an account with us or a radio. Just Telegram.
The safety team runs on a faster lane
The public stream is the slow lane. The Safety Director and the Meet Director hear every transmission within about 1 second, and they are the only 2 people who can transmit through the box remotely. That matters more than it sounds: in our terrain there are places where a handheld simply has no reach. As long as they have wifi or mobile internet, they hear the pilots and can transmit at will, from HQ, from a retrieve van behind a ridge, or from another country if it comes to that.
Recall, with fewer taps
Recall and the archive were already there last year. What changed is how fast we reach them. The bot has a new look: one control surface, fewer taps, no digging through menus. The last 5, 10, 30 or 60 minutes of transmissions are 2 taps away, and the archive for any specific time frame sits right behind them. When we need a recording, we need it now. Every millisecond of navigation counts.
Follow it live
You can follow it during our events at chabreclub.fr/live, where live scoring, the event blog and the radio stream now live side by side. The next chance is the Flymaster XC Challenge 2026, starting 18 July.
