I have read all the posts about contest duration and I support not changing
the 48 hour events...Before I retired I worked on USGOV disaster teams which
responded to manage world wide natural disaster and civil strife
events...Often the first two or three days of an incident left little time
to sleep while we had to make life saving critical decisions..kind of like a
contest but the stakes were higher..the professionals I worked with found
that rest time and short naps were most effective if they occur during your
personal normal sleep period......applied to contesting this might mean not
trying to go the full 48 hours but rather planning your rest period to be
the most effective in refreshing you so that you can be a better op, make
better decisions, and perhaps increase your score...of course you might
miss that mult that was on during you nap..I suppose one takes a risk...
Mike Reagan
NI7T
Price, Utah
http://www.preciscom.net/ni7t
----- Original Message -----
From: <K1ZM@aol.com>
To: <cq-contest@contesting.com>
Sent: Wednesday, February 21, 2007 10:11 AM
Subject: [CQ-Contest] Time in the Chair - Let's Not Change What's
NotBroken...
> Reading the mail......
>
> Personally, CQWW and ARRL DX at 48 hours maximum single-operator time in
the
> chair limit are the last remaining acid-tests of DX contest operating
skill
> and stamina that we have today.
>
> I always aim for a full 48 hours (if needed) but USUALLY take 2-3 hours
off
> for a bit of rest if the conditions and rates I am having allow it. Most
of
> the top-10 ops usually wind up with between 42-46 hours in the chair - and
> some (under a solar maxima) still go the full 48 even today.
>
> Operating is FUN and going the distance makes it like a marathon race.
> Those who can put it all together for the full contest period are the
ones that
> will get rewarded in the end - and I hope things remain this way going
forward.
>
> We have plenty of contests with shorter Single-Op maximum time limits -
WAE
> and WPX come to mind. CQ160M is another that limits single-ops to less
than
> the full contest period.
>
> ARRL and CQWW are the 'grand-daddy's" of them all and the original formula
> still works.
>
> Every now and then when I am feeling my age (61) - I'll do a single band
so
> as to get some real rest - but I still enjoy an all-out 48 hour operating
> marathon just to see if I can still hang with the younger crowd.
>
> I think N6TJ is nearing 70 now and ZD8Z can still hack 40+ hours in the
> chair if I recall his recent efforts.
>
> CONTESTING IS - it's fun and a challenge to go the limit or at least to
try
> to in order to make a top score.
>
> FWIW
>
> 73 JEFF
>
> _K1ZM@aol.com_ (mailto:K1ZM@aol.com)
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