As a cross country-track and field coach and as a marathon runner with over
45 marathons completed and a number of ultramarathons, I have these
observations.
1. Glycogen depletion is not a factor in contesting as it is in strenuous,
aerobic sports taking over two hours; therefore cabohydate loading is not an
issue.
2. Dehydration is a real possibility. Therefore, it is important to drink
liquids throughout the contest. Alcohol, and to a lessor degree, coffee and
tea, are diuretics that may contribute to dehydration.
3. As in competitive sports events, it is important eat food that you
normally eat, food that agrees with you. A contest is no time to experiment!
4. A contest is an endurance event that requires mental acuity,
concentration, and focus. I am not aware of any short term effects that diet
has on mental acuity, concentration, and focus. The following, however, is
helpful, in my opinion.
a. Being in good physical condition from a regular aerobic exercise
program.
b. Being well rested.
c. Planning contest procedures and strategy using visualization
techniques.
d. Having a comfortable, but not too comfortable operating position.
e. Keeping the room temperature slightly cooler than normal.
Although I doubt that digestion will shunt enough blood away from the brain
to make any significant difference, it is worth noting that simple and
complex carbohydrates are more easily and quickly digested than either fats
or proteins. Also, I would venture that there is a "experience curve-" after
operating several endurance events you will develope better endurance, but
after operating "too many" endurance events in too short a time
(year---lifetime?) your endurance will deteriorate. I also would feel
confident in stating that there is a age curve with the very young and very
old less able to compete because of undeveloped or declining mental acuity,
concentration, and focus.
Good contesting! Doug W2CRS
>From sm3bdz@pobox.com (Lars Harlin) Tue Nov 28 04:42:22 1995
From: sm3bdz@pobox.com (Lars Harlin) (Lars Harlin)
Subject: ts-850 problem
Message-ID: <199511280442.FAA24442@www.itz.se>
>To: Gary Nieborsky <k7fr@ncw.net>
>From: sm3bdz@pobox.com (Lars Harlin)
>Subject: Re: ts-850 problem
>Cc:
>Bcc:
>X-Attachments:
>
>>One of my 850's went partially deaf during cqww cw....about 40dB down from
>>its twin. The always helpful owners manual suggests that the lithium
>>back-up battery is dead resulting in decreased receiver sensitivity.....
>>
>>Gary K7FR
>>
>
>Hi Gary,
>
>Might be that you have the same problem as I had myself a couple of years
ago. That also happened during a contest (multi-multi) with lots of
RF-fields around the rig and its antenna.
>
>I also lost receiver sensitivity and found the problem at the TS-850 RF-board.
>
>There is a transistor before the bandfilters wich is supposed to
>shortcircuit the receiver input during transmit, controlled by
>T+.
>
>I found that the device had an internal short between collector
>and emitter, shorting out the receiver input at all times.
>
>There is a coupling capacitor from the collector to receiver input
>wich you can desolder. If the receiver comes back - you have
>found your problem.
>
>Those SMD devices are tiny little things, so you need a small
>pen and steady hands!
>
>GL es 73 de Lars/SM3BDZ
>
>From Takao KUMAGAI <je1cka@dumpty.nal.go.jp> Tue Nov 28 05:16:31 1995
From: Takao KUMAGAI <je1cka@dumpty.nal.go.jp> (Takao KUMAGAI)
Subject: [cq-contest 10583] Mail Returned
Message-ID: <199511280516.OAA29529@dumpty.nal.go.jp>
In message "[cq-contest 10583] Mail Returned"
on 95/11/27, jim floyd writes:
: Do not know what the problem is but my scores keep getting bounced. I get a
: MACA error for the Sweepstakes Scores. I also got a MACA return on the final
: posting of the CQWW SSB Scores. I just sent the CQWW CW first posting scores
: and they bounced back with a B2NET/POSTMASTER return or something.
I guess the subscriber at MACA site has been not email
reachable now. So the errored emails(= user unknown) would
be bounced back by the mail_contorl script. But the
configuration seems to be not appropriate. The error mails
have been returned to the poster(="From:" header) not to
the sender (contest-request@tgv.com).
This subscriber will be removed from the distribution list
by Trey in a week or so.
So you should delete all these bounced messages from MACA.
Those are meaningless and forget it.
**Your posted articles are reflected to us(at least to me)
normally.
My posted articles were all bounced back from MACA also and
I deleted them already.
---------
Tack Kumagai JE1CKA/KH0AM
TEL:81-30-066-6408, FAX:81-423-93-4449
Internet: je1cka@nal.go.jp
>From n3rr@cais.cais.com (Bill Hider) Tue Nov 28 05:14:54 1995
From: n3rr@cais.cais.com (Bill Hider) (Bill Hider)
Subject: N3RR CQWWCW SOA Score plus soapbox
Message-ID: <199511280514.AAA29835@cais.cais.com>
CQ WORLD WIDE DX CONTEST -- 1995
Call: N3RR Country: United States
Mode: CW Category: Single Unlimited
BAND QSO QSO PTS PTS/QSO ZONES COUNTRIES
160 70 177 2.53 16 51
80 79 209 2.65 16 60
40 325 900 2.77 35 105
20 564 1626 2.88 38 124
15 256 714 2.79 27 94
10 34 89 2.62 12 21
---------------------------------------------------
Totals 1328 3715 2.80 144 455 => 2,225,285
All reports sent were 59(9), unless otherwise noted.
Equipment Description:
ICOM station: IC-781, IC-4KL, EX-627 Antenna Switch, with full computer
control.
486-DX2/66 computer
Two tower antenna system. The 55ft tower was used for the alternate antenna
(A-4S):
160: Inverted "V" @ 134 ft NE Slinky Bev., NE,E,S,W EWEs (used on 160
& 80)
80: Inverted "V" @ 134 ft NE Slinky Bev., NE,E,S,W EWEs (used on 160
& 80)
40: 40-2CD on Ring Rotor @ 134 ft
20: 205CA on Ring Rotor @ 100 ft ------------------------|
15: 155CA on Ring Rotor @ 109 ft ------------------------|---- A-4S @ 55ft
10: 105CA on mast (turned by top Ring Rotor) @ 141 ft ----|
Club Affiliation: Potomac Valley Radio Club (PVRC)
This is to certify that in this contest I have operated
my transmitter within the limitations of my license and have
observed fully the rules and regulations of the contest.
Signature ________/S/_________________________
MAILING ADDRESS:
Bill Hider N3RR
10241 Lakewood Drive
Rockville, MD 20850
Band-by-band:
160 was pretty good. Wish I hadn't spent time in the 80M pileups and
concentrated on 160. Didn't know how bad my 80M antenna was going to
perform until after Friday nite.
I was very disappointed that my FORCE 12 EF-180A (80M rotatable dipole) at
149 ft arced over and rendered it useless as an antenna to connect to my
rig. This, even after affecting a repair just 2 weeks before the contest.
My 80M score shows the result. In fact I gave up trying to break 80M pileups
after Fri night.
The EWE antennas performed GREAT! Very directional, and quite useful for us
with no space for 650 - 1000 foot Beverages.
Was able to run stations on 40, though. More than I've ever done, but
didn't do it until Saturday/Sunday am. 40 was open to Asia both days.
Sounded like 20.
20 was great. Left the antenna pointed north Sunday and called CQ, working
stations all over the world. Just like the "old" days of sunspots!
15 was only fair. Some good runs in the afternoon.
10 was dismal. No EU stations worked.
Overslept Sunday am. Wound up sleeping for 8 hours and operated "ON"
according to CT for 31.2 hours.
Looks like antenna work continues through the Winter. See you in February!
73!
Bill, N3RR
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