Good question.
I just did 48 hours in the chair with one single 3-4 minute break exactly
half way for feeding nature:) That means only rose up from the chair for
this one single case (and boy I feel bad about those few lost contacts!)
The formula is easy - no food, no drink, proper sleep before the contest,
voice keyer for everything:)
I had little food once (Ranko forced me to eat some of his great risotto:)
and had only one RED BULL (other than that a few sips of water with 2 head
ache pills 4 hours before the end of the contest) Sunday morning to get
through the toughest time - that is Sunday at 2-4 UTC before the high bands
open and low bands are real slow. That is always my most difficult time
(this time was fairly easy).
The key for all this is sleeping before the contest - was lucky to get ca 5
hours of sleep this time and that was plenty to ensure full capability and
no hallucinations:). Needing just one red bull confirms it.
Another very important issue in SSB contest is using voice keyer for
everything except the call sign. I got carried away (again!) and that means
in my case headache at some point in the contest but the pills took care of
it. Of course it also means that second radio QSOs can be done with voice
keyer only in CQWW.
I don't think it makes sense to have "special chair" to save those 3-4
minutes. I could have avoided this break if I had not had little breakfast
before the contest and the risotto. Human body does not need any food for 48
hours, that is clear. But 5 minutes half way into the contest is a very
small loss especially as this is really slow time on low bands here.
73
Tonno
ES5TV
-----Original Message-----
From: cq-contest-bounces@contesting.com
[mailto:cq-contest-bounces@contesting.com] On Behalf Of Franki ON5ZO
Sent: Tuesday, October 27, 2009 9:58 PM
To: cq-contest@contesting.com
Subject: [CQ-Contest] 48 hour straight contest operation and human output
Gentlemen, forgive me bringing up the topic...
Quite a lot has been written here about how to stay awake for 48 hours. Some
can do it, others can't.
What I really would like to know is: how do you stay in the chair for 48
hours and ignore the call of nature? I don't think the human body can retain
its output for 48 hours?
I see some SOAB reports on 3830 where the operator says he was on for 48
hours.
Does this mean he ran away for some relief a few times but did not take
these short breaks into account?
Do they have a 'special operating chair', if you know what I mean?
This to me seems harder than stay awake. 48h straight ops: how do you resist
the call of nature?
73 de Franki ON5ZO
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