Maximizing one's lucidness and performance during a 48-hour contest period
is, of course, different for each of us. But there is common advice that
applies to most of us. In general, there are no magic bullets (pills,
caffeine, drugs, foods, etc.). What works best for general health (exercise
and diet) also works best for this 48-hour stress test. NCJ has published
articles on this topic and the two that were most helpful, in my view, were
"Sleep--A Contest Prescription", T. Scott Johnson, KC1JI, NCJ, Nov/Dec 1988,
and "A Sleep Strategy for DX Contesting", Randall A. Thompson, K5ZD, NCJ,
<issue unknown, but reproduced at
http://www.k5zd.com/articles/Sleep_Strategy.html>.
These are both excellent articles and the advice has worked well for me.
The drugs and caffeine approach was far less successful and much more
painful. One thing I'd add is that I find it helpful to have a window where
I can look outside and get a different perspective than the intense focus on
radios and LCD displays. Also, I've learned to sense the early stages of
hallucination and start to take steps to combat it, especially moving my
focus to the window to the outside. When I feel the hallucination is about
to take over, I get 1-2 REM periods of sleep (90-180 minutes). Accordingly,
the best compromise between contest hours and lucid effectiveness, for me,
has been about 44 hours. The longest break is 1-2 REM cycles, typically
about 24 hours in, sometime Saturday night. Staying in the chair 48 hours
is sub-optimal if you are operating at significantly reduced performance.
Your score may be improved by taking some sleep breaks and operating at a
higher level for more hours.
Ed - W0YK
Don, AA5AU, asked:
> I'm thinking I'm going to have a hard time staying alert for
> the CQWW RTTY Contest. Since I didn't operate this contest
> last year, I have no idea how I'm going to react on little
> sleep. I'm a big fan of sleep. The most I ever operated
> this contest was 44 hours in 1999 and that was only because
> 20 meters was open to EU all night that year. I've noticed
> that 20 meters has been open all night to EU a lot here
> lately. If that's the case this year, I may have to operate
> more hours than I had hoped. My plan is to sleep 4 hours
> each night. Even if I do that, I'm afraid I won't be fully
> alert toward the end.
>
> A few years ago I switched from Coca Cola to Diet Coke in
> order to cut down on my sugar content (I have high blood
> sugar but not diabetic). I also like to consume a BC Powder
> every six hours or so to prevent headaches and to get some
> caffeine going. The problem with that is that when it's time
> to rest, the caffeine in the BC powder, combined with being
> jacked up for the contest makes it hard to go to sleep even
> though I'm physically very tired. I've never been a big
> coffee drinker and actually have quit drinking coffee all
> together. Prescription drugs are out of the question. One
> thing that helps me (I think) is that I tend not to eat big
> meals during contests. I'm not a big eater anyway.
>
> Recently I tried "5 Hour Energy" a couple of times when I was
> feeling tired at work and it really picked me up. I'm
> thinking about getting a few of those and trying them during
> the contest. The manufacturer recommends no more than two
> drinks a day which means I could do the whole contest on four
> shots (they aren't cheap). I know there are tons of energy
> drinks on the market today. I'm wondering how many
> contesters might be using them and if so, which ones might
> work best. I'm wondering what others do to stay awake and
> alert during iron man contests like CQWW RTTY?
>
> I certainly don't want to fall asleep at the keyboard with
> the auto-CQ going as one prominent contester did recently. HI HI
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