CONTEST-ADE

Mon Nov 27 23:37:24 EST 1995

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 at pobox.com (Lars Harlin)  Tue Nov 28 04:42:22 1995
From: sm3bdz at pobox.com (Lars Harlin) (Lars Harlin)
Date: Tue, 28 Nov 1995 05:42:22 +0100
Subject: ts-850 problem
Message-ID: <199511280442.FAA24442 at www.itz.se>

>To: Gary Nieborsky <k7fr at ncw.net>
>From: sm3bdz at 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 at dumpty.nal.go.jp>  Tue Nov 28 05:16:31 1995
From: Takao KUMAGAI <je1cka at dumpty.nal.go.jp> (Takao KUMAGAI)
Date: Tue, 28 Nov 1995 14:16:31 +0900
Subject: [cq-contest 10583] Mail Returned
Message-ID: <199511280516.OAA29529 at 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 at 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 at nal.go.jp

>From n3rr at cais.cais.com (Bill Hider)  Tue Nov 28 05:14:54 1995
From: n3rr at cais.cais.com (Bill Hider) (Bill Hider)
Date: Tue, 28 Nov 1995 00:14:54 -0500
Subject: N3RR CQWWCW SOA Score plus soapbox
Message-ID: <199511280514.AAA29835 at 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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