[CQ-Contest] Nonstop 48 hours for SO on CQWW

[Bob Wanderer]

Because, according to the experts, the body's sleep cycles
come in 90-minute increments, you should take contest sleep
breaks in the same ratios.  I believe two increments should
be the minimum, for a total of 3 hours.  That seems to work
very well for me, and I'm on the wrong side of 50; although
I haven't contested, seriously or otherwise, for the past
three years.

There are some experts who say you can use
"half-increments," or 45-minute breaks or multiples thereof.

The effects of sleep deprivation and "jet lag" can be
mitigated somewhat by what foods and drink are consumed,
starting maybe a week before.  Caffeine is one of the
definite "no-no's," or at least should be used only toward
the end.  There are a number of books on the subject in the
library.  I believe they are in the 600 section.  This
subject has been discussed in NCJ and other ham radio
magazines, including (if memory serves) input from doctors
and researchers in this topic.

>From personal experience, JOLT COLA does not seem to work!

73
Bob AA0CY

-----Original Message-----
From: owner-cq-contest at contesting.com
[mailto:owner-cq-contest at contesting.com]On Behalf Of Leigh
S. Jones
Sent: Friday, September 07, 2001 8:45 PM
To: CQ-Contest at contesting.com
Subject: Re: [CQ-Contest] Nonstop 48 hours for SO on CQWW



48 hour DX contest operations are a reality for some.  I was
able to
put in that kind of effort in my mid 20's.  The first 30
hours is a
piece of cake if you get some sleep right before the contest
begins.
The last 18 hours of the contest I often experienced some of
my worst
delusionary or hallucinatory periods, but there were also
some short
moments of lucidity.  Caffeine can help you keep awake, but
one of my
ARRL DX contest operations taught me to:
   1) use caffeine lightly and only approximately in the
last 18
hours, don't start early
   2) don't drive home from a guest operator position before
sleeping
And then my best suggestion is to get about 2 hours of sleep
at around
the 30 hour point.  Any contacts lost by being off the air
for a rest
will be compensated more than adequately by improved
operator
efficiency in the last 16 hours.

----- Original Message -----
From: "Zoltan Szoke" <ha5pp at yahoo.com>
To: <cq-contest at contesting.com>
Sent: Friday, September 07, 2001 5:18 PM
Subject: [CQ-Contest] Nonstop 48 hours for SO on CQWW


>
> Hi,
>
>
> I often see "Operating Time (hrs): 48" at Single Operator
stations.
This is
> unbelievable for me. Nonstop 48 hours QSOing, nonstop 2
days
contesting too
> long for an SO station. I think so  (at least in 50%) that
is not
true. Or I
> don't know something what easy for a really good, strong
and avid
contester.
> Do you know offer me any practices what help me to endure
to the end
of the
> contest without any sleeping?
>
> All responses will be appreciate. Thanks!
>
>
> 73
> Zoli
> HA5PP
>
>
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