[CQ-Contest] Physical conditioning and contesting

Thu Dec 2 11:43:07 EST 2004

Good Morning, Luc-- this is from Rusty, na5tr, who started the thread about 
antenna height.

Fundamentally, I agree with you.  With my antenna height, I would not be in 
the category I have suggested.

We have a problem here in the U.S.  More and more people are forced by 
economics and availability of housing to live in areas where antennas are 
very limited, even though in many cases the houses are quite expensive, nice 
houses.  Basically, almost all new houses for the past 30 or so years have 
been built in subdivisions with deed restrictions which severely limit 
antenna height, or these days prohibit external antennas entirely.  There 
are fewer and fewer amateurs who are able to own a house where they can 
legally put up a decent antenna, while more and more amateurs are legally 
prevented from putting up good antennas.  At the same time more and more 
communities are passing laws which limit antennas.  (This is legal here in 
the U.S.)

If an amateur wishes to put up a large or even decent sized antenna, he 
needs buy a piece of  land out in the county, not in a subdivision, and 
build a house, or live in an older part of a city where there are no deed 
restrictions because the houses were all built before deed restrictions 
became popular.  If he wishes to buy a house less than 30 years old, and 
live in a neighbrhood near schools and stores, then he will only be able to 
buy a house with deed restrictions preventing good antennas.

I have a place in the country with a nice house.  I have a 72 ft crankup 
with a 20 ft mast on top.  (That is not a big tower, but it suits my needs.) 
I have the option of putting up a bigger tower, and more antennas.  Most 
amateurs do not.

I am concerned that the number of serious contesters will decline.  The 
statistics say the average age of amateurs in the U.S. is getting older. 
The percentage of U.S. citizens who are active amateurs is declining.  I 
believe that having a category for amateurs who cannot have good antennas 
will perhaps keep some in the hobby who would otherwise walk away.  I would 
hate to see contesting die out due to lack of participation.

QRP, LP and HP categories are all well and good, but if the only thing a guy 
can put up is an "invisible" dipole at 30 ft, no matter how good an operator 
he is, he is simply at a big handicap.

Thanks for reading this, Luc.  I have tried to give you some insight as to 
the thinking behind the idea of a limited height category.

73,
Rusty

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Luc, PY8AZT" <py8azt at amazon.com.br>
To: <cq-contest at contesting.com>
Cc: <daven2nl at gmail.com>
Sent: Thursday, December 02, 2004 8:15 AM
Subject: Re: [CQ-Contest] Physical conditioning and contesting

Hi Dave et al,

First, congrats about take care about your health. Over weight is the most
cause of death in world. I did this same way early 2003. Now, I eliminated
23kg (~50 pounds), just by changing my lifestyle, eating and working out
about 4 hours/week.

Before, be awake was my strongest obstacle during contest. On the 2003 CQWW
CW, it was first time I ran full 48hs, ending up over 2k5 QSOs SOAB LP (I
have modest station: 3 elements triband, wires for low bands and 100W Rig).
After contest, I keep excited and cannot sleep. So, I went to computer to
write up an article about CQWW. I moved to the bad after 65 hours since
friday morning.

The benefits of weight loss are beyond health and for sure give advantages 
on
48h contests, like CQWW. So, some body could sugest split fat and slim Op's
category...hi hi hi

Finals, who want be competitive needs to invest in whatever (i.e. antennas,
radios, skills, SO2R, even health - respecting ALL and SAME rules) to take
advantages over crowd - not asking for new category or changing rules. In
MHO, sound ridiculous change rules to benefit who didn't move on toward to 
be
competitive. Who want win needs to outstand the crowd by working hard to
master code, know HF propagation, handle pileup, be awake, antennas, SO2R,
and strategy!

By the way, thanks for all QSOs on the CQWW CW. I was ZZ8Z (SOSB20m LP),
ended up with 1400 Qs, 117 Cty, 35 Zn and 650k pts after 35h operating time.

Best 73,

Luc, PY8AZT

>Beginning this past July, I made lifestyle changes in the way I
>ate and exercized.  I never considered myself obese, since I always
>made the Coast
>Guard's weight requirements, but I was carrying quite a few extra pounds.
>I
>often had knee, ankle, and lower back problems, the latter causing
>difficulties during contests after being seated for long stretches.
>     Since then, I've taken bicycling back up, and so far have lost more
>than
>40 pounds.  When I'm not at sea, I've been averaging between 130 and 150
>miles a week on the bike.  I've noticed a massive improvement in the way I
>feel.  During this past weekend's CQWW CW contest, I felt absolutely no
>discomfort after relatively long operating stretches.  This suprised me,
>considering I was using a 5 gallon pail as a chair!  In addition, I felt
>much
>less fatigue at the end of the weekend, even though I'd slept only 3 hours
>since Friday AM.
>     This was the first contest I've participated in since I began
>exercising.
>Some may say contesting is not a physically demanding sport, but I beg to
>differ.  I felt dramatically better this time around, and it's great to
>see
>yet another benefit of my increased activity level.  This is certainly
>another advantage I can utilize during competition.
>     While we're looking for any advantage to improve our score - new
>antennas,
>SO2R, ETC -  most people seem to ignore the most important thing, the
>operator.  When you look around at the next club meeting, you can tell
>there's lots of impovement possible when it comes to physical conditioning.
>     My decision to make these changes was inspired in part by Bill, W4AN.
>
>Bill was an avid cyclist and someone I looked up to as a contester.  It
>really sucks not being able to share my story with him, nor ever have the
>opportunity to ride with him.
>
>73, Dave N2NL/MM
>Main Propulsion Chief, USCGC Thetis
>Currently deployed at sea
>_______________________________________________
>CQ-Contest mailing list
>CQ-Contest at contesting.com
>http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/cq-contest

--
Member: LABRE / ARRL / CWJF / Uirapuru DX Club
Home Phone: +55 (91) 276-5383
Cell Phone: +55 (91) 8131-1010
Club Home Page: http://www.uirapuru.org
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