[CQ-Contest] 48 hour straight contest operation and human output

[Felipe J Hernandez]

well there you have it.. and you tought that beating sleep was the only feat!

congrats!
Felipe
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Tonno Vahk 
  To: 'Felipe J Hernandez' ; cq-contest at contesting.com 
  Sent: Thursday, October 29, 2009 4:46 PM
  Subject: RE: [CQ-Contest] 48 hour straight contest operation and human output


  You bet I did not take my chair with me on 2 stop flight to Montenegro:)

  Ranko has to tell himself (or send picture of the chair), it was real big
  and fancy director's chair from leather:) He said the best he could get in
  the country given I was criticizing his old chair I worked in 1 month ago:)

  But I have to admit my bottom got a bit sore, that never happened with my
  Herman Miller Aeron back at home. I did love the back and neck support of
  Ranko's chair though, beating Aeron any time.

  73
  Tonno
  Es5tv

  -----Original Message-----
  From: cq-contest-bounces at contesting.com
  [mailto:cq-contest-bounces at contesting.com] On Behalf Of Felipe J Hernandez
  Sent: Thursday, October 29, 2009 5:58 AM
  To: Tonno Vahk; 'Franki ON5ZO'; cq-contest at contesting.com
  Subject: Re: [CQ-Contest] 48 hour straight contest operation and human
  output

  Tonno, 

  I want your chair!!!!!    or is it Ranko's?


  I agree absolutely with Tonno regarding Diet.. Drink the minimum water to
  keep 
  your throat in good shape, eat very light.. fruit snacks and juices do
  wonders
  to keep you awake.. Im a big coffee drinker (heavy and strong is how we like
  it in the caribbean)
  but I dont have coffee while in the contest... I have clear that the fruit
  diets
  will keep your body fresh, cooled and due to the very little movement we do 
  during the contest we certainly dont use a lot of calories.


  Ive stayed awake for 48 hrs, but Im sure that  my bottom 
  will not resist sitting down for so long!

  Again, send me a picture of your chair!!

  Regards,

  Felipe
  NP4Z


    ----- Original Message ----- 
    From: Tonno Vahk 
    To: 'Franki ON5ZO' ; cq-contest at contesting.com 
    Sent: Wednesday, October 28, 2009 4:54 AM
    Subject: Re: [CQ-Contest] 48 hour straight contest operation and human
  output


    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 at contesting.com
    [mailto:cq-contest-bounces at contesting.com] On Behalf Of Franki ON5ZO
    Sent: Tuesday, October 27, 2009 9:58 PM
    To: cq-contest at 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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