[CQ-Contest] Love my operating chair

Wed Mar 13 16:20:54 EDT 2013

Steve: I have no issues in SSB and CW contests, but in RTTY contests, I
spend a lot more time looking at the monitor. After a while, neck pain/sore
neck. Turns out monitor required me to look up slightly (not much) and that
does it. Lowering the monitor about 4 inches fixed the problem. --Mike,
WV2ZOW

On Wed, Mar 13, 2013 at 4:07 PM, Steve London <n2icarrl at gmail.com> wrote:

> Interesting thread.
>
> I have a strange contesting pain issue for which I have not yet found a
> solution.
>
> I believe that I do not move my neck enough. I tend to focus
> straight-ahead on the monitor, and not much else. After a 48 hour contest,
> the back of the neck is incredibly sore when I move it, and the pain can
> continue for up to a week after the contest. The pain feels like it is in
> the skin, rather than deep in the vertebrae. My table is lower than the
> standard height, and my monitor is as low as I can place it, so that I do
> not have lift my head upward. I tend to sit upright, not using the back of
> the chair. (My XYL says I look like a turtle, and my cat frequently
> provides lumbar support !). Other than this, I have no contest-related pain.
>
> Suggestions ?
>
> 73,
> Steve, N2IC
>
>
> On 03/13/2013 08:39 AM, Charles Harpole wrote:
>
>> 20 yrs ago, after I totalled up all I had invested in gear, I decided to
>> invest in myself.  I purchased a Steelcase brand full posture desk chair.
>> Shoulder hi back, adjustable tilt fore and aft, adjustable up and down,
>> adjustable hardness of the front seat edge, short arms (away from front of
>> desk), and a lumbar cushioning rear back.  Five swivel wheels.
>>
>> I could have bought a good antenna tuner or a Ham-M but this was the best
>> ham item I own.  It allows my thighs to be horiz, my feet flat on the
>> floor, or raised on a small stool, and back adjust. too.
>>
>> Also, I cut the legs for my operating table to TYPING HEIGHT, not desk
>> height (research on Internet), and put extra feet under the front legs of
>> my radios to angle them upward.  My logging monitor is at eye line height
>> and above the radios.  My keyboard is the shorty kind with no number or
>> arrow keys on the right side, leaves another 6 inches of desk space.  I
>> would have liked to put the keyboard in a pull out drawer just under the
>> table, but needed a twoXfour across there to hold the weight of the gear.
>>
>> My transceiver is at typing table height, with the main knob in line with
>> my right shoulder.  Being right handed to run the kbrd and Morse paddle
>> (paddle is to right of rig), my rotor controls are to the left of the
>> monitor.  I like the HyGain single button  6 pre-sets rotor control model
>> DCU-1 (note the DCU-2 is not as good but newer).*
>>
>>    Left and right speakers are separated by 5 ft. and at ear height.
>>  Manual
>> tunable amps are on the upper right (right handed) and auto-tune thing is
>> on upper left.
>>
>> VOX on ssb with Heil 4 element and headset.  (if you dont like VOX, you
>> dont have a FT-9000 line of radio... smooth).  Lemon juice drinks, no
>> coffee, finger food delivered to desk.  Empty gallon jug on floor under
>> table.
>>
>> Ant selector is remote sw box slaved to rig.  Computer gets exact rig freq
>> to N1MM log.   And, that is my only automation.
>>
>> The posture chair, however, is the most important contest accessory I
>> have.
>>
>> 73, Charly K4VUD
>>
>> *Sadly and strangely, there is no other true and full PRE-SET rotor
>> control
>> available.  The best the non-DCU-1 controllers can do is to turn the
>> rotable knob to the desired bearing and push go.  The latter style means
>> you must look carefully at the bearing knob for much longer time than
>> pushing a pre-set button.  Yaesu, listen up  !!!
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> On Wed, Mar 13, 2013 at 2:44 AM, Pete Smith N4ZR<n4zr at contesting.com>**
>> wrote:
>>
>>  Many of us will recognize Contester's Crouch - sitting in front of a
>>> radio
>>> or a computer screen, head forward, shoulders hunched, ready to pounce.
>>>   It's instinctive, maybe, but not very healthy.
>>>
>>> For the last dozen years or so, I've had a buildup of calcium on my neck
>>> vertebrae, pressing on nerves going down to my right arm.  When I sit
>>> for a
>>> long time - as in contests -  it can be really painful. After making lots
>>> of compensatory changes in the ergonomics of my station over the years,
>>> this fall was disappointingly familiar, but with a new addition - strong
>>> referred pain in the muscles just inside my shoulder-blade on that side.
>>>
>>> So it was back to the physical therapist again, for more traction and
>>> electro-stimulation, but this time he suggested I try something else - a
>>> large lumbar cushion placed vertically in the lower back of my desk
>>> chair.
>>>   Because my weight would carried on the cushion rather than where my
>>> upper
>>> back rests against the chair, the effect would be to push my lower back
>>> forward, and shift my shoulders back.  I had been using a small one for
>>> driving, to help relieve some sciatica, so I figured, why not try it?
>>>
>>> In my case, benefit was immediate and dramatic.  Where an hour or two in
>>> the chair would produce strong pain, now I can sit for hours with no pain
>>> at all.  I'm not about to go 44 out of 48 hours like K0DQ and others who
>>> totally defy aging, but this way I can have all the fun I want out of
>>> contesting, pain-free.
>>>
>>> The particular cushion I use is by Tempur-Pedic, and is close to 3 inches
>>> thick.  No particular brand preference here, except that the temperature
>>> sensitive foam adjusts nicely to spread the pressure across my back.
>>>
>>> And of course, I'm not a doctor, nor do I play one on TV.  YMMV, etc.
>>>
>>> --
>>>
>>> 73, Pete N4ZR
>>> Check out the Reverse Beacon Network at
>>> http://reversebeacon.net,
>>> blog at reversebeacon.blogspot.com.
>>> For spots, please go to your favorite
>>> ARC V6 or VE7CC DX cluster node.
>>>
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>>> >
>>>
>>>
>>
>>
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