[RTTY] Staying Alert in 48 hour contests

[Don Hill AA5AU]

Thanks Ed.  Excellent information and especially liked Randy's info page on sleep strategy.

73, Don AA5AU
http://www.aa5au.com
http://www.rttycontesting.com 

-----Original Message-----
From: rtty-bounces at contesting.com [mailto:rtty-bounces at contesting.com] On Behalf Of Ed Muns
Sent: Friday, September 09, 2011 12:10 AM
To: 'rtty reflector'
Subject: Re: [RTTY] Staying Alert in 48 hour contests

Maximizing one's lucidness and performance during a 48-hour contest period is, of course, different for each of us.  But there is
common advice that applies to most of us.  In general, there are no magic bullets (pills, caffeine, drugs, foods, etc.).  What works
best for general health (exercise and diet) also works best for this 48-hour stress test.  NCJ has published articles on this topic
and the two that were most helpful, in my view, were "Sleep--A Contest Prescription", T. Scott Johnson, KC1JI, NCJ, Nov/Dec 1988,
and "A Sleep Strategy for DX Contesting", Randall A. Thompson, K5ZD, NCJ, <issue unknown, but reproduced at
http://www.k5zd.com/articles/Sleep_Strategy.html>.

These are both excellent articles and the advice has worked well for me.
The drugs and caffeine approach was far less successful and much more painful.  One thing I'd add is that I find it helpful to have
a window where I can look outside and get a different perspective than the intense focus on radios and LCD displays.  Also, I've
learned to sense the early stages of hallucination and start to take steps to combat it, especially moving my focus to the window to
the outside.  When I feel the hallucination is about to take over, I get 1-2 REM periods of sleep (90-180 minutes).  Accordingly,
the best compromise between contest hours and lucid effectiveness, for me, has been about 44 hours.  The longest break is 1-2 REM
cycles, typically about 24 hours in, sometime Saturday night.  Staying in the chair 48 hours is sub-optimal if you are operating at
significantly reduced performance.
Your score may be improved by taking some sleep breaks and operating at a higher level for more hours.

Ed - W0YK

Don, AA5AU, asked:
> I'm thinking I'm going to have a hard time staying alert for the CQWW 
> RTTY Contest.  Since I didn't operate this contest last year, I have 
> no idea how I'm going to react on little sleep.  I'm a big fan of 
> sleep.  The most I ever operated this contest was 44 hours in 1999 and 
> that was only because 20 meters was open to EU all night that year.  
> I've noticed that 20 meters has been open all night to EU a lot here 
> lately.  If that's the case this year, I may have to operate more 
> hours than I had hoped.  My plan is to sleep 4 hours each night.  Even 
> if I do that, I'm afraid I won't be fully alert toward the end.
>  
> A few years ago I switched from Coca Cola to Diet Coke in order to cut 
> down on my sugar content (I have high blood sugar but not diabetic).  
> I also like to consume a BC Powder every six hours or so to prevent 
> headaches and to get some caffeine going.  The problem with that is 
> that when it's time to rest, the caffeine in the BC powder, combined 
> with being jacked up for the contest makes it hard to go to sleep even 
> though I'm physically very tired.  I've never been a big coffee 
> drinker and actually have quit drinking coffee all together.  
> Prescription drugs are out of the question.  One thing that helps me 
> (I think) is that I tend not to eat big meals during contests.  I'm 
> not a big eater anyway.
>  
> Recently I tried "5 Hour Energy" a couple of times when I was feeling 
> tired at work and it really picked me up.  I'm thinking about getting 
> a few of those and trying them during the contest.  The manufacturer 
> recommends no more than two drinks a day which means I could do the 
> whole contest on four shots (they aren't cheap).  I know there are 
> tons of energy drinks on the market today.  I'm wondering how many 
> contesters might be using them and if so, which ones might work best.  
> I'm wondering what others do to stay awake and alert during iron man 
> contests like CQWW RTTY?
>  
> I certainly don't want to fall asleep at the keyboard with the auto-CQ 
> going as one prominent contester did recently. HI HI

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