[UK-CONTEST] Operating a 24 hour contest and staying awake?

[mark.haynes at yahoo.co.uk]

Hey Keith,

Great topic. This is something that will be partially covered at contest university at the convention.

Some tips that I would offer (please bear in mind these are based on my personal experience):

1. If the contest is a midnight start, think twice about sleeping for a few hours before. This has adverse effects and makes you more sleepy
2. Stay well hydrated. Water is good
3. Eat foods with plenty of sugar. Fast food is actually good. If you can, ask a relative or friend to provide food and drink at agreed times. This avoids the need to get out of the chair and lose operating time
4. Keep the room temperature constant. Too hot is never good for the body
5. Comfy chair is extremely important
6. Print off a 24 hour profile of last years results, or a target and place is in eye shot. This is good for motivation needs

I find that most people should be able to manage 24 hours with no problem, but 48 hours is quite challenging and needs training.

Cheers,
Mark M0DXR
Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device

-----Original Message-----
From: Keith Maton <g6nhu at me.com>
Sender: uk-contest-bounces at contesting.com
Date: Mon, 30 Aug 2010 22:02:09 
To: UK Contesting<uk-contest at contesting.com>
Subject: [UK-CONTEST] Operating a 24 hour contest and staying awake?

I'm shortly going to be pulling a full 24 hour operating shift for an SSB contest, do any of the old hands have any hints, tips, suggestions, advice (apart from "don't do it") that would be useful for keeping awake and as alert as possible for the duration?

73
Keith, G6NHU
Martello Tower Group, G0PKT
http://www.martellotowergroup.com






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