[South Florida DX Association] SSB Voice Saving Techiniques For Contesters

[Bill Marx]

>From Charlie on the FCG list regarding saving your voice:

Hello Contesters,
As a guy who lectures straight for 4 hours sometimes, let me suggest some
voice saving measures:

1.  Drink a lime or lemon juice-based drink like lemonaide with vy little
sugar.  Take sips many times thru ur speaking time.  Idea is to keep throat
wet with this stuff.  Swallow often (surprisingly, strong concentration
slows swallow reflex and blink reflex, but eyes are another story.)

2. NO NO coffee, no tea, no Coke... no carbonated drinks at all.  Keep awake
other ways, see below.

3. Watch your neck posture... many folks slump seated at a desk and bring
their chin closer to their chest than normal.  That constricts the throat
unnaturally and hurts performance.  Sit up straight, and occasionally
stretch ur neck upwards and also push ur chin back toward ur throat for a
second or two.

4.  Speak softly and let the radio mic gain work for u.

5. Use a head-mounted mic which allows frequent changes in posture
positions, which also  keeps u from reaching for the mic if it is in a fixed
position (like on a boom or whatever).

6.  Say as little as possible:  Say "thanks" instead of "thank you;"  for
example:  "K4VUD this is [or "from"] W4XYZ, five nine five."  "QSL thanks"
That is usually all u have to say for each contact.

AND, don't spend $20,000 on ur radios and antennas and then sit in a $5.00
chair.  Buy a posture chair like Steelcase makes ($350.)  and ADJUST it to
ur body.  Then, while operating, change positions often and occasionally
stand up at the rig desk (another reason for headset mic).  Position changes
are , for some people, nearly equal to a short nap.

Think positive.  73,

Charles Harpole
k4vud at hotmail.com