It was only six years ago, in 2018, that the Baker Island DXpedition changed the face of digital QSOs when it debuted the Fox/Hound sub-mode of WSJT-X. Joe Taylor, K1JT, and his dedicated team of software developers and testers have provided hundreds of thousands of DXpedition QSOs in the succeeding years. In many cases this mode has enabled DXers with limited power and antennas to add new ones to their DXCC awards that would not have been otherwise possible. Also, their open-source programming code led to integration into JTDX, MSHV, as well as continuous improvements to WSJT-X.
Never resting on what was good enough yesterday, Joe Taylor’s team will soon offer a “SuperFox” mode of WSJT-X for making rapid FT8 QSOs. Hounds chasing the SuperFox DX station will transmit normal FT8 signals, as in the already familiar Fox/Hound mode. But rather than sending concurrent streams of up to five FT8 signals, the SuperFox station will transmit a single constant envelope, using a 1.5 KHz-wide waveform, that conveys signal reports or “RR73” acknowledgments to as many as nine different Hounds simultaneously. Most importantly, there will be no signal-strength penalty for simultaneously transmitting to all those Hounds.
Another very significant improvement will be a digital signature contained in the SuperFox message that will allow the receiving software to verify the legitimate origin of the signal from a validated DXpedition.
The SuperFox development team will be beta testing the software in coming weeks with the goal to have it rolled out in time to debut during the N5J Jarvis Island DXpedition a few months from now.
Stay tuned for further details.
WSJT Development Team
Never resting on what was good enough yesterday, Joe Taylor’s team will soon offer a “SuperFox” mode of WSJT-X for making rapid FT8 QSOs. Hounds chasing the SuperFox DX station will transmit normal FT8 signals, as in the already familiar Fox/Hound mode. But rather than sending concurrent streams of up to five FT8 signals, the SuperFox station will transmit a single constant envelope, using a 1.5 KHz-wide waveform, that conveys signal reports or “RR73” acknowledgments to as many as nine different Hounds simultaneously. Most importantly, there will be no signal-strength penalty for simultaneously transmitting to all those Hounds.
Another very significant improvement will be a digital signature contained in the SuperFox message that will allow the receiving software to verify the legitimate origin of the signal from a validated DXpedition.
The SuperFox development team will be beta testing the software in coming weeks with the goal to have it rolled out in time to debut during the N5J Jarvis Island DXpedition a few months from now.
Stay tuned for further details.
WSJT Development Team
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