K8R - Tutuila Island

[4L5A]

K8R from Tutuila Island, American Samoa on 24911 now FT8.

[4L5A]

K8R from Tutuila Island, American Samoa on 18095 now Super Fox mode FT8.

[4L5A]

The K8R team has now spent 6 days configuring the Jarvis equipment on American Samoa and testing the stations.

We expect to be QRV another 5 days or so.

One of the important tests has been the first DXpedition use of SuperFox. In almost 6 days we have logged 16,000 SF QSOs. We have two stations configured for WSJT-X RC5.

While most of the Hounds have had no trouble working us in the new mode, there have been some interesting items that have popped up on Hound's ability to consistently decode our signals. This has not been universal but some have yet to make a QSO. Fixing these will require a new release from the Development team. They are not critical flaws, but we do not want to deprive anyone of a K8R QSO so effective Thursday UTC 00:00 our 20 mtr SF dedicated station will remain operating Superfox while the second digital station will be on normal Fox/Hound.

When the new release is issued and properly tested we will revert to all SF.

The decision of which version(s) to operate from Jarvis will be made after all testing is done.

Remember, K8R was a test operation. We appreciate all the callers to help us and the WSJT team evaluate this new mode.

We expect to be QRV another 5 days or so. We depart for Jarvis on August 1.

73,

Don N1DG and George, AA7JV

[4L5A]

K8R Tutuila Island, American Samoa News
Effective 20:00 UTC we have put K8R radios back on Superfox. The F/H rates did not justify the switch. Expect lots of Superfox activity for the next 4 days.

Thank you for participating in testing this new mode.

Don N1DG

[4L5A]

K8R from Tutuila Island, American Samoa on 28091 now FT8.

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K8R Tutuila Island, American Samoa News
As a test operation for the upcoming N5J Jarvis operation, K8R has been testing FT8 SuperFox (SF) on the higher bands. Performance with the latest version has been impressive. Importantly, SF can handle up 9 QSOs at a time without dividing the power, and therefore it is much faster than FT8 F/H. This is especially important for 160 meters! The propagation bump at SR and SS is often short, only 10 to 15 minutes long. SF, being able to handle many calls simultaneously, is ideal for taking advantage of these short openings. While we love CW, the reality is that SF FT8 may be the workable alternative this time of the year.


Starting at 0630 UTC (Jul 20) K8R will be on 160 meters using SF FT8. For NA SR we will come on at or before 0930.

GL and 73,

George,

AA7JV

PS: N5J will be on 160 m both on CW and SF FT8 most nights. We will not neglect CW.

[4L5A]

K8R from Tutuila Island, American Samoa on 21027 now.

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K8R from Tutuila Island, American Samoa on 10103 now QSX up.

[4L5A]

K8R from Tutuila Island, American Samoa on 24911 now FT8.

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K8R from Tutuila Island, American Samoa on 18072 QSX up 1.