SuperFox is not a magic bullet

On day one of Jarvis island activation, observing the rate and operating technique, it has become apparent that SuperFox mode is not in any way superior to Fox/Hound or the MSHV version of FT8.

The logging rate was rather average, and with decoding, there was no advantage in the signal to noise ratio either. Actually, the performance on low bands was worse than with standard FT8.

N5J team has become aware of the issue and reluctantly, at least on some bands, switched to plain vanilla FT8.

And this is exactly what is happening right now on St Peter’s CY9C expedition. Unfortunately changing the announced mode of operation in the middle of an operation brings more confusion. Especially on low bands where openings are brief, and could last only a few minutes. Yes we remain grateful and supportive, so this is just feedback.

The good news is that 6O3T expedition to Somalia (September 9-30) has announced today that they will not use SuperFox but just MSHV.

Somalia is another hard one for us. Not because of the signal path, but rather due to massive pileups from Europeans who are just a stone’s throw away, the Japanese wall, and for the fact that they really have no reason to swing the beam our way. As a group of chasers, globally, we are just a drop in the ocean.