WSJT-X 2.7.0-rc5 and later includes a new mode for DXpeditions that’s been called SuperFox and is intended to dramatically improve rates and performance. Instead of sending up to five normal FT8 streams, each 50Hz wide, the SuperFox station will be capable of transmitting a full power constant-envelope signal, 1512Hz wide, sending acknowledgements to as many as nine different hounds at the same time. And instead of dividing the power by streams, each stream in this mode will receive full power out.

A tenth stream apparently could be used for general messages like QRT times or QSY frequencies, etc. This could become a useful uber feature once hams have some time to suss it all out.

This version also includes an attempt at curtailing piracy. DXpeditions almost always attract nefarious elements of our hobby, and the larger (and more expensive) the operation, the more the cretins seem to enjoy spoiling it for others. Most often in the form of pirating the call sign so that legitimate DX chasers sometimes end up working a pirate station only to later discover they never made it into the legitimate DXpedition log.

Eliminating this problem is being attempted through the use of a digital key that will be issued by authorized organizations (queue the conspiracy theorists) directly to DXpedition operators. Entering a valid digital key in the software will unlock its ability to transmit using this new mode with the authorized call sign. Receipt of legitimate contacts will be recognized on the receiving end at the time of QSO.

NOTE ⁍ only the DXpedition needs a key, not the DX chasing hounds.

As usual, the devil is in the details, and there has been a lot of chatter online about why a single DX organization (for now) is the keymaster, or that what had been open source software is now being distributed as a binary - an obvious requirement to prevent the source from being easily modified to support pirate activities. Several hams have reportedly cracked the key generation schema and say they could generate legitimate “keys”. This caused another to opine that since he was a leading expert in the field of crypto technologies he should have been consulted, but wasn’t. Sheesh.

This is only what I’ve been able to discover online and distilled into words. You should do your own due diligence, but be quick about it, the new technology will be on full-display for the upcoming Jarvis 2024 DXpedition following a successful test firing from K8R.

Specific details for Jarvis can be perused here.

For those interested in this new mode, I’d highly recommend listening to Episode 46 of The DX Mentor podcast with Ned Stearns, AA7A, who discussed SuperFox development over which he had considerable input. He also had some interesting thoughts about using AI in amateur radio. Don’t skip this one.