FT8 Super Fox, Ants, and 15,000 Wake Island Ham Radio Contacts
8 June 2025
Rebounding from my close encounter with a machete the week before, I had a productive run on the radio, thanks to all of you. Here’s the short—and the long—of it.
17m FT8 - 31 May - 249 contacts made.
30m CW - 1 June - 79 contacts made. Dreadfully poor band conditions under a severe geomagnetic storm. The normally loud JA stations sounded like they were coming in long-path. It was a solid test for operating under less-than-ideal conditions.
30m FT8 - 5 June … Super Fox mode debut from Wake Island: 890 contacts made.
I was blown away by how fast and efficient Super Fox mode worked. I’d scheduled to start at 07:00 UTC but decided to call “game on” at 06:50—too eager to test this new version of WSJT-X to wait.
Two minutes in: six stations logged. Two hours in: 560 stations.
By the three-hour mark, things (I thought) were slowing down, so I switched back to Fox/Hound mode. But around 11:30 UTC, the East Coast US started waking up and adding to the pile before 30m faded a bit for them.
Operating in Super Fox mode isn’t a passive experience. You need to stay engaged—monitor the radio, watch your return signal reports, and keep the queue filled. On my IC-7300, I keep the scope running for a bit of eye candy and the meters up to watch ALC, SWR, and overall radio health.
At one point, I noticed the SWR jump over 2:1. “Go check your mast,” I told myself. I grabbed my headlamp and raced outside to the antenna. Thanks to a passing rain shower and the evening cool-down, half of it had collapsed in on itself. A quick re-hoist, and I was back inside reloading the hopper in about two minutes.
Half an hour later, it happened again. I must not have twisted the SOTAbeams mast segments tightly enough to push out the water in the compression sections and keep the antenna extended. Once fixed, the mast, and I, stayed up—and stayed up way too long. I finally shut things down at 12:30, knowing full well I had work at 8 AM. All in the name of ham radio fun!
Total: 890 QSOs in one session—a personal record. I’m already looking forward to the next Super Fox trial.
7 June – 20m CW
After a hectic week at work, I was a little tired but eager to get back on the air and do some CW. I sometimes find myself in one of two states: either I’m not mentally processing code at all, or I hit a rhythm where callsigns just flow from ears to logbook. Last night, I hit both.
I knew I was tired when I heard a letter clear as day—then, a second later, had no idea what it was. At one point, a JA station came in with an ‘L’ in the suffix. My brain, off somewhere smelling the roses, processed it as the Morse code for pi. I had to laugh, shake it off, and refocus.
But then… things started flying around me. At first, I thought they were moths—until their wings started falling off. Termites. They were everywhere. Soon, my entire table was covered with scurrying ants. I’d show you a photo, but they’re not exactly photogenic, especially under low light. Talk about testing your mettle of mental concentration to send clear code with ants crawling up your arms. Thankfully, they were only scouting—not looking to make me dinner. Still, it became too much. I called it a night around 09:00.
This last activation pushed me past 15,000 POTA QSOs from Wake Island. Thanks for being part of the milestone!
73, Allen
