a buddy of mine at the club keeps pushing me toward JS8Call and i finally installed it last weekend and messed around with it a bit on 40m. the interface is a little rough around the edges compared to WSJT-X but i get what its trying to do — its basically using the weak signal propagation benefits of FT8-style encoding but letting you actually type messages back and forth. feels more like the old PSK31 days where you could have a real ragchew at like -15dB SNR or whatever.

my question is whether people here actually use it regularly or if its mostly empty frequencies. i tuned around for maybe an hour on a saturday afternoon and only heard maybe 4 or 5 stations, all of them seemed to be running beacon mode rather than waiting for a QSO. compared to the FT8 watering holes which are always packed. is there a certain time or frequency thats more active, or is this just one of those modes thats cool in theory but the userbase never really materialized?

and now im kind of confused because on one hand JS8Call seems way more like actual communication, you can type stuff back and forth, there's relay functionality, store and forward, you can even do some basic APRS-like position stuff i think. but on the other hand the decode sensitivity doesnt seem anywhere close to FT8 and i feel like im comparing apples to oranges here. like they're solving different problems.

my question is i guess — for weak signal work specifically, like trying to reach someone across a noisy path or through marginal conditions, which one actually performs better in practice? i understand FT8 was designed around sensitivity but JS8Call has different speed settings too so im not sure how the slower modes compare. running an ic-7300 into a dipole at about 35 feet if that matters.

tried JS8Call a few weeks ago and its definitely more like a real qso but the waterfall is pretty sparse compared to FT8. i run about 30w into a dipole up maybe 25 feet and i can hear people but responses are slow or nonexistent sometimes. not sure if its my setup, the time of day, or if the mode itself just has way fewer users now. also the timing windows confuse me a bit — i know you can set different speeds but im not sure which one most people use for general rag chew type stuff.

also been messing with PSK31 lately and honestly that one i kind of love, theres something nice about actually typing a real sentence and having someone on the other end type back in near real time. propagation has to cooperate though and i feel like 40m is the only band where i can reliably find activity on it anymore.

anyway curious what other people are running for digital outside the FT8 grind. RTTY seems like its mostly contests at this point? or am i wrong about that

so somebody on my local repeater mentioned JS8Call and i set it up last weekend. spent maybe 4 hours on 40m with it and i think i get what its trying to do but i had a really hard time finding activity. decoded a few stations but nobody responded to my CQ and i only saw maybe 2 or 3 exchanges happening in the whole session. is the JS8Call community just that small or am i looking at the wrong bands or times? i was on 7.078 which i thought was the standard frequency.

also somewhat related — does anyone still run PSK31 regularly? i used to love it back like 15 years ago, felt like the perfect middle ground between cw and phone, and i occasionally see it on the waterfall but activity seems pretty thin compared to what it used to be. feels like FT8 kind of ate everything else's lunch.

anyway i started messing around with JS8Call a few months back and its a pretty different experience. the whole relay/store-and-forward thing is interesting and you can actually type messages back and forth to people which feels way more like actual operating to me. but the signals i'm seeing on 40m are way more sparse than the FT8 segments and sometimes i'll sit there for 20 minutes and nothing happens.

i guess my question is whether anyone has found a way to work both without it feeling like you're splitting attention too much. right now i'm running WSJT-X and JS8Call on two different rigs which works but its kind of a mess on the desk. also curious if anyone still runs PSK31 seriously because i fired up fldigi the other day and found a few guys ragchewing on 20m and it honestly reminded me why i got into this hobby in the first place. the mode feels ancient now but theres something about watching that waterfall and having a real back and forth that FT8 just doesnt give you.

the problem is every time i tune around on 40m the JS8Call portion is pretty quiet compared to the FT8 watering holes. i did have one solid ragchew with a guy in ohio last week which was pretty cool, took forever but the weak signal capability is impressive. my question is whether its worth dedicating more time to it or if the activity just isnt there on most bands. also running a G90 into a random wire so my situation isnt exactly ideal but FT8 decodes fine most nights.

anyone else split time between the two or just stick with FT8 for the efficiency thing

a buddy at the club mentioned JS8Call and i installed it last weekend and started poking around on 40m. the concept makes sense to me — its built on the same weak signal encoding as FT8 but you can actually type messages back and forth, slower but workable. had a 20 minute QSO with a guy in Georgia (the country, not the state) running 5 watts into a dipole and the signal was way down in the mud on regular SSB but JS8 was decoding fine.

my question is — does anyone actually use JS8Call regularly or is it kind of a ghost town on most bands? i checked pskreporter and there seem to be spots but not a ton of activity compared to FT8. also wondering if there's some setting im missing because my auto-relay stuff doesnt seem to be working right, messages are going out but not getting forwarded the way i expected.

not trying to abandon FT8 just want something with a little more actual communication going on. PSK31 used to be that for me before FT8 kind of ate the digital world.

the idea that you can actually type back and forth with someone on like -15dB SNR is kind of wild to me. i ran a QSO with a guy in finland from my attic dipole running 25 watts and we were actually talking about his antenna setup, not just exchanging grid squares and signal reports. felt more like actual radio to me

my question is whether people mostly use JS8Call on 40m or is 20m the more active band for it. i checked the usual dial frequencies and 40m seemed pretty dead when i was looking but maybe i had the wrong time of day. also curious if anyone uses it for emcomm stuff because from what i can tell the store-and-forward messaging thing would be pretty useful in a grid-down situation, but i dont fully understand how that part works yet

my question is does anyone actually use it regularly or is it one of those modes where the band is technically open but nobody is ever on? i checked pskreporter a few times and theres activity but not sure if its all beacon stuff or real qsos. also how much weaker is it compared to FT8 really, like if FT8 is getting through will JS8 also get through or is the gap bigger than people say

running an ic-7300 into a 40m dipole up about 30 feet, mostly interested in regional stuff but wouldnt mind trying some dx if the mode can handle it

anyway someone at the club mentioned JS8Call and i downloaded it but honestly im not sure what im looking at. its based on FT8 encoding right but its more like actual conversational messaging? the latency seems like it would be annoying for a qso though. i tried calling CQ on 40m last Tuesday around 9pm local and got nothing for like 45 minutes so im wondering if the bands were just dead or nobody is actually using it anymore.

also curious if anyone still runs PSK31 regularly. i know its not as sensitive as FT8 by a long shot but at least you can type in real time and it feels more like an actual contact. my old ft-950 has a built in waterfall on the display which makes finding PSK signals pretty easy but i havent heard much activity on the usual 14.070 area lately. maybe everyone just moved to FT8 and thats just the reality now.

so i started poking around JS8Call which is supposed to give you like a messaging capability on top of the weak signal stuff and i set it up last weekend and honestly im a little confused by the interface. like i get the basic idea, its built on top of WSJT-X style decoding but you can type actual messages and relay through other stations and stuff. but when i tuned around 14.078 i was seeing a bunch of activity but i couldn't figure out if people were just calling CQ or actually in the middle of conversations. the SNR reports it was decoding were wild, like -18 dB stuff, which is cool.

anyway my actual question is whether JS8Call has enough of an active user base to make it worth spending time on or is it kind of a ghost town outside of certain hours. also does anyone run both on different VFOs or rigs simultaneously, i have an IC-7300 and a spare FT-891 just sitting there.

the concept is cool — its basically built on the same weak signal encoding as FT8 but stretched out so you can actually type back and forth with someone. latency is kind of brutal though, like 15 seconds per transmission depending on the speed setting you pick. normal mode is painfully slow if youre used to FT4 or even PSK31 speeds. but it does work crazy well on marginal paths where PSK31 would just fall apart.

im on 40m mostly, running an IC-7300 into a wire dipole up about 30 feet. nothing fancy. JS8Call decodes stuff i would never even hear on SSB and the store-and-forward relay stuff is interesting if a bit complicated to wrap your head around at first. curious if anyone here actually uses it regularly or if its mostly just experimenters dabbling. also wondering how it compares to just using RTTY for ragchewing since some guys in the group still swear by RTTY for actual back and forth exchanges.

Your ALC meter should barely move for digital modes! Audio level optimization requires careful adjustment of sound card input and output levels to ensure adequate signal levels for decoding without overdriving transmitter audio circuits or causing spurious emissions.

Check your setup:

• Monitor your transmitted signal on a panadapter or spectrum analyzer
• Keep audio drive low enough that ALC doesn't activate
• Remember - FT8 is a weak signal mode, not a low power mode

Each FT8 transmission lasts 15 seconds at 100% duty cycle which may cook your finals, especially on bands where the PA is less efficient. Check the radio manual for advice.

anyway i stumbled onto JS8Call a few months back and the concept seemed cool — basically the FT8 weak signal magic but you can actually type back and forth with someone. been trying to get it set up properly on my IC-7300 with the built in USB audio and it mostly works but i keep seeing decode errors on my end even when the SNR looks fine. running WSJT-X for FT8 on the same setup with zero issues so its something specific to JS8Call i think. anyone else notice the decode threshold is noticeably worse than FT8? feels like i need a stronger signal to get a clean decode

also is there even enough activity on JS8Call to make it worthwhile or is it kind of a ghost town these days

i get that its weaker signal capability than FT8 because of the longer tone spacing or whatever but the tradeoff of being able to actually type a message seems worth it to me. does it have like designated calling frequencies the way FT8 does? im on 7.078 which i think is right but maybe thats the problem. also does anyone run PSK31 still? i used to love that mode back in 2009 or so and it felt more like actually talking to someone than anything ive tried since

maybe something with the latest windows update? or did i mess up a setting somewhere

also while im at it i still have wsjt-x configured for FT4 which i mostly use during contests and that's been working fine, but i kind of miss the days when i was running PSK31 and actually talking to people, like full sentences and everything. does anybody actively run JS8Call on HF and is there a go-to frequency people hang out on? and does the software handle split and rig control the same way wsjt-x does because i really dont want to reconfigure everything from scratch if i can avoid it

anyway i started poking around with JS8Call and the concept is really interesting to me — using the same WSJT-style weak signal encoding but actually being able to type messages back and forth. the latency is kind of brutal though, like a full exchange can take a few minutes and if the band shifts mid-QSO you just lose it. has anyone stuck with it long enough to find a regular group or net to work with? feels like the activity level is pretty sparse compared to FT8 on a busy evening.

also curious how it compares to just running PSK31 which i used to do a lot back in the day. PSK31 you could actually have a real chat but you needed maybe 10-15dB more signal to make it work reliably. is JS8Call actually filling that middle ground or am i just romanticizing it

running an IC-7300 into a 40m doublet at about 30 feet, mostly operating in the evenings on 40 and sometimes 20. propagation here has been decent lately but im not exactly on a hilltop. anyone gone from FT8 over to JS8Call and actually stuck with it? does the relay stuff work in practice or is it mostly theoretical on a low-traffic mode?

also mildly curious if PSK31 is just completely dead at this point or if theres still activity somewhere on 20m during the day. used to see it occasionally when i was just listening around but havent checked in a while

JS8Call's heartbeat and message relay features are excellent for emergency communications, and the built-in spotting system helps find active stations. But PSK31's simplicity and wider software support (Fldigi, DM780, etc.) keep it relevant. Anyone else notice JS8Call seems less active during contest weekends?

For newcomers hesitant about voice modes, both offer keyboard-to-keyboard communication, though JS8Call's structured approach might be less intimidating initially.

someone on the local repeater mentioned JS8Call and i set it up last week. its definitely slower and the bands feel quieter on it but i had a legit back and forth conversation with a guy in colorado for maybe 20 minutes yesterday and it reminded me why i got into this hobby in the first place. the SNR performance is supposed to be close to FT8 right? maybe not quite as deep in the noise but close enough for most situations.

my question is really whether theres a community there worth investing time in, or is it kind of a ghost town outside of certain hours. i was on 14.078 for a while and saw maybe 8-10 stations. compared to FT8 thats nothing but maybe thats fine if theyre actually there to chat. also does anybody run JS8Call on 40 or 80 for regional stuff, im in the midwest so those bands might be more useful for me than 20m

my question is basically is JS8Call just way less popular than FT8 or is there something about how im calling that isnt working. im on 14.078 which i think is the right dial freq. running about 8 watts. decode seems fine, im seeing plenty of activity on the waterfall. just not getting called back much. also wondered if PSK31 is even worth bothering with anymore or has everyone moved on from that

I've tested CAT and PTT - both pass. Audio is coming through DAX fine, I can see signals on the waterfall, but no decoding at all. Time sync is good via BTK timesync.

FlexRadio 6xxx rig selected, Network Server set to localhost:60002, SmartSDR CAT configured with TCP port. What am I missing here?

my question is why does nobody seem to be on it. i can find plenty of activity on 40m FT8 pretty much any time of day but JS8Call feels like a ghost town most of the time. is there a specific time or band where people actually gather or am i just not finding them. running an IC-7300 into a wire dipole nothing fancy.

also tried PSK31 a while back and that had more of a conversation feel too but the signals were harder to pull out when conditions werent great. JS8Call seems way more robust in that regard which is why i prefer it. anyway curious what others think about this whole automated vs conversational digital modes thing

my question is really whether people actually use it regularly for like actual back and forth conversation or is it mostly just empty frequencies with the occasional beacon. i can see the appeal in theory — basically PSK31 speeds but with the weak signal performance closer to FT8, right? or am i misunderstanding how it works under the hood.

for context im running an ic-7300 into a trapped vertical, usually on 40m or 20m, and my noise floor at the home QTH is pretty rough so weak signal stuff matters a lot to me. tried PSK31 years ago and loved the conversational aspect but even with a decent signal it felt fragile compared to what FT8 does in the mud. so anyway is JS8Call actually being used or did everyone just go back to FT8 and call it a day