so ive been running FT8 for about a year now on 20m mostly with 10 watts into a wire dipole up about 25 feet and it works fine, make contacts all over the place no problem. but lately ive been reading about JS8Call and people keep saying its better for actual communication vs just signal reports and grid squares. so i fired it up last weekend and yeah its definitely different, like you can have a real conversation which is cool but i spent like 45 minutes calling CQ and only got two responses and one of those guys just sent a signal report and vanished.

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

JS8Call is definitely less populated than FT8, that's just the reality of it. the people who use it tend to be on at more specific times or in nets rather than just randomly calling CQ. try checking the JS8Call nets — there are a few on 40m in the evenings that are pretty active depending on where you are. 14.078 is right but honestly 40m is where i see more traffic for it, at least in north america.

PSK31 still has some activity but its mostly older guys who've been doing it since the early 2000s and dont wanna change, nothing wrong with that but youre not gonna work a pile of new stations on it. if you want actual keyboard-to-keyboard chat type stuff JS8Call is probably your best bet, just gotta catch people when theyre actually monitoring. the async messaging feature is actually pretty slick once you figure it out, you can leave messages for specific callsigns and they'll see them next time they connect.

yeah same experience here honestly. ft8 you call cq and youre getting decoded within like 2 cycles, js8call feels like shouting into a room that might be empty. i think the timing matters a lot more with js8call, like there are windows when people are actually around vs ft8 where theres always someone decoding 24/7.

10 watts into a dipole at 25 feet should be totally fine for it though, dont let anyone tell you you need more power for weak signal digital. ive worked dx on js8call with 5w and a compromised antenna, the mode is sensitive enough. its more a population problem than a propagation one