so ive been running FT8 for about a year now and i enjoy the weak signal aspect of it but honestly it feels more like a logging exercise than actual operating sometimes. you know what i mean, you make the contact, log it, move on. theres no real back and forth. somebody mentioned JS8Call to me at the club meeting last month and i finally sat down and installed it last weekend.

first impressions are pretty interesting. the whole store-and-forward mesh thing is kind of wild when you think about it, like your message can bounce around through other stations and eventually reach someone across the country even if you cant hear them directly. the SNR requirements are obviously worse than FT8 but not terrible, i was still making contacts with maybe -10 or -12 db signals without much trouble. using the IC-7300 into a G5RV so nothing fancy on my end.

my question is mostly for people who actually use it regularly — does it get more active on certain bands or times of day? i was hanging around 40m JS8 calling frequency for like an hour saturday afternoon and only saw maybe 4 or 5 other stations. felt pretty quiet compared to what im used to on the FT8 segments. wondering if im just picking the wrong time or if the mode is kind of dying off. also curious if anyone here still runs PSK31 regularly because i kind of miss having that waterfall full of signals, felt more alive than what digital seems like now

JS8Call is definitely more alive in the evenings in my experience, especially 40m after dark when the band opens up regionally. during the day i find 20m a bit better for it. the userbase is smaller than FT8 obviously but the people who are on tend to actually want to chat which is kind of refreshing. i had a 20 minute back and forth with a guy in Colorado last week about antenna modeling software of all things, try doing that in FT8 lol.

the relay/store-forward stuff works better than i expected too. i sent a message one night that eventually got relayed through 3 stations and delivered to someone in New Mexico who i couldnt hear at all. took maybe 15 minutes but it worked. its a different mindset than chasing DX or filling a log, more like you're just... hanging out on the band. PSK31 i havent touched in a few years honestly, feels like it kind of faded out when FT8 took over. shame really because it was a good balance of weak signal capability and actual readable text at reasonable speeds

yeah 40m JS8 on a saturday afternoon is probably the worst time to check, most people are out doing stuff. try like 8 or 9pm local and you'll probably see more traffic. also make sure you're on the right offset, i think the standard calling freq on 40 is 7.078 but double check that because i might be slightly off on the number.

i'll be honest i mostly stick to FT8 because my operating time is limited and i want to actually make contacts when i sit down, but i get the complaint about it being hollow. RTTY contests are kinda fun if you want something in between — you can actually type stuff and its still pretty capable in marginal conditions. not weak signal magic like FT8 but respectable. give the RTTY roundup a shot sometime if you havent