so ive been running ft8 for about a year now and i enjoy the contacts but honestly it feels a bit like watching a slot machine, you spin it and either get a qso or you dont, theres not really any... conversation happening. heard about js8call from a guy at my club who uses it for emcomm stuff and apparently you can send longer messages back and forth, almost like a slow text message over hf.

my question is whether its actually worth setting up alongside wsjt-x or if the bands are just too dead on js8 frequencies to make it practical. im on 20m most evenings and occasionally 40m when 20 goes long. i've got a pretty basic setup, ft-891 into a trapped vertical, nothing fancy, maybe 100w out. i can decode ft8 signals way down in the noise which is great but im wondering if js8 needs more oomph or if its similar sensitivity-wise.

also is there any reason not to just leave both running at the same time on different vfos or does that cause issues with the audio interface? i only have one signalink usb so im guessing that might complicate things

js8call is genuinely different from ft8 in a way that took me a while to appreciate. its not trying to do the same thing. ft8 is basically just exchange callsigns and signal reports as efficiently as possible, js8 is slower and weaker signal capable but you can actually type back and forth like a conversation. the latency is annoying at first but you get used to it.

sensitivity wise its somewhere between ft8 and jt65 from what i remember, not quite as deep in the noise as ft8 but still pretty impressive. your 100w into a vertical should be totally fine for it. the bands arent super busy but 40m late evening you'll usually find some activity, especially on 7.078 which seems to be the most populated calling freq around here in the northeast anyway.

as for running both at once with one signalink — yeah thats gonna be a headache. the signalink only presents as one audio device to the computer so you'd need to do some virtual audio cable routing to split it, and honestly its more trouble than its worth unless you're really into that kind of thing. most people just switch between programs. i run wsjtx in the background and switch to js8call whenever i actually want to talk to someone.

i tried js8call for a few weeks and kept coming back to ft8 just because theres way more activity. js8 feels a bit like showing up to a party and theres like 4 people there. when someone IS on it can be a really good qso though, had a 20 minute back and forth with a guy in finland once that was actually pretty cool, talked about his antenna setup and everything. but those contacts are rare in my experience.

psk31 on 20m might actually scratch that itch better if you want real conversations and there are still people running it, not tons but more than js8 in my area at least. just something to consider before you go down the rabbit hole of setting up another software package