so ive been running FT8 for about a year now and yeah its great for contacts and all that but it feels like logging software talking to other logging software, i barely feel like im even there. started messing around with JS8Call last week and its more like... actual radio? you can have a back and forth, leave messages, relay through other stations. feels more like what i got into this hobby for.

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

yeah the JS8Call activity thing is a real problem and its kind of a chicken and egg situation. not enough people on so others dont bother checking. what i've found is 14.078 USB on 20m has the most activity, usually late afternoon into evening eastern time at least for north america. there's also a loose group that does a morning net on 40m, 7.078 i think but dont quote me on that.

the conversational angle is exactly right though. FT8 is a contact machine, i can work 80 countries in a weekend but i couldnt tell you a single thing about any of those operators. JS8Call i've actually had extended chats with a guy in scotland and swapped antenna info and everything. totally different vibe. the store and forward message thing is underrated too, kind of like a slow packet radio system which is cool in its own nerdy way.

FT4 is even more robotic than FT8 if that helps put it in perspective, purely contest exchange stuff. for weak signal rag chewing JS8Call really is the best option right now just gotta find when people are actually on

RTTY guy here and honestly i still think theres something to be said for modes where you actually type in real time even if the weak signal performance isnt as impressive. but i get it, JS8Call does fill a gap. i messed around with it during a few slow contest weekends and the heartbeat feature is kinda neat where your station just announces itself periodically without you doing anything.

one thing though — make sure your time sync is spot on, like within a second or less. i had all kinds of decoding issues early on and it turned out my PC clock had drifted. probably obvious to most people but it tripped me up for longer than i want to admit