so ive been running ft8 for about a year now and yeah its great for working new entities and whatever but it started feeling kind of hollow after a while, like youre not really talking to anyone just exchanging signal reports and grid squares. someone on the local repeater mentioned js8call and i set it up last weekend and honestly it feels more like actually operating, you can type actual sentences and have a back and forth with someone even when signals are terrible.

my question is — is there an active community on js8call or am i going to fire it up and hear nothing? i was on 40m last night around 14074 (wrong band i know, habit) and didnt hear much. also what are the typical js8call freqs people use? i know theres some kind of net activity but cant find consistent info on where people actually hang out. running an ic-7300 into a dipole nothing fancy.

js8call definitely has a smaller user base than ft8 but its not dead by any means. on 40m the activity tends to cluster around 7078 kHz, and on 20m i usually see traffic around 14078. there are also some organized nets, the js8call net runs periodically and there's emcomm groups using it for exactly the reason you described — you can actually pass traffic with it, not just exchange locators.

the thing that got me hooked was the store-and-forward relay stuff, if a message gets passed through multiple stations to reach someone thats genuinely cool weak signal operation. propagation has to cooperate but ive had messages relayed through three or four stations on 40m at night. stick with it, just takes time to find when the regulars are on. most of the activity i see is evenings local time wherever the operators are.

yeah ft8 kind of does that to you after a while. i went through the same thing, chasing dxcc slots is fun for a bit then you realize youve had zero actual contact with any of those people lol. i dabbled with js8call and also went back to psk31 for a bit just because you can actually ragchew on it when conditions are decent. js8call is slower and weaker signal capable which is neat but psk31 has way more personality if that makes sense, people will actually talk about their rigs and antennas and stuff.

not trying to talk you out of js8call just saying there are options if youre looking for more human interaction on digital. ft4 is also worth knowing about if you do contests, its basically ft8 but faster turnaround.