so ive been playing with JS8Call for a few weeks now and i really like the idea of it, like FT8 is great for the contest-y log a contact thing but JS8 actually lets you type back and forth which is what i thought digital modes were supposed to be in the first place

thing is the band seems pretty empty compared to FT8, at least on 40m. i can hear a handful of stations but nothing like the wall of signals you get on WSJT-X. is that just the reality of it or am i doing something wrong with the dial freq? im running a pretty modest setup, IC-7300 into a trapped vertical, so not exactly a powerhouse but ive been working plenty of FT8 DX with it

also for context i came up through PSK31 back in the day and i miss having actual ragchews on digital, RTTY contesting is fun but thats not really chatting either. JS8 seemed like the thing that might scratch that itch but if nobodys on it i dunno

yeah the JS8Call population is just smaller, thats the honest answer. it tends to be more active on weekends and there are nets that run on specific freqs if you look up the JS8Call groups.io list. 40m around 7078 kHz is probably your best bet in North America, and some guys run it on HF APRS-ish stuff too. the software itself is really solid once you dig into the relay and store-forward features, thats where it gets interesting for things like emcomm or just passing traffic when the bands are sketchy

for what its worth i still fire up PSK31 occasionally and there are actually a surprising number of people still on it, usually around 14070. not as many as 2010 obviously but its not dead. if you want ragchew digital that might honestly be easier to find a qso on than JS8 just because the installed base is bigger even if its shrinking

i had the same exact frustration with JS8. love the concept, the async messaging thing is genuinely clever, but i fired it up three weekends in a row on 20m and barely heard anyone. ended up just going back to FT8 because at least i was making contacts lol. might try it again on 80m at night, heard thats where some of the more active users hang out