so ive been running FT8 for about a year now and yeah its great for working DX and filling out the log but honestly it feels more like a video game than actual radio sometimes. you click a callsign, the macros do everything, you get a contact logged and thats... it. no real exchange, nothing personal about it.

started poking around JS8Call last week and the concept is interesting to me — like it uses the same underlying weak signal encoding but youre actually typing messages back and forth, almost like a very slow text conversation. latency is rough obviously and youre not gonna ragchew the way you would on SSB or even PSK31 but at least theres a human on the other end doing something.

my question is does anyone actually use JS8Call regularly or is it kind of a ghost town on most bands. ive seen a few stations pop up on 40m around 14078 or wherever the usual spot is but activity seems sparse compared to the FT8 watering holes. wondering if its worth learning the software quirks or if im just gonna be calling CQ into the void most of the time. already run WSJT-X for the ft8/ft4 stuff and i know JS8Call is a separate install so not a huge deal just want to know if the activity is there before i dig in

JS8Call is definitely not dead but you have to know when to look. i find 40m gets decent activity in the evenings especially on weekends, and theres a small but pretty dedicated group of folks who use it for what i'd call "store and forward" messaging — like leaving a message for someone that gets relayed through other nodes. its actually kind of fascinating once you get into the relay/heartbeat stuff.

that said yeah compared to FT8 it feels sparse. FT8 has that critical mass thing going on where the sheer number of stations makes it almost self sustaining. JS8Call requires you to kind of seek out the community a bit more. theres a few facebook groups and a mailing list that post schedules and skeds which helps a lot. i do understand the frustration with FT8 feeling like a logging exercise though, been there. PSK31 still scratches that itch for me when i want something more conversational but weak signal wise JS8Call is the better tool if conditions are rough

honestly i had the same thought about FT8 like six months ago and went back to RTTY for contests and it felt way more alive even if the mode is ancient. but for weak signal js8call is the move if you want two way conversation. ran it portable with like 5 watts into a wire antenna from a state park and was still getting responses which was kind of wild. the software is a little quirky and the UI takes getting used to but its not bad once it clicks