so ive been running FT8 for about two years now and i get it, its great for weak signal work and all that, but it feels kind of... soulless? like you set up WSJT-X and just let the computer do everything. i made a contact in New Zealand last week running 5 watts off my G5RV and yeah that was cool but i wasnt really doing anything, the software just handled it.

anyway someone at the club mentioned JS8Call and i downloaded it but honestly im not sure what im looking at. its based on FT8 encoding right but its more like actual conversational messaging? the latency seems like it would be annoying for a qso though. i tried calling CQ on 40m last Tuesday around 9pm local and got nothing for like 45 minutes so im wondering if the bands were just dead or nobody is actually using it anymore.

also curious if anyone still runs PSK31 regularly. i know its not as sensitive as FT8 by a long shot but at least you can type in real time and it feels more like an actual contact. my old ft-950 has a built in waterfall on the display which makes finding PSK signals pretty easy but i havent heard much activity on the usual 14.070 area lately. maybe everyone just moved to FT8 and thats just the reality now.

yeah JS8Call is definitely more conversational but you're right about the latency, each frame is like 15 seconds so a back and forth exchange takes a while to get going. the thing i like about it is the store and forward stuff — messages can get relayed through other stations even if you cant hear the original sender. thats actually really useful for EMCOMM scenarios or just passing traffic through a marginal path. i run it on 40 and sometimes 80 at night and activity isnt huge but its not dead either, you just have to leave it running and check back. try the JS8Call activity page online before you key up, sometimes you can see who's been spotted recently in your region.

as for PSK31 honestly it still has a small but loyal following. ran into a guy on 20m doing PSK63 a few months back and we had a solid 20 minute ragchew which you just cant do with FT8. the sensitivity difference is real though, FT8 is something like 10-12dB better than PSK31 so if conditions are rough there's no contest. but when the band is open PSK31 is genuinely fun, feels more like operating than watching a grid square counter tick up.

i asked basically this same question when i got my license last year lol. what i ended up doing was just keeping wsjt-x open on one monitor while i mess with other stuff. the qso automation thing bothered me at first too but honestly i've just accepted that FT8 is basically beacon mode with a logbook attached, which is fine for what it is.

havent tried JS8Call yet but this thread is making me want to. does it use the same audio interface setup as WSJT-X or do you have to redo all the CAT stuff? my setup with the IC-7300 and a USB cable was pretty painless for FT8 but i dont want to break whats working