so ive been running FT8 for about a year now and yeah its great for contacts and my DXCC count has gone up a ton but honestly it feels like operating a slot machine more than amateur radio, you just watch the screen and click stuff and occasionally something happens. started reading about JS8Call and it seems like you can actually type to people which is more like what i got into ham radio for in the first place

my question is does anyone actually use it regularly or is it one of those modes where the band is technically open but nobody is ever on? i checked pskreporter a few times and theres activity but not sure if its all beacon stuff or real qsos. also how much weaker is it compared to FT8 really, like if FT8 is getting through will JS8 also get through or is the gap bigger than people say

running an ic-7300 into a 40m dipole up about 30 feet, mostly interested in regional stuff but wouldnt mind trying some dx if the mode can handle it

JS8Call is genuinely worth trying if you want something that feels like actual communication. I run it pretty regularly on 40m in the evenings and theres usually a handful of people around, its not as dead as you might think but yeah its nowhere near FT8 in terms of raw activity. the message store-and-forward stuff is kind of neat too once you figure it out.

the sensitivity gap is real though. JS8Call in normal speed mode is something like 10-12dB worse than FT8 which is significant — basically means you need a noticeably better path to make it work. there are slower speed settings that close that gap some but then your typing is painfully slow. for regional stuff on 40m your setup should be fine most of the time, its really when you push into marginal dx paths that you notice it. id say just fire it up and hang out on the calling frequency for a bit, you'll find people pretty quick on 40m evenings especially on weekends

honestly PSK31 scratches that itch better for me than JS8 does, theres still a small but dedicated group on 14.070 and you can have a real back and forth without all the weird store and forward stuff. but i get that weak signal performance matters depending on where you are. JS8 does work, just set your expectations — its more like texting across the radio than having a conversation in real time