so ive been on FT8 for about a year now and yeah its great for logging contacts and watching the dx roll in but honestly it feels kind of hollow after a while. you exchange signal reports and grid squares and thats... it. no actual conversation happening, just automated handshakes essentially.

been reading about JS8Call and it seems like it tries to fix that by being more of an actual messaging protocol built on the same weak signal foundation. like you can have a back and forth, send longer text, relay messages through other stations. sounds cool in theory but im wondering if the tradeoff in speed and sensitivity is actually worth it in practice. FT8 can pull signals out of the noise that nothing else can touch, and if JS8Call is noticeably weaker at that i might just stick with what works.

also curious whether anyone still runs PSK31 regularly. i know its kind of old school at this point but there was something nice about it being a real keyboard to keyboard mode where you could actually chat. my understanding is the weak signal performance isnt anywhere near FT8 territory though so maybe thats a dead end for what im thinking about. anyway just looking for opinions from people who actually use this stuff day to day not just the wiki writeup version of it

JS8Call is genuinely worth messing with if you want actual QSOs instead of just signal report exchanges. the sensitivity isnt quite FT8 but its still really good, like way better than PSK31 or even RTTY. the big thing is the timing is more relaxed so theres room for actual text to go back and forth. i use it on 40m in the evenings sometimes and you do get real conversations going, especially with the store and forward stuff where messages can relay through other stations even when theyre not actively watching.

that said the user base is way smaller than FT8 so you gotta be patient. some nights the waterfall is pretty quiet. i think of it as a different tool for a different mood, not a replacement. when i want to just rack up contacts or chase a new entity FT8 is obvious choice. when i actually want to talk to someone in a way thats more than a macro exchange, JS8Call. PSK31 still has its fans and honestly on a good band it can be fun but yeah the noise floor performance is just nowhere close to the WSJT stuff.

i run PSK31 still, dont judge me lol. theres a small but pretty dedicated group that keeps the old watering holes alive, usually around 14.070 give or take. you actually do get real conversations and its keyboard to keyboard like you said. the software is mature and everything just works. but honestly if the band is marginal its painful compared to FT8, signals that would be totally workable on FT8 just dissapear into the noise on PSK. so i keep both running and just switch depending on conditions and what im in the mood for.