so ive been running FT8 for about a year now and yeah its great for contacts and i get the appeal but honestly after a while it starts feeling like watching a slot machine. you log the call, they log you, done. no actual exchange of anything.

heard about JS8Call and the whole idea of being able to pass actual messages back and forth over weak signals sounds a lot more interesting to me. but ive also heard the learning curve is steeper and the band activity is way lower so finding someone to actually talk to can be frustrating depending on your location and time of day.

also running a SignaLink USB into an IC-7300 if that matters, already have WSJT-X dialed in pretty well with the audio levels and all that. wondering if the interface setup for JS8Call is similar enough that it wont be a whole new headache. and does anyone actually use it regularly or is it kind of a ghost town most of the time on 40m or wherever people hang out on it

JS8Call setup on a 7300 with a SignaLink is basically identical to WSJT-X honestly, same audio routing same COM port stuff. if you've got FT8 working you'll have JS8Call running in like 20 minutes. the bigger adjustment is just mentally — it moves slower, messages take longer to complete, and yeah activity is thinner. but when you do connect with someone it feels like an actual QSO instead of a grid square handshake.

i check into a couple JS8Call nets on 40m, one in the evenings, and theres usually a handful of guys around. not wall to wall like FT8 but enough. 14.078 on 20m tends to have more action during the day if you're in north america. give it a shot, worst case you spent an afternoon fiddling with audio levels which honestly we all do for fun anyway

i tried js8call for a few weeks and kind of gave up but not because of the setup, that part was fine. just kept missing the timing on replies and losing threads halfway through an exchange. might have been my schedule more than the mode itself. still think the concept is cool especially for emcomm type stuff where you need to actually pass information not just exchange signal reports. maybe ill revisit it this winter when im not doing as much voice operating