Michael Thomas87

so ive been running FT8 for about a year now and yeah the DX is great, worked like 60 countries with 10 watts into a dipole which blew my mind, but it kind of feels like... operating a slot machine? you click confirm and wait and thats basically it. heard about JS8Call and been messing with it the past few weeks trying to figure out if its actually useful or if im just chasing the next shiny thing.
the weak signal capability seems similar enough, like its based on the same FT8 engine more or less but stretched out for messaging, but im finding the timing a lot less strict which honestly is a relief. had a few actual back and forth exchanges with a guy in Ohio and one in British Columbia and it felt more like actual radio contact. latency is rough though, like you send something and then just sit there for a while waiting.
my real question is does anyone actually use JS8Call regularly or is it kind of a ghost town on most bands. i check 40m around 14.078 and sometimes theres activity and sometimes its totally dead. curious if theres a better time of day or if i should be trying HF or different bands. also wondering if the relay/store-forward stuff is worth learning or if thats overkill for casual use.

ok so i just passed my general last month and im still using my sequential callsign which is kind of a mouthful honestly. a guy at the club mentioned i could apply for a vanity call and i looked it up on the ULS but now im more confused than before
like is there a waiting period after you get your license before you can apply? and how do you even know which calls are available? i tried searching a few on the FCC database but some show up as expired and im not sure if that means they're up for grabs or if theres still some holdover period where the previous holder can reclaim it or something
also does it cost anything now? i thought i read somewhere that the FCC started charging but then someone else told me that was only for new licenses not vanity... im getting conflicting info everywhere. any help appreciated, been lurking here for a while and you guys usually know whats up

yeah what he said, LoTW is the main one to worry about if awards matter to you. i personally use all three just because why not, it doesn't take much extra effort once your logging software is set up to auto-upload. i use Log4OM and it handles LoTW and eQSL uploads pretty automatically after a contact which is nice.
one thing i'll add — some DX stations especially from rarer entities only do paper QSL cards either direct or through a bureau, so if you ever work someone really exotic dont assume LoTW will cover it. always worth checking the DX station's QRZ page to see what they accept. i've had contacts that never confirmed on LoTW just because the other op never uploaded their log, which is frustrating when it's a new country for you

dont forget the informal abbreviations that arent technically Q codes but get used just as much, stuff like 73 (best regards, basically goodbye), 88 (kisses, usually between close friends on air), OM for old man which just means any male ham, YL for young lady which is any female ham regardless of age lol. and on CW you see things like ES for 'and', DE meaning 'from', UR meaning 'your'. its almost like a second language. took me a while to realize 73 wasnt some kind of frequency reference when i first started

the working split thing still confuses me a bit if im honest. like i get that the DX transmits on one freq and listens on another but how do you know where to call if they just say listening up? do you just spread across the range and hope or is there a smarter way to figure out where they're actually pulling from. i tried working a 3B8 a few weeks ago and i really couldnt figure out where he was actually listening, felt like i was just guessing the whole time