JS8Call – weak signal communication on HF with a keyboard-to-keyboard interface

JS8 communication monitored over the last 24 hours: https://pskreporter.info/pskmap.html?preset&callsign=ZZZZZ&m...

HF radio+antenna and digital setup. Digital setup includes computer (or a rpi), audio interface to your radio and (optional) cat control to radio. for example i have a ft-891 with a usb 2.0 type-b to type-a for cat control (lets the software set frequency of the radio), and then a mini-din connector that connects to the back of the radio and gives me a mic/speaker connector which i connect to a usb sound card into my rpi or computer. then you can use js8call or WSJT-X (for other modes like ft8). you will probably want at least a general license. since tech doesn't give you a lot of hf access, but since this is digital (can be same allocations as CW) you can do some on tech license.

If you've fallen behind on recent ham tech as far as I have, this might help (from the WSJT pdf [0]):

"WSJT-X is a computer program designed to facilitate basic amateur radio communication using very weak signals.... JT65 and QRA64 were designed for EME (“moonbounce”) on the VHF/UHF bands and have also proven very effective for worldwide QRP communication on the HF bands.... JT9A is 2 dB more sensitive than JT65 while using less than 10% of the bandwidth.... These four “slow” modes use one-minute timed sequences of alternating transmission and reception, so a minimal QSO takes four to six minutes — two or three transmissions by each station, one sending in odd UTC minutes and the other even."

[0] from the WSJT-X 2.2 User Guide PDF (offers 10 languages) at: https://physics.princeton.edu/pulsar/k1jt/wsjtx.html