so ive been using WSJT-X for ft8 stuff and it logs to its own adif file which is fine but i want to get everything into one place and also do some contesting this winter, maybe the ARRL 10m contest and possibly cqww if i can get my antenna situation sorted before then

right now im kind of split between just going all-in on N1MM since everyone says its the gold standard for contesting, but the interface looks like it was designed in 2003 and honestly kind of intimidates me. a buddy at the club has been pushing Log4OM and it does look a lot cleaner and apparently handles the WSJT-X udp logging without much fuss

but then the question is can Log4OM actually hold its own in a real contest environment or is it going to fall apart when im trying to dupe check fast and log fast exchange. i dont need anything crazy, im a single op from a modest station, no SO2R or anything like that

does anyone run both or switch between them depending on what theyre doing? feels like there should be a cleaner answer here but every thread i find is from like 2019

yeah this is basically the eternal question and honestly the answer is kind of annoying — use N1MM for contests, use something else for everything else. i know that sounds like more work but N1MM during a contest is just in a different league for things like super check partial, the rate meter, the way it handles dupe checking across bands. Log4OM is genuinely nicer to live with day to day and the WSJT-X integration works well, ive had it running here for about a year and no real complaints for regular logging

the thing is after a contest you just export the cabrillo from N1MM and then import the adif into Log4OM and youre done, your main log stays clean. little bit of overhead but you get used to it. N1MM's interface really does look ancient but after one or two contests you stop noticing because everything is where you expect it to be

Log4OM for contesting is fine for smaller stuff honestly, ive done some state qso parties and vhf contests with it and didnt have any problems. probably not where i'd want to be in cqww running 200 qsos an hour but for a casual effort it works. the udp bridge with wsjt-x is pretty seamless once you get the port set right, just make sure both programs agree on which port theyre talking to or youll sit there wondering why nothings logging for twenty minutes like i did