so ive been running Log4OM for about two years now and genuinely like it for day to day logging, the interface doesnt make me want to throw my keyboard across the room which is more than i can say for some other options. but every time contest season rolls around i end up having to fire up N1MM anyway because thats just what everyone seems to use and the integration with the contest exchange stuff is way better. my problem is keeping the two in sync — ive got dupes showing up in Log4OM after i import my ADIF from N1MM and it's not always catching them cleanly.

also been playing with WSJT-X more lately and that adds another layer because now im juggling three different log files basically. WSJT-X writes to its own log, N1MM has its contest logs, Log4OM is supposed to be the master but honestly at this point i dont even know which one is the source of truth anymore. anyone else deal with this or am i just overcomplicating it. i know some guys just use N1MM for everything including daily logging but it always felt like overkill for a random tuesday afternoon 40m QSO

yeah the three-way logging problem is real, i went through the same thing about a year ago. what i ended up doing was just accepting that N1MM is the contest log and nothing else — when the contest is over i export the ADIF, run it through ADIF Master to strip out any weird formatting issues, then import into Log4OM with duplicate checking set to callsign plus date within like a 30 minute window. not perfect but it catches most of the obvious ones.

for WSJT-X i just have it pointed directly at Log4OM via UDP logging, so at least that piece is seamless. the key setting in WSJT-X is under File > Settings > Reporting, you want UDP server enabled and Log4OM set up to receive on the same port. once i got that going the FT8 stuff just appears in Log4OM automatically and i dont have to do anything. still does not solve the N1MM problem but at least its one less thing to manually import

honestly i just use N1MM for everything and stopped fighting it. took maybe a week to get used to the interface and now it doesnt bother me. the contest modules are obviously great but for regular logging it works fine too, you just ignore most of the contest-specific fields. the WSJT-X integration is solid as well since you can pipe it directly into N1MM if thats your main logger. i get that some people dont like the look of it but ive never had a sync problem because theres only one log