so ive been using Log4OM for about two years now and honestly its been fine for day to day logging, the interface took some getting used to but i like how it handles the logbook side of things and the QRZ integration works pretty well once you get the API key sorted out. but contest season is coming up and everyone keeps telling me i need to switch to N1MM for that.

the thing is i also run WSJT-X pretty regularly for FT8 and right now i pipe that into Log4OM through UDP and it mostly works, occasionally i get duplicate entries or the grid square doesnt populate right but nothing deal breaking. my question is whether it even makes sense to use two different programs depending on what im doing or if there's some way to have N1MM handle everything including the WSJT-X side during a contest without it turning into a mess.

i tried N1MM briefly a few years back and remember being pretty overwhelmed by the config but maybe i just didnt give it enough time. does it even do the UDP thing with WSJT-X the same way Log4OM does or is that a totally different setup

yeah N1MM and WSJT-X can talk to each other through UDP same basic concept, you point WSJT-X at N1MM's port and the QSOs flow over automatically. the setup isnt too bad once you find the right section in N1MM's config, i think its under Tools > UDP then you just make sure the port numbers match on both ends. i did a full weekend ARRL contest last fall running FT8 on one screen with WSJT-X and N1MM logging everything and it was pretty solid, only issue i had was the timing on the dupe checking felt slightly off but honestly that might have been my machine.

that said i totally get keeping Log4OM for regular logging and just firing up N1MM for contests. thats basically what a lot of guys do. the two logs dont automatically sync obviously so you end up importing an ADIF after the contest which is a little annoying but not the end of the world. Log4OM's general logbook stuff is genuinely nicer for casual use in my opinion, N1MM is kind of brutally focused on contest efficiency and not much else.

i run both depending on what im doing and just do the ADIF import thing after contests, been doing it that way for like three years and never had a major problem. the duplicate detection when importing is usually good enough. only time it got weird was during a state QSO party where i worked some stations on both SSB and FT8 and the import got confused about the mode field but i just sorted it out manually.