so ive been using Log4OM for general logging for a while now and honestly love it for day to day stuff, the interface is clean and the integration with stuff like QRZ and eQSL works pretty seamlessly. but every time contest season rolls around im kind of in this awkward spot where i feel like i should be running N1MM because thats what everyone on the club nets seems to be using.

the thing is i tried setting up N1MM last winter for the ARRL DX CW contest and the config just killed me, spent like two hours messing with the function key messages and still wasnt happy with it. i know its the gold standard for contesting and the SO2R stuff is obviously way more capable than anything else but for a casual single-op low power guy is it really worth the learning curve every time

also been messing around with WSJT-X and the logging there is its own whole thing. right now im piping WSJT-X into Log4OM through the UDP broadcast and it mostly works but i get dupes showing up occasionally that i know i already worked. wondering if anyone else has a workflow that ties all three of these together without losing your mind

the N1MM learning curve is real, not gonna sugarcoat it. i went through the same thing when i first started doing serious contesting. but once you get your config dialed in and saved properly you really only do it once and then just load it up each contest. the key message setup is tedious yeah but N1MM's contest-specific stuff like the multiplier tracking and the rate display is just so much better than anything else when you're actually in a pileup trying to figure out if that VK3 is a new mult or not.

for the WSJT-X dupe thing, ive seen that happen when the UDP port gets confused if you restart one of the programs without restarting the other. try making sure Log4OM is fully up and listening before you start WSJT-X. also check your ADIF import settings in Log4OM because sometimes it'll import from the WSJT-X log file AND take the UDP feed and you end up with the same QSO twice.

honestly for casual contesting Log4OM is probably fine, i used it for the state qso parties for a couple years and never felt like i was missing much. N1MM is overkill if youre not doing multi-op or serious single op hp stuff imo. the cabrillo export from Log4OM works fine for submitting logs so thats not really an issue.

the WSJT-X thing though, yeah that UDP integration is a bit flakey sometimes. i actually just let WSJT-X write its own log and then do a manual ADIF import into my main log after the session, its a bit old school but i never get dupes that way and i know exactly whats in my log. not elegant but it works