so ive been running N1MM for contests for probably 4 or 5 years now and it does what it does, no complaints really for things like sweepstakes or FD. but lately ive been doing more FT8 on the side and the way WSJT-X talks to N1MM feels clunky to me. like it works, the QSOs come through via UDP and log into N1MM fine, but theres always this weird moment where i have to make sure the right contest is set up on the N1MM side or it just dumps everything into the wrong log and then im cleaning up dupes later.

a buddy of mine keeps telling me to look at Log4OM because he says the WSJT-X integration is cleaner and it handles the adif imports better. i tried it for like a week and honestly got confused by the interface, felt like there was a lot going on. maybe i just didnt give it enough time.

my actual question i guess is — does anyone run Log4OM during contests specifically, or is it more of a day to day logging thing and you just switch to N1MM when a contest comes around? i cant figure out if im supposed to use both or just pick one. seems like overkill to have two loggers running but maybe thats just how people do it

yeah pretty much everyone i know does exactly that — Log4OM or whatever for day to day stuff and then flip to N1MM when a contest weekend comes around. N1MM is just purpose built for contesting, the rate meter, the dupe checking, multiplier tracking, all of it is tuned for that workflow. trying to contest in Log4OM is like using a swiss army knife when you need an actual saw.

for the WSJT-X thing, you can actually run both at the same time if you configure the UDP ports right. WSJT-X can broadcast to multiple listeners so Log4OM catches your everyday FT8 QSOs and N1MM gets it too if you have a contest running. takes about 20 minutes to set up once and then you kind of forget about it. i had the same problem you describe where stuff was landing in the wrong N1MM log but that was me not paying attention to which config i had loaded, not really a software bug.

Log4OM took me a while to get used to too, the UI is definitely not obvious at first. but once it clicks its actually pretty solid for day to day logging, cloudlog sync, lotw uploads, all that. i wouldnt use it for a serious contest tho. for RTTY or FT8 contests specifically i still go back to N1MM every time just because the SO2R stuff and the function key macros are so much better tuned for contest pace.

one thing worth mentioning — if your WSJT-X QSOs are ending up in the wrong place check what port Log4OM is listening on versus what WSJT-X is set to broadcast on. default is 2237 i think but if you ever changed it in one app and not the other thats probably your culprit