so ive been using WSJT-X for FT8 for a while now and it logs to its own internal log which is fine but i want to get a proper logging program set up that handles everything, contest stuff included. a buddy at the club swears by N1MM but he basically only does contests so im not sure if its overkill for everyday use. someone else mentioned Log4OM and from what i can tell it looks a lot more polished for general shack logging but i honestly dont know how well it handles contest operation.

the main thing i need is decent WSJT-X integration so the QSOs from FT8 sessions automatically show up without me having to import an ADIF file every single time. does anyone actually have both working together or is it kind of a pain to set up the UDP logging stuff. i messed around with the WSJT-X settings a bit and saw the UDP server option but got lost after that

Log4OM handles the WSJT-X UDP integration pretty well once you get the ports sorted out. you set WSJT-X to send logged QSOs via UDP, point it at the port Log4OM is listening on, and it just shows up. took me maybe 20 minutes to get working the first time and most of that was me misreading which field was the port number. the interface in Log4OM v2 is way nicer than N1MM for day to day stuff, N1MM always felt like it was designed by someone who only cares about running SO2R in a contest and never thinks about just casually working DX on a Tuesday afternoon.

that said if you ever want to do serious contest operating N1MM is kind of the standard and the integration with things like SO2R boxes and networked stations is hard to beat. i personally run both — Log4OM for everything normal and fire up N1MM when a contest weekend comes around, then merge the logs after. bit of a hassle but it works.

yeah the UDP thing for WSJT-X is actually not that bad once you find the right setting, its under reporting in the WSJT-X menu. just make sure Log4OM or whatever you're using is running first before you start a session or sometimes it misses the first few QSOs in my experience. i had a weird thing happen where dupes werent getting flagged correctly but i think that was a config issue on my end not the software itself