so ive been using WSJT-X for FT8 for about a year and a half now and it just logs to its own ADIF file which i then import into Log4OM every few weeks. works fine i guess but its kind of clunky and i keep forgetting to do the import so my log is always like a month behind reality.

anyway someone at the club last night was telling me i should just switch everything over to N1MM and use it as my main logger with WSJT-X feeding into it in real time via the UDP thing. he does a lot of contesting so maybe thats why he likes it but im not really a contest guy, maybe one or two a year at most. i do more casual DX chasing and some parks on the air stuff.

my question is basically — is N1MM actually worth learning for a non-contester? ive poked at it before and the interface feels like it was designed by someone who really really loves contests and nothing else. Log4OM feels more like a general purpose logging app. but if the WSJT-X integration is that much smoother in N1MM maybe its worth the hassle of learning it.

also does Log4OM even do real time UDP from WSJT-X or do i have to keep doing the manual import thing? i honestly never looked into it that hard

Log4OM absolutely does real time UDP from WSJT-X, you dont need to do the manual import thing at all. go into WSJT-X settings under the reporting tab and set the UDP server to 127.0.0.1 and the port to 2237 which is the Log4OM default, then in Log4OM you turn on the UDP server in the settings and it just starts populating as you make contacts. took me maybe 10 minutes to set up and ive had zero problems with it for like two years.

as for N1MM — your club buddy is right that its an amazing piece of software but honestly if you're not doing serious contesting its probably overkill and the learning curve is real. i use N1MM exclusively during contest weekends and Log4OM the rest of the time. best of both worlds, just export from N1MM after a contest and import into Log4OM. the ADIF export from N1MM is clean and Log4OM handles it without any weirdness in my experience.

yeah what he said about the UDP setup, that fixed the same problem for me too. i was doing manual imports forever before someone told me about it, felt kind of dumb after lol.

i will say though if you ever get the contest bug even a little bit, spending a weekend really learning N1MM is not wasted time. i resisted it for ages and now i actually kind of use it even for casual operating sometimes just because the radio control stuff is really solid. but for POTA and DX chasing Log4OM is probably the better fit, the awards tracking and the lotw integration is nicer for that kind of thing in my opinion.