Networking Two Computers With N1MM Logger Plus And An Ethernet Cable (Plus WSJT-X & Fldigi) For ARRL Field Day

I am literally afraid to turn anything off. I am sitting here with two computers connected together with an ethernet cable. A Yaesu FT-991A on the left of me, and not one, but two Yaesu FT-891As on the right of me. One of the 891s is mine. The other is AA1F’s. Which I recently ran over with my van. No, I am not joking. I actually ran over his entire backpack, crushing the LDG tuner, a bioenno battery (which thankfully did not explode), and, well, indenting the 891. Which still works believe it or not. And most fortunately, AA1F was not actually in the backpack. It was our recent SOTA Campout fiasco, never to be talked about again…

But for this post, I am focusing on how to network two computers together with an ethernet cable, so the N1MM+, the ubiquitous amateur radio contesting logging software, can be ran simultaneously on two computers.

There are four videos out there that make this a fairly straightforward process. I am not going to start here with a description of how to use WSJT-X or Fldigi. You are on your own for that! I do have some old posts that discuss the settings of the Yaesu FT-818 (using the Digirig interface) and the Yaesu FT-857D (using a signalink) that work for WSJT-X that may be useful. The 991A has an internal soundcard unlike the other radios, so is a bit more plug-and-play. Fldigi, well there’s a learning curve to that as well, and really I am still on it…

But as far as how to get N1MM+ ready on multiple computers with WSJT-X and Fldigi for ARRL Field Day, I suggest taking a look at these videos in this order:

1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rGiBos2Y85o (By AG6AG, regarding WSJT-X and N1MM)
2. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lUfkpnpicrY (By AG6AG, regarding Fldigi and N1MM)
3. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XoKfUXVD1d8 (How to connect two computers together with an ethernet cable)
4. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G3sO44vaMxI (Especially the slide shown at 12:41 minutes)

And the finale to all of this occurs when you access the “Network Status Window” in N1MM+. Once you have gotten through all of the steps in the videos, find the Network Status Window in the location shown below. That is the status window running at the top of the screen. The N1MM+ documentation is helpful for this as well.

Remember that you can easily switch modes in N1MM+ by typing them into the call sign box (FT8, PSK31, SSB, CW, etc). When you use FT8, and assuming that you set up N1MM to work properly with WSJT-X, the WSJT-X application will open inside of N1MM+. And likewise, if you are using RTTY or PSK31, typing those into the callsign box will open up Fldigi.

Well, that is about it! I know that this is not a comprehensive how-to, but hopefully it gets you a bit closer on how to set up a multi-transceiver contest station. Like all things IT, I would be a bit surprised if it worked when we get to the actually being on the air part of all of this. Regardless, Happy Field Day! Hope to catch you on the air!

KM1NDY