It is getting very popular with some of the wwyc members to go Multi User Multi-Transmitter operation in some of the major contests on the bands I have decided to do this article to tell you all how to setup the free contesting program N1MM Logger for this format.

The first thing you need to do is to make sure you have downloaded N1MM Logger, and the latest updates from the Yahoo groups site and the latest version needs to be on every pc that your going to be using in the contest.

Now you need to make sure you have all the IP’s of the station computers that are going to used on the network if you are using windows 95, 98, Me you can find out your IP by going to the start button on the left hand side of the computer screen then go to run and type in c:windowsWINIPCFG.exe or if you using Windows 2000, XP you can find you computer IP by going to Start then Run and typing CMD and press enter the Dos window comes up and type ipconfig /all this will display your computer IP.

Once you have got this entire information load up N1MM Logger and setup the contest then go to ?Config? on the tool bar then make sure the Multi-User mode is ticked if its not click on it.

The next thing to do is in the same menu click on ?Edit Station Computer Names? it will then bring up a box with two columns one with ?Stn #(0-15):Stn Name? & ?Computer IP Address? this is were you need to enter in all the information about the station computers, and their computer IP Addresses.

The first Stn PC with will be the master computer which will provide Packet/Telnet to all computers, set the computer clock on every computer so the times the same on them all, below is my setup the first one is the HF station which I am using as the master computer just incase I need to turn off the packet monitoring computer.

Once you have done this you can make sure they are taking with each other by going to Windows on the Toolbar and click on ?Info? it will then display if the computers are taking to each other and passing information to each other.

Once you have setup the Multi User support in N1MM Logger if you go to Config then Multi User Tools it will display all the options available that you can use in the program. The main features are the following

* Maximum of 16 networked computers with one ‘master’ station (0-15).
* Use of standard network interface cards (NICs).
* IP-addresses are used during configuring.
* Talk capability between networked stations.
* Automatic time synchronization.
* Pass frequency information between stations.
* Packet
o Distributed to all connected computers.
o The ability to send packet commands to the master station, from there it will be sent out to the cluster.
* Error messages when a station can’t be questioned / updated.

Multi User via the internet:

It is possible to setup some or all of the other stations outside your LAN on the internet. There are some caveats when trying this. You need more than basic computer knowledge for this. You need to know about IP-addresses, firewalls, routers, port settings, NAT etc.

You need to know your computer (external) IP-address. When directly connected to the web this can be obtained using the program ipconfig.exe (NT, 2000, XP) or winipcfg.exe (95, 98, ME). This command ipconfig should be entered in a DOS window to see the output. When your computer is in a LAN your connection to the internet will probably be made via a router. All computers will use internal IP-addresses; the router uses the external IP-address. This link will give your (external) ip-address in both cases: http://megawx.aws.com/support/faq/software/ip.asp

When a multi-user connection is not working anymore check the IP-addresses. This address changes from time-to time (when dynamic). Mostly after a reboot from PC when directly connected or a reboot from your router when in a LAN.

The router should be setup to route incoming traffic from port 12070 to your PC IP-address. No port transformation should be done. Instructions for this will not be given in detail. With the many different kind of routers this can not be done. Remember, this is a specialist job!

Firewall – Open port 12070 for incoming traffic.

Router – You probably should use NAT to route incoming traffic on port 12070 (for first PC in the list) to your PC IP-address.

Anyways I hope this helps a bit when setting N1MM up for Network Logging.

Peter, M3PHP