Once you have fldigi up and working with your radio there are a few other settings you may have overlooked which will likely improve your overall experience with data modes and fldigi.
QRZ.com Callsign Lookups
Unless you enjoy jumping back and forth between your web browser and the fldigi window looking up users callsigns you can let fldigi do the heavy lifting for you. You can configure fldigi to use your qrz.com account to perform the callsign lookups for you.
In the fldigi configuration window select the Web tab and then the Call Lookup tab. Check the QRZ.com checkbox, and fill in your username and password. Hit save and close and you are setup.
To perform the lookup simply double click on the callsign in the receive window, then click on the world icon in the top control bar. If all is successful you should see the users name and country.
Enabling Spotting
Using sites like
pskreporter.info you can quickly see how far your data messages are traveling in near real time. Using a network of spotters like yourself the website aggregates spotting data allowing you to see the bigger picture. fldigi can be configured to report all call signs being received by your client to pskreporter.info automatically this will help pskreporter.info create a more complete picture of current working conditions, and also provide a handy tool for yourself to see at a glance what you are seeing out there.
To enable spotting open your fldigi configuration window and choose the Misc tab then the Spotting tab. Select "Automatically spot callsigns in decoded text" and if you have rig control "Report rig frequency" the default host and port are fine. Once checked you must also click the "Initialize" button to enable spotting.
You now have spotting enabled. To toggle spotting on and off simply use the spot button at the top right of the Fldigi window.
Macros
By default the fldigi app does not seem to save macros when you edit them. To enable this go to the Fldigi configuration window and select the UI tab then the Macros. Select "Load last used macro file on startup" and "Prompt to save macro file when closing" then select Save and Close. You are now be given the option to save any macro changes before closing fldigi.
