User Interface Configuration - General


Gen Browser
Macros
Contest
WF Ctrls
Rx Text
Log server
Fldigi offers tips on the use of nearly every aspect of its operation.  These are particularly useful when you first use the program, but after you are familiar with it's operation they tend to get in the way.  You can turn them off by de-selecting "Show tooltips"

Some users prefer to not have icons on the menu system.  You can turn them off also.

Fldigi offers three different look and feel based on the parent Fast Light Toolkit graphics interface; "base", "gtk+" and "plastic".  These can be combined with command line specifiers for the default background and foreground colors to create a user unique look to fldigi.  You will probably discover that the default colors and the gtk+ UI scheme are to be preferred.

Fldigi has internationalization files for French, Italian and Spanish.  These control the contents of various menu items and labels.  Linux users should build and install fldigi from source to gain access to these.  Windows users should select the language of choice from the list, press the "Save" button and then close and restart fldigi.  The "UI language" selector is only present on the Windows version of fldigi.  The percentage indicates the completeness of the translation.


You may not want to use all possible modes when operating fldigi.  Press the "Visible modes" button and open the mode selector dialog

The use of this dialog should be obvious after a few clicks here and there.

By deselecting all but CW, PSK31, PSK63 and RTTY the Op_Mode menu is decluttered of all the other modes.  The WWV and Freq Analysis modes are always visible.  When a subset of the entire mode bank is selected a new menu item is added to the Op_Mode menu, "Show all modes".  This is a toggle to restore all modes to the menu.  The inverse toggle is "Show fewer modes."


Capturing Log data

Fldigi has a built in logbook.  You can request to be prompted whenever there is an unsaved entry in the qso log area.  You can also elect to whether to clear all of the qso fields when the log is saved or to leave them intact.  Auto-fill Country and Azimuth uses the data found in the file "cnty.dat" that you should download and place in the fldigi default folder.  You can force the callsign field to be upper case independent of capture or keyboard entry.  You enter your default Transmit Power which is used for the logbook record.

Fldigi has various ways to transfer data in the Rx panel to the qso logging fields.  The default is to use a Shift-Left-Click paradigm.  You can also use a double click method if you prefer.  The Shift-Left-Click will still function.  Each data item is considered to be a single word normally delimited by the space, tab or end-of-line character.  You can add word delimiter characters in the designated text box.  The default is to add *-,.; to the normal delimiters.  This is a useful tool for extracting contest exchange data.  The exchange might be RST, STATE and NAME.  The station being worked might send this as 599-NJ-Bozo.  Double clicking on the 599 NJ and Bozo would treat each as a separate word.

If you check the "Show callsign tooltips in received text" then the Rx text area will popup an information box whenever the mouse is held over a callsign for more than 2 seconds.  The popup will look like one of the following:



The data is derived by parsing the callsign and referral to both the logbook and the "cty.dat" file.  If the station was previously worked the operator's name and azimuth/distance will be computed from the logbook gridsquare entry (Loc).  Otherwise the azimuth/distance is computed from the data in the cty.dat file.

This file is maintained by, and can be downloaded from the following web site:

http://www.country-files.com/

Download the file and put it in your fldigi default files folder.

You can elect to have the RST out preset to 599 after you clear the QSO entry fields.