diff --git a/Configuration.cpp b/Configuration.cpp
index ecf4c5ef1..cce8db23c 100644
--- a/Configuration.cpp
+++ b/Configuration.cpp
@@ -1015,6 +1015,9 @@ Configuration::impl::impl (Configuration * self, QNetworkAccessManager * network
     });
   lotw_users_.set_local_file_path (writeable_data_dir_.absoluteFilePath ("lotw-user-activity.csv"));
 
+  // load the dictionary if it exists
+  lotw_users_.load (ui_->LotW_CSV_URL_line_edit->text (), false);
+
   //
   // validation
   ui_->callsign_line_edit->setValidator (new CallsignValidator {this});
@@ -1073,6 +1076,7 @@ Configuration::impl::impl (Configuration * self, QNetworkAccessManager * network
   //
   fill_port_combo_box (ui_->PTT_port_combo_box);
   ui_->PTT_port_combo_box->addItem ("CAT");
+  ui_->PTT_port_combo_box->setItemData (ui_->PTT_port_combo_box->count () - 1, "Delegate to proxy CAT service", Qt::ToolTipRole);
 
   //
   // setup hooks to keep audio channels aligned with devices
@@ -2163,7 +2167,7 @@ void Configuration::impl::on_rescan_log_push_button_clicked (bool /*clicked*/)
 
 void Configuration::impl::on_LotW_CSV_fetch_push_button_clicked (bool /*checked*/)
 {
-  lotw_users_.load (ui_->LotW_CSV_URL_line_edit->text (), true);
+  lotw_users_.load (ui_->LotW_CSV_URL_line_edit->text (), true, true);
   ui_->LotW_CSV_fetch_push_button->setEnabled (false);
 }
 
@@ -2927,9 +2931,15 @@ void Configuration::impl::fill_port_combo_box (QComboBox * cb)
           // remove possibly confusing Windows device path (OK because
           // it gets added back by Hamlib)
           cb->addItem (p.systemLocation ().remove (QRegularExpression {R"(^\\\\\.\\)"}));
+          auto tip = QString {"%1 %2 %3"}.arg (p.manufacturer ()).arg (p.serialNumber ()).arg (p.description ()).trimmed ();
+          if (tip.size ())
+            {
+              cb->setItemData (cb->count () - 1, tip, Qt::ToolTipRole);
+            }
         }
     }
-  cb->addItem("USB");
+  cb->addItem ("USB");
+  cb->setItemData (cb->count () - 1, "Custom USB device", Qt::ToolTipRole);
   cb->setEditText (current_text);
 }
 
diff --git a/LotWUsers.cpp b/LotWUsers.cpp
index 877e70549..fd1b5746c 100644
--- a/LotWUsers.cpp
+++ b/LotWUsers.cpp
@@ -42,11 +42,12 @@ public:
   {
   }
 
-  void load (QString const& url, bool forced_fetch)
+  void load (QString const& url, bool fetch, bool forced_fetch)
   {
-    auto csv_file_name = csv_file_.fileName ();
     abort ();                   // abort any active download
-    if (!QFileInfo::exists (csv_file_name) || forced_fetch)
+    auto csv_file_name = csv_file_.fileName ();
+    auto exists = QFileInfo::exists (csv_file_name);
+    if (fetch && (!exists || forced_fetch))
       {
         current_url_.setUrl (url);
         if (current_url_.isValid () && !QSslSocket::supportsSsl ())
@@ -58,8 +59,11 @@ public:
       }
     else
       {
-        // load the database asynchronously
-        future_load_ = std::async (std::launch::async, &LotWUsers::impl::load_dictionary, this, csv_file_name);
+        if (exists)
+          {
+            // load the database asynchronously
+            future_load_ = std::async (std::launch::async, &LotWUsers::impl::load_dictionary, this, csv_file_name);
+          }
       }
   }
 
@@ -254,9 +258,9 @@ void LotWUsers::set_local_file_path (QString const& path)
   m_->csv_file_.setFileName (path);
 }
 
-void LotWUsers::load (QString const& url, bool force_download)
+void LotWUsers::load (QString const& url, bool fetch, bool force_download)
 {
-  m_->load (url, force_download);
+  m_->load (url, fetch, force_download);
 }
 
 void LotWUsers::set_age_constraint (qint64 uploaded_since_days)
diff --git a/LotWUsers.hpp b/LotWUsers.hpp
index e088b151e..238c57402 100644
--- a/LotWUsers.hpp
+++ b/LotWUsers.hpp
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@ public:
 
   void set_local_file_path (QString const&);
 
-  Q_SLOT void load (QString const& url, bool force_download = false);
+  Q_SLOT void load (QString const& url, bool fetch = true, bool force_download = false);
   Q_SLOT void set_age_constraint (qint64 uploaded_since_days);
 
   // returns true if the specified call sign 'call' has uploaded their
diff --git a/TraceFile.cpp b/TraceFile.cpp
index 2329b425f..87d4a82bb 100644
--- a/TraceFile.cpp
+++ b/TraceFile.cpp
@@ -3,6 +3,8 @@
 #include <stdexcept>
 
 #include <QDebug>
+#include <QMutex>
+#include <QMutexLocker>
 #include <QString>
 #include <QFile>
 #include <QTextStream>
@@ -28,10 +30,11 @@ private:
   QTextStream * original_stream_;
   QtMessageHandler original_handler_;
   static QTextStream * current_stream_;
+  static QMutex mutex_;
 };
 
 QTextStream * TraceFile::impl::current_stream_;
-
+QMutex TraceFile::impl::mutex_;
 
 // delegate to implementation class
 TraceFile::TraceFile (QString const& trace_file_path)
@@ -73,7 +76,10 @@ TraceFile::impl::~impl ()
 void TraceFile::impl::message_handler (QtMsgType type, QMessageLogContext const& context, QString const& msg)
 {
   Q_ASSERT_X (current_stream_, "TraceFile:message_handler", "no stream to write to");
-  *current_stream_ << qFormatLogMessage (type, context, msg) << endl;
+  {
+    QMutexLocker lock {&mutex_}; // thread safety - serialize writes to the trace file
+    *current_stream_ << qFormatLogMessage (type, context, msg) << endl;
+  }
 
   if (QtFatalMsg == type)
     {
diff --git a/doc/common/links.adoc b/doc/common/links.adoc
index b81743fc4..85fdb1064 100644
--- a/doc/common/links.adoc
+++ b/doc/common/links.adoc
@@ -91,7 +91,7 @@ d). Edit lines as needed. Keeping them in alphabetic order help see dupes.
 :sourceforge-jtsdk: https://sourceforge.net/projects/jtsdk[SourceForge JTSDK]
 :ubuntu_sdk: https://launchpad.net/~ubuntu-sdk-team/+archive/ppa[Ubuntu SDK Notice]
 :win_openssl_packages: https://slproweb.com/products/Win32OpenSSL.html[Windows OpenSSL Packages]
-:win32_openssl: https://slproweb.com/download/Win32OpenSSL_Light-1_0_2q.exe[Win32 OpenSSL Lite Package]
+:win32_openssl: https://slproweb.com/download/Win32OpenSSL_Light-1_0_2r.exe[Win32 OpenSSL Lite Package]
 :writelog: https://writelog.com/[Writelog]
 :wsjt_yahoo_group: https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/wsjtgroup/info[WSJT Group]
 :wsjtx: http://physics.princeton.edu/pulsar/K1JT/wsjtx.html[WSJT-X]
diff --git a/doc/user_guide/en/faq.adoc b/doc/user_guide/en/faq.adoc
index 9240f3436..27751a493 100644
--- a/doc/user_guide/en/faq.adoc
+++ b/doc/user_guide/en/faq.adoc
@@ -95,3 +95,19 @@ QT_QPA_PLATFORMTHEME set to empty (the space after the '=' character
 is necessary):
 
  QT_QPA_PLATFORMTHEME= wsjtx
+
+I am running _WSJT-X_ on Linux using a KDE desktop. Why does *Menu->Configurations* misbehave?::
+
+The  KDE  development  team  have  added code  to  Qt  that  tries  to
+automatically add  shortcut accelerator keys to  all buttons including
+pop up menu buttons, this interferes with operation of the application
+(many other Qt applications have  similar issues with KDE). Until this
+is fixed  by the KDE team  you must disable this  misfeature. Edit the
+file ~/.config/kdeglobals and add a section containing the following:
+
+ [Development]
+ AutoCheckAccelerators=false
+
++
+See https://stackoverflow.com/a/32711483 and
+https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=337491 for more details.