diff --git a/include/hamlib/rig.h b/include/hamlib/rig.h
index 4afde0d4f..7266bd797 100644
--- a/include/hamlib/rig.h
+++ b/include/hamlib/rig.h
@@ -2896,11 +2896,11 @@ rig_need_debug HAMLIB_PARAMS((enum rig_debug_level_e debug_level));
 #define DEBUGMSGSAVE_SIZE 24000
 extern HAMLIB_EXPORT_VAR(char) debugmsgsave[DEBUGMSGSAVE_SIZE];  // last debug msg
 extern HAMLIB_EXPORT_VAR(char) debugmsgsave2[DEBUGMSGSAVE_SIZE];  // last-1 debug msg
+extern HAMLIB_EXPORT_VAR(char) debugmsgsave3[DEBUGMSGSAVE_SIZE];  // last-2 debug msg
 #ifndef __cplusplus
 #ifdef __GNUC__
 // doing the debug macro with a dummy sprintf allows gcc to check the format string
-//#define rig_debug(debug_level,fmt,...) { char xxxbuf[16384]="";snprintf(xxxbuf,sizeof(xxxbuf),fmt,__VA_ARGS__);rig_debug(debug_level,fmt,##__VA_ARGS__); }
-#define rig_debug(debug_level,fmt,...) do { strcpy(debugmsgsave2, debugmsgsave);snprintf(debugmsgsave,sizeof(debugmsgsave),fmt,__VA_ARGS__);rig_debug(debug_level,fmt,##__VA_ARGS__); } while(0);
+#define rig_debug(debug_level,fmt,...) do { strcpy(debugmsgsave3, debugmsgsave2);strcpy(debugmsgsave2, debugmsgsave);snprintf(debugmsgsave,sizeof(debugmsgsave),fmt,__VA_ARGS__);rig_debug(debug_level,fmt,##__VA_ARGS__); } while(0);
 #endif
 #endif
 extern HAMLIB_EXPORT(void)
diff --git a/src/rig.c b/src/rig.c
index 2e48d4239..0a807bd8b 100644
--- a/src/rig.c
+++ b/src/rig.c
@@ -293,6 +293,7 @@ int foreach_opened_rig(int (*cfunc)(RIG *, rig_ptr_t), rig_ptr_t data)
  */
 char debugmsgsave[DEBUGMSGSAVE_SIZE] = "No message";
 char debugmsgsave2[DEBUGMSGSAVE_SIZE] = "No message";
+char debugmsgsave3[DEBUGMSGSAVE_SIZE] = "No message";
 
 const char *HAMLIB_API rigerror(int errnum)
 {
@@ -310,8 +311,8 @@ const char *HAMLIB_API rigerror(int errnum)
 
     if (*p == '\n') { *p = 0; }
 
-    snprintf(msg, sizeof(msg), "%.80s\n%.15000s%.15000s", rigerror_table[errnum],
-             debugmsgsave2, debugmsgsave);
+    snprintf(msg, sizeof(msg), "%.80s\n%.15000s%.15000s%.15000s", rigerror_table[errnum],
+             debugmsgsave3,debugmsgsave2, debugmsgsave);
     return msg;
 }