Caution: EchoStation Users

K1CWB writes "A word of caution to anyone using the new computer based repeater controller, called "EchoStation" by K1RFD. The program is great, but it has some flaws...



If the program crashes, which it has done to me, on a clean machine, it will leave the transmitter keyed up until user intervention is taken to close the program.



If CTRL+ALT+DEL is pressed on the computer running the software, and the repeater is transmitting, it will lock the transmitter on permanently.



Why does it do this? The pins in the COM (RS232) port are pulled high to tell the radio to transmit, but are never put back to low until the program tells the pins to go low.



I have already had the program leave my transmitter keyed up several hours from a crash, and the transmitter didn't recover from one of them, needless to say!



So, be carefull if you plan on using this program, and I am hoping the author will create a watchdog, or a warning with his software explaining this problem.



If you are using the program, make sure you use a hardware time-out-timer on your transmitter, to save it, otherwise, be prepared to loose your transmitter."