Timeout timer

[hp1coo]

Hi,

Do you think is feasible to have a timeout timer to turn off transmitters after certain amount of time (for example 3 minutes) to avoid a transmitter damage due to continuous transmit?

Thanks,

[mmiller7]

My solution to this is (and any other automatic control setups) is I program my TX radio to have a timeout of 2-3 minutes. My concern is if there is a bug in the controller code or somehow the processor on the Arduino (or whatever the controller is) the controller may fail; by having the radio's firmware control the timout limit it ensures it will still shut down even if the controller fails. All my radios and the ones I have seen (Yaesu, ICOM, TYT, Baofeng/Pofung) support a "timeout" threshold built into the radio where it will stop transmit until it is un-keyed and re-keyed.

When I moved to using a Raspberry Pi this has actually saved me when high RF caused the controller to crash and it locked up in the "keyed" state but the radio's built in firmware properly shut down the transmitter when it hit the timeout threshold.

Is there a particular radio you're using that lacks this feature that it needs to be in the controller logic?