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Version 1.73 Copyright © 1997 Link Communications Inc. 1/18/97
beeps just by recalling the appropriate snapshot. The next day you set up the other repeater port
in a similar way, with two different courtesy beeps. Now you start having problems.
Whenever you change the courtesy beep on one repeater, it messes up the courtesy beep on the
other repeater as well, since everything gets stored in one big snapshot macro. You can't make
a snapshot macro that does just what you want; it always restores a whole configuration at
once.
The solution to the dilemma illustrated above is to use multiple command macros that do
exactly what you want them to and nothing else. If you want a macro to connect you to Link A
and not to Link B, make a multiple command macro to disconnect your repeater from Link B
and connect it to Link A. Executing this macro will not interfere with anything else that is
going on in the controller like a snapshot would.
Limits on Macros:
Since one macro can call another macro, you may wonder if macro 300 could call 301, which
could call 302, which could call 303, etc. until you had called 100 macros or so. The answer is
not quite. There are two limits. One is that if the total time it takes the processor to decode and
execute the whole chained macro sequence is more than 1/2 second or so, the controller may
reset itself. It is unlikely that you will ever reach this limit (it would probably take more than
20 macros all hooked together to even come close to this limit). The other limit restricts how
deeply the macros can be nested (called from another macro). This is not a limit on how many
commands can be called inside of a macro. It is not a limit on how many macros can be
executed from one macro. It is a limit on one macro calling another macro that calls another
macro that calls another macro. You can think of it as a limit on how deep an outline can go.
For example, you execute macro 300. It calls Command 038, macro 301, and Command 000.
This can be shown as the level with roman numerals:
I Call Command 038
II Call macro 301
III Call Command 000 and connect port 1 and 3
Macro 301 could contain Command 007 and call macro 302. Since macro 301 is called from
macro 300, it is nested one level deeper, to level 2. This could be shown as capital letters in the
outline:
I Call Command 038
II Call macro 301
A Call Command 007
B Call macro 302
III Call Command 000 and connect port 1 and 3
Macro 302 could call macros 303, 304 and 305. Macro 302 is nested one level deeper than 301,
so it is at level 3.
I Call Command 038
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