Echolink Findings – Memory Bug

Since I’ve had the Echolink relay up and running for a few months now I’ve found a few things out over this time. One being that the Echolink software is very much more demanding than I originally expected. Processor isn’t very critical but the amount of RAM the computer has seems to be very important. I experienced issues where the Echolink software would use up all available RAM when it was running with 4GB however once upgraded to 8GB the issue completely went away.

The other memory issue is when the system loses it’s connection to the internet. If the internet is out for several hours the Echolink software will again use all available RAM until the system is essentially locked up. This has only happened twice since building the relay and both times were the same where the computer could not be connected to remotely.

I’m going to submit this as a bug to the Echolink developers and see what they have to say. If you’re running an Echolink relay or link watch out for this issue since it can make it impossible to get the relay or link back up until you have physical access to the system. I’m also going to look into writing a VB Script that will close the Echolink software if the internet connection has dropped for a determined amount of time.