History
In the early days of radio, an operator, technician or electrical engineer was required to attend to a transmitter at any time it was operating or capable of operating. Any condition (such as distorted or off-frequency transmission) which could interfere with other radio services would require immediate manual intervention; facilities also had to be monitored for any fault conditions which could impair the transmitted signal or cause damage to the transmitting equipment.
As technology improved, transmitters became more reliable, and electromechanical means of checking and later correcting problems became commonplace. Regulations eventually caught up with these advances, and radio stations (both broadcast and non-broadcast, such as amateur radio repeaters) were allowed to run unattended provided that there was such an ATS installed.
Read more about this topic: Automatic Transmission System
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