Function too complex

For starters, I think you should get rid of all those casts. They're either superfluous
or dangerous, but they're quite certainly not going to help you with anything.

I second the suggestion that you really should turn this initializer macro into a function.

All those BcdCharToInt() results multiplied with powers of ten strongly suggest
you're doing yourself a disfavour in that area, too. You need a Bcd4CharsToInt(),
and it should be function, not a macro.

Putting it all together, you're abusing macros, to the point of overstressing the compiler.

[Error message...]
But it doesn't seem to apply to the above code.

What ever made you think it didn't? Get yourself a preprocessor listing for
this source file, open it in an editor window, look at it, and then say that again...

For starters, I think you should get rid of all those casts. They're either superfluous
or dangerous, but they're quite certainly not going to help you with anything.

I second the suggestion that you really should turn this initializer macro into a function.

All those BcdCharToInt() results multiplied with powers of ten strongly suggest
you're doing yourself a disfavour in that area, too. You need a Bcd4CharsToInt(),
and it should be function, not a macro.

Putting it all together, you're abusing macros, to the point of overstressing the compiler.

[Error message...]
But it doesn't seem to apply to the above code.

What ever made you think it didn't? Get yourself a preprocessor listing for
this source file, open it in an editor window, look at it, and then say that again...

Take a look at Andy's Handy Hint for Debugging Preprocessor Problems:
http://www.8052.com/forum/read.phtml?id=29152

Note that the preprocessor listing is itself a 'C' source file - so you can get the compiler to compile it. This might pinpoint the error a bit more closely?

I suspect the problem is just the complexity of that huge, huge, expression. When you introduce the intermediate variables, you simply the amount of code in one chunk, which I imagine is why the code starts to compile.

What's the purpose of the "do {} while(0)" in your create macro? Simple curly braces should work as well to introduce a local block.

Also, just as a readability and style nitpick, complicated macros are probably better defined using the backslash to allow them to occupy multiple lines.

#define CreateSatelliteDeliverySystemDescriptor(descr, freq, orb, mod, polar, sr, fec)     {                                                                                      xCreateNode (((struct SatelliteDeliverySystemDescriptor *)descr), NULL);                                      ((struct SatelliteDeliverySystemDescriptor *)descr)->Tag = DESCR_SAT_DEL_SYS;                   ((struct SatelliteDeliverySystemDescriptor *)descr)->Frequency = freq;                          ((struct SatelliteDeliverySystemDescriptor *)descr)->OrbitalPosition = orb;                     ((struct SatelliteDeliverySystemDescriptor *)descr)->Modulation = mod;                          ((struct SatelliteDeliverySystemDescriptor *)descr)->Polarization = polar;                      ((struct SatelliteDeliverySystemDescriptor *)descr)->SymbolRate = sr;                           ((struct SatelliteDeliverySystemDescriptor *)descr)->FEC = fec;                                 }

too comples to compile
how about "too complex to rtead"

Why does "real C" programmers insist on cramming more than a human can understand into a single statement.

As far as I can see this can easiy be broken up in 4-10 understandable statements.

Is there really a reason to make it as tough as posssible on the next guy/gal assigned maintenance of the code?

Erik

"What's the purpose of the "do {} while(0)" in your create macro?
Simple curly braces should work as well to introduce a local block."

Not quite. Consider the use of a function-like macro (i.e., terminated with a semicolon)
in an if/else clause expanding to the curly brace from only. Please refer to:

http://www.eskimo.com/~scs/C-faq/q10.4.html

The do/while(0) method is the safe way to define a function-like (multi-statement) macro.