A remotely programmable device includes a message store for receiving messages over a radiolink from a controller and forwarding the messages to a local application resident in the device, writable registers for controlling operation of the device, a command interpreter for interpreting commands embedded in thessages to write data to the register, and a lock for inhibiting writing of data to the registers. The local application is responsive to an authorization code embedded in the messages to release the lock and thereby allow writing of data to the registers.