For those having router and Windows firewall issues, Here's what I ended up having to do to get mine working right. This will be for Windows 10, so YMMV. The router info SHOULD work for any router:
In your Windows Defender firewall, make sure that EchoLink has permissions for outbound AND inbound connections. In the System Security section of Control Panel, go to "Allow apps to communicate through Windows Defender Firewall" and make sure EchoLink, EchoLink 5198 and EchoLink 5199 are checked off for pulic AND Private. This SHOULD have happened when the program was first installed when you were asked for permissions to access. If it didn't, the aforementioned changes should cure it. If not, then you can always delete and reinstall it.
ROUTER:
Just about every router uses the same IP address to log in, which should be 192.168.1.1 The login is usually "admin" and the password is left blank. Note that there is a possibility that your ISP has a login and pass, but not very likely. If they do, then you'll need to contact your customer support and get it.
Once you're logged in, go to the gaming setup area for ports (this will be in different areas/tabs for different routers) and add ports 5198 and 5199 to the UDP permissions so your router will allow inbound data.
The issue I was having turned out to be the local IP address for my laptop, which was easily changed by looking at my network paths in the router settings. You need to make sure the IP's match.
I THINK I covered most of it. If anyone who's got better IT smarts wants to chime in, add or correct anything, please feel free. This was just what ended up working for me.