SYMBOLS.TXT       APRS DISPLAY SYMBOLS                         Copyright 99
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Document version: 8.4.0
Document dated:   28 Apr 99
Author(s):        Bob Bruninga, WB4APR <bruninga@nadn.navy.mil>
ABSTRACT
SYMBOLS.TXT       Details of all APRS display symbols. (ICONS)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The character after the latitude "N/S" in an APRS position report is a TABLE
character and the character following the longitude "E/W" is the APRS symbol
character.  The TABLE character selects one of two symbol tables or may be
used as a numeric overlay over some symbols as follows:

        TABLE    RESULT            
         /       Primary   symbol Table  (Mostly stations)
         \       Alternate symbol table  (Mostly Objects)
         0-9     Alternate OVERLAY symbol with 0-9 overlayed
         A-Z     Alternate OVERLAY symbol with A-Z overlayed
      
For ease of reference we refer to these as the SYMBOL CHARACTERS and
often abbreviate them as "/$" which refers to the Table character "/"
and symbol character "$".

Press F1-S in APRSdos to see these symbols.  Some symbols may have a
numeric overlay character 0-9 or A-Z.  These are shown on the F1-S
display with the numeral "3" overlayed.  These overlayable symbols are:

  CIRCLE, SQUARE, CAR, TRUCK, VAN, DIGIS, GATES
  Civil-Defense(RACES), NWS sites, WX stations, Triangle

SYMBOLS WITH STAND-ALONE GPS TRACKERS:  Stand-alone TNC trackers which
transmit raw GPS have two methods of selecting their symbol.  First, by
the callsign in their UNPROTO TOADDRESS of the form GPSxyz.  The X points
to a subgroup table and the Y is the actual symbol.  Z is an overlay 
character if used.   Secondly, for MIM trackers which cannot set the 
UNPROTO address, there are 15 default SSID's which will translate to 15 
special Icons.

Actually there are four TOCALLS that will provide the same symbol.

   GPSxyz is for stand alone trackers
   SPCxyz is for stand alone trackers at SPECIAL events in SPCL mode
   SYMxyz is for other TNC-only stations such as WX stations

Notice that both the /$ method and GPSxyz method have a one-for-one
corrspondence for all numeric and alphabetic symbols of both upper 
and lower case which should make them easy to remember.  For the GPSxyz 
method, we have broken the PRIMARY and ALTERNATE tables into sub tables
with different names to make them easier to remember.  For example, "/C"
is a CANOE in the PRIMARY table which can be referred to as PC in the 
XYZ format and the "\C" ALTERNATE table symbol is for Coast Guard which 
could also be referred to in the GPSxyz format as AC.   Simillarly, you 
can think  of the lower case symbols /c or \c as being LC for lower case 
C and SC for "secondary" table "c".

The Following Symbol table shows the two types of identifiers for all
APRS ICONS.  THe primary symbols are on the left and the alternate 
table is on the right.  The first column of each is labeled /$ and \$ 
for the primary and alternate tables.  THese are the chacacters you 
will see in an APRS formatted position report.  The XYZ columns are 
for the stand-alone trackers described above.

/$  XYZ BASIC SYMBOL TABLE         \$  XYZ OTHER SYMBOL TABLE (\)
--  --- -------------------------  --  --- ----------------------
/!  BB  Police, Sheriff            \!  OB  EMERGENCY (!)            
/"  BC  reserved  (had been rain)  \"  OC  reserved
/#  BD  DIGI (white center)        \#  OD# NUMBERED STAR (green)
/$  BE  PHONE                      \$  OE  Bank or ATM  (green box) 
/%  BF  DX CLUSTER                 \%  OF 
/&  BG  HF GATEway                 \&  OG# NUMBERED DIAMOND
/'  BH  Small AIRCRAFT (SSID = 7)  \'  OH  Crash site
/(  BI  CLOUDY                     \(  OI  CLOUDY
/)  BJ  avail (Mic moved to m)     \)  OJ                                   
/*  BK  SnowMobile                 \*  OK  SNOW
/+  BL  Red Cross                  \+  OL  Church
/,  BM  Boy Scouts                 \,  OM  Girl Scouts
/-  BN  House QTH (VHF)            \-  ON  House (HF)
/.  BO  X                          \.  OO  Ambiguous Plot (Big Question mark)
//  BP  Dot                        \/  OP

/$  XYZ PRIMARY SYMBOL TABLE       \$  XYZ ALTERNATE SYMBOL TABLE (\)
--  --- -------------------------  --  --- --------------------------
/0  P0  # circle (obsolete)        \0  A0# NUMBERED CIRCLE (OVERLAY)
/1  P1  TBD                        \1  A1
/2  P2  TBD                        \2  A2
/3  P3  TBD                        \3  A3
/4  P4  TBD                        \4  A4
/5  P5  TBD                        \5  A5
/6  P6  TBD                        \6  A6
/7  P7  TBD                        \7  A7
/8  P8  TBD                        \8  A8
/9  P9  TBD                        \9  A9  Gas Station (blue pump)  
/:  MR  FIRE                       \:  NR  Hail                     
/;  MS  Campground                 \;  NS  Park/Picnic area         
/<  MT  Motorcycle     (SSID = 10) \<  NT  ADVISORY
/=  MU  RAILROAD ENGINE            \=  NU
/>  MV  CAR            (SSID = 9)  \>  NV# NUMBERED CAR
/?  MW  SERVER for FIles           \?  NW  INFO Kiosk  (Blue box with ?)
/@  MX  HC FUTURE predict (dot)    \@  NX  HURICANE/Trop-Storm
/A  PA  Aid Station                \A  AA# NUMBERED BOX             
/B  PB  BBS                        \B  AB  Blowing Snow
/C  PC  Canoe                      \C  AC  Coast Guard          
/D  PD                             \D  AD  Drizzle
/E  PE  EYEBALL (Eye catcher)      \E  AE  Smoke
/F  PF                             \F  AF  Freezing rain
/G  PG  Grid Square (6 digit)      \G  AG  Snow Shower                    
/H  PH  HOTEL (blue bed symbol)    \H  AH  Haze                     
/I  PI  Tcp-Ip                     \I  AI  Rain Shower  
/J  PJ                             \J  AJ  Lightening
/K  PK  School                     \K  AK  Kenwood              
/L  PL  avail                      \L  AL  Lighthouse                     
/M  PM  MacAPRS                    \M  AM  
/N  PN  NTS Station                \N  AN  Navigation Buoy          
/O  PO  BALLOON        (SSID = 11) \O  AO 
/P  PP  Police                     \P  AP  Parking                    
/Q  PQ  TBD                        \Q  AQ  QUAKE                       
/R  PR  REC. VEHICLE   (SSID = 13) \R  AR  Restaurant                   
/S  PS  SHUTTLE                    \S  AS  Satellite/Pacsat
/T  PT  SSTV                       \T  AT  Thunderstorm        
/U  PU  BUS            (SSID = 2)  \U  AU  SUNNY                       
/V  PV  ATV                        \V  AV  VORTAC Nav Aid              
/W  PW  National WX Service Site   \W  AW  NUMBERED NWS site (NWS options)
/X  PX  HELO           (SSID = 6)  \X  AX  Pharmacy Rx
/Y  PY  YACHT (sail)   (SSID = 5)  \Y  AY
/Z  PZ  WinAPRS                    \Z  AZ
/[  HS  Jogger                     \[  DS  Wall Cloud                  
/\  HT  TRIANGLE   (DF)            \/  DT
/]  HU  PBBS                       \]  DU
/^  HV  LARGE AIRCRAFT             \^  DV# NUMBERED Aircraft
/_  HW  WEATHER Station (blue)     \_  DW  NUMBERED WX site (green digi)
/`  HX  Dish Antenna               \`  DX  Rain       

/$  XYZ LOWER CASE SYMBOL TABLE    \$  XYZ SECONDARY SYMBOL TABLE (\)
--  --- -------------------------  --  --- --------------------------
/a  LA  AMBULANCE     (SSID = 1)   \a  SA  ARRL ARES etc
/b  LB  BIKE          (SSID = 4)   \b  SB  Blowing Dust/Sand
/c  LC  tbd                        \c  SC  NUMBERED Civil Defense (RACES)
/d  LD  Dual Garage (Fire dept)    \d  SD  DX spot by callsign
/e  LE  HORSE (equestrian)         \e  SE  Sleet
/f  LF  FIRE TRUCK    (SSID = 3)   \f  SF  Funnel Cloud                
/g  LG  Glider                     \g  SG  Gale Flags                     
/h  LH  HOSPITAL                   \h  SH  HAM store
/i  LI  IOTA (islands on the air)  \i  SI  Indoor BOXn digipeater (w overlay)
/j  LJ  JEEP          (SSID-12)    \j  SJ  WorkZone (Steam Shovel)
/k  LK  TRUCK         (SSID = 14)  \k  SK
/l  LL  avail                      \l  SL  Area Locations (box,circles,etc)
/m  LM  Mic-Repeater               \m  SM  Value Signpost (3 digit display)   
/n  LN  Node                       \n  SN# NUMBERED TRIANGLE         
/o  LO  EOC                        \o  SO  small circle                    
/p  LP  ROVER (puppy)              \p  SP  Partly Cloudy            
/q  LQ  GRID SQ shown above 128 m  \q  SQ
/r  LR  ANTENNA                    \r  SR  Restrooms                
/s  LS  SHIP (pwr boat)   SSID-8)  \s  SS# NUMBERED SHIP/boat (top view)
/t  LT  TRUCK STOP                 \t  ST  Tornado                  
/u  LU  TRUCK (18 wheeler)         \u  SU# NUMBERED TRUCK
/v  LV  VAN           (SSID = 15)  \v  SV# NUMBERED Van
/w  LW  WATER station              \w  SW  Flooding                 
/x  LX  xAPRS (Unix)               \x  SX                                  
/y  LY  YAGI @ QTH                 \y  SY
/z  LZ                             \z  SZ
/{  J1                             \{  Q1  Fog
/|  J2  reserved (Stream Switch)   \|  Q2
/}  J3                             \}  Q3
/~  J3  reserved (Stream Switch)   \~  Q4

AREA SYMBOLS!  You can define BOX/CIRCLE/LINE or TRIANGLE areas in all
colors, either open or filled in, any size from 60 feet to 100 miles. 
Simply move the cursor to the location, press HOME, move the cursor to the
lower right corner of the AREA and hit INPUT-ADD-OBJECTS-AREA.  Enter
the type of area, and color.  NOTE that AREA shapes can only be defined
by selecting the upper left corner first, then the lower right second. 
The line is an exception.  It is still top to bottom, but the lower point
can be to the left of the beginning point.  Further, in the line option
you may specify a "width" either side of the central line.

   These AREAS are useful for real-time events such as for a search-and-
rescue, or adding a special ROAD or ROUTE for a special event.  Be cautious
in using the color fill option, since all other objects in that area that
occur earlier in your PLIST will be obscured.  AND you do NOT know the
order of other stations P-lists. 

AREAS FORMAT: The new format for specifying special areas uses the CSE/SPD
field to provide the additional information as follows:

$CSE/SPD...  Normal Field description
lTyy/Cxx...  Where:  l (lower case L) is the symbol for "LOCATION SHAPES"
                     T is the Type of shape:  0=circle, 1=line, 2=elipse
                                              3=triangle 4=box
                                              add 5 to these => color-in
                     C is the color from 0 to 15.  For colors geater than
                       9, the / is replaced with a 1.
                    yy is the sqroot of the latitude offset in 1/100ths
                    xx is the sqroot of the longitude offset
                       
These offsets are ALWAYS positive to the right and down, except for the
special case of a lower right quadrant line, these are given the Type of
6 and are drawn down and to the left.

HURRICANES, TROPICAL STORMS and DEPRESSIONS:  These symbols will be
differentiated by colors red, yellos, and blue.  Additionally a radius
of Huricane and also Tropical storm winds will also be shown if the
format detailed in WX.txt is used.

SYMBOLS ON MAPS!  APRS can also be permanently embedded in maps.  To embed
a symbol in a map, simply make the first four characters of the label be a
# followed by the dual symbol character, followed by a hex number from 1
to F that indicates the color for the symbol.  The remaining 8 characters
can be used for a conventional label at the same location.  An example are
the VORTAC nav-aids in Alaska.  The Anchorage VORTAC appears as ANC on all
maps below 128 miles. The label entry is #\VFANC,LAT,LONG,128.

VALUE SIGNPOSTS:  Signposts display as a yellow box with a 1 to 3 letter 
overlay on them.  You specify the 1-3 letter overlay by enclosing them 
in braces in the comment field.  Thus a VALUE Signpost with {55} would 
appear as a sign with 55 on it.  This was designed for posting the speed 
of traffic past speed measuring devices.  They can be used for any purpose.  
But to avoid cluttering the map, they ONLY appear at 8 miles and below 
AND they do not show any callsign or name.  Only the yellow box and the 
3 letters.  Select them from the OBJECT menu under VALUE...
