SYMBOLS.txt 7.9.7            APRS DISPLAY SYMBOLS

The character after the latitude "N" in an APRS position report is a TABLE
character and the character following the longitude "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-J     Alternate OVERLAY symbol with A-J overlayed (!* also)
        
Press F1-S in APRSdos to see these symbols.  The numeral "3" is overlayed 
on the following symbols which accept the alphanumeric OVERLAYS.  THese 
will only show on APRS78 or later.

  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 three alternate methods of selecting their symbol.
First, by the following default SSIDs:

  SSID  SYMBOL               SSID  SYMBOL
  ----  -------------        ----  ------------------
  -0    Dot                  -8    Ship (power boats)
  -1    Ambulance            -9    Car
  -2    Bus                  -10   Motorcycle
  -3    FireTruck            -11   Balloons
  -4    Bike                 -12   Jeep
  -5    Yacht (sail)         -13   RV
  -6    HELO                 -14   Truck
  -7    Aircraft             -15   Van

Secondly, you may indicate the desired symbol character surrounded by
braces {/$} as the first 4 characters of the TNC BText.  NOTE:  this 
method works with old versions of APRS but is being phased out in 
future code.  The disadvantage is that the symbol is not displayed 
until AFTER at least one BText is received.  The old {$} for only the 
primary table was also supported.

THIRD and BEST, you may now specify the symbol in the TO address of your 
packet using the TO CALLSIGN of GPSxyz.  This is new in APRS797 
and has the advantage of instant recognition on receipt.  The X points 
to a subgrouping and the Y is the actual symbol.  Z is an overlay
character if used.  Notice that this method results in a one-for-one 
correspondence for all numeric and alphabetic symbols of both upper and 
lower case.  The symbol table has been expanded to include these XYZ 
letters for all symbols even though only a very small number will actually
be used for GPS trackers.


/$  XYZ PRIMARY SYMBOL TABLE       \$  XYZ ALTERNATE WX 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  AIRCRAFT (small)           \'  OH  Crash site
/(  BI  CLOUDY                     \(  OI  CLOUDY
/)  BJ  avail (Mic moved to m)     \)  OJ                                   
/*  BK  avail (was SNOW)           \*  OK  SNOW
/+  BL  Red Cross                  \+  OL  Church
/,  BM  reverse L shape            \,  OM
/-  BN  House QTH                  \-  ON
/.  BO  X                          \.  OO
//  BP  Dot                        \/  OP
/0  P0  Numeral circle             \0  A0# NUMBERED CIRCLE
/1  P1  Numeral circle             \1  A1
/2  P2  Numeral circle             \2  A2
/3  P3  Numeral circle             \3  A3
/4  P4  Numeral circle             \4  A4
/5  P5  Numeral circle             \5  A5
/6  P6  Numeral circle             \6  A6
/7  P7  Numeral circle             \7  A7
/8  P8  Numeral circle             \8  A8
/9  P9  Numeral circle             \9  A9  Gas Station (blue pump)  
/:  MR  FIRE                       \:  NR  Hail                     
/;  MS  Campground                 \;  NS  Park/Picnic area          <== New
/<  MT  Motorcycle                 \<  NT  ADVISORY
/=  MU  RAILROAD ENGINE            \=  NU
/>  MV  CAR (SSID-9)               \>  NV# NUMBERED CAR
/?  MW  SERVER for FIles           \?  NW  INFO Kiosk  (Blue box with ? in it)
/@  MX  was hurricane =>           \@  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               <== New
/D  PD                             \D  AD  Drizzle
/E  PE                             \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 
/L  PL  avail                      \L  AL  Lighthouse                     
/M  PM  MacAPRS                    \M  AM  
/N  PN  NTS Station                \N  AN  Navigation Buoy          
/O  PO  BALLOON                    \O  AO 
/P  PP  Police                     \P  AP  Parking                    
/Q  PQ  TBD                        \Q  AQ  QUAKE                       
/R  PR  RECREATIONAL VEHICLE       \R  AR  Restaurant                   
/S  PS  SHUTTLE                    \S  AS  Satellite/Pacsat
/T  PT  THUNDERSTORM               \T  AT  Thunderstorm    
/U  PU  BUS                        \U  AU  SUNNY                       
/V  PV  TBD                        \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       
/a  LA  AMBULANCE                  \a  SA  ARRL ARES etc
/b  LB  BIKE                       \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                 \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
/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  MILEPOST with 2 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.

   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.

SUMMARY OF ALL RECENT SYMBOLS CHANGES

1)  Moved all WX symbols to ALTERNATE table but still recognize both
    until primary table symbol is re-used.

2)  In keeping with the idea of using the primary table where possible
    for active stations and the alternate table for OBJECTS, I also
    moved the following to the alternate table (again recognizng
    both until the primary is re-used:
   
    ! Emergency              (/! reused for police station)
    L Lighthouse
    N Navigation Buoy        (/N reused for NTS station)
    Q Quake or bulls eye
    V Vortac
    U sunny  (Sunny was $, but prefer that for ATM or BANK)
    l area Locations
    m Milepost               (/m reused for Mic-Repeater)


          

