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Differences between symbol indexes

There are three symbol index files found on aprs.org:

http://www.aprs.org/symbols/symbols.txt http://www.aprs.org/symbols/symbolsX.txt http://www.aprs.org/symbols/symbols-new.txt

The actual de-facto standard is the WA8LMF icon set:

http://wa8lmf.net/aprs/APRS_symbols.htm

Useful archive links for historical diffs: https://web.archive.org/web/20040301000000*/http://web.usna.navy.mil/~bruninga/aprs/symbolsX.txt

There are of course differences between them since not one of them is a single source of truth on the matter of APRS symbols, and symbols-new is often modified with little discussion.

symbols.txt to symbolsX.txt

  • /( Changed from CLOUDY to Mobile Satellite Station
  • /) added as Wheelchair (handicapped)
  • // changed from dot to red dot
  • /0 - /9 are listed as obsolete but all still supported as circled numbers
  • /F added as Farm Vehicle (tractor)
  • /[ generalized from jogger to human
  • /] changed from PBBS to MAIL/post office
  • /c added as Incident Command Post
  • /r changed from antenna to repeater
  • \# changed from numbered star to overlay digi
  • \% added as power plant
  • \& changed from numbered diamond to I-gate
  • \' changed from crash site to incident site
  • \) added as Firenet MEO, MODIS Earth Obs.
  • \* SNOW removed
  • \/ added as Waypoint Destination
  • \8 added as 802.11 network node
  • \: Hail removed
  • \A changed from NUMBERED BOX to BOX DTMF & RFID & XO
  • \B Blowing snow removed
  • \D changed from Drizzle to DEPOTS
  • \F Freezing rain removed
  • \G Snow shower removed
  • \H changed from Haze to Haze + hazards
  • \J Lightening removed
  • \K changed from Kenwood to Kenwood HT
  • \M added as MARS
  • \O added as Overlay Balloon
  • \Y added as Radios and devices
  • \[ changed from Wall Cloud to Wall cloud + humans with overlay
  • \\ changed added as GPS symbol (and changed XYZ code)
  • \b Blowing dust removed
  • \h changed from ham store to store
  • \i changed from BOXn digipeater to BOX or point of Interest
  • \k added as SUV/ATV/etc
  • \p Partly Cloudy removed
  • \x added as Wreck or Obstruction
  • \y added as Skywarn
  • \z added as OVERLAYED Shelter
  • \{ Fog removed

Issues with both:

  • /z is listed as TBD, but widely used as a shelter. It was originally listed as a shelter on 2003-10-29, and removed on 2004-05-06
  • \_ is noted in both as (green digi) which is incorrect

The \I and \backtick symbols collected a lot of the other weather events as overlays.

symbolsX.txt to symbols-new.txt

At this point we move from symbolsX.txt which seems to be the current primary and secondary tables (with some overlays scattered in) to the symbols-new.txt file, which only deals with overlays.

  • \O changed from Balloon to ROCKET

  • \h changed from store back to ham store. Hh listed as Home Depot instead of ham store

  • H- changed from House w/ HF to Hydro-powered House

  • \K and KY now both Kenwood

  • /z still not defined as shelter, but often shown as one in icon sets despite only being defined for <1 year in 2003/2004.