APRS SYMBOL OVERLAY and EXTENSION TABLES in APRS 1.2 17 Mar 2021 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ BACKGROUND: Since October 2007, overlay characters (36/symbol) are allowed on all symbols. This allows thousands of uniquely specified symbols instead of the original 188 (94 primary and 94 alternate). But the master symbol document, http://aprs.org/symbols/symbolsX.txt, only has one line per symbol. So this added overlay list below gives us thousands of new symbol codes. 17 Mar 21 Added L& for LORA Igate 24 Jun18: Updated CAR symbols 17 Jun18: Added several overlays for RAIL symbol 03 Apr17: Added Methane Hazard symbol "MH" 13 Feb17: Added Ez = Emergency Power (shelter), Cars: P> = Plugin S> = Solar powered. Moved Ham club C- to Buildings Ch. Added C- to house for combined renewables and added R% Renewable to power plants 18 Oct16: Added G,Y,R for Flood gauges + N for Normal.(on H2O symbol) Added DIGIPEATERS 22 Mar16: Added A0 overlay circle for ALSTAR nodes and V0 for VOIP. Combined echolink and IRLP. P& for PSKmail node. W& for Wires-X (was W0 for WiresII). Ya for Yaesu C4FM repeaters Update 29 Oct 2015: Reorgainized list to Alphabetical Order. + Added many new Balloons (due to lost DoD radar Blimp yesterday) + Confirmed D^ for Drones was already in there since 2014 + Added R^ type aircraft for remotely piloted + Added S^ Solar Powered Aircraft + Noticed all new category \= is availalbe. Had been shown ast APRStt, but that was changed in 2009 to overlay BOX symbols. UPDATES/REVISIONS/CORRECTIONS: 2014 Added numerous OpenAPRS symbol. Changed Da to DSTAR from Dutch ARES. Added Subs to ships and lots of Aircraft overlays. 2013 Added ship overlay Jet Ski. Ham Club as C overlay on House, C- 2011 Added T and 2 overlays for TX 1 and 2 hop IGates Added overlays to (;) Portables Added Radiation Detector (RH) 2010 Byonics requested (BY) and added #A to the table 2009 Added W0 for Yaesu WIRES and APRStt symbol to overlayed BOX (#A) 2008 Added RFID R=, Babystroller B], Radio#Y, skull&Xbones XH DEPRICATION AND MAJOR REVISION: 25 Mar 08 Modified several Alternate Symbol codes for expanded Overlays. The following alternate base symbols were redefined so that the basic symbol could take on dozens of unique overlay definitions: \= - Had been undefined \0 - Several overlays for the numbered Circle \A - (BOX symbol) APRStt(DTMF), RFID users, XO (OLPC) \' - Was Crash Site. Now expanded to be INCIDENT sites \% - is an overlayed Powerplant. See definitions below \H - \H is HAZE but other H overlays are HAZARDs. WH is "H.Waste" \Y - Overlays for Radios and other APRS devices \k - Overlay Special vehicles. A = ATV for example \u - Overlay Trucks. "Tu" is a tanker. "Gu" is a gas truck, etc \< - Advisories may now have overlays \8 - Nodes with overlays. "G8" would be 802.11G \[ - \[ was wall cloud, but overlays are humans. S[ is a skier. \h - Was Ham store, Now Overlays are buildings "Hh" Home Depot, etc. 4 Oct 2007. ORIGINAL EXPANSION to OVERLAYS ON ALL SYMBOLS In April 2007, a proposal to expand the use of overlay bytes for the extension of the APRS symbol set was added to the draft APRS1.2 addendum web page. The following document addresses that proposal: http://aprs.org/symbols/symbols-overlays.txt For details on Upgrading your symbol set, please see the background information on Symbols prepared by Stephen Smith, WA8LMF: www.aprs.org/symbols/symbols-background.txt CONSISTANCY: Since the objective of APRS is consistent, reliable communications at the local level, there has been a hesitance to making significant changes to the APRS symbol set. The Integrity of APRS depends on everyone seeing the same information at the same time. Frequent changes to the symbol sets can actually undermine that integrity and operational utility of APRS and end up with worse outcomes due to miss-communications than the lack of any particular symbol might suggest. OVERLAY HISTORY: When the overlay symbol set was first defined for the original APRS back in 1995, it had the potential to expand the APRS symbol set from the 94 original primary symbols to a secondary set that could each have as many as 36 diffeernt overlays on each of those secondary symbols up to almost 3500 combinations. But some authors then could not easily implement these overlays, except by one-by-one exceptions to their code. For this reason, a compromise was made with those authors and then eventually written into the APRS spec to limit overlays to only a small subset of alternate symbols. Those original overlayable alternate symbols were labeled with a "#" and called "numbered" symbols. (UIview requires "No." in the symbols.ini file) STATUS OF OVERLAYS 1 OCTOBER 2007: the APRS symbol set was limited to about 94 symbols and only had a few remaining unused symbol codes that had not yet been defined: OF THE 94 Primary Symbols. The following were available: 10 symbols (/0 - /9) that mostly look like billiard balls now 4 symbols /D, /J, /Q, /z were undefined or TBD 2 were reserved OF THE 94 Alternate Symbols. The following were available: 3 undefined series \=, \Y, \Z which could do 36 overlays 8 series \1 through \8 that can support 36 overlays each 3 reserved series. BASIS FOR OVERLAY EXPANSION: But any of the other 79 alternate symbols could all have multiple (36) overlays if they can make sense with the existing underlying basic symbol that we have been using for that basic alternate symbol. That is, any new definition of a previously unused overlay character will have undefined results on all prior APRS systems and should be used with caution. But the symbol set is extensible with these cautions. (See the Proposal that would expand the APRS symbol set to over 3200 at the bottom of this document.) SYMBOL OVERLAY TABLES: This document will keep track of all definitions of overlays on all ALTERNATE symbols. Although these overlays were originally intended to just overlay a displayable single character on a basic symbol, there is no prohibition against taking the combination of a symbol and specific overlay, and then letting that define a new graphic just for that combination. The following tables will attempt to keep track of these and any other useful generic applications of overlay characters. AMPLIFIED some existing ALTERNATE SYMBOL Overlays: (Aug 2014) change Flooding #W to include Avalanche, Mudslide/Landslide Update #' name to crash & incident sites Update \D (was available) to DEPOT family change overlayed car to generic Vehicle with (1-9 overlays) ADVISORIES: #< (new expansion possibilities) /< = motorcycle \< = Advisory (single gale flag) AIRCRAFT /^ = LARGE Aircraft \^ = top-view originally intended to point in direction of flight A^ = Autonomous (2015) D^ = Drone (new may 2014) E^ = Electric aircraft (2015) H^ = Hovercraft (new may 2014) J^ = JET (new may 2014) M^ = Missle (new may 2014) P^ = Prop (new Aug 2014) R^ = Remotely Piloted (new 2015) S^ = Solar Powered (new 2015) V^ = Vertical takeoff (new may 2014) X^ = Experimental (new Aug 2014) ATM Machine or CURRENCY: #$ /$ = original primary Phone \$ = Bank or ATM (generic) U$ = US dollars L$ = Brittish Pound Y$ = Japanese Yen ARRL or DIAMOND: #a /a = Ambulance Aa = ARES Da = DSTAR (had been ARES Dutch) Ga = RSGB Radio Society of Great Brittan Ra = RACES Sa = SATERN Salvation Army Wa = WinLink Ya = C4FM Yaesu repeaters BALLOONS and lighter than air #O (All new Oct 2015) /O = Original Balloon (think Ham balloon) \O = ROCKET (amateur)(2007) BO = Blimp (2015) MO = Manned Balloon (2015) TO = Teathered (2015) CO = Constant Pressure - Long duration (2015) RO = Rocket bearing Balloon (Rockoon) (2015) WO = World-round balloon (2018) BOX SYMBOL: #A (and other system inputted symbols) /A = Aid station \A = numbered box 9A = Mobile DTMF user 7A = HT DTMF user HA = House DTMF user EA = Echolink DTMF report IA = IRLP DTMF report RA = RFID report AA = AllStar DTMF report DA = D-Star report XA = OLPC Laptop XO etc BUILDINGS: #h /h = Hospital \h = Ham Store ** <= now used for HAMFESTS Ch = Club (ham radio) Eh = Electronics Store Fh = HamFest (new Aug 2014) Hh = Hardware Store etc.. CARS: #> (Vehicles) /> = normal car (side view) \> = Top view and symbol POINTS in direction of travel #> = Reserve overlays 1-9 for numbered cars (new Aug 2014) 3> = Model 3 (Tesla) B> = BEV - Battery EV(was E for electric) D> = DIY - Do it yourself E> = Ethanol (was electric) F> = Fuelcell or hydrogen H> = Hybrid L> = Leaf P> = PHEV - Plugin-hybrid S> = Solar powered T> = Tesla (temporary) V> = Volt (temporary) X> = Model X CIVIL DEFENSE or TRIANGLE: #c /c = Incident Command Post \c = Civil Defense Dc = Decontamination (new Aug 2014) Rc = RACES Sc = SATERN mobile canteen DEPOT /D = was originally undefined \D = was drizzle (moved to ' ovlyD) AD = Airport (new Aug 2014) FD = Ferry Landing (new Aug 2014) HD = Heloport (new Aug 2014) RD = Rail Depot (new Aug 2014) BD = Bus Depot (new Aug 2014) LD = LIght Rail or Subway (new Aug 2014) SD = Seaport Depot (new Aug 2014) DIGIPEATERS /# - Generic digipeater 1# - WIDE1-1 digipeater A# - Alternate input (i.e. 144.990MHz) digipeater E# - Emergency powered (assumed full normal digi) I# - I-gate equipped digipeater L# - WIDEn-N with path length trapping P# - PacComm S# - SSn-N digipeater (includes WIDEn-N) X# - eXperimental digipeater V# - Viscous https://github.com/PhirePhly/aprx/blob/master/ViscousDigipeater.README W# - WIDEn-N, SSn-N and Trapping EMERGENCY: #! /! = Police/Sheriff, etc \! = Emergency! E! = ELT or EPIRB (new Aug 2014) V! = Volcanic Eruption or Lava (new Aug 2014) EYEBALL (EVENT) and VISIBILITY #E /E = Eyeball for special live events \E = (existing smoke) the symbol with no overlay HE = (H overlay) Haze SE = (S overlay) Smoke BE = (B overlay) Blowing Snow was \B DE = (D overlay) blowing Dust or sand was \b FE = (F overlay) Fog was \{ GATEWAYS: #& /& = HF Gateway <= the original primary table definition I& = Igate Generic (please use more specific overlay) L& - Lora Igate R& = Receive only IGate (do not send msgs back to RF) P& = PSKmail node T& = TX igate with path set to 1 hop only) W& = WIRES-X as opposed to W0 for WiresII 2& = TX igate with path set to 2 hops (not generally good idea) GPS devices: #\ /\ = Triangle DF primary symbol \\ = was undefined alternate symbol A\ = Avmap G5 * <= Recommend special symbol HAZARDS: #H /H = hotel \H = Haze MH = Methane Hazard (new Apr 2017) RH = Radiation detector (new mar 2011) WH = Hazardous Waste XH = Skull&Crossbones HUMAN SYMBOL: #[ /[ = Human \[ = Wall Cloud (the original definition) B[ = Baby on board (stroller, pram etc) S[ = Skier * <= Recommend Special Symbol R[ = Runner H[ = Hiker HOUSE: #- /- = House \- = (was HF) 5- = 50 Hz if non standard 6- = 60 Hz if non standard B- = Battery or off grid C- = Combined alternatives E- = Emergency power (grid down) G- = Geothermal H- = Hydro powered O- = Operator Present S- = Solar Power W- = Wind power INCIDENT SITES: #' /' = Small Aircraft (original primary symbol) \' = Airplane Crash Site <= the original alternate deifinition A' = Automobile crash site H' = Hazardous incident M' = Multi-Vehicle crash site P' = Pileup T' = Truck wreck NUMBERED CIRCLES: #0 A0 = Allstar Node (A0) E0 = Echolink Node (E0) I0 = IRLP repeater (I0) S0 = Staging Area (S0) V0 = Echolink and IRLP (VOIP) W0 = WIRES (Yaesu VOIP) NETWORK NODES: #8 88 = 802.11 network node (88) G8 = 802.11G (G8) PORTABLE SYMBOL: #; /; = Portable operation (tent) \; = Park or Picnic F; = Field Day I; = Islands on the air S; = Summits on the air W; = WOTA POWER and ENERGY: #% /% = DX cluster <= the original primary table definition C% = Coal E% = Emergency (new Aug 2014) G% = Gas Turbine H% = Hydroelectric N% = Nuclear P% = Portable (new Aug 2014) R% = Renewable (hydrogen etc fuels) S% = Solar T% = Thermal (geo) W% = Wind RAIL Symbols: #= /= = generic train (use steam engine shape for quick recognition) \= = tbd (use same symbol for now) B= = Bus-rail/trolley/streetcar/guiderail C= = Commuter D= = Diesel E= = Electric F= = Freight G= = Gondola H= = High Speed Rail (& Hyperloop?) I= = Inclined Rail L= = eLevated M= = Monorail P= = Passenger S= = Steam T= = Terminal (station) U= = sUbway (& Hyperloop?) X= = eXcursion RESTAURANTS: #R \R = Restaurant (generic) 7R = 7/11 KR = KFC MR = McDonalds TR = Taco Bell RADIOS and APRS DEVICES: #Y /Y = Yacht <= the original primary symbol \Y = <= the original alternate was undefined AY = Alinco BY = Byonics IY = Icom KY = Kenwood * <= Recommend special symbol YY = Yaesu/Standard* <= Recommend special symbol SPECIAL VEHICLES: #k /k = truck \k = SUV 4k = 4x4 Ak = ATV (all terrain vehicle) SHELTERS: #z /z = was available \z = overlayed shelter Cz = Clinic (new Aug 2014) Ez = Emergency Power Gz = Government building (new Aug 2014) Mz = Morgue (new Aug 2014) Tz = Triage (new Aug 2014) SHIPS: #s /s = Power boat (ship) side view \s = Overlay Boat (Top view) 6s = Shipwreck ("deep6") (new Aug 2014) Bs = Pleasure Boat Cs = Cargo Ds = Diving Es = Emergency or Medical transport Fs = Fishing Hs = High-speed Craft Js = Jet Ski Ls = Law enforcement Ms = Miltary Os = Oil Rig Ps = Pilot Boat (new Aug 2014) Qs = Torpedo Ss = Search and Rescue Ts = Tug (new Aug 2014) Us = Underwater ops or submarine Ws = Wing-in-Ground effect (or Hovercraft) Xs = Passenger (paX)(ferry) Ys = Sailing (large ship) TRUCKS: #u /u = Truck (18 wheeler) \u = truck with overlay Bu = Buldozer/construction/Backhoe (new Aug 2014) Gu = Gas Pu = Plow or SnowPlow (new Aug 2014) Tu = Tanker Cu = Chlorine Tanker Hu = Hazardous WATER #w /w = Water Station or other H2O \w = flooding (or Avalanche/slides) Aw = Avalanche Gw = Green Flood Gauge Mw = Mud slide Nw = Normal flood gauge (blue) Rw = Red flood gauge Sw = Snow Blockage Yw = Yellow flood gauge Anyone can use any overlay on any of the overlayable symbols for any special purpose. We are not trying to document all possible such overlays. The purpose of this document is to help keep a list of more common such definitions that have more universal use and for which multiple definitions would lead to confusion. Future APRS code writers should be aware of where we are going: ******************************************************************** PROPOSAL TO ASSIGN MANY MORE BLOCKS OF SYMBOL SETS April 2007 -------------------------------------------------------------------- www.aprs.org/symbols/symbols-overlays.txt In the initiative to upgrade APRS symbols, we are wasting some very valuable OVERLAYABLE symbol subgroups with a few nailed down legacy weather symbols. We are proposing to consolidate some of these Weather symbols to open up much more space. Since this is the first time we have considered actually CHANGING some symbol definitions, this can cause problems out there for some users of some legacy systems. That is why I am posting this plan to the APRS community. If we do this, XASTIR and UIVIEW will be able to download new symbol definitions. But some legacy clients that do not operate from external symbol files will show the wrong symbols for these. If users of those systems forsee some serious problems with the re-arrangement of these symbols, let us know the specific impact and your ideas for a workaround.. The symbols that would be impacted are as follows: First, consolidate all of the visibility symbols into the old SMOKE symbol and change its meaning to "VISIBILITY", and then differentiate them with the overlay characters. "\E" (existing smoke) the symbol with no overlay "HE" (an H overlay) will mean Haze "SE" (an S overlay) will mean Smoke "BE" (a B overlay) will mean Blowing Snow was \B "DE" (a D overlay) will mean blowing Dust or sand was \b "FE" (an F overlay) will mean Fog was \{ Another category is to expand the RAIN symbol to make it kinda like lots of angled dots coming from the sky, but with an open center so that we can use overlays for a number of common PRECIPITATIONS. The consolidations would be: "\`" (existing Rain) would be the symbol with no overlay "R`" (an R overlay) would mean Rain "F`" (an F overlay) would mean Freezing Rain was \F "H`" (an H overlay) would mean Hail was\: "D`" (an D overlay) would mean Drizzle was \D "E`" (an E overlay) would mean slEEt was \e "S`" (an S overlay) would mean Snow was \* Etc. and other particulates coming from the sky Next, I propose expanding the existing RAIN SHOWER "\I" symbol to look like some kind of cloud symbol with specks in it that can be overlayed. (It needs to look different from the next CLOUD symbol). It can then consolidate these symbols: "RI" (an R overlay) would mean Rain Shower "SI" (an S overlay) would mean Snow shower was \G "LI" (an L overlay) would mean Lightening was \J Etc. and other things related to clouds Next, I propose expanding the existing CLOUD symbol to allow definition of any number of different types of cloud. This needs to also look like a cloud but a different shape and allow for overlays (Maybe this cloud is clear): "\(" is the existing cloud symbol (would have no overlay) "P(" with P overlay would mean partly cloudy was \p "W(" with W overlay would be a wall cloud was \[ "F(" would be Funnel cloud, but the original "\f" will also be retained for now All of these initiative will free up a lot of overlayable symbol GROUPS each of which can suport up to 36 different overlays in each group for the future: #H for 36 new Hazards (was only Hail) #[ for 36 new human symbols (was only Wall Cloud) #\ for 36 new GPS or navigation equipment #B TBD. \B was only blowing snow now is BE #b TBD. \b was only blowing dust/sand now is DE #{ TBD. \{ was only fog now is FE #* TBD. \* was snow only now is S` #: TBD. \: was hail only now is H` #D TBD. \D was drizzle only now is D` #F TBD. \F was freezing rain only now is F` #e TBD. \e was sleet only now is E` #G TBD. \G was only Snow shower now is SI #J TBD. \J was only Lightening now is LI #p TBD. \p was only partly cloudy now is P( Of course future code can fully draw each of these overlays as distinct special symbols in any way they want. I especially want to hear from Dale Hugley who is a resource for weather, and Stephen Smith who will have to draw them for Uiview. And others with a stake in this... Bob Bruninga, WB4APR