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Appendix 2: The APRS Symbol Tables

(Each highlighted character in the Alternate Symbol Table may be replaced with an overlay character).

PRIMARY SYMBOL TABLE
/$ GPS xyz GPS Cnn Icon
/! BB 01 Police, Sheriff
/" BC 02 [reserved]
/# BD 03 Digi (green star with white center)
/$ BE 04 Phone
/% BF 05 DX Cluster
/& BG 06 HF Gateway
/’ BH 07 Small Aircraft (SSID –7)
/( BI 08 Mobile Satellite Groundstation
/) BJ 09 Wheelchair (handicapped)
/* BK 10 Snowmobile
/+ BL 11 Red Cross
/, BM 12 Boy Scouts
/- BN 13 House QTH (VHF)
/. BO 14 X
// BP 15 Dot
/0 P0 16 Numerical Circle  Obsolete. Use the “Circle with overlay” symbol instead (code \0).
/1 P1 17 Numerical Circle 
/2 P2 18 Numerical Circle 
/3 P3 19 Numerical Circle 
/4 P4 20 Numerical Circle 
/5 P5 21 Numerical Circle 
/6 P6 22 Numerical Circle 
/7 P7 23 Numerical Circle 
/8 P8 24 Numerical Circle 
/9 P9 25 Numerical Circle 
/: MR 26 Fire
/; MS 27 Campground (Portable ops)
/< MT 28 Motorcycle (SSID –10)
/= MU 29 Railroad Engine
/> MV 30 Car (SSID –9)
/? MW 31 File Server
/@ MX 32 Hurricane Future Prediction (dot)
/A PA 33 Aid Station
/B PB 34 BBS or PBBS
/C PC 35 Canoe
ALTERNATE SYMBOL TABLE
\$ GPS xyz GPS Enn Icon
! OB# 01 Emergency (and overlays)
\" OC 02 [reserved]
**# OD# 03 Digi (green star) [with overlay]
\$ OE# 04 Bank or ATM (green box)
\% OF# 05 Power Plant with overlay
**& OG# 06 I=Igate R=RX T=1hopTX 2=2hopTX
\’ OH# 07 Crash (&now incident sites)
( OI# 08 Cloudy (other clouds w overlay)
) OJ 09 Firenet MEO, MODIS Earth Obs.
\* OK 10 AVAIL (SNOW moved to ` ovly S)
+ OL 11 Church
\, OM 12 Girl Scouts
- ON# 13 House (H=HF) (O = Op Present)
. OO 14 Ambiguous (Big Question Mark)
\/ OP 15 Waypoint Destination (Note 1)
**0 A0# 16 Circle (IRLP/EchoLink/WIRES)
\1 A1 17
\2 A2 18
\3 A3 19
\4 A4 20
\5 A5 21
\6 A6 22
\7 A7 23
\8 A8# 24 802.11 or other network node
\9 A9 25 Gas Station (blue pump)
\: NR 26 AVAIL (Hail ==> ` ovly H)
\; NS# 27 Park/Picnic Area + Overlay Events
\< NT# 28 ADVISORY (one WX flag)
\= NU# 29 APRStt Touchtone (DTMF Users)
**> NV# 30 Cars & Vehicles [with overlay]
\? NW 31 Information Kiosk (blue box with ?)
\@ NX 32 Hurricane/Tropical Storm
**A AA# 33 Box: DTMF,RFID,XO [with overlay]
\B AB 34 AVAIL (BlwngSnow ==> E ovly B
\C AC 35 Coast Guard

Note 1: Red dot (with overlay) marks a mobile's destination. Drawn with a line between the mobile and its waypoint destination.

As a rough approximation, they can be categorized:

  • Mobile Primary Symbols: !'<=>()*0CFOPRSUXY[\^abefgjkpsuv
  • Mobile Alternate Symbols: >KOS^ksuv
  • Weather Primary Symols: _W
  • Weather Alternate Symbols: ([*:<@BDEFGHIJTUW_efgptwy{

APRS SYMBOL TABLES (continued)

(Each highlighted character in the Alternate Symbol Table may be replaced with an overlay character).

PRIMARY SYMBOL TABLE
/$ GPS xyz GPS Cnn Icon
/D PD 36
/E PE 37 Eyeball (events, etc.)
/F PF 38 Farm Vehicle (Tractor)
/G PG 39 Grid Square (6-character)
/H PH 40 Hotel (blue bed icon)
/I PI 41 TCP/IP on air network station
/J PJ 42
/K PK 43 School
/L PL 44 PC user
/M PM 45 MacAPRS
/N PN 46 NTS Station
/O PO 47 Balloon (SSID –11)
/P PP 48 Police
/Q PQ 49
/R PR 50 Recreational Vehicle (SSID –13)
/S PS 51 Space Shuttle
/T PT 52 SSTV
/U PU 53 Bus (SSID –2)
/V PV 54 ATV
/W PW 55 National Weather Service Site
/X PX 56 Helicopter (SSID –6)
/Y PY 57 Yacht (sail boat) (SSID –5)
/Z PZ 58 WinAPRS
/[ HS 59 Jogger, Human/person
/\ HT 60 Triangle (DF)
/] HU 61 Mail/Postoffice (was PBBS)
/^ HV 62 Large Aircraft
/_ HW 63 Weather Station (blue)
/‘ HX 64 Dish Antenna
/a LA 65 Ambulance (SSID –1)
/b LB 66 Bicycle (SSID –4)
/c LC 67 Incident Command Post
/d LD 68 Fire Department
/e LE 69 Horse (equestrian)
/f LF 70 Fire Truck (SSID –3)
ALTERNATE SYMBOL TABLE
\$ GPS xyz GPS Enn Icon
\D AD# 36 DEPOTS (Drizzle ==> ' ovly D)
\E AE 37 Smoke (& other vis codes)
\F AF 38 AVAIL (FrzngRain ==> `F)
\G AG 39 AVAIL (Snow Shwr ==> I ovly S)
\H AH# 40 Haze (& Overlay Hazards)
\I AI 41 Rain Shower
\J AJ 42 AVAIL (Lightening ==> I ovly L)
\K AK 43 Kenwood ht (w)
\L AL 44 Lighthouse
\M AM# 45 MARS (A=Army,N=Navy,F=AF)
\N AN 46 Navigation Buoy
\O AO 47 Overlay Balloon (Rocket = \O)
\P AP 48 Parking
\Q AQ 49 Earthquake
\R AR# 50 Restaurant
\S AS 51 Satellite/PACsat
\T AT 52 Thunderstorm
\U AU 53 Sunny
\V AV 54 VORTAC Nav Aid
**W AW# 55 NWS Site [with overlay]
\X AX 56 Pharmacy Rx
\Y AY# 57 Radios and devices
\Z AZ 58 AVAIL
[ DS# 59 Wall Cloud (& humans w Ovrly)
\ DT# 60 New overlayable GPS symbol
] DU 61 AVAIL
**^ DV# 62 other Aircraft ovrlys (2014)
**_ DW# 63 WX Stn with digi (green) [w/ ov’lay]
\‘ DX 64 Rain (all types w Ovrly)
**a SA# 65 ARRL,ARES,WinLINK,Dstar, etc
\b SB 66 AVAIL (Blwng Dst/Snd => E ovly)
**c SC# 67 CD triangle RACES/SATERN/etc
\d SD 68 DX Spot (from callsign prefix)
\e SE 69 Sleet (& future ovrly codes)
\f SF 70 Funnel Cloud

APRS SYMBOL TABLES (continued)

(Each highlighted character in the Alternate Symbol Table may be replaced with an overlay character).

PRIMARY SYMBOL TABLE
/$ GPS xyz GPS Cnn Icon
/g LG 71 Glider
/h LH 72 Hospital
/i LI 73 IOTA (Islands on the Air)
/j LJ 74 Jeep (SSID –12)
/k LK 75 Truck (SSID –14)
/l LL 76 Laptop
/m LM 77 Mic-repeater
/n LN 78 Node (black bulls-eye)
/o LO 79 Emergency Operations Center
/p LP 80 Rover (puppy dog)
/q LQ 81 Grid Square shown above 128m
/r LR 82 Repeater
/s LS 83 Ship (power boat) (SSID –8)
/t LT 84 Truck Stop
/u LU 85 Truck (18-wheeler)
/v LV 86 Van (SSID –15)
/w LW 87 Water Station
/x LX 88 X-APRS (Unix)
/y LY 89 Yagi at QTH
/z LZ 90
/{ J1 91
/ J2 92 [Reserved]
/} J3 93
/~ J4 94 [Reserved]
ALTERNATE SYMBOL TABLE
\$ GPS xyz GPS Enn Icon
\g SG 71 Gale Flags
\h SH# 72 Store. or HAMFST Hh=HAM store
**i SI# 73 BOX or points of Interest
\j SJ 74 Work Zone (steam shovel)
\k SK# 75 Special Vehicle SUV,ATV,4x4
\l SL 76 Area Symbols (box, circle, etc)
\m SM 77 Value Sign (3 digit display)
**n SN# 78 Triangle [with overlay]
\o SO 79 Small Circle
\p SP 80 AVAIL (PrtlyCldy => ( ovly P
\q SQ 81 AVAIL
\r SR 82 Restrooms
**s SS# 83 Ship/Boat (top view) [with overlay]
\t ST 84 Tornado
**u SU# 85 Truck [with overlay]
**v SV# 86 Van [with overlay]
\w SW# 87 Flooding (Avalanches/Slides)
\x SX 88 Wreck or Obstruction ->X<-
\y SY 89 Skywarn
\z SZ# 90 OVERLAYED Shelter
{ Q1 91 AVAIL? (Fog ==> E ovly F)
| Q2 92 [Reserved]
} Q3 93
\~ Q4 94 [Reserved]

Originally, APRS had 192 symbols. It was expanded to thousands, in 2007, by allowing every alternate symbol to have 36 alphanumeric overlays.

The new symbol sets are extensible and evolving so they should not be compiled into applications. Instead, applications should read these files, or their equivalents, at runtime to make upgrading easier.

For more details see APRS Symbol Upgrade 2014 (Not part of 1.1, but a peek into where this is going.)