APRS Symbols

Primary Symbol Table

 

GPS
xy

GPS
Cnn

Icon

Description

/!

BB

01

Police, Sheriff

/"

BC

02

 

/#

BD

03

Digi (green star with white center)

/$

BE

04

Phone

/%

BF

05

DX Cluster

/&

BG

06

HF Gateway

/’

BH

07

Small Aircraft

/(

BI

08

Mobile Satellite Ground Station

/)

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

Red Dot

/0

P0

16

0 Circle

/1

P1

17

1 Circle

/2

P2

18

2 Circle

/3

P3

19

3 Circle

/4

P4

20

4 Circle

/5

P5

21

5 Circle

/6

P6

22

6 Circle

/7

P7

23

7 Circle

/8

P8

24

8 Circle

/9

P9

25

9 Circle

/:

MR

26

Fire

/;

MS

27

Campground (Portable ops)

/<

MT

28

Motorcycle

/=

MU

29

Railroad Engine

/>

MV

30

Car

/?

MW

31

File Server

/@

MX

32

Hurricane Future Prediction

/A

PA

33

Aid Station

/B

PB

34

BBS or PBBS

/C

PC

35

Canoe

/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

/P

PP

48

Police

/Q

PQ

49

TBD

/R

PR

50

Recreational Vehicle

/S

PS

51

Space Shuttle

/T

PT

52

SSTV

/U

PU

53

Bus

/V

PV

54

Amateur TV

/W

PW

55

National Weather Service Site

/X

PX

56

Helicopter

/Y

PY

57

Yacht (sail boat)

/Z

PZ

58

WinAPRS

/[

HS

59

Jogger, Human/person

/\

HT

60

Triangle (DF)

/]

HU

61

Mail/Post Office

/^

HV

62

Large Aircraft

/_

HW

63

Weather Station (blue)

/‘

HX

64

Dish Antenna

/a

LA

65

Ambulance

/b

LB

66

Bicycle

/c

LC

67

Incident Command Post

/d

LD

68

Fire Department

/e

LE

69

Horse (equestrian)

/f

LF

70

Fire Truck

/g

LG

71

Glider

/h

LH

72

Hospital

/i

LI

73

IOTA (Islands on the Air)

/j

LJ

74

Jeep

/k

LK

75

Truck

/l

LL

76

Laptop

/m

LM

77

Mic-E 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)

/t

LT

84

Truck Stop

/u

LU

85

Truck (18-wheeler)

/v

LV

86

Van

/w

LW

87

Water Station

/x

LX

88

X-APRS (Unix)

/y

LY

89

Yagi at QTH

/z

LZ

90

TBD

/{

J1

91

 

/|

J2

92

 

/}

J3

93

 

/~

J4

94

 

Alternate Symbol Table

 

GPS
xyz

GPS
Enn

Icon

Description

\!

OB#

01

Emergency

\"

OC

02

 

\#

OD#

03

Digi (green star)

\$

OE#

04

Bank or ATM (green box)

\%

OF#

05

Power Plant

\&

OG#

06

I=IGate R=RX T=1hopTX 2=2hopTX

\’

OH#

07

Crash (& incident sites)

\(

OI#

08

Cloudy

\)

OJ

09

Firenet MEO, MODIS Earth Obs.

\*

OK

10

Snow

\+

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 (E/I/W= 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

Hail

\;

NS#

27

Park/Picnic Area

\<

NT#

28

Advisory (one WX flag)

\=

NU#

29

APRStt Touchtone (DTMF Users)

\>

NV#

30

Cars & Vehicles

\?

NW

31

Information Kiosk (blue box with ?)

\@

NX

32

Hurricane/Tropical Storm

\A

AA#

33

Box: DTMF, RFID, XO

\B

AB

34

Blowing Snow

\C

AC

35

Coast Guard

\D

AD#

36

Drizzle

\E

AE

37

Smoke (& other vis codes)

\F

AF

38

Freezing Rain

\G

AG

39

Snow Shower

\H

AH#

40

Haze

\I

AI

41

Rain Shower

\J

AJ

42

Lightning

\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

Rocket

\P

AP

48

Parking

\Q

AQ

49

Earthquake

\R

AR#

50

Restaurant

\S

AS

51

Satellite

\T

AT

52

Thunderstorm

\U

AU

53

Sunny

\V

AV

54

VORTAC Nav Aid

\W

AW#

55

NWS Site            

\X

AX

56

Pharmacy Rx

\Y

AY#

57

  Radios and devices

\Z

AZ

58

 

\[

DS#

59

Wall Cloud

\\

DT#

60

 

\]

DU

61

 

\^

DV#

62

Aircraft (Shows Heading)

\_

DW#

63

WX Station with Digi (green)

\‘

DX

64

Rain

\a

SA#

65

ARRL, ARES, WinLINK, Dstar, LoRa, etc

\b

SB

66

Blowing Dust/Sand

\c

SC#

67

CD triangle RACES/SATERN/etc

\d

SD

68

DX Spot (from callsign prefix)

\e

SE

69

Sleet

\f

SF

70

Funnel Cloud

\g

SG

71

Gale Flags

\h

SH#

72

Store or Hamfest

\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

\o

SO

79

Small Circle

\p

SP

80

Partly Cloudy

\q

SQ

81

 

\r

SR

82

Restrooms

\s

SS#

83

Ship/Boat (top view)

\t

ST

84

Tornado

\u

SU#

85

Truck

\v

SV#

86

Van

\w

SW#

87

Flooding (Avalanches/Slides)

\x

SX

88

Wreck or Obstruction

\y

SY

89

Skywarn

\z

SZ#

90

Overlayed Shelter

\{

Q1

91

Fog

\|

Q2

92

 

\}

Q3

93

 

\~

Q4

94

 

Notes:

 # under GPSxyz column Indicates an optional overlay character, A-Z 0-9.

Sample icons are from https://github.com/hessu/aprs-symbols .  A similar set can be found at http://wa8lmf.net/aprs/APRS_symbols.htm.  Applications may use these or design their own equivalents.

 

 

Encoding in APRS Packet

 

APRS has two groups of 94 symbols represented by two characters.

Symbol Table:

·        / for Primary

·        \ for Alternate

·        0-9 A-Z for Alternate with overlay

·        $ was proposed for a third table but never implemented

Symbol Code:  Printable ASCII characters ! through ~

Position Report and Object Report packets include these two characters.

See Understanding APRS Packets for more information.

 

Obsolete Alternative

 

The very early trackers used microcontrollers that were severely resource limited.  They were not powerful enough to parse the GPS NMEA sentence and generate a Position Report.  As a short-lived hack, they simply transmitted the character string from the GPS receiver.  The symbol was encoded in the AX.25 Destination field with “GPS” and 2 or 3 more characters as found in the tables above.  This has been obsolete since the previous Century and is provided only for historical reference.