[aprssig] New "closest symbols" feature

[Steve Dimse]

On May 31, 2005, at 2:11 PM, Cap Pennell wrote:

> My closest IGates:
> http://www.findu.com/cgi-bin/symbol.cgi?icon=Iamp&limit=10&call=KE6AFE
>

This is worded incorrectly. These are IGates which are close to you,  
but there very well may be others not included in this list because  
they use a different symbol.

This is an important caveat...there is no requirement that an IGate  
use I& as its symbol, and in fact MANY do not...for example IGates  
are often combined with weather stations, and with some APRS formats  
these MUST use the weather symbol, and even when not required many  
do. I know of several IGates that in EOCs, these use that the EOC  
symbol rather than the IGate symbol, which is wholly appropriate. In  
fact, other than the wx station example I mention, I can't think of  
another example where a symbol is mandatory for a particular sort of  
station.

It is this reason that I had resisted the request to add a symbol cgi  
in the first place, but ultimately there was a good reason to do so  
which I couldn't argue with. Just please be careful with how you  
interpret the data...

If you want to see a true list of IGates, you must monitor the list  
looking for their callsigns following the q construct...

Steve K4HG