[aprssig] how do we designate alternate igate / digipeaters

[Tom Hayward]

On Tue, Oct 9, 2012 at 11:15 AM, Stephen H. Smith <wa8lmf2 at aol.com> wrote:
> Virtually ALL currently in-use APRS software including APRSpoint, UIview,
> APRS+SA, APRSice, Win/MacAPRS, AGW Tracker, etc, and the websites
> http://findu.com  and http://APRS.fi use this standard symbol set:
>
>     <http://wa8lmf.net/aprs/APRS_symbols.htm>
>
> This set is evolved from the original set created by K4HG for the original
> findu.com. It was later adopted by Mac/WinAPRS, and then copied by nearly
> all following software.
>
> It consists of a mere  16x16-pixel square to contain the entire symbol plus
> any overlay character.    (This is the same size as the small icons on the
> Windows Start Menu and Taskbar, before Windows 7.)
>
> Due to the limited resolution, there is no way to successfully (i.e.
> readably) overlay a text character  on top of most of these symbols.  You
> get an illegible mess, when the character blends into the busy multi-colored
> background.
>
> If you use some of the limited supply of pixels to place a white halo around
> the strokes of the letter or number to make the text more readable, it will
> almost completely obscure the symbol underneath it.
>
> The overlays only work usably on the simple solid outlines that were
> designated originally to receive overlays.

Ok, this all makes sense. I've never noticed it because I've never
needed to overlay anything other than a digi star or igate diamond.
Both of these look fine. I think it's safe to say that in the context
of the original post it will also look fine, because it was
recommended he overlay an A on a diamond.

Tom KD7LXL