Editing Objects and Items

APRS Objects and Items are tracked assets that are not transmitting radio stations. As such, some station has to transmit information on behalf of these objects. The Object editor is invoked either by right-clicking on the map and selecting Create Object (for a new object) or Update Object (to modify the information of an existing object or take over ownership of an object or no-longer-transmitting station). Similarly, right-clicking on a row in the Station/Object list gives the choice of updating the selected object.

The Object editor window allows you to enter the following parameters for an object; the entered data will be correctly formatted according to the APRS protocol specification as an Object or Item report, depending on whether the object is timestamped or not.

Object editor name field
Name
The globally unique identifier for the object. Note that if you are updating an object or station, the name is not editable and is pre-initialized to the existing name of the object or station.
Object editor active checkbox
Object active
Specifies whether the object report should show the object as "live" or "killed". Killed object reports will automatically stop re-transmitting after 3 transmissions (to ensure everyone hears that the object is no longer relevant.
Object editor geographical position fields
Latitude and longitude
The geographical position of the object. When the editor is invoked from the map, the position on the map that was right-clicked will be the initial position of a new object.
Object editor scope-of-transmission choicebox
Scope
The span of interest of an object. Objects can be private (only visible on this station and not transmitted), local (not repeated through the APRS-IS backbone), or global (allowed to be sent to APRS-IS).
Object editor permanent checkbox
Permanent
Specifies whether the object is reported with a Object Report timestamped at the time of editing, or with a non-timestamped Item Report (permanent).
Object editor APRS symbol chooser
Object editor overlay field
Symbol and overlay
Specifies the symbol code to be transmitted in the object messages, and any overlay character for alternate symbol table symbols.
Object editor speed fieldObject editor bearing field
Speed and course
The speed and direction of travel of a moving object. If the speed is set to zero, speed and course will not be included in the object reports.
area type chooser
area color chooser
area latitude offset field
area longitude offset field
Area type, color, and offset
Used only for symbol type Area (\l) to specify the shape, color, size, and relative position of an identified geographical area.
signpost Object sign text field
Signpost
The text to appear on a Signpost (\m) symbol.
repeater Object radio settings fields
Monitor frequency, duplex direction, and subaudible tone
Used only for the Antenna (/r) symbol and the various Repeater symbols ( W& A0 E0 I0 W0 Da Ya ) to identify the tuning parameters for a repeater station.
Object free text field
Comment
Arbitrary free text to be appended after all the protocol-specific information.
Object digipeat path editor
Digipeat paths
The digipeater path or paths that should be used to transmit this object. If more than one path is specified, proportional pathing will be used in the order of preference specified.
Object initial transmission interval chooser
Initial object repeat rate
The time in seconds between the initial transmissions of the object report before decay begins. Note that edits to an existing object will cause transmission to begin again at the initial rate (to ensure everyone promptly hears about the update).
Object decay ratio for transmission interval
Decay ratio
The proportion by which the transmission interval will be increased after every cycle through the proportional digipeat paths, until it reaches the slow repeat rate.
Object steady-state (slow) transmission interval chooser
Slow repeat rate
The longest interval between transmissions of this object, as infrequent as decay is allowed to make it.
Object QRU category selector
QRU group membership
The QRU information group this object belongs to. If a non-blank group name is specified, every time this station hears a QRU message asking for that group of information from a station within the range limit (default or explicitly specified by the requesting station), this station will report all members of the group locally known.
The list is pre-populated with standard QRU group names, but you may enter a custom group name if you choose. The standard QRU group names are:
group namemeaning
AMBUambulance
CLUBham radio club
ECHOEcholink
FIREfire station
FOODrestaurants
FUELgas/petrol stations
HOSPhospitals
LIFEBOATlifeboats
LTHSlighthouses
POLIpolice stations
POSTpost offices
RD13D-Star 13cm repeaters
RD23D-Star 23cm repeaters
RD2MD-Star 2m repeaters
RD3CD-Star 3cm repeaters
RD70D-Star 70cm repeaters
RP10analog 10m repeaters
RP13analog 13cm repeaters
RP23analog 23cm repeaters
RP2Manalog 2m repeaters
RP3Canalog 3cm repeaters
RP6Manalog 6m repeaters
RP70analog 70cm repeaters
RT13television 13cm repeaters
RT23television 23cm repeaters
RT3Ctelevision 3cm repeaters
SRAILsteam railroad
STORAmateur Radio stores
T2SRVapproximate locations of Tier 2 APRS-IS servers
VETEveterinarians
WOTAWainwrights On The Air peaks

Once the parameters are edited, clicking the OK button will save the changes and start transmitting the object with its current parameter settings. Clicking the Send button will also save the changes and start transmitting them, but will keep the editor window open so the same object (or a different new object) can be edited.