Station List Format

Each record contains all the information about one station  code.  It
always  starts  on  column  1 of a new line, and may continue over any
number of lines, the continuation lines being identified by a blank in
column one.

Lines are limited to 80 characters.

Records are stored in ascending EBCDIC sequence of station code. There  are
three types of records :

     1.  Primary code records.

     2.  Alternate code records.

     3.  Comment records (not yet implemented)


Records are made up of fields, fields are separated by slashes.


     1.  Primary code records:

         1.  Essential fields


             1.  Station Code

                 Maximum length 5 characters.

                 First symbol must be A-Z, Symbols allowed  later  are
                 A-Z,0-9,- and *.

             2.  Station Name

                 Maximum length 24 characters.

                 Symbols allowed a-z,A-Z,0-9 and -. 

             3.  Region name


         2.  Optional fields identified by position

             1.  Status

                 Status flags must be given  in  alphabetic  sequence.
                 i.e.  <BCW> is OK, but <WB> is not.
                        B  Checked against station bulletin
                        C  Now closed
                        W  WWSS Station

             2.  Latitude

                 Given as degrees:minutes:seconds hemisphere.

                 Degrees are normally  given  without  leading  zeros,
                 although  at  least  one  digit  must  be given, i.e.
                 0:25S for zero degrees 25 mins South.

                 Minutes are normally given with leading zeros and are
                 essential.

                 Seconds are optional and should be given with leading
                 zeros, either to 0 or 1 decimal place.

                 The hemisphere identifier is either N  or  S  and  is
                 essential even for the equator.

             3.  Longitude

                 See Latitude except that hemisphere identifier is  of
                 course now E or W.

             4.  Altitude

                 Given in metres.


         3.  Optional fields identified by  a  field  identifier,  the
             field identifiers are a single character and a colon.

             If any of these fields are  used  all  positional  fields
             must  be present.  They must appear in this order but are
             all optional.

             1.  D:  Dating

                 One field allowed per record.  Contains a  series  of
                 opening   and   closing   dates,   which   must   run
                 sequentially, the first opening date or last  closing
                 date  may  be  ommitted,  the  field  is made up thus
                 <period>,<period> etc.   where  <period>  =  <opening
                 date>-<closing date> and dates are of the form <year>
                 or <year:month> or <year:month:day>

             2.  T:  Timing

                 One field per record.  Contains information  on radio 
                 times used.

             3.  C:  Comments

                 One  field  per  record.   When entering  coordinate
                 changes give the actual month and year the change was
                 entered.

             4.  S:  Name for sorting purposes.

                 Name to be used for controlling sequence in catalogue
                 list  sorted  in  name order.  In deciding name order
                 the following sequences in the station name field are
                 treated specially:

                 1.  Mc* where * is a capital  letter  is  treated  as
                     Mac*.

                 2.  Mt* where * is not  an  alphabetic  character  is
                     treated as Mount*.

                 3.  St* where * is not  an  alphabetic  character  is
                     treated as Saint*


             5.  A:  Alternate Names

                 Multiple fields allowed per record.  


     2.  Alternate Code records:

         All fields essential

         1.  Alternate Code

         2.  Record identifier 'A:'

         3.  Primary Code


     3.  Comment records:

         Identified by an exclamation point in column 1.