Coordinates express the location of a object in Radio Mobile. Coordinates in Radio Mobile can be sepcified in UTM Grid, Lat-Lon (Latitude Longitued) or Maidenhead locator.

Latitude Longitude

Coordinates in Latitude Longitude are always using the WGS84 mapdatum. The coordinates have the following Symbols for degrees, minutes and seconds:

Coordinates in Latitude Longitude can be found in the following formats:

Degrees, Minutes and Seconds

DDD° MM' SS.S"
32° 18' 23.1" N 122° 36' 52.5" W

This is the most common format used to mark maps. It's also the most cumbersome to work with. It's a lot like telling time…

There are sixty seconds in a minute (60" = 1') and
There are sixty minutes in a degree (60' = 1°).

Keeping in mind a few easy conversions between seconds and decimal minutes will help when working with maps that use degrees, minutes and seconds.

15 seconds is one quarter of a minute or 0.25 minutes
30 seconds is one half of a minute or 0.5 minutes
45 seconds is three quarters of a minute or 0.75 minutes

Degrees and Decimal Minutes

DDD° MM.MMM'
32° 18.385' N 122° 36.875' W

This is the format most commonly used when working with electronic navigation equipment.

Decimal Degrees

DDD.DDDDD°
32.30642° N 122.61458° W
or +32.30642, -122.61458

This is the format you'll find in most mapping systems displaying geodata. The coordinates are stored internally in a floating point data type, and no additional work is required to print them as a floating point number.

Often the N-S and E-W designators are omitted. Positive values of latitude are north of the equator, negative values to the south. Watch the sign on the longitude, most programs use negative values for west longitude, but a few are opposite. This saves a lazy western hemisphere programmer from having to type in a minus sign before most of their longitude values.