Worth Data RF Terminal 7000 - Manual (Page 87)

Code 39 Specifications
Code 39 (or Code 3 of 9) is the de facto standard of non-retail American industry. It is widely used in the
automotive industry (AIAG specifications) as well as in government and military applications (LOGMARS
specifications). Code 39 is flexible, features a large character set, variable data length and density, and bi-
directional readability. Code 39 is extremely accurate; substitution errors are almost nonexistent. Its
character set consists of numbers 0 through 9, upper case A-Z, and characters Space, $, %. / + and -.
The name "Code 39" comes from both the fact that its character set originally contained
39 characters (it now has 43) and from its structure. Each character is formed of three
wide and six narrow elements, made up of five bars and four spaces. Code 39's density
can vary from a low of .75 characters per inch (cpi) to a high of 9.4 cpi. There should be a
¼" "quiet zone" (white space) to the left and right of the bar code.
Code 39 uses an asterisk (*) as a start and stop character. This character must precede and follow the data in
the bar code. The RF Terminal gives you the option of transmitting or not transmitting these characters when
the bar code is read.
Exact specifications for Code 39 and other bar code symbologies can be obtained from ANSI at the address
below:
American National Standards Institute
Customer Service
11 West 42
nd St.
New York, NY 10036
http://web.ansi.org
document ANSI/AIM BC1-1995
Code 39 has several advanced features and functions that are discussed further in this appendix.
Code 39 Advanced Features and Functions
Mod 43 Check Character
Standard Code 39 can be printed with a "Mod 43 Check Character". This Mod 43 check character cannot
be used with Full ASCII Code 39. Assigning a value to each character in the data to be bar coded from the
table as follows derives the check character:
Char value Char value Char value Char value
0 0 B 11 M 22 X 33
1 1 C 12 N 23 Y 34
2 2 D 13 O 24 Z 35
3 3 E 14 P 25 - 36
4 4 F 15 Q 26 . 37
5 5 G 16 R 27 space 38
6 6 H 17 S 28 $ 39
7 7 I 18 T 29 / 40
8 8 J 19 U 30 + 41
9 9 K 20 V 31 % 42
A 10 L 21 W 32
Mod 43 Check character calculation for Code 39
Here is an example to illustrate how the check character is calculated for bar code data of
123XYZ
:
*C39*