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Finding your way home
19th December 1996, Page 17
19th December 1996
Page 17
Page 17, 19th December 1996
— Finding your way home
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• Truck drivers will soon be able to send and receive e-mail and find their exact location anywhere in the world using a hand-held receiver.
The Magellan GSC 100 uses its own satellite network to transmit and receive text messages of up to 2,000 characters. It also has a Global Positioning System which can can locate a truck to within 100m via a graphic display.
Up to 200 geographical positions and 100 e-mail messages can be stored in the unit.
The new 28-strong Orbcomm satellite network should be complete by mid-1997: Magellan says this will lead to lower costs and power consumption.
There will be no connection fee, no line rental and the cost of a call should be cheaper than that of a mobile phone.