Dear all,

On behalf of the OmniSTAR team I would like to thank all our customers, business partners and friends for their trust and cooperation. 2008 was a very good year for OmniSTAR with impressive growth for, especially, the high accuracy HP and XP services. Despite the fact that the end of this year already was and next year promises to be challenging, we look with confidence to the business development for 2009.

Please note that for the Holidays the OmniSTAR B.V. office in the Netherlands will be closed from December the 24th 4 PM CET until the 4th of January (included). However, as always, all incoming calls during this period will be diverted to our OmniSTAR office in Australia, free of charge. Please note that faxes cannot be forwarded to Australia. We will return to our normal office hourson the 5th of January 2009.

The staff at OmniSTAR wishes you a wonderful holiday season and a happy, healthy and prosperous New Year! We hope to see you in 2009!

Cor de Kuijper
Commercial Manager Europe & CIS

In order to allow for expansion of our reference station network, OmniSTAR will switch satellite beams in Europe, North Africa and the Middle East in the near future. This means that all OmniSTAR capable receivers will have to be set to a new frequency and baud rate in order to be able to receive our broadcast.

Automatic Satellite Selection

Where this had to be done manually in the past, many newer receivers now feature Automatic Satellite Selection. The OmniSTAR satellite broadcast contains information that allows an OmniSTAR capable receiver to select the appropriate satellite broadcast for the region it is operating in. For this to work however, the feature should be 'activated' / 'enabled'. All Trimble and Novatel receivers with OmniSTAR firmware version 3.20 or later have the 'Auto Switch Mode' feature implemented. Please make sure it is 'activated' / 'enabled'.

Middle-East Satellite Switch

In the Middle East, we will move a number of reference stations to a new satellite as per the 5th of January 2009. The reference stations involved are the stations in Kuwait, Bahrain and Abu Dhabi. They are currently on AFSAT and will be moved to IORH.

This means that if you are working in Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, UAE, Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, Oman or Pakistan AND you are currently using our EASAT or AFSAT broadcast, you should switch to a new satellite frequency and baud rate. Switching can be done from today onwards; our IORH satellite broadcast is fully operational.

As indicated above, newer receivers capable of Automatic Satellite Selection should have this feature activated. If activated, no further manual action is required. The receiver will automatically switch to the new satellite broadcast.

If your receiver does not support Automatic Satellite Selection, please change the following settings:

Satellite name: IORH

Satellite frequency: 1535.1575 MHz

Baud rate: 600 baud

For a detailed description of how to change the frequency and baud rate for a specific type of receiver, please visit our website.

Europe / North Africa Satellite Switch

In Europe and North Africa our current EASAT broadcast will be replaced by the AFSAT broadcast as from the 31st of March 2009. All European reference stations will be moved to AFSAT. The AFSAT will be fully operational from the 1st of January 2009.

Therefore, if you are currently using our EASAT broadcast your receiver needs to be retuned to our AFSAT broadcast. As indicated above, there are two ways to achieve this.

If you receiver is capable of Automatic Satellite Selection, please activate this feature in the receiver. If activated, no further manual action is required. The receiver will automatically switch to the new satellite broadcast.

If your receiver does not support Automatic Satellite Selection, please change the following settings:

Satellite name: AFSAT

Satellite frequency: 1535.080 MHz

Baud rate: 1200 baud

As the termination of our EASAT broadcast is scheduled for the end of March 2009, we would like to ask all current users to prepare for the necessary switching. The AFSAT will be fully operational from the 1st of January 2009. From that date onwards, all new activations will be made only through the new configuration.

For a detailed description of how to change the frequency and baud rate for a specific type of receiver, please visit our website.

We will help you to the best of our ability to minimize the inconvenience that may be caused by the above. Therefore, if you have any questions, don't hesitate to contact our helpdesk either by phone (+31 70 3170913) or by email (support@omnistar.nl).

With more then 15,000 professional visitors and over 500 exhibitors, from all over the world, the Intergeo 2008 proved once again to be the world's largest congress and trade fair for Geographical Information.

OmniSTAR shared the Fugro Geospatial Services booth with Fugro sister companies including Fugro Aerial Mapping, Fugro Inpark, Fugro-BKS, Earth-Data, Maps and Fugro NPA. Our focus was on OmniSTAR-HP and OmniSTAR-XP products and services. Our partners (including Trimble, Topcon, NovAtel, Hemisphere and Sokkia) were also present with their own OmniSTAR capable solutions.

The Intergeo 2009 will this time be held in Karlsruhe from 22- 24 September 2009. We look forward to meeting you there.

OmniSTAR BV will be exhibiting its latest GNSS products and augmentation services at the bi-annual French Agricultural exhibition SIMA in Paris in 2009. The period for Sima is 22nd February till 26 February 2009. The event takes place at Nord Villepinte, Paris. Our stand number is 5a A 085 in Hall 5a. At SIMA there will be many International companies presenting agricultural products and services including a large machinery section.

Please request your OmniSTAR free entrance pass, as we are pleased to provide our Agricultural clients with an invitation to visit the SIMA. Please contact OmniSTAR by email on info@omnistar.nl to request an invitation and advise us on which date and time you would like to meet us at our stand.

OmniSTAR B.V. has introduced a new HP/XP capable receiver, the OmniSTAR 5220HP.

This receiver brings state of the art dual-frequency technology and improved functionality to our customers. It offers 39-channel tracking with quick start-up and reacquisition times. The status lights and menu system make the 5220HP easy to monitor and configure.

This receiver also offers a 'coasting technology', which provides accurate positioning data during differential correction outages. This enables our customers to work in more challenging conditions, such as urban canyons or forests.

For professional mapping, guidance, machine control and navigation applications, the 5220HP receiver provides an extremely accurate, versatile and robust positioning solution.

For more information about the 5220VBS, please visit our website at www.omnistar.nl.

We have also introduced the OmniSTAR 7300VBS plug and play combined GPS/DGPS unit, including GPS/DGPS receiver and antenna in one compact, waterproof housing.

The OmniSTAR 7300VBS receiver is a 5 Hz high Performance (D)GPS receiver with antenna combined. The receiver is a compact and robust tool for navigation, data collection and data maintenance ‘on the move’.

This receiver is designed to output sub-meter DGPS positions when using OmniSTAR Satellite data for either NMEA or binary data messages. This positional data interfaces with data collection software and equipment supplied by all leading manufacturers of mapping computers and data collection devices.

The 7300VBS unit is capable of operating at consistent submetre accuracy (1 Sigma 30 cm, 2 Sigma 80 cm) when subscribed to the OmniSTAR differential service.

For more information about the 7300VBS, please visit our website at www.omnistar.nl.

How long have you been working for OmniSTAR BV?

I have started to work at OmniSTAR in March this year. The work that I do concerns mainly writing and improving OmniSTAR support software. This software helps us and the OmniSTAR customers to check and configure their positioning equipment. Furthermore I write software to optimize quality monitoring of the OmniSTAR network and also software for new developments.

Before I started working at OmniSTAR, I was working in the graphical industry (pre press). My job there was helping with the design of (fully automated) mounting machines and I wrote control and GUI software.

What do you like the most about your current function?

About my current function I like being able to use my creativity and having the freedom in deciding how to implement the software.  I also like the opportunity to always try to improve on something that you thought was already perfect and using different and new programming languages to expand and up-date my knowledge about these languages. Another thing I like about my job at OmniSTAR is the chance to work with positioning equipment. I find the concept fascinating.

Anything else you would like to share with our readers? About other activities you enjoy?

I love spending time with my family especially my children who are my pride and joy. Whenever the kids get too frantic I escape to my garage. In there I have a 1970 and 1972 Opel GT, which I’ve been working on for many years (and many more to come). One is drivable and the other car still needs to be restored..

Disclaimer:
We hereby expressly declare that we have no influence whatsoever on the design and content of any web pages reached via links from this Newsletter. OmniSTAR BV hereby expressly disassociates itself from the content of any such linked websites and does not adopt their content.

OmniSTAR BV
The Netherlands * Phone: +31 70 317 0900 * Fax: +31 70 317 0919