Manufactured in 1987 by Navstar Systems, the ‘Navstar 2000 Satellite Navigator’ is a satellite navigation receiver that worked with the Transit satellite system to determine a user’s position and speed.

The Transit satellite system was developed by the United States Navy during the Cold War to provide accurate location information to Polaris ballistic missile submarines. Transit satellite system became operational in 1964 and the technology was later made available to civilians and the commercial market. By the 1980s, navigators working on thousands of warships, freighters and private watercraft used the Transit system. This was partly due to changes in how consumer electronics were manufactured and advances in chip technology.

The ‘2000’ series was manufactured from 1987 to about 1993. The Navstar 2000 Satellite Navigator was developed by a research and development team based in Daventry, UK. Sold as part of the Navstar 2000 Series, this was the final and lowest cost Transit SatNav produced by Navstar Systems. The ‘Navstar 2000 Satellite Navigator’ was often sold and used with either the Navstar 2000D Decca Receiver (see ZBA9317) or the Navstar 2000L Loran Receiver (ZBA9316). Together, the three receivers cover a range of position-fixing technologies used by mariners in the period 1987-1993.

Designed for ease of use, the unit had a backlit LCD display, tactile keyboard and refined software for simple operation. NMEA interfacing and operation with a full navigational package are amongst its many features. It included full autolocation.