John Deere has announced that due to the coronavirus situation, they have extended their StarFire iTC satellite receivers upgrade campaign.

The manufacturer has said that customers who want to upgrade their receivers for the latest SF6000 guidance technology at a specially reduced price, can now do so up to the end of June 2020, to allow more time for anyone who still wishes to take advantage of the offer (which was initially due to end at the end of April).

The StarFire iTC receiver, which was established in 2004, established John Deere's credentials in automatic machine guidance. However, from January 2021 these units will no longer be able to receive SF1 and SF2 correction signals.

After this date AutoTrac automatic steering will only work with the more accurate RTK signal, although applications such as Section Control, documentation and parallel tracking will still be possible using older 2630 or 1800 GreenStar displays.

To benefit from the more advanced satellite receiver technology now available, owners are able to trade in any current iTC receiver for the latest, fourth generation StarFire 6000 model with their local dealer. The offer includes the receiver and also the more accurate SF3 correction signal, as well as an advanced Gen 4 4240 or 4640 GreenStar display.

Most customers use a satellite receiver for the AutoTrac guidance system, but the technology has developed much further over the last two decades and additional functions such as Section Control on sprayers and fertiliser spreaders have been introduced. Just as smartphones rely on increasingly powerful hardware to function more efficiently, so John Deere’s latest receivers now feature a similar technology boost.

Once they’ve upgraded, customers will benefit from faster signal acquisition and the displays’ ISOBUS compatibility, as well as wireless software updates and the PIN code locking system to help prevent theft.