Codan_-_Outback_radio_to_global_communications.pdf

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1、CODAN - Outback radio to global communications - Part 1 Page | 1 by Malcolm R Haskard (VK5BA) 1. Introduction The establishment of a radio communication system by Alf Traeger and later his company Traeger Transceivers Pty Ltd, all part of the Rev. John Flynns mantle of safety, brought relief to the

2、Australian outback. Following WW2, advances in technology allowed significant upgrades, including a move from AM to SSB, and these needed upgrades allowed three recent graduates, through their a newly formed company Eilco, later Codan, to meet this challenge and run with it. Over the past forty year

3、s this company has grown from a backyard operation to Australias largest supplier of commercial HF communication equipment, as well as a major manufacturer of microwave systems, exporting some 85% of production to over 150 countries. Truly a global service. This article is divided into two parts, th

4、e first providing an overview of the history of Codan and a discussion on their design philosophy and manufacturing methods, while the second gives a summary of the HF products marketed. 2. The history of Codan In the 1950s three young men attended the University of Adelaide, Ian Baker Wall, Alistai

5、r Edward Rose Wood and Irvine James (Jim) Bettison, and while they were enrolled in different courses they had common interests. Ian and Alistair had met previously at St. Peters College, Adelaide, but it was during their first year at University that their interest in engineering and particularly e

6、lectronics drew them together and they became friends. Alistair was the first to graduate, his Degree of Bachelor of Engineering in Mechanical Engineering being awarded in 1954. Ian undertook a Bachelors Degree in Electrical Engineering and even in 1954, his final year, there was the desire to desig

7、n and commercialise his knowledge and skills, so during that year he designed a power supply for commercialisation. Ian and Alistair also obtained amateur radio certificates of proficiency being allocated the call signs VK5IW and VK5ZAE respectively. Together they built UHF mobile amateur radio equi

8、pment, perhaps their first joint venture into communications. On graduation Alistair undertook part time lecturing in Mechanical Engineering while Ian was employed by Philips at their factory Radio and TV Design Laboratories at Hendon, Adelaide. Even during the early years of University and afterwar

9、ds the two formed a working association that designed and built electronic equipment. Known everywhere as Wood and Wall, they initially operated out of Ians home at Hampstead Gardens. Alistairs father, a marine engineer, had previously had the stables at his Gilberton home converted into a workshop

10、so when needed there was access to this facility. The two designed and built equipment for the University, repaired taxi receivers and gradually the home business grew until with normal day work it was like having two jobs. A decision needed to be made whether or not to go full time into their own e

11、ngineering business. Jim Bettisons interests were a little different to his University engineering friends. There were common bonds such as a love of good cars (Ian having at the time an MG TC, Alistair a Triumph TR3A and Jim a Triumph TR2, both with electric overdrive), and a desire to operate a bu

12、siness. Jims university fields of study were very different, yet complemented the two engineers, and included history, law and commerce. In 1961 he graduated with an Honours Degree of Bachelor of Arts in History. Having a love of theatre and the arts he secured for himself the agency for Strand Elec

13、tric, UK, theatre lighting equipment manufacturers. When needed Wood and Wall were engaged to assist him designing variable reactors and such to control the lighting. With all three friends having a desire to have their own business, it was but a small leap to form a joint company, CODAN - Outback r

14、adio to global communications - Part 1 Page | 2 Ian and Alistair providing the engineering side and Jim the needed skills in commerce and law. The new company, The Electronic, Instrument and Lighting Company Limited was formed on the 1st July 1959. With the financial help of parents, adjacent house

15、properties at 7 - 9 Osmond Terrace, Norwood were acquired, and early 1960 the company moved to this address. In forming Eilco they saw as their main areas of operation those that were spelt out in their companys name - electronics, instruments and lighting. The long name was often truncated to Eilco

16、, but there was opposition to this by EIL Services and it was many years before Eilco would become a registered name. The strong motivating forces for forming the company was not simply to apply their knowledge and skills, but also to bring professionalism to bear on the electronics industry. The ye

17、ars servicing faulty instrumentation, control and mining equipment as well as transceiver repairs had revealed that many items of equipment would not perform to the specifications the manufacturers claimed. The lessons learned from those early days would stand them in good stead both now and in the

18、years ahead. In the beginning the company took on a wide range of electronics work for it was a matter of survival. They applied their skills to redesign and manufacture medical instrumentation amplifiers for the company Both Equipment, the servicing of electronic instruments for government departme

19、nts and other organisations, as well as the development of their own products such as theatre sound and lighting systems. Ian remained at Philips until the end of 1959 and even in later years used his TV knowledge and skills to do part time lecturing in TV at the SA Institute of Technology, School o

20、f Electronic Engineering. The Anglican Bush Church Aid Society operated a School of the Air from a base station located at Ceduna, South Australia and approached Eilco to assemble some HF radio transceivers that had been designed by the late George Cameron. By 1961 there were two major new product i

21、nitiatives, firstly the move into HF communications and secondly into ultrasonics and while both produced rewards, it was particularly the first of the two. The portable lunch box transceiver, type 6104 that eventuated was a blessing to the people of the outback, its success enhancing the Eilco repu

22、tation. The transceiver was compact, rugged, reliable, weighing 10 lbs, having its own in-built antenna tuner so that it could work with the simplest of antennas, matching indicated by simply peaking the brightness of a lamp, and requiring only 3 amps current from a 12 volt battery or mains supply.

23、This set became the standard for everyone, mining companies, surveyors, church organisations, and government departments, all who were using HF radio in the outback. Figure 1 shows the publicity leaflet for this set. At this stage it is interesting to note the Eilco custom of issuing a product with

24、a four digit type number, the first two digits indicated the year the idea for that product originated (not the year released to market), while the second two digits represented the product sequential number for that year. This numbering system was retained up until the nineteen nineties, however wi

25、th time the second two digits were frequently selected to have a type number which simply had a good ring about it. Eilco was now starting to grow. This growth is reflected in the entries in the original products book, a hand written book where product orders and ideas were written and given a type

26、number. In the early years the products listed are below ten per year, rising to the twenties per year by the mid 60s and peaking almost to forty by 1968. The company had diversified in many ways, including relationships with other organisations as well as forming subsidiaries. George Ramsay ran a s

27、heet metal and machine shop, Ramsay Brothers Pty Ltd, Eliza Street, Adelaide, and being an amateur radio operator (VK5GD) had assisted in building the studios of several of the local broadcast stations. Eilco often employed him to do sheet metal and other construction work for them. This relationshi

28、p proved useful in the longer term for when the Ramsay business closed in the mid 70s, Eilco purchased much of his plant for their own metal workshop. CODAN - Outback radio to global communications - Part 1 Page | 3 Printed circuit cards for Eilco were made by IMP Engineering and Associates, founded

29、 in 1965 by Roy Pettet, Bob Hodgson and Fred Fischer and located at Wingfield an outer Adelaide suburb and once again when the opportunity was right, namely when Roy and Fred in 1979 wished to retire, Eilco purchased the company, initially establishing it at Newton as IMP Engineering Pty Ltd and cur

30、rently as IMP Printed Circuits Pty Ltd, at Cavan SA. Frank Choate had established a transformer making business called E F Transformers and in 1965 this became part of the Eilco organisation, housed in a weatherboard building at the back of Osmond Terrace, Norwood premises. In the late 1960s there w

31、as an international move to change HF communication methods from AM to SSB and although a more complex system, it was more efficient in its use of the HF spectrum. Eilco initially set about designing a hybrid set utilising quick heat valve technology for the final stage of the transmitter and elsewh

32、ere transistors. Fortunately, towards the end of the design phase RF power transistors were just starting to appear on the market so the final version was delayed and redesigned, so when released, as the type 6924, it was a fully solid state transceiver. Although the delay caused some difficulties,

33、as will be seen later, it laid the foundation for the years ahead. The change to SSB meant that all of the Royal Flying Doctor Service bases needed to be upgraded and so the Government called an initial tender in 1968. Eilco applied. At the time there was a feeling in some quarters that a newly form

34、ed, small company like Eilco could never handle a half million- dollar project. Interestingly Eilco must have sensed this for they had previously approached Alf Traeger to see if he was interested in a joint operation, he having the name and contacts while Eilco the new technology. Their invitation

35、was declined. As frequently happens with tenders for new systems various additional considerations arose and so tenders were recalled. In June 1970 Eilco received the purchase order to re-equip twelve RFDS base stations. In addition to these base stations there was now the need for portable, mobile

36、and home stations capable of receiving SSB, a significant new market. Kingsley Hannaford from the Department of Supply and also representing the RFDS, together with Jim Forsyth of Eilco visited each of the then twelve base stations (Alice Springs, Broken Hill, Cairns, Carnarvon, Charleville, Derby,

37、Kalgoorlie, Meekatharra, Mt. Isa, Pt. Augusta, Pt Hedland and Wyndham) during August to October 1971 and systematically documented what was there and what needed to be changed. This was done because the contract required everything to be manufactured in Adelaide, transported to the sites and install

38、ed. The project was completed in 1973, on time and within budget. Eilco continued to prosper. Over these years the premises at Norwood had, with Sid Walls assistance, been remodelled, for Ians father was now into building and property development. An extension to the original freestone house at numb

39、er 9, was added to the northern side for a laboratory and production assembly, area while in 1965 the self standing weatherboard sleep out at the rear was upgraded to accommodate E F Transformers, a company L Frank Choate had founded and brought with him when he joined Eilco in that year. The second

40、 house at number 7, originally used for storage was demolished and by mid 1967 a new building constructed into which G H Systems moved allowing Eilco Sales to move into the front building. The increase in work meant that staff numbers had risen, so by the early 1970s larger premises were needed. In

41、October 1973 the company, now employing some 80 people, moved from Norwood to a new purpose built factory on two hectares of land at 81 Graves Street, Newton, an area zoned as light industrial. Over the years two further factory buildings were added the first of these in February 1981 and the second

42、 1990. During the early years agents had been set up to market the Eilco products, one in Western Australia being Associated Electronic Services (AES). Because of the delay in releasing the type 6924 set, Eilco could not provide SSB transceivers for AES to market. AES was therefore told to market se

43、ts it was able to get. At the time the US company Granger Associates were assembling CODAN - Outback radio to global communications - Part 1 Page | 4 SSB transceivers in Sydney, but now wanted to dispose of this facility. Consequently AES purchased it allowing them to source their own transceivers f

44、rom there, raising the potential of becoming direct competitors with Eilco. The possibility of a joint AES/Eilco venture was explored and an association was formed whereby each had a half share, AES contributing its manufacturing facility as well as its marketing network while Eilco brought with it

45、the RFDS contract. Basil Reynolds the Director of AES suggested that the new association be called Codan, an industry acronym for Carrier Operated Device (Delay*) Anti Noise, a squelch or muting system. Being a simple name, a word already known in the industry it was accepted and proved to be a good

46、 decision. Codan Ltd business grew. About 1981 it was resolved that Codan and Eilco should amalgamate, AES remaining a separate entity, to concentrate on ticket machines and related products. This decision was quickly followed by a second move in 1983 when Eilco acquired all of the shares owned by t

47、he AES Director, Basil Reynolds, thus giving total control of Codan, including the name, to Eilco. With the growing market for SSB equipment the Codan name had now become better known than the parent name Eilco so in 1983 a decision was taken to rationalise the whole activities of the company under

48、the name of Codan Pty Ltd. Eilco became a brand name only. Initially Eilco set up a number of subsidiaries to handle different aspects of their business. In the early 70s and again when the major rationalisation took place in the early 80s many of them were sold off. The company Sound and Television

49、 Engineers Pty Ltd, owned by W (Bill) Harrison, manufactured recording and Hi-Fi playback equipment and had their own recording studio at 233 Rundle Street, Adelaide. Eilco purchased their assets and name in the early 60s, becoming Eilco Sales Pty Ltd where fully solid-state Hi-Fi amplifiers (product type number 6311 and based on OC26 power transistors), were designed, manufactured, housed in wooden cabinets and sold. Eilco Sales was also involved in lighting operations. After the new building was constructed at Norwood in 1967, Eilco Sales moved into t