History of Codan

1959 University friends Alastair Wood, Ian Wall and Jim Bettison establish EILCO – the Electronics, Instrument and Lighting Company Limited, in Adelaide, South Australia – to tackle a range of challenges in electronics engineering.
1961 EILCO releases its first High Frequency Radio – Type 6104 HF Transceiver – designed to meet the needs of the School-of-the-Air network operating in the Australian outback.
1970 EILCO wins contract to re-equip 12 Royal Flying Doctor Service (RFDS) base stations with HF radios.
1970 EILCO forms a joint venture (JV) with Associated Electronics Services (AES), a Western Australian engineering and manufacturing competitor, to develop HF radio.  The JV is named Codan.
1973 Codan relocates its Adelaide premises from Norwood to Newton (present-day head office) to expand production capacity and promote export growth.
1973 Codan commences exports of its HF radio equipment, to Papua New Guinea (PNG) and the USA.
1975 Codan wins its first Australian Export Award for outstanding export achievement.
1976 Codan pioneers the automated calling capabilities in its HF Radios.
1979 Codan purchases an interest in IMP Engineering Pty. Ltd., a leading Australian manufacturer of printed circuit boards (PCBs).
1980 The United Nations (UN) makes a significant purchase of Codan HF Radio equipment for their relief efforts in Uganda. This helps to establish Codan as the leading global supplier of HF communications to humanitarian organisations.
1981 Codan produces Satellite RF subsystems for AUSSAT to support the launch of Australia’s first domestic satellite system.
1986 Codan launches its revolutionary automatic tuning whip antenna.
1986 Codan releases its first Ku-Band satellite transceivers for use on Australia's Aussat satellites.
1990 Codan completes the satellite DAMA system for the Pacific Area Cooperative Telecommunications network operating on Intelsat satellites and released the 5300 series of C-band satellite transceivers.
1993 Codan launches world’s first commercial modem for fast and fully automatic HF fax and data transmission.
1994 Codan releases 5700 series C-Band Satellite Transceiver.
1997 Codan wins awards for Excellence in Innovation and Commercialisation and Export Excellence from the Electronics Industry Association for its 5700 series C-Band satellite transceivers.
1998 Codan acquires MITEC – Queensland designer and manufacturer of high power satellite amplifiers and digital microwave radio technology.
1998 Codan launches New Generation Transceiver (NGT) product range with revolutionary HF Radio user interface.
2000 Codan releases the 7700 series of PDH Digital Microwave Radio products.
2000 Codan 5900 series Ku-Band transceivers win Manufacturer of the Year, Product Innovation award.
2000 Codan wins award for Export Excellence from the Electronics Industry Association for its satellite transceivers.
2002 Codan acquires Provideo – South Australian designer and manufacturer of broadcast interface products.
2003 Codan equipment installed in 32 Afghanistan provinces to restore phone, fax, email and radio communications.
2003 Codan successfully lists as a public company.
2005 The manufacturing facility at Codan's head office at Newton in Adelaide is upgraded and expanded.
2005 Codan opens offices in India and China.
2005 Codan wins Innovator of the Year at the EDN Innovation Awards for its Satellite 6700 series MBUC.
2005 2110 HF Manpack wins Gold Cup award for Excellence in Innovation and Commercialisation at the Electronic Industry Association Awards.
2005 2110 HF Manpack wins award in the Design Wrought Product category at the International Magnesium Association’s Annual Design Awards.
2005 Codan releases the 8800 series of PDH Digital Microwave Radio products.
2005 Codan acquires Talia – Victorian designer and manufacturer of studio router equipment for the broadcast industry.
2005 Provideo and Talia merge to form Codan Broadcast.
2006 Codan manufactures its 50,000 unit of 9350 HF Radio antenna.
2007 Codan releases suite of Military products for HF Radio communications.
2008 Codan enhances its BUC family with the RBUC platform to address military and rapid deploy applications.
2008 Codan acquires Minelab and Parketronics – world leaders in metal detection equipment for hobbyist, humanitarian demining and military applications, and advanced electronics manufacturing respectively.