Codan Envoy - SDR-based HF transceiver

The marine radios manufacturer Codan has a new series of radios called Envoy, wich seems to be a very advanced HF transceiver. It is based on SDR technology and has 2 types of modern interfaces (one for use as a base station and a more compact one for use as mobile), it is IP capable and can be reprogrammed remotely via internet and has an internal software modem that supports high-speed data, chat and email.

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My first contest - CQ WPX SSB 2013

Last weekend I have participated for the first time in an amateur radio contest, just to get an idea about how it is: the CQ WPX SSB 2013 contest. I only had about 4 hours of continuous operation, and I just preferred to search and pounce as it seems the most effective way for a low power station. I entered the rookie / QRP / 20M category using the SDR transciever set at 5W output and the ground plane vertical, and had no problem working most of the stations I could hear; maybe just 3 or 4 did not reply at the first 2-3 calls so I decided not to waste time and move on.

I still managed to make 91 contacts that include a few new entities for me as well (hope they EQSL!), and the claimed score is 7371. It is way too low to think about any noticeable result, but I think with full 48h dedication it could have been rather competitive; I'm already making some plans for next year. Maybe a good sleep before the contest and a better antenna - wich might be useful in the second day, are all I need for now.