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Nederlands Radar Proefstation
The NRP was the Dutch Radar Test Station (Nederlands Radar Proefstation)
in Noordwijk. It was established by Mr. J.M.F.A. (Joop) van Dijk
shortly after WWII, on 7 July 1947, in an attempt to bring The Netherlands
up to speed with the wartime developments in the field of RADAR.
During the war, standing in his garden on the morning of 23 July 1934,
Joop van Dijk had watched hundreds of small pieces of silver paper
falling from the sky and immediately realised that it had to be a counter
measure against a high frequency navigation system that was hitherto unknown.
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Van Dijk, who had established the Dutch Radio Union
(Algemene Nederlandse Radio Unie) back in 1934,
went to England immediately after the war, to meet Sir Robert
Watson Watt, wartime nagivation pioneer and RADAR developer.
When he came back, he successfully argued the necessity for
The Netherlands to get involved in radar technology.
He got permission to set up a radar test station for coastal radar
in the town of Noordwijk, right at the Dutch sea side.
On 7 July 1947 the station, housed in the remarkable Villa Wave Guide,
was officially opened by Mr. D. Spitzen, the secretary-general of the
Ministry of Transport, on behalf of the Minister (Vos) [3], by turning on
a coastal radar system that greatly enhanced safety on the North Sea.
Radar developer, Sir Robert Watson Watt,
was amongst the distinguised guests that day.
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In the years that followed, the NRP was involved in development and consultancy
in the field of RADAR, navigation, sensors, communication equipment and
communication systems in general.
Although it was a privately owned company, it had strong ties with the
Dutch Government and had a very good reputation. In the 1960s,
the NRP established its own research facility, called the Christiaan
Huygens Laboratorium, which focussed on the research, development
and production of radar antenna systems and microwave sensors [1].
In 1972, the Christiaan Huygens Lab (renamed CHL) was acquired by Boskalis
in Sliedrecht, at the time one of the largest dredging companies in
The Netherlands. Shortly afterwards, on 22 March 1973, Joop van Dijk who
was still the owner of the NRP, died. In 1975 his shares were bought
by the (then) current directors Prins and Admiraal [2].
In 1984, after Boskalis had ran into financial trouble, Admiraal
managed to buy back CHL with its 70 staff, making it an NRP subsidiary
once again. Nine years later, in 1993, the NRP and CHL were
merged and went on as CHL Netherlands BV. The company is still in
business today and is based in Katwijk, with expertise in
sophisticated radar antenna systems and microwave sensors [1].
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The following NRP equipment is covered on this website:
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PAN-1000 was a high-end general coverage panoramic intercept
receiver, that was developed especially for the
Dutch Radio Monitoring Service (RCD)
in the early 1980s.
The receiver covers a frequency range from 0.1 to 1000 MHz
and could be fitted inside a car. It was intended for finding
clandestine radio stations (pirates).
 More information
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- CHL Netherlands BV
Office address: Lageweg 16, 2222 AG Katwijk, Netherlands
Postal address: P.O. Box 3072, 2220 CB Katwijk
Phone: +31 (0)71 4025514
E-mail: marketing@chl.nl
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© Copyright 2009-2013, Paul Reuvers & Marc Simons. Last changed: Friday, 25 January 2013 - 10:30 CET
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![NRP was housed for many years in villa WAVE GUIDE in Noordwijk. Copyright unknown [4].](img/villa_wave_guide.jpg "NRP was housed for many years in villa WAVE GUIDE in Noordwijk. Copyright unknown [4].")
