Handels onderneming Dijkerman

Transmitting Equipment

Hans Dijkerman has made his hobby his business. As a fanatic amateur broadcaster, Hans was busy with all kinds of transmission equipment. For his antennas, he ordered all kinds of separate parts from different suppliers and created his own ideal antenna. This proved to be significantly cheaper than buying a ready-made antenna. The world of amateur broadcasters is a small one and soon there were also requests from colleagues to build antennas for them. After that, Hans founded his own company Handelsonderneming Dijkerman (Dijkerman Trading Company) in 2013. Since then, it’s been busy. Through the web-shop Communicationworld.nl these antenna packs are sold inside and outside of Europe.

Portophones and Mariphones In the first year, 50 construction kits were sold; that number has now risen to around 1200 to 1500 on an annual basis. Sales have not been limited to these construction kits. For instance, the range has been extended with all kinds of Portophones. Hans: ‘We have cheap license-free Portophones from 49 euros to highly specialised ones of 10,000 euros each. We sell them to, for example, local swimming pools but also to multinationals. We also provide Mariphones, for shipping and mobile land communication equipment, for amongst others, the Red Cross and payroll companies.’

Russians in Deventer Hans also has a broad range of special connectors, coaxial cables and plugs. These are widely supplied to the Army and Air Force. Hans received a special order from Cambodia: ‘There, there’s a Dutchman who regularly orders a special polyester rope that is indestructible. Orders from Russia also come in. Since shipping to Russia is risky (many items are stolen), the Russians come to Deventer to pick up their orders.

Of the company’s turnover, about 50% is exports. Hans expects that this will increase even further: ‘The Dutch market is barely growing and we already have a strong position. There’s still a lot of potential for us abroad. We grow by around ten per cent or more every year and we expect to continue to realise that for the time being. This growth has already resulted in a larger showroom and warehouse.’