The Japan Radio Company had an excellent reputation for it's maritime communications equipment, until 1977, when JRC launched a line designed for the amateur radio market, offering cleanly manufactured professional technology at an acceptable price. The company immediately earned an excellent reputation among radio amateurs.

In the mid-1960s, a tube receiver with linear frequency dial 1 was already available: the NRD-1 and a slightly slimmed-down version, the NRD-2. The NRD-10 series appearing 1974 was equipped with a digital frequency display.

Parallel to the NRD-71 series of double conversion receivers with digital frequency display, the NRD-505 appeared in 1977 as JRC's first receiver built for the amateur market, the standard version covered the range up to 30 MHz and had a price of US$ 2250 and could be equipped with a 4-memory option for an additional charge. This receiver, as well as its popular successor NRD-515, could be operated in conjunction with a corresponding transmitter and was distinguished by its extremely simple operation and excellent signal post-processing as well as mechanical workmanship. The NRD-515 also had an external memory option with 24 or 96 memory channels and a today very rare external frequency input keypad available for a hefty surcharge.

The NRD-525, which was presented in 1986 was considered as a reference receiver for a long time, it had a built-in frequency input keypad and 200 memories, search options and passband tuning. After the NRD-535, the NRD-545, the first receiver with digital signal processing (DSP), was introduced in 1998. In parallel, a lower-end set, the NRD-345, was sold since 1997 as an entry-level model. On the other side of the spectrum, the professional receiver NRD-301A/302A was affordable for a few enthousiasts at a price of around US$10,000.