DX Reception (English)

KilRock DX page

KilRock Radio can be received not only within its own service area, but also well beyond. Many radio amateurs kindly send us reception reports.

Especially during the winter months, atmospheric conditions often allow the KilRock signal to travel much farther than usual. During that period, we receive many e-mails from Scandinavia, as well as from Italy, Spain (which is particularly interesting, since no fewer than three medium-wave stations operate on 1287 kHz there), Germany, Belgium, and Austria.*

March 19, 2026: Haifa calling!

Not too long ago we received some e-mails, written by radio amateurs from Finland, the UK and Italy. They mentioned the extremely strong signal of the Israeli army broadcaster Galei Tzahal (Galatz) on 1287 kHz medium wave. Heh heh…. :o) That’s a lucky coincidence… the same frequency as our radio station, KilRock radio. But there’s a little difference to be mentioned: Galei Tzahal checks in on medium wave with 50 kiloWatts of power. KilRock radio has only 100 Watts and that’s it. No surprise DX reception of KilRock radio has become a little difficult since March 2026, especially in places where our Israeli friends seem to blast out of radio amateur speakers. They seem to have a great antenna for that; in physical terms that is…

And yes, if you listen to web SDR Middelburg or Bergen op Zoom, the sound of Galei Tzahal can be heard, interfering with ours. Of course we aren’t happy with that, but being only a LPAM radio station, there’s no use to protest against this interference. As a matter of fact: we take it for granted with a smile, knowing one of the charms of medium wave is just like this.

History has learned us that a 50 kW medium wave transmitter isn’t cheap to operate. We at KilRock radio believe that, one day or another, transmissions from Haifa will stop and we only have to deal with interference from our Spanish friends. How dearly we miss the interference of Señor Español at the moment… But there’s always hope that one day Mr. Español will seize operations on 1287 too and then we’ll see how far just a 100 Watt signal can reach. Wait and see dear DX friends… wait and see. In the meantime: we will try to answer your reception reports as soon as possible. Despite the Haifa broadcast blaster interference, we’ve received a lot of them. How sweet life can be.

December 28, 2025: Mailserver crash

In November 2025, we experienced some issues with our mail server, and it initially seemed that many of these reception reports had been lost. Fortunately, our dedicated server engineer, Herman, was able to recover the messages from a backup — a tricky process, but successful.

As a result, replies to incoming e-mails from radio amateurs may take a little longer than usual. Rest assured, however, that none of your messages have gone unnoticed. Everyone will receive a response, and eventually you will receive an e-mail from us along with an e-QSL card. The same goes for later reception reports but for a different reason: KilRock is a hobby project, so we are able to respond to your reception report when we’ve got time for that. Again: all valid reception reports will be answered with our e-QSL card attached.

*Recent Spanish industry news confirms that RNE permanently shut down all AM transmitters at the end of December 2025, as part of a nationwide medium-wave phase-out. Commercial networks have already reduced transmitter power as a step towards full closure. Although 1287 kHz is not mentioned individually, it clearly falls within this general shutdown policy.