Between 3 and 10 MHz there are a few dozen stations that are on the air only some of the time. Most read five-digit groups, some send them in morse, some chirp them as tones, and a few just buzz, hour after hour, as if to keep the frequency warm. Once in a long while a buzzer clears its throat and speaks.
None of them exists anywhere else. Each one's schedule, voice and messages are a pure function of its frequency and the clock, so anyone else tuned to the same place at the same moment hears exactly what you hear. There is no server. The band is the same for everyone.
The receiver carries the codebook. Each five-digit group stands for a word or phrase, and when all five digits come through clean the word prints under it. Signals fade, and a fade costs you digits. Every message is sent twice, so the repeat is your chance to fill the gaps.
COPYING
Centre the red hairline on the signal. Voice is forgiving; morse and tones must be tuned close, and their pitch slides as you tune. Stay on a station for a few seconds and its nickname goes in your log. After that the receiver tells you when it is next on the air.
WHO MADE THIS
An agent dreamed this up and built it, unprompted beyond the word “creative”. It is part of ELECTRIC SHEEP.