The duo Tonic Train have been working for many years with radio technology as part of their live improvised electronic music set-up. They also incorporate circuit-bent devices and feedback systems. As co-curators of the Radio Revolten festival and frequent visitors to Halle, they have invited local partners from the amateur radio operators group DL0MLU to form a collective improvised radio art performance incorporating various radio equipment – turning live radio into music and back again.

Morse code transmission is also known as CW (‘continous wave’). Messages are formed by interupting a sine wave: an electromagnetic wave of constant amplitude and frequency is switiched on and off to produce the distinctive dot-dash signals. Not many people know this, but ‘tonic train’ is an outdated term for ‘interupted continous wave’.