Radio Sound Library

Fifteen radio sounds, generated in your browser from oscillators and noise. No samples, no third-party material, no attribution required.

Ready.

WAV · 44.1 kHz · 16-bit · mono

JavaScript is switched off. These sounds are generated in the browser, so the library needs it enabled. The set contains: Roger Beep — Classic, Roger Beep — Two Tone, Roger Beep — Chirp, Squelch Tail — Short, Squelch Tail — Crackle, Mic Key Click, Static Burst, Shortwave Atmosphere, Dial Tuning Sweep, Heterodyne Whistle, Two-Tone Alert, Selcall Tone Burst, Channel Scan Blips, Carrier Drop, CW Call — CQ CQ DE RFX.

Licence

Everything here is released under CC0 1.0 Universal. You can use these files in commercial work, modify them, and redistribute them. No credit is needed. The ZIP includes the licence as a text file.

This is possible because none of it is recorded. Every file is built from sine waves and synthesised noise by the code on this page, so there is no sampled source with its own rights attached. That is the difference between this and most free sound sites, where a licence may depend on who uploaded a file and where they got it.

The CC0 dedication covers these audio files. It does not extend to the third-party code elsewhere on the site, which is listed on the credits page with its own licence terms.

What is in the set

Roger beeps: Three courtesy tones: a single 1500 Hz beep, a low-to-high pair, and a rising chirp. These play at the end of a transmission to tell the other operator the channel is clear.
Squelch tails: The burst of noise as a receiver unmutes and re-mutes. A short one for a strong signal and a longer ragged one for a weak station.
Static and atmosphere: A one-second harsh burst for cuts, and six seconds of shortwave band noise with slow fading that loops cleanly as a background bed.
Tuning and interference: A dial sweep that passes through four carriers, and a drifting heterodyne whistle.
Alerts and signalling: A two-tone dispatch page, a five-tone selective call burst, scanner blips, and a carrier drop.
Morse: A CQ call at 20 WPM with shortwave colouring.

Using them

Layer, do not replace. A squelch tail under the last syllable of a line sounds far more real than one played after silence.
Vary the beeps. Using the same roger beep on every transmission in a scene makes the edit sound mechanical.
Loop the atmosphere quietly. Band noise sitting well under dialogue does more work than any filter.
Need a different length or pitch? The sounds are generated by code, so the voice effect tool and the numbers station generator can build longer custom versions.