Aperture Science Radio

Radios can be found through the Aperture Science Enrichment Center. On March 1st, 2010, a Portal update expanded its role within the game, using it as an apparent viral marketing tool to promote future games in the Half-Life and Portal series, similar to ApertureScience.com, but with even more complex riddles.

Overview

 * Always set on 85.2 FM, playing an upbeat, instrumental version of "Still Alive" when switched on, they can be found in Relaxation Vaults or maintenance areas.


 * Any radio will disintegrate when brought through an Aperture Science Material Emancipation Grid. Originally, the music would merely stop when doing so. After the March 1st, 2010, more sounds can be heard (this is "dinosaur_fizzle.wav"). However it will not be destroyed if thrown in toxic waste, and will float.

Behind the scenes



 * In the USA, the 85.2 MHz frequency actually does not exist as a FM radio frequency, as the latter does not start before 88.1 MHz. The frequencies set before 88.1 are reserved for the commercial broadcast televisions.


 * On March 1st, 2010, Portal was updated to now have a total of 26 radios (including the ones already present before the update) playing in the Test Chambers, always in an area more or less difficult to reach (but given to the player by the music playing), and with a red sprite added to the switch. The radio transmission frequency is also said to have been changed "to comply with federal and state spectrum management regulations". In-game, the radio must each time be moved in a particular spot of the Test Chamber. When doing so, the music will be scrambled by interferences, then Morse code or data transmission sounds will be heard, and the red sprite will turn green. To be made in each Test Chamber, finding all radios and jamming the transmission will unlock a new Achievement, "Transmission Received", although its description is simply "..?". The presence of these new radios seen through the Enrichment Center are likely non canonical, as they only serve a viral campaign. They may even be removed when their purpose is achieved.

Investigating the 26 radio sounds
The sounds added in the March 1st, 2010 update can be found in the folder "ambient" in the Portal sound files. They all bear the prefix "dinosaur". They include "dinosaur1" to "dinosaur26", used for each changed transmission, "dinosaur_noise.wav", for when the music is scrambled, and "dinosaur_fizzle.wav", when the radio goes through a Material Emancipation Grid. Most sounds from "dinosaur1" to "dinosaur26" contain a hidden image that can be viewed in an SSTV software (similar to Judith Mossman's transmission), the others contain Morse code. The name "dinosaur" may be a reference to the book Dinosaur Alphabet, by Harry S. Robins, notable voice actor for the Half-Life series, emphasized by the fact that there are 26 main sounds, which is also the total number of the alphabet letters.

When the update was applied, many players launched Portal to see what it was about, and slowly discovered how it consisted in-game, then soon began to investigate the radio sound files on the Steam forums, which led to many intriguing finds.

(425) 822-5251


The "dinosaur" images 2, 4, 7, 13, 16, 18, 20 25 are each cut into four images, each containing an alphanumeric highlighted or circled, and each with a number from 1 to 32 in the bottom right. Put in the order given in the bottom right numbers, these images will give: "9459 C6CA C8C2 03B8 128B 7CC6 3068 D4FD". This string is the MD5 hash of a BBS number, "(425) 822-5251", registered to an unpublished landline at 123, 5th Avenue in Kirkland, a Seattle suburb where Valve was founded.

Upon calling the number using a BBS software and entering the username ("backup") and password ("backup" again) given in "dinosaur12.wav"’s Morse code, a log will appear, starting with "Aperture Laboratories GLaDOS v3.11", followed by "Copyright (c) 1973-1997 Aperture - all rights reserved", while GLaDOS' most recent version found on ApertureScience.com is v1.09, dated 1982. It has been speculated that "3.11" refers to March 11, when Gabe Newell will be awarded the Pioneer Award during the Game Choice Awards, and that he will reveal information on Valve's future games that day.

Other materials mostly consist of ASCII art of GLaDOS (at least 4 in total), interiors of the Aperture Laboratories, a schematic of the Pipe Network, what appears to be two androids holding hands (possibly Aperture Science Military Androids and/or future enemies), several scientific schematics, three Sentry Guns (one of them being black, and possibly an Energy Orb facing them), as well as several records, the "three pillars" of Aperture Science, and the answer to a letter, "Human Enrichment & Testing Initiative, Resource Acquisitions", dated October 17th, 1976.

Strangely enough, at 123, 5th Avenue can be found a large building, the Kirkland City Hall, but it does not reveal anything else. When the Steam forum users were desperately looking for the password to the BBS number, Valve's Robin Walker told them on a Steam community chat: "Nobody is looking in the right place. You need to look beneath the elephant green for the login information." The "elephant green" might either refer to a dinosaur, or the Kirkland City Hall that somewhat looks like an elephant from above.

List of appearances

 * Portal