Touchradio

Photograph: Peter Caldries The remote Snaefellsness Peninsula in Iceland is home to the tallest structure in Western Europe. A transmitter built originally in 1963 as a long-range, low-frequency (LORAN-C) navigation system and now used for longwave public radio purposes. During a recent sound recording trip to Iceland, i was fortunate enough to gain access to the transmitter facility and able to take a series of field recordings, using an array of contact microphones attached to the mast and supporting guy wires. Several of these recordings were particularly arresting, capturing the structure as it radiated a myriad of constantly shifting harmonic progressions, in response to the hot Icelandic summer sun and strong icy winds blowing in from the nearby Snaefellsjkull glacier. These two extremes combined caused rapid expansions and contractions in the 200-700metre steel support wires and core mast, to produce a spiralling, ever-changing, kaleidoscopic drone. Of particular note as well, during a quiet point