the TMA-3 Transmission

click image below to hear the TMA-3 audio transmission

Mitch & Chip (left photo) edit the final mix in the TMA-3 trailer at 9:30 & Kinship.

              ( click to enlarge )                

Transmitter components (right photo) heat tested on the El Mirage dry lakebed in the Mojave Desert, CA.

The TMA-3 transmission is a 2 min. recording of synthesized voices enumerating the amino acids that make up human mitochondria DNA. The recording is prefaced by a 30 second I.D. tag encoded in 75 baud digital mark-space tones. The last 30 seconds of the recording are effects created from short wave radio signals.

The I.D. tag that precedes the message identifies the sender as TMA-3, gives the latitude and longitude of the event, and ends with "Burning Man 2009". The I.D. is then followed by sync tones prior to the enumeration.