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In Stranger Things Series 3 episodes 1 and 2 the characters are dealing with a radio transmission.

They identify the source of the transmission from the music included in the audio.

That source is the mall, specifically the ride-along-horse.

How does the music from there into the transmission?

We are shown the radio room is a long way from the shopping part of the mall later in the series.

There is no mention of any microphones or surveillance of the area.

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    When Dustin first hears the transmission, at the end of the first episode, there is no music. And when it then cuts to the russian sending the message, there is also no music, as he is shown to be in the underground lab (we see Alexei walk by him). - Only in the second episode, when Dustin plays the recording for Steve, does the horsey-music appear intermingled with the original message.
    – Oliver_C
    Commented Jul 10, 2019 at 20:49
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    @Oliver_C The only explanation I can think of is that Dustin didn't have recording equipment with him when originally hearing the Russian broadcast. It wasn't until the next day that he went back to Weathertop and recorded the broadcast, which then allowed for the mall to be in operating hours, in which case a child could have been using the Indiana Flyer when the hand walkies used by the patrolling Russians interfered with the secret code broadcasting, and that's what Dustin recorded.
    – Charles
    Commented Jul 10, 2019 at 21:19

2 Answers 2

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I don't recall anything explicitly said during the show about that (and questioned it myself). I have two theories; both rely on the fact that the transmission was detected on Dustins "Cerebro"

1.) The transmission intercepted two separate messages concurrently

It was shown in S3E7 that there were Russians patrolling the mall. We had seen them communicating via their radios. It's entirely possible that Dustin happened to record the message at a time when they were broadcasting the encrypted message and communicating normally. This would explain some overlap at the end of the message.

2.) The Cerebro picked up some form of interference

Since the Cerebro isn't well explained, it's fairly reasonable to assume it might be picking up some type of interference from the Indiana Flyer ride. This seems less plausible as I'd imagine any other form of radio would be liable to give interference if this were true.

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    If the music was from the walkie-talkie of a security guard, one might think there would be other mall related sounds, e.g. people chatting as the walk by the horse. - I'm guessing the "Indiana Flyer" plays the music through a regular loudspeaker, I'm not sure how Dustin would be able to pick that up with a radio.
    – Oliver_C
    Commented Jul 10, 2019 at 21:12
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Another user had a question about the Russians' Motives in Hawkins

In my answer, I make reference to the coded message that was interpreted by Dustin, Robin (and Steve, I suppose). Based on the information that they receive about the delivery companies, the food courts, I surmised that they were coordinating above ground where the portal would be.

If the Russian security guards were operating after-hours, they would have free reign of the mall and could walk around. Should they happen to walk by the Indiana Flyer ride when it plays a sample of its enticing music to lure kids for a ride (as mall coin-operated ride would routinely repeatedly and periodically do), it's conceivable that their walkie-talkies picked up this sound and transmitted to Cerebro.

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