Since the pulses of carrier have no audio modulation, a CW signal received by an AM radio receiver simply sounds like "clicks". Sometimes, when the carrier pulses are strong enough to block out the normal static atmospheric "hiss" in the receiver, CW signals could be heard without a BFO as "pulses" of silence. However this was not a reliable method of reception</ref> In order to make the carrier pulses audible in the receiver, a beat frequency oscillator is used. The BFO is a radio frequency electronic oscillator that generates a constant sine wave at a frequency "f"BFO that is offset from the intermediate frequency "f"IF of the receiver. This signal is mixed with the IF before the receiver's second detector (demodulator). In the detector the two frequencies add and subtract, and a beat frequency (heterodyne) in the audio range results at the difference between them: "f"audio = |"f"IF - "f"BFO| which sounds like a tone in the receiver's speaker. During the pulses of carrier, the beat frequency is generated, while between the pulses there is no carrier so no tone is produced. Thus the BFO makes the "dots" and "dashes" of the Morse code signal audible, sounding like different length "beeps" in the speaker. A listener who knows Morse code can decode this signal to get the text message.