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Abstract A spectrogram of Power Line Harmonic Radiation (PLHR) consists of a set of lines with frequency spacing corresponding exactly to 50 or 60 Hz. It is distinct from a spectrogram of Magnetospheric Line Radiation (MLR) where the lines are not equidistant and drift in frequency. PLHR and MLR propagate in the ionosphere and the magnetosphere and are recorded by ground experiments and satellites. If the source of PLHR is evident, the origin of the MLR is still under debate and the purpose of this paper is to understand how MLR lines are formed. The ELF waves triggered by High-frequency Active Auroral Research Program (HAARP) in the ionosphere are used to simulate lines (pulses of different lengths and different frequencies). Several receivers are utilized to survey the propagation of these pulses. The resulting waves are simultaneously recorded by ground-based experiments close to HAARP in Alaska, and by the low-altitude satellite DEMETER either above HAARP or its magnetically conjugate point. Six cases are presented which show that 2-hop echoes (pulses going back and forth in the magnetosphere) are very often observed. The pulses emitted by HAARP return in the Northern hemisphere with a time delay. A detailed spectral analysis shows that sidebandsmore »can be triggered and create elements with superposed frequency lines which drift in frequency during the propagation. These elements acting like quasi-periodic emissions are subjected to equatorial amplification and can trigger hooks and falling tones. At the end all these known physical processes lead to the formation of the observed MLR by HAARP pulses. It is shown that there is a tendency for the MLR frequencies of occurrence to be around 2 kHz although the exciting waves have been emitted at lower and higher frequencies. Graphical Abstract« less