Natural radio environments are emulated using field traces and a channel emulator to test radio devices. In one example, a test includes a field trace source to replay recorded field traces, a protocol tester to receive the replayed field traces to extract configuration parameters from the replayed field traces, to extract signals from the field traces, to send the signals to a device under test, and to receive signals from the device under test, and a channel emulator coupled to the field trace source, and between the protocol tester and the device under test, to receive the replayed field traces, to mix the replayed field traces with signals and to emulate the channel between the protocol tester and the device under test.