When I was a kid growing up in New Jersey, the tallest thing visible from my bedroom window was the 650-foot tower of WABC radio in Lodi. WABC was what old time AM radio engineers call a "flamethrower". It put out a 50,000-watt "clear channel" signal that could be heard at night everywhere east of the Mississippi--and sometimes far beyond--on an average car radio. In our house, less than a mile from the transmitter, the signal would show up everywhere: on the phone, on the TV's speaker, in the toaster. I even once put my ear to the end of an aluminum gutter drain and heard the station's jingle.（当我还是个在新泽西州长大的孩子时，从我卧室窗户能看到最高的建筑是位于洛迪的WABC广播电台的650英尺高的塔。WABC是老式AM广播工程师所称的“火焰喷射器”。它发出了50,000瓦“清晰频道”信号，晚上在密西西比河以东的任何地方都能听到，有时甚至更远，只需普通的车载收音机即可。在我们家，距离发射器不到一英里，信号无处不在：电话里、电视扬声器里、烤面包机里。我甚至有一次把耳朵贴在铝制排水沟的末端，听到了电台的广告歌。）

WABC was only one of New York's seven 50-kilowatt stations. From the top of my hill I could see the transmitters of every station that broadcast from the saltwater tidelands of the Jersey Meadows: twelve in all, with a total of 38 towers. I'd often ride down to the transmitters on my bicycle to hang out with the guys who manned the things, to check out the gear and hear stories.（WABC只是纽约七个50千瓦电台中的一个。从我山顶上，我可以看到从泽西牧场的咸水潮滩广播的每个电台的发射器：总共十二个，共有38座塔。我经常骑自行车去发射器，和那些操作设备的人闲逛，查看设备，听他们讲故事。）

When I was a little older, I'd go up to the observation deck of the Empire State building, to stand inside the master antenna (now an auxiliary) for nearly all of New York's FMs. It consisted of 32 T-shaped things bristling from the circular outside wall just above and below the row of observation windows.（当我再大一点的时候，我会去帝国大厦的观景台，站在几乎所有纽约FM电台的主天线（现在是辅助天线）内部。它由32个T形物体组成，从圆形外墙上观景窗户的上方和下方突出。）

Somewhere in there I became a ham radio operator too.（在某个时候，我也成了一名业余无线电操作员。）

Since then I've been fascinated with the mysteries of radio propagation. Even in the Age of the Cell, I retain a respect--even a degree of affection--for the brute force imperatives behind the broadcast system we've known for the last seventy years.（从那时起，我就对无线电传播的奥秘着迷。即使在蜂窝时代，我对我们过去七十年所知的广播系统背后的强大推动力仍然保持着敬意，甚至有些喜爱。）

Today I listen on my laptop to stations from New York, North Carolina, London and the little towns of Freedom and Paradise (nice piece in the paper about that last one). Where I'm staying in Long Island, every station on the Net comes in better than any station on the air, including all the flamethrowers. Inside this building, radio reception sucks. Unless you're listening with a computer over a WiFi base station--then it's fine.（今天，我用我的笔记本电脑收听来自纽约、北卡罗来纳、伦敦以及Freedom和Paradise小镇的电台（报纸上有一篇不错的文章关于最后一个）。在我住在长岛的地方，网络上的每个电台都比空中的任何电台接收效果更好，包括所有的火焰喷射器。在这栋楼里，无线电接收效果很差。除非你用电脑通过WiFi基站收听，那就没问题了。）

There's a new kind of radio going on. And it's carrying the entire Net along with it. It's the WiFi revolution, and there's no place on Earth where it's happening in a bigger way than here in New York.（一种新型的无线电正在兴起。它将整个互联网也带了过来。这就是WiFi革命，在地球上没有哪个地方比纽约更盛行了。）

Visit NYCwireless.net. Look at the map and node database. As of today, there are 6,217 nodes in 475 locations, all expressing NYCwireless' first mission: "Provide Free Public Wireless Internet Service to mobile users in public spaces throughout the New York City metro area."（访问NYCwireless.net。查看地图和节点数据库。截至今天，在475个地点有6,217个节点，都表达了NYCwireless的首要任务：“为纽约市大都会区公共场所的移动用户提供免费公共无线互联网服务”。）

I'm told a lot of what's happening involves Linux as well. Which is why I'm here in New York to check it out.（我听说正在发生的很多事情也涉及Linux。这就是我来到纽约的原因，想去看看。）

Right now I'm lining up meetings with folks and visits to some of these locations over four days starting tomorrow (I drive into town on Friday). I want to come away with pictures, stories and an understanding of What's Going On that's as deep about What's Happening Now as my knowledge (and it's considerable) of what was happening way back when radio was still a one-way medium from the few to the many.（现在，我正在安排与一些人会面，并在从明天开始的四天内参观其中的一些地点（我周五开车进城）。我希望带着照片、故事以及对正在发生的事情的理解离开，这种理解要像我对无线电仍然是从少数人到多数人的单向媒介时发生的事情的了解一样深刻（而且我的知识相当丰富）。）

And, of course, to share what I find out with the rest of you.（当然，也要和你们分享我的发现。）

If you'd like to help steer me along the way, write me at doc@ssc.com. And point me to stuff on the Web that will help as well. Time is short.（如果您想帮助我指引方向，请写信至doc@ssc.com。并向我指出网上可能有所帮助的东西。时间很短。）

Meanwhile, I'll be listening from the 28th floor, somewhere in Tudor City. (Remember where the bad guy lived in Spiderman? That's the neighborhood.)（同时，我将在都铎城某处的28楼收听。（还记得蜘蛛侠中的坏人住在哪里吗？就是那个街区。）

Doc Searls is Senior Editor of Linux Journal. His column is Linux For Suits, and his bi-weekly newsletter is SuitWatch.（Doc Searls是Linux Journal的高级编辑。他的专栏是Linux For Suits，他的双周通讯是SuitWatch。）