Radio Freakquency

It takes a lot of antennas to make a wireless world, but must they be outside my window?

Not long ago, I walked out of the shower in my New York City apartment and came face to face with a man. Given that I'm married, that's not so unusual. But this man was hanging from a lamppost outside my window. I shrieked and ran out of the room. When I returned, clothed, he was gone, but I didn't like what he'd left behind: an odd, toaster oven-size box with a 2-ft. antenna dangling below it.

What was this contraption? I puzzled over its presence for months, asking anyone willing to look up. I finally got my answer from a...

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