Radio, Amateurishly

  CHICAGO-Hot on the heels of two blockbuster trades that sent Chicago Cubs first baseman Anthony Rizzo to the New York Yankees and shortstop Javier Báez to the New York Mets, the city of Chicago and the city of New York have jointly announced a deal that will send the Chicago Transit Authority's elevated train lines, affectionately known to locals as the L , to New York. Plans are to immediately begin dismantling all of the elevated lines—some sections of which date back to the nineteenth century—for shipment to the nation's most populous city. "We'd like to thank the L for its century and a quarter of service to our fair city," Chicago mayor Lori Lightfood said, "but it's time to move on and consider new opportunities for bringing our transportation infrastructure into the twenty first century."  Asked which of the five boroughs would see the newly reconstructed L in their neighborhoods, a spokesperson for mayor Bill de Blasio said that final align...

  At 0730 local time the beach is empty, save for a couple sketchy looking RVs in the car park and a small knot of surfers out in the water just off to my left. The previous night's celebration of this country's independence has left behind a mess that state park employees are now cleaning up. Our family also celebrated the night before at my brother in law's house, and now I'm up early taking advantage of a Monday off work (Independence Day fell on a Sunday this year) to get in a quick POTA activation. I had limited success on forty meters starting at 0640, and even more limited success on the AO-27 satellite pass that has just gone LOS; now I'm hoping to hit my stride on twenty meters and make as many contacts as possible before half the population of Southern California wakes up from their Fourth of July hangovers and decides to head for the beach. After a few CW contacts on twenty, I hear a call sign that doesn't sound right. Surely I've miscopied it. I...