The National Radio Astronomy Observatory in Appalachia. (CBS)
Posted on 05/20/2012 9:16:53 AM PDT by Brandonmark
Edited on 05/20/2012 11:01:36 AM PDT by Admin Moderator. [history]
While most of us are inundated by sounds of all kinds, folks in one Appalachian region are "zoning out" ... enjoying a rare enclave of serenity. Richard Schlesinger of "48 Hours" has paid them a visit:
For anyone who's ever been bothered by the loud ring of a cellphone, or a loud-mouth on a cell phone . . . there's an island of tranquility, if you will, in the West Virginia mountains.
Here, most gadgets that transmit aren't just unwelcome, they're BANNED by the federal government.
People do live here - they're just hard to reach.
Linda Taylor lives in Green Bank. It's in the middle of a 13,000-square mile swath of the state that in 1958 was declared by the FCC the National Radio Quiet Zone.
No Bluetooth, no Blackberries. "Can't use cell phones, you can't use wireless," said Taylor.
No problem if you're from here. But Taylor has to adjust when she LEAVES the Quiet Zone.
"It is weird because, like, if I'm out at a restaurant or something and at the beach and my phone rings, I'm like, 'What is that?' And it's my phone," she told Schlesinger. "So it is weird in certain aspects."
The Quiet Zone was set up to protect the National Radio Astronomy Observatory, a very large and very sensitive radio telescope listening for the faintest of signals from space.
Excerpt, read more at cbsnews
The National Radio Astronomy Observatory in Appalachia. (CBS)
Cell signals are virtually nonexistent at my house. During the summer I row out to the middle of the lake if I need to use my cell. During the winter I sit out there in a lawn chair.
A very interesting place to visit, but as you say, no communication devices allowed as the telescopes search for signals from space.
Quiet drives me nuts!!!
If i’m trying to concerntrate on something I want a jackhammer banging a way in the backround.
I can’t sleep without a tv or radio on.
If a power outage occures it wakes me up immediatly and I can’t go back to sleep.
No way would I live in that hellhole!!!
So what about Ham radios and CB’s? Are they illegal too?
The nice part is, I have set up a 50,000 Ham Radio. I’m gonna blow the receiver of that telescope OFF.
A beautiful area, especially in the fall. I’ve stayed at Sugar Grove a few times and it was pleasant. I’ve recommend checking out the Cass Railroad in Cass, WV.
Just the opposite here-I love the quiet. Love to hear the birds chirping, peep toads peepin, coyotes howlin.
My husband’s friend has to sleep with Law & Order blaring all night long...to each his own!
It makes the world go round!
Only “official” information - for example that from CBS - is allowed there.
Don’t know, don’t care. Its been that way since 1958.
Apparently these people have not heard of the ionosphere with it's D,E, F1, and F2 layers that support very long haul refract/bounce transmission, or the troposphere, or of GPS, satellite downlinks, DBS, airborne Radar, ground radar, TV transmissions, etc. There is nowhere on this earth that is 'radio quiet'....
Gee, if they ban leafblowers, I might move there.
Haha!....one might consider that the eyeballs are more RF transparent than the skull....likewise the ears with their canals delving deep into the skull....
Still funny, though...
It wouldn’t have anything to do with a certain Naval Communications facility?
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