Welcome to the Wireless Free Zone in Green Bank, WV

Although the radio quiet zone wasn't created to provide a sanctuary for extremely electrically sensitive people, it's proving to be a safe haven for many who are able to get back to having a normal life.

Following is Posted from GottaBeMobile

Posted by Josh Smith | 09/15/2011 |

If you travel through the Allegheny mountains into West Virginia, you may find your cell phone signal start to fade, and a noticeable lack of free WiFi hotspots.

You’re not about to star in a Deliverance 2, but if you see a sign welcoming you to Green Bank West Virginia, you are in the middle of the Radio Quiet Zone. This may sound horrific, but to individuals who suffer from Electromagnetic Hypersensitivity it’s paradise.

The National Radio Quiet Zone is a 13,000 square mile area where cell towers don’t dot the landscape and WiFi is almost as illegal as moonshine. You see, back in the 1950′s, when the Green Bank Telescope was built, the FCC blocked off a rectangular area which is free of WiFi, Cell towers and other wireless communications that can disrupt or damage the sensitive telescope.

Radio Quiet Zone

The reason for the Quiet Zone

The BBC recently investigated the area, interviewing a number of EHS sufferers who have moved to Green Bank, not for the beautiful scenery, but for the lack of WiFi and cell phones which they claim produces a wide variety of ailments. Many doctors are skeptical of the disease, but sufferers swear that the these wireless protocols and stations produce harmful radiation.

The local Realtor tells the BBC that he gets a call at least every other week from prospective buyers who want to escape from the radio wave filled cities that surround the Quiet Zone.

For a look at what lengths the keeper of the Quiet Zone goes to keep the airwaves free of stray signals, check out Wired Magazine’s trip to Green Bank back in 2004. The sensitivity of the telescope is so great that a heating pad with a short is enough to catch the eye of the man in charge of policing the wireless spectrum.

If you plan a trip to the area, you can apparently bring your cell phone and WiFi hungry laptop and iPad, but you may get angry looks if you try to use them in town. No word on what happens if you plug-in a Wireless router, but the punishment would likely come faster than you can download a movie from iTunes.

Image via r.j.wagner on Flickr

Information on the Radio Quiet Zone from Wikipedia.

The United States National Radio Quiet Zone is a large area of land surrounding the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) at Green Bank, West Virginia, and especially the large Green Bank Telescope radio telescope. The Radio Quiet Zone is a rectangle of land approximately 13,000 square miles (34,000 km2) in size that straddles the border area of Virginia and West Virginia. It includes all land with latitudes between 37.5°N and 39.25°N and longitudes between 78.5°W and 80.5°W. This area was chosen because it has a hilly topography that screens out most incoming radio signals, allowing the Green Bank telescopes to receive signals that are otherwise too low in power to be heard over the normal radio background in North America.

The National Radio Quiet Zone also protects the antennas and receivers of the U.S. Navy Information Operations Command (NIOC) at Sugar Grove, West Virginia.[1] The NIOC at Sugar Grove has long been the location of electronic intelligence gathering systems, and is today said to be a key station in the ECHELON system operated by the National Security Agency (NSA).[2]

The Radio Quiet Zone was established by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in 1958 to protect the observatory's radio telescopes from harmful interference. Omnidirectional and high-power transmissions are very restricted. Furthermore, fixed radio links are often built as tight-beamed directional links that do not illuminate the sensitive radio telescopes and electronic intelligence-gathering stations there.

Not all radio transmissions are prohibited in the Radio Quiet Zone. For example Citizen's Band radios, police and ambulance radios, and fire department radios are used there. However, large radio transmitter owners must typically coordinate their operations with representatives of the National Radio Astronomy Observatory and the U.S. Department of Defense. The Allegheny Mountain Radio company operates the only broadcast radio stations in the inner core of the Quiet Zone, with just one station in the AM band, and several low-power FM stations. Most radio transmitters within the area are licensed by the FCC (just as they are in the rest of the United States). Exceptions to the Radio Quiet Zone restrictions are usually determined on a case-by-case basis, with preference given to public safety concerns, such as remote alarm systems, repeaters for first responders, and NOAA Weather Radio. Due to the restrictions, the area has attracted people claiming to suffer from Electromagnetic hypersensitivity.[3]

Counties inside the Zone

Extreme southern Garrett County

Virginia

Western Albemarle County

Alleghany County

Amherst County, except for the southern quarter

Extreme northern Appomattox County

Augusta County

Bath County

Extreme northern Bedford County

Northern Botetourt County

Northwestern Buckingham County

Northern Craig County

Western Greene County

Highland County

Nelson County

Western Page County

Rockbridge County

Rockingham County, except for a small area in the extreme eastern part

Western Shenandoah County

West Virginia

Barbour County, except for a small area in the north

Extreme eastern Braxton County

Grant County, except for an area in the north

Eastern Greenbrier County

Southwestern Hampshire County

Hardy County

Southeastern Harrison County

Eastern Lewis County

Extreme southern Mineral County

Northeastern and east central Monroe County

Extreme eastern Nicholas County

Pendleton County

Pocahontas County

Two areas in extreme southwestern and southeastern Preston County

Randolph County

Extreme southern Taylor County

Tucker County, except for an area in the extreme northern part

Upshur County

Central and eastern Webster County

Cities inside the Zone

Virginia

Buena Vista

The western half of Charlottesville, including much of the University of Virginia Grounds

Covington

Harrisonburg

Lexington

Staunton

Waynesboro

West Virginia

Buckhannon

Elkins

Lewisburg

White Sulphur Springs

Clarksburg, West Virginia, and Lynchburg, Virginia, are just outside the Quiet Zone.