A Quiet Town: With most of us more reliant than ever on wireless devices during COVID-19, residents of Green Bank,W.Va have a different reality. In this tiny town of 143 people, wireless signals are illegal. That’s because scientists here are listening to space, so no electronic transmitters are allowed at all. The remote town is at the center of the Nat’l Radio Quiet Zone, a 13,000 sq. mile stretch of land designated by the FCC to protect two gov’t radio telescopes from man-made interference. It’s home to the Green Bank Telescope, the largest steerable radio scope in the world & one of the most powerful links to the cosmos. Scientists listen to radio energy that’s journeyed light years to learn secrets about how stars and galaxies formed. A rogue radio signal could thwart discoveries that might answer big questions about the universe. Only first responders can use communication devices here, but are limited to short-distance CB radios. Fear not; if you must update your social media, you’re in luck. Recently, AT&T engineers brought cell connectivity to the local ski resort. It required getting radio wave interference down to very low levels. A ban on all things wireless has even drawn sufferers of electromagnetic hypersensitivity (a disease supposedly caused by wireless signals but dismissed by the scientific community) who are looking for relief in the electronic dead space. So, perk-up and remember; you can always binge-watch Netflix, even if the folks in Green Bank can’t.
