By Stephen Smoot
Earlier this month, Pendleton County passed a strongly worded resolution calling for “Dissolution” of the National Radio Quiet Zone or “total waivers of any NRQZ restrictions imposed on Public Safety Radio Frequency Bands currently in use, as well as all the commercial cellular/wireless bands, and commercial satellite internet providers.”
Last week, Webster, Tucker, and Upshur counties joined by passing their own resolutions, as did the Seneca Rocks Regional Development Authority. Other counties have opened discussions to sign on in opposition to the NRQZ.
Commissioners from Randolph, Pocahontas, and Pendleton counties also met last week to discuss the continuing problems with the NRQZ. The resolutions show state and federal elected and other officials that local government sees the NRQZ as a serious impediment.
The NRQZ dates back to 1958 “to minimize possible harmful interference to the National Radio Astronomy Observatory in Green Bank, West Virginia and the radio receiving facilities for the United States Navy in Sugar Grove, West Virginia.” It continues to affect more than 10,000 square miles in West Virginia and Virginia.
Restrictions related to the NRQZ create tremendous challenges for Pendleton County in a number of ways. Rick Gillespie, Pendleton County Emergency Services coordinator, recently described those restrictions as “strangling” to WBOY in Clarksburg.
NRQZ mandates hamper both cellular and wireless internet use, which leaves large sections of Pendleton, Pocahontas, and other counties difficult to develop economically.
A sampling of potential, versus actual, capabilities of certain towers in the region illustrates the problem. Capabilities are measured in ERP (Effective Radiated Power) watts and also in what directions the tower may broadcast. ERP is an estimate of the “combination of the power radiated by the transmitter and the direct power capacity of the antenna in a given direction,” according to Telcomtraining.com
A sampling of towers in Pendleton, Randolph, and Tucker counties show the level of restriction faced. A tower serving Circleville, if the NRQZ did not exist, would transmit at the full allowed level of 100 ERP watts. NRQZ mandates impose a cap at .3 – or one third of one percent of a single watt.
A tower near Seneca Rocks (the one in existence, not the one currently under construction) would have a power capability of 24.1 normally, but may only use 1.7 ERP watts.
Outside of the NRQZ, the broadcast radius is generally 360 degrees. The Seneca Rocks tower can only broadcast 213.8 degrees and Circleville 227.3 degrees. Another tower near Valley Head faces limits that restrict it to a third of normal broadcast radius.
Lower levels of allowed power and radius translate to the need for more towers, often funded by state and federal government grants with local government matches.
Even worse, as Gillespie told WBOY, “In our world today, we rely not only on digital radio systems, but data systems such as mobile data terminals, police vehicles and ambulances. In several ways, there is no workaround because everything we rely on is being limited by the quiet zone.”
One of the major changes since the imposition of NRQZ rules has been the emergence of almost universal reliance on wireless services. As Gillespie describes “now, police officers have mobile data terminals in their cruisers. Ambulances have devices that allow them to transmit EVGs and other information to doctors at medical command bases,” allowing doctors to communicate with ambulances to ensure the best care possible.
Under the NRQZ, however, emergency services must “lose coverage areas that both AT&T and TMobile have been willing to add to our towers,” keeping first responders almost tied to the same technology used when John F. Kennedy was president.
For a time, Starlink seemed to offer an alternative for individuals, businesses, and emergency responders. Gillespie described mobile Starlink units as “workarounds” in areas where radios won’t work under NRQZ restrictions. “Now that they are creating Starlink dead zones,” says Gillespie, “we have lost that last resort solution as well.”
The National Science Foundation, which operates the Green Bank Observatory, stated in a release that “new techniques” will “allow communities near radio telescopes to access high-speed internet.” Gillespie on Facebook calls the release “misleading” because “as they have told us . . . there will be some locations where it will not work.”
He also related how one “customer had successfully used Starlink for almost two years and now their service has become horrible.”
Additionally, he shared that “we have asked both Starlink and the leaders of the quiet zone organizations to provide us with the exact size and locations of the dead zones they are creating and they have not done so.”
Even compromises offered to mitigate NRQZ mandates have produced more frustration than satisfaction. In 2023, the NRQZ agreed to allow Pocahontas County to use a low power radio band for emergency communications, but that still forbade 911 calls from cell phones and normal first responder radio communications.
The NRQZ also granted a waiver to Pendleton County to use more powerful VHF band radio devices than the UHF currently in use, but county officials estimate that it would cost approximately $6 million for the county to take advantage.
