Transcript

Doin’ Science in the National Radio Quiet Zone | STUFF YOU SHOULD KNOW

From Stuff You Should Know · Episode page · Watch on YouTube

· 51 min · 9,274 words · 197 timestamped sections

This is the full, timestamped transcript of "Doin’ Science in the National Radio Quiet Zone | STUFF YOU SHOULD KNOW", an episode of Stuff You Should Know published January 14, 2026 (51 min, about 9,274 words). It mentions 35 people, works and ideas, including Greenbank, National Radio Quiet Zone, radio astronomy, Robert C. Bird Greenbank telescope, electromagnetic hypersensitivity.

What this episode is about

The National Radio Quiet Zone in West Virginia is an area designated for limiting radio frequency interference to support scientific research, particularly in astronomy. The discussion touches on the unique contrast between this serene region and noise-averse environments, highlighting both its significance in scientific studies and its cultural quirks.

Key takeaways

  • The National Radio Quiet Zone: where silence is golden—especially if you're a radio telescope.
  • In a world of noise, the Quiet Zone proves that even radio waves need their personal space.
  • Listening to the cosmos? It's all about the microjanskys—320 zeros of wattage quieter than a snowflake!
  • Radio astronomy began with a static-filled coffee chat, proving genius often brews over caffeine.
  • Palm Springs' music ban vs. Appalachia's quiet zone: two sides of the same 'noise' coin in American culture.

Who speaks in this episode?

What is discussed, and when

  1. – 5:00: radio astronomy, Palm Springs, National Radio Quiet Zone, National Radio Quiet Zone
  2. – 10:00: National Radio Quiet Zone, National Radio Quiet Zone, radio astronomy, West Virginia radio astronomy zone
  3. – 15:00: Greenbank, radio astronomy, Robert C. Bird Greenbank telescope, Alagany Mountains
  4. – 20:00: Greenbank, Greenbank Observatory, National Radio Quiet Zone, Pocahontas County
  5. – 25:00: Greenbank, National Radio Quiet Zone, electromagnetic hypersensitivity, Steven Kerzy
  6. – 30:00: Wesley Seismore, Greenbank, Wi-Fi routers
  7. – 35:00: Drake equation, Greenbank, Frank Drake, Project Osma
  8. – 40:00: Sugar Grove Research Station, Greenbank, NSA
  9. – 45:00: Greenbank, electromagnetic hypersensitivity, Greenbank Observatory, Diane Sha
  10. – 50:00: Greenbank, National Radio Quiet Zone, Wi-Fi routers, Morgalon's disease

Notable quotes from "Doin’ Science in the National Radio Quiet Zone | STUFF YOU SHOULD KNOW"

  • Mean you can't play your music like that. They're saying that this is an area where radio emissions of any kind are heavily regulated, frowned upon, you might even say. And the…
    about National Radio Quiet Zone · at
  • Nice time capsule for sure. But you're talking about radio waves and we're going to explain kind of about what radio astronomy is and all that. In fact, we can go ahead and do…
    about radio astronomy · at
  • West Virginia was very flattered, and they, the state legislature passed the West Virginia radio astronomy zone.
    about West Virginia radio astronomy zone · at
  • In the center of that, you've got a two-mile zone that surrounds Greenbank, West Virginia. And every time you go into a smaller circle within that rectangle, it gets more and more.
    about Greenbank · at
  • Tall towers. In ' 88 the 300 ft telescope collapsed. The 140 foot said but then it was replaced by the Robert C. Bird Greenbank telescope in 2001 which still stands today. And…
    about Robert C. Bird Greenbank telescope · at
  • I think yeah meaning 2025 but also some changes really started to take place I think in the summer of 2024 like certain kinds of Wi-Fi is now allowed and things are now…
    about Wi-Fi routers · at
  • SETI, the search for extraterrestrial intelligence. in 1959, the NRAO researcher named Frank Drake launched a study called Project Osma, so named for one of Elrank Bomb's characters in his Oz books.
    about Frank Drake · at
  • It gets them sick, headaches, nausea, dizziness, chest pain, hair loss. and I say feels like because it's never been proven that this is a real thing, right?
    about electromagnetic hypersensitivity · at

Who and what is mentioned in this episode?

People

  • Frank Drake — Person · Referenced scientist · 3 mentions · first at
    Presented as the NRAO researcher who ran Project Ozma and formulated the Drake equation at Green Bank, foundational to SETI.
  • Carl Jansky — Person · Referenced pioneer · 2 mentions · first at
    Presented as the Bell Labs engineer whose 1932 discovery of radio emissions from the Milky Way helped launch radio astronomy.
    Fact, we can go ahead and do that right now. because in 1932, there was an engineer at Bell Labs named Carl Jansky.
  • Wesley Seismore — Person · Referenced former RFI 'enforcer' · 2 mentions · first at
    Described as the long-time driver who located interference sources and worked cooperatively with residents to fix or replace offending devices.
    That will come along. And that job for a very long time was held by a man named Wesley Seismore, which by the way, this all sprang, I think, a banger of a movie idea for me.
  • Steven Kerzy — Person · Referenced journalist · 1 mention · first at
    Cited as a Wired journalist/author whose reporting provides detailed accounts of life and enforcement practices in the Quiet Zone.
    There's a guy named Steven Kerzy who's an author. He's a journalist who just kind of I was reading one of his wired articles and he was talking about how he became kind of obsessed with the.
  • Diane Sha — Person · Referenced advocate/organizer · 1 mention · first at
    Presented as a prominent figure among people with electromagnetic hypersensitivity who moved near Green Bank and founded a nonprofit to support research and sufferers.
    E e e either way in either case, it's really great that Diane Sha and whoever has met her and followed her there have a place to go where it is quiet for them, you know.
  • Jeffrey – Merrit, Jerry — Person · Producer/third mic (briefly present) · 1 mention · first at
    Jerry is acknowledged as present; later praised humorously, but does not drive the technical discussion.
    I'm Josh and there's Chuck and Jerry's here, too. And we're being really quiet here on Stuff You Should Know because we're doing an episode on the National Radio Quiet Zone. We're not a.

Books & papers

  • Project Osma — Book · Referenced research project · 1 mention · first at
    Described as Frank Drake’s 1959 NRAO study at Green Bank that helped launch what became SETI.
    Intelligence. in 1959, the NRAO researcher named Frank Drake launched a study called Project Osma, so named for one of Elrank Bomb's characters in his Oz books.

Companies & orgs

  • Sugar Grove Research Station — Company · Referenced military/intelligence site · 2 mentions · first at
    Cited as a nearby naval/NSA listening facility established in 1959, illustrating non-astronomy uses of the radio-quiet region.
    Surprise you is military intelligence goes on there. many years ago, they started something called the Sugar Grove Research Station at the time called the Sugar Grove US Naval Radio Station. This was in 1959.
  • Bell Labs — Company · Referenced research institution · 1 mention · first at
    Bell Labs is cited as Carl Jansky’s workplace when he made the discovery that helped found radio astronomy.
    What radio astronomy is and all that. In fact, we can go ahead and do that right now. because in 1932, there was an engineer at Bell Labs named Carl Jansky.
  • Zindic Farm — Company · Referenced community/group · 1 mention · first at
    Mentioned as a quasi-cult/commune that operated in the area, illustrating the kinds of groups attracted to the Quiet Zone region.
    Obviously, you're going to get some hippies, some communes. There was a quasi cult perhaps called Zindic Farm that was there for a little while. they kind of moved all over. I…
  • NSA — Company · Referenced intelligence agency · 1 mention · first at
    Mentioned as present at Sugar Grove historically, then noted as having abandoned the site recently and it being for sale.
    And up as far as who and what they're listening to. Well, actually, I saw actually, Chuck, I saw that the NSA abandoned Sugar Grove.
  • Greenbank Observatory — Company · 8 mentions · first at
    Noise that you can have because in the middle of that zone, you've got the Greenbank Observatory and they have even more restrictions right there in the center.

Products & tech

  • Robert C. Bird Greenbank telescope — Product · Core infrastructure · 1 mention · first at
    The main operational telescope at Green Bank (since 2001) is described as the largest fully steerable radio telescope, motivating strict interference controls.
  • Wi-Fi routers — Product · Key technology constraint · 5 mentions · first at
    Wi‑Fi routers are repeatedly discussed as radio transmitters that were long restricted and remain a central tension between modern connectivity and telescope protection.
  • Christmas lights — Product · Example interference source · 1 mention · first at
    Listed among everyday devices that generate radio interference, underscoring how pervasive RFI is and why regulation is hard.
    Radio interference in everything from bulldozers to power lines, Wi-Fi routers, Christmas lights, smart plugs in cars produce a lot of radio interference. It's everywhere.…
  • iPhones — Product · Example consumer tech · 1 mention · first at
    Used to illustrate how teens in the Quiet Zone may own smartphones but cannot use cellular functions, changing daily life.
    16. I think 16. Hats off to you guys because that's how it should be. teens there do have things like iPhones.
  • bulldozers — Product · Example interference source · 1 mention · first at
    Cited as an unexpected source of radio interference, emphasizing that RFI can come from industrial equipment, not just consumer electronics.
    Worse and worse. You can find radio interference in everything from bulldozers to power lines, Wi-Fi routers, Christmas lights, smart plugs in cars produce a lot of radio…
  • power lines — Product · Example interference source · 1 mention · first at
    Mentioned as infrastructure that can generate radio noise, complicating efforts to keep the spectrum clean near sensitive telescopes.
    Worse and worse. You can find radio interference in everything from bulldozers to power lines, Wi-Fi routers, Christmas lights, smart plugs in cars produce a lot of radio…
  • smart plugs — Product · Example interference source · 1 mention · first at
    Mentioned as a modern device that can emit radio noise, contributing to the growing challenge of maintaining a quiet spectrum.
    Radio interference in everything from bulldozers to power lines, Wi-Fi routers, Christmas lights, smart plugs in cars produce a lot of radio interference. It's everywhere.…

Concepts & topics

  • National Radio Quiet Zone — Concept · Core topic · 10 mentions · first at
    The episode explains the Quiet Zone’s purpose, boundaries, enforcement approach, and how modern technology (Wi‑Fi, satellites) challenges it.
  • radio astronomy — Concept · Core scientific concept · 8 mentions · first at
    Radio astronomy is the scientific reason the Quiet Zone exists; the hosts explain its origins, sensitivity, and vulnerability to interference.
  • electromagnetic hypersensitivity — Concept · Major subtopic · 4 mentions · first at
    Discussed as a condition that draws some people to the Quiet Zone; hosts note disputed medical status and research uncertainty.
  • West Virginia radio astronomy zone — Concept · Key regulatory concept · 2 mentions · first at
    Described as the state-level legal framework passed by West Virginia that set early restrictions and preceded/underpinned the larger federal Quiet Zone.
  • SETI — Concept · Key research theme · 6 mentions
    The hosts connect Green Bank’s early work (Project Ozma) to the origins of SETI and note SETI work continues at the Green Bank Telescope.
    They're doing there. one of the very first projects they started out on years ago was what would be the origins of SETI, the search for extraterrestrial intelligence. in 1959…
  • Drake equation — Concept · Referenced framework · 4 mentions · first at
    Used to explain how scientists estimate the number of intelligent civilizations; tied to a Green Bank conference and Frank Drake’s work.
    Yeah. and they so Frank Drake came up with the Drake equation as basically the agenda for this conference and then they kind of hashed it out and they very famously calculated that there's at.
  • Morgalon's disease — Concept · Analogy/reference · 1 mention · first at
    Referenced as a prior SYSK episode topic used to analogize contested/poorly understood conditions like electromagnetic hypersensitivity.
    The whole thing reminds me of our episode from 2014 about Morgalon's disease. Remember that?
  • Cinjun Navy — Concept · 1 mention · first at
    We also got word that my dad, who was part of the Cinjun Navy at the time, haven't even looked that up yet, but that's I absolutely need to find out what that is.

Places & events

  • Greenbank — Place · Core location · 22 mentions · first at
    Green Bank is the town at the center of the most restrictive part of the Quiet Zone and home to the Green Bank Observatory and telescope.
  • Pocahontas County — Place · Local setting · 1 mention · first at
    Identified as the county containing Green Bank; described as largely protected wilderness and home to various groups drawn to the Quiet Zone.
    A lot of places. I think that's fair enough to expect anyway because Pocahontas County, which is where a lot of the main part, which is definitely where Greenbank is.
  • Palm Springs — Place · Contrast reference · 3 mentions · first at
    Used as a humorous contrast to the Quiet Zone—discussed for an alleged ban on outdoor music, emphasizing the episode’s 'quiet' theme.
    That's right. and we're not talking about Palm Springs with their oppressive ban on outdoor music.
  • Alagany Mountains — Place · Geographic feature (boundary description) · 1 mention · first at
    Mentioned as part of the mountainous terrain within the Quiet Zone rectangle that helps block radio signals.
    That western panhandle, just the tip. It's very mountainous. it's got parts of the Alagany, parts of the Blue Ridge Mountains, but mainly the Appalachin Mountains. And within…
  • Blue Ridge Mountains — Place · Geographic feature (boundary description) · 1 mention · first at
    Cited as part of the mountainous region included in the Quiet Zone, reinforcing the role of terrain in shielding interference.
    That western panhandle, just the tip. It's very mountainous. it's got parts of the Alagany, parts of the Blue Ridge Mountains, but mainly the Appalachin Mountains. And within…
  • National Radio Quiet Zone — Place · 10 mentions · first at
    Here on Stuff You Should Know because we're doing an episode on the National Radio Quiet Zone. We're not a radio show. We're a podcast, but we feel in solidarity that we should be quiet, too.

Media & podcasts

  • One Direction — Media · Humor device · 1 mention · first at
    Referenced in a joke about triggering Alexa devices, reinforcing the episode’s theme of radio-emitting consumer tech.
    You want to take a break while everybody's trying to turn off One Direction? Yeah, let's take a break. We'll be right back.
  • Better Call Saul — Media · Pop-culture reference · 1 mention · first at
    Used as a cultural touchpoint: a character is said to suffer from electromagnetic hypersensitivity, paralleling the episode’s discussion.
    Yeah. And if you're like this kind of sounds familiar, Lenny from Leverne and Shirley on Better Call Saul, he suffered from electromagnetic hypersensitivity.

Full transcript with timestamps

Welcome to Stuff You Should Know, a production of iHeart Radio. Hey, and welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh and there's Chuck and Jerry's here, too. And we're being really quiet here on Stuff You Should Know because we're doing an episode on the National Radio Quiet Zone. We're not a radio show. We're a podcast, but we feel in solidarity that we should be quiet, too.

That's right. Uh, and we're not talking about Palm Springs with their oppressive ban on outdoor music.

Oh, I hadn't heard about that. Yeah. You can't play music outside like by your pool.

Huh. At all? Supposedly at all. Well, I guess it probably just depends on your neighbor.

M I think they're pretty strict about it. I mean, I've never been to Palm Springs and stayed there. We should ask our friend who lives there.

Yeah. Uh because maybe full-time residents have a little more leeway, but you know, they do it because people they don't want people just going and renting houses and just blowing out the neighborhood every weekend.

No, this isn't Fire Island, guys. Right. No, we're not talking about Palm Springs, though, I guess, is the upshot of that, right?

No, we're talking about the opposite of Palm Springs, which is Appalachia, West Virginia.

Yeah. Is kind of the opposite of Palm Springs, if there is such a thing. I think even if you folded uh the United States map in half, they would be pretty close to one another. They would smear one another.

Someone's gonna do that. Yeah. They're going to fold the map up and send us a correction.

Yeah. They'll be like, "Josh's way off." Well, you know where they might fold a map up is in the National Radio Quiet Zone because they still use those things.

It's a great place to fold a map. Um because Yeah, like you said, that's what you need to get around in a lot of cases. And let's just cut to the chase here Chuck. The National Radio Quiet Zone does not mean you can't play your music like that. They're saying that this is an area where radio emissions of any kind are heavily regulated, frowned upon, you might even say. And the whole reason they're doing this is to protect uh the delicate telescopes, radio telescopes used in radio astronomy at a specific place called Greenbank, West Virginia.

They've established a whole zone around it that's meant to block out or keep out radio transmissions so that the the astronomers can go about their business happily.

That's right. Uh and to be clear, when you say radio transmissions, you're not talking about Casey Kasem's American Top 40,

right? Because we don't have a time machine and we're not going to exume Casey Kasem.

They still play those like uh old ones on on some radio stations on Saturday or Sunday. It's a great way to pass some time if you're driving.

I've stumbled upon those and it is a nice time capsule for sure. But you're talking about radio waves

and we're going to explain kind of about what radio astronomy is and all that. In fact, we can go ahead and do that right now. Uh because in 1932, there was an engineer at Bell Labs named Carl Jansky.

Mhm. Who noticed some static interfering with some communications going across the pond as they say. got together with an astronomer over coffee and they said, "You know what? I don't think this is interference coming from here on Earth. I think it's coming from out in the Milky Way galaxy." And this was a big deal. In 1932, they were like, "There are literal celestial bodies emitting radio waves out there,

and we need to start studying these and measuring these, and we're going to call it radio astronomy."

Yeah. All of a sudden, we didn't just have visible telescopes anymore. We had radio telescopes which are very similar. I mean they both are just measuring different parts of the electromagnetic spectrum. That's basically it. Um but the the really amazing thing about what some of these radio telescopes can do um just to give you an idea of how sensitive they are, [clears throat]

they measure um the incoming radio waves that are so weak they measure them in microjanskis

such as what a micro jansky point. Is it named after Carl? It is named I hope so because that would be one heck of a coincidence. Yeah. Um, it's point it's 0 320.

Wow. This is watts, by the way. So, this the electrical energy is so weak. It's 320 zeros of a single watt. Right. And I've seen it compared to a snowflake hitting the ground carries a lot more energy than that. So that's how faint some of these radio signals are and that's how sensitive these enormous radio telescopes are, which is why the idea of having a quiet zone around a telescope is so vital because it there's so much noise in modern life. It's just gotten worse and worse and worse. You can find um radio interference in everything from um bulldozers to power lines, Wi-Fi routers, Christmas lights, smart plugs in cars produce a lot of radio interference. It's everywhere. Which means then that if you want to create a quiet zone, you have to somehow regulate all this stuff to kind of keep it away from the radio telescopes, which has proven difficult over the years for the national radio quiet zone.

You mentioned the less than a watt. Do they have names? I know there's like megawatts and kilowatts and all that stuff gigawatts.

Uh, do they have names for things less than a watt or is a micro jansky? Is a a Jansky is like point 26 zeros of one single watt.

Oh, well, I just meant a sort of a regular interval like a something watt, like a reggi watt.

Oh, I'm sure there's like a millowatt. I know there is. I've heard that that word before. I know I was at a mixer of some sort and someone used that word. Okay, I got you. You missed my joke.

Oh, well, I I need to hear I got to I'm gonna I'm gonna let you hear it in uh QA when you listen to it.

So great. I have a future humiliation ahead of me. No, no, no, no. It was very quick and it was a pretty lame setup by me because it was all just for that dumb joke. So, you have an Easter egg to look forward to.

I can't wait to hear it. Uh something that you've said though a few times that we want to again just sort of hammer home. You've said like a lot of noise and you might hear like silence and things like that. Again, it has nothing to do with sound. We're just talking about uh radio waves which are, you know, they cast a a kind of light like a radio light, but it's not something that the human eye can see. So again, not actual sound is what we're talking about.

No, nor actual visible light, radio light. Right. So, like I was saying, it's like radio light pollution is absolutely everywhere. Um, and yet they're trying to keep it as quiet as possible in the national radio quiet zone. It used to be a lot easier when um when they started this whole thing. Uh, you said Carl Jansky made that massive monumental discovery in 1932. Um by 1954 the National Science Foundation uh started exploring like how to just take radio astronomy to the next level which is I guess you would say the second level because it was still so new. They created the advisory panel on radio astronomy and um part of what they were discussing was how to how to create a quiet zone and where you would make one of those things.

Yeah. Yeah, I mean I can't imagine if they had were tasked with this today, it'd probably be nearly impossible. They'd have to use imminent imminent domain just to kick people out. Uh but 1954, like you said, it was a little bit easier. So for a couple of years, they got together over coffee about where they could put this thing. Uh it needed minimal radio noise, obviously, like we talked about, probably a pretty limited population.

Uh by the way, thanks for Anna for this one. She did a great job on this. Yeah, she really did. uh surrounded by mountains because mountains provide a natural barrier for those radio signals uh and probably not near a city uh but not too far from Washington DC where things would likely be headquartered. Uh so they finally looked around. They settled on the Appalachin Mountains between Virginia and West Virginia. Uh that is part one of solving the problem. Part two was getting funding. Uh luckily President Eisenhower was kind of into this. So, in 1956, uh, he asked Congress back when that was a thing for $7 million to fund a radio astronomy center, and Congress said, "Yeah, let's do it."

Yeah. Everybody was really jazzed about this new radio astronomy stuff, right? Um, West Virginia was very flattered, and they, the state legislature passed the West Virginia radio astronomy zone. So, the first thing that was created was the National Radio Quiet Zone, and that was actually created before the National Radio Quiet Zone.

Yeah. They kind of laid the groundwork, I feel like. Yeah. They laid a 10mi diameter groundwork around wherever this telescope was going to be built, they said, "Wherever you put it, there's going to be 10 miles around it where you can't use radio stuff." Right.

Yeah. Um and then the FCC said, "We're going to do one better. We're going to put another blanket layer, much larger layer called the National Radio Quiet Zone on top of the West Virginia radio astronomy zone to kind of make this huge buffer, right? To to make it even harder for radio signals to mess with the radio telescopes in the West Virginia radio astronomy zone.

That's right. So that uh smaller NRQZ, the National Radio Quiet Zone, had from the jump had some looser restrictions uh than the even much smaller WVAZ,

right? Uh it covered a much larger area about 13,000 square miles. But think of it this way, it's it's it's really a a rectangle, the NRQZ,

13,000 square miles across across Virginia and West Virginia. and a little bit of Maryland, the southernmost tip on that western panhandle,

just the tip. It's very mountainous. Um, it's got parts of the Alagany, parts of the Blue Ridge Mountains, uh, but mainly the Appalachin Mountains. And within that 13,000 square mile rectangle, you've got that, uh, West Virginia, uh, the WV RAZ.

Mhm. Um, in the center of that, you've got a two-mile zone that surrounds Greenbank, West Virginia. And every time you go into a smaller circle within that rectangle, it gets more and more restrictive as for what kind of radio noise that you can have because in the middle of that zone, you've got the Greenbank Observatory and they have even more restrictions right there in the center.

Yeah. At the Greenbank Observatory, you can't even think about using any kind of radiocreating device because that would create radio waves.

If you think about Wi-Fi there, then you're fired. Yeah. Fired. If you're lucky, I mean, they'll really work you over there. They've got a gang of goons that enforce this with an iron fist.

That's right. So, we talked about how all of this um the quiet zone itself was established. Simultaneously, they're working on creating the actual observatory. Yeah. That's going to be in the middle of this quiet zone. And initially it was called the National Radio Astronomy Observatory in that town of Greenbank which is in the center of the West Virginia radio uh astronomy zone that was uh established in 1956. And they started building telescopes one bigger than the other. They started with the Tattle 85 ft.

Not bad. And then the 300 ft telescope and the 140 foot telescope which are very boring names.

Yeah. But originally, as you might imagine, everybody associated with the National Radio Astronomy Observatory uh lived in this ultra quiet zone around the observatory. And they ran into some early problems where the employees were like, "We we can't live here. Sorry."

Right. Yeah. I mean, they said, you know, the the medical care and access to great healthcare isn't awesome. Uh the schools here aren't great for my kids. And so they relocated the admin headquarters to the University of Virginia in Charlottesville. Um the researchers remained there on site. Uh in ' 88 and I think that was in 1965 when they you know built most of this stuff those big tall towers. In ' 88 the 300 ft telescope collapsed. The 140 foot said but then it was replaced by the Robert C. Bird Greenbank telescope in 2001 which still stands today. And not only stands, but it's like it is the largest fully steerable radio telescope in the world with, get this, a 2.3 acre dish and almost 500 ft. 485 ft, which is 2,116 Big Macs.

Is it? That's all for you, my friend. Thank you, buddy. Wow, that was a delightful little line yap.

What? A what? A l yap. We've talked about this before. Uh, remind me. A lang yap is just like a little something extra.

Okay. And I find it incredibly obnoxious to use. Well, I think it's great and it sure beats the heck out of cherry on top.

All right. Let's come up with something else. The lany. Okay, there you go. There's one other thing that the um the Greenbank telescope, the one that's currently in use, can boast. You ready for this?

Yes. It has the world's largest ball bearing. Oh wow. The ball bearing inside of this thing that the this massive telescope steers on is 17 and 12 feet in diameter.

Wow. Which means it's as big around as a male adult giraffe is tall. That's the best I could come up with. I know it's it's awful. It's clumsy, but I could not come up with anything else.

Hey, uh Alexa, what's 17t tall? I asked um duck.go instead. Oh, okay. And I'm sorry for everyone whose Alexa I just triggered. Alexa, Alexa.

Alexa, play One Direction. Oh boy, that's good. Uh you want to take a break while everybody's trying to turn off One Direction?

Yeah, let's take a break. We'll be right back. And then you came along and it was like,

uh, yeah. Well, we were work pals. All right. So, within that 13,000 square mile rectangle, the National Radio Quiet Zone, um you cannot, and this is where the restrictions begin, and we're going to get more granular, uh you can't have any fixed or permanent transmitters installed unless you get approval uh from the NRQZ and the FCC. Uh what's the NIA?

The National Telecommunications and Information Agency. very obscure, but they supposedly are replacing FEMA as the new uh world orders jack boot troops.

Okay, good to know. Uh so you can't build any big permanent things there. So that means just within that big 13,000 square mile rectangle,

uh just somebody living there doesn't have to worry too much. That means that no company can come in and build something really big,

right? That's really what we're looking at here. If you're in the actual 13,000 square mile thing, you don't have to really worry about a cell phone.

The thing is that also means since there's no cell phone towers that are allowed there,

yeah, your cell phone's going to be useless in a lot of places. Um I think that's fair enough to expect anyway because Pocahontas County, which is where a lot of the um the main part, which is definitely where Greenbank is.

Yeah. Um it I think threearters of it is national and state protected wilderness. So you're not going to expect to get a cell phone signal there anyway. And if you're passing through this area, you're probably going to the quiet zone on purpose. So you can expect this. It's really just an issue if you actually live or work in this area or you're a company trying to set up new infrastructure. That's really who's being affected by this.

Yeah, for sure. Like if you read and I had heard of this before at some point like I saw some news report or read an article that portray it as like you know it's like going back in time basically and we'll get to the ways it is sort of like that but it's not entirely like that. They've never entirely banned any kind of radio transmission. It's just really regulated. Like they have certain radio broadcasts because they have to have those emergency transmissions that we talked about in communications and the AM radio uh episode. Those have always been there. Uh you can have TV.

Um it is restricted but they permit like cable TV uh and even satellite TV which kind of surprises me.

Um and Wi-Fi was not available for a long long time until I I think just last year. Uh but they could have wired internet with the Ethernet cable.

Right. If it was wired, no problem. But the Wi-Fi was going to produce a lot of problems because your I mean that's a your router is a radio transmitter. So, yeah.

Uh, apparently a lot of people, as we'll see, are are like, "Well, whatever. I'm still going to have Wi-Fi." Including, um, Greenbank Observatory employees who live there.

Mhm. Um, but it's still a it's a big problem because if you live in that that region, it still affects you in all sorts of ways. Like, uh, Anna gives the example of if your car breaks down, you don't just call somebody on the cell phone and be like, I need a tow.

Sure. You're walking unless you're somebody friendly drives by who you know and trust, right? And probably had dinner at their house and will give you a ride.

Yeah. Yeah. To somewhere. People use pay phones as we'll see. Um it you can definitely feel disconnected just from not having cell service, let alone from Wi-Fi. But that said, I think we'll talk a little more about it later, but the people who work for Greenbank Observatory try to work with the community because although technically it's law that they can regulate this and punish people who violate these rules, they don't. They are trying to keep a happy relationship with the community and figure out compromises that work for everybody.

That's kind that's what they try to do. I think if you talk to some of the people who live or around there or elected officials around there um they they might not necessarily agree with you, but that seems to be at least the mission of the Greenbank Observatory.

Yeah. And and again, that's specifically the Green Bank, which is the most restrictive area where you're not going to have any cell service. Uh and like I said, until very recently, no Wi-Fi at all there. Um like no Bluetooth devices, no RC cars and trucks for the kids, man. uh and playful adults. Uh no microwaves. Um but like you said, I think you hinted at it. A lot of people or some people cuz there's not a lot of people there period, but some people move there for that reason. They want a simpler lifestyle. They want less technology. Uh and we'll talk a little bit more about, you know, kind of some of the people that attracts because it can get very interesting.

Um other people can get annoyed. Um, most people there probably just, you know, that's where they've always lived and so that's just the deal. Uh, it's a way of life. Uh, I think in 2016 there was an Italian graduate student uh, named Jafo Khalini who traveled there to study like the people and were like, you know, what's it like for the for the people that live there? And he found and this is a very small scale study. it wasn't like the most robust scientific thing,

but I think just walking around and studying and talking to people, they found that people seem to have lower anxiety there. Um, but it's different. You know, we they use maps, they use payoneses still. I just the idea of not having access to like social media and

yeah, a lot of just a lot of like modern life or having a cell phone like being able to be contacted all the time. I can't I can't help but think that yes, you as a group would have less anxiety on the whole,

especially teens. I think it was Australia, didn't they just pass a law saying you couldn't be on social media until you were a certain age?

16. I think 16. Hats off to you guys because that's how it should be. Um, teens there do have things like iPhones. Uh, they can't use them for text or call. So, there was one teen that said it's basically a clock and a calculator. So, I imagine I imagine calculator watches are very much [clears throat] in style still.

Yeah, those Casio ones. Yeah, those are awesome. Um the thing is is this is all I mean as of last year I think yeah meaning 2025 but also some changes really started to take place I think in the summer of 2024 like certain kinds of Wi-Fi is now allowed um and things are now changing I mean once you add widespread internet access like the world's going to change or this area is going to change

overnight basically. Yeah, for the better. Imagine imagine going right. Imagine going from 1997 to 2025 in this in the span of like a day after installing a Wi-Fi router in your house.

Well, I mean that's one thing Anna mentions sort of at the end of her research was like there was a while there where the Gulf was really big like when

you know for the longest time it was like oh things aren't that much different.

Sure. But then once the internet came along and then they weren't getting things like Wi-Fi and and Bluetooth, like the Gulf got pretty wide there for a while. Um,

but like we said, it attracts a lot of interesting folks. Um, there are certainly some some conspiracy theorists that go there on purpose. Uh, the National Alliance headquarters for the neo-Nazis has been in Poconus County for a long time.

Mhm. Obviously, you're going to get some hippies, uh, some communes. There was a a quasi cult perhaps called Zindic Farm that was there for a little while. Um they kind of moved all over. I looked into them all over the United States but ended up there uh until their uh one of their dear leaders passed away in 1999. The other Errol Zindic passed away in 2012. So that's when that kind of ended. But um and we'll talk about this last group um toward the end. But uh most famously it's probably known in where you might have seen articles or news reports uh people moving there that suffer from electromagnetic hypersensitivity.

Yeah. We'll talk a little bit more about that later. Right. Yeah. So uh if you have heard about this is a good chance that you stumbled across um a wired article on it appropriately.

That might have been where I read about it. There's a guy named Steven Kerzy um who's an author. He's a journalist who just kind of I was reading um one of his wired articles and he was talking about how he became kind of obsessed with the idea of living without a phone.

Yeah. Yeah. And did did so quite impressively for a very long time and he found out about the National Radio Quiet Zone and was you know naturally attracted to it wanted to find out more about it. So he started hanging out there and writing about it. So, a lot of um the best information about what life is actually like in there and what how things are actually done come from um some of his reporting. And one of the things that he points out is that um if you are caught using say like a cell phone uh within the the like the two miles of the Greenbank Observatory, you are subject to a $50 a day fine for as long as you're using that phone.

That's right. And as far as Kery can tell, absolutely no one in the history of the Greenbank Observatory has ever been fined because again, they're trying to um do this all through cooperation rather than they're trying to use the carrot, not the stick, I guess.

Exactly. So, uh if you're listening to your DVDs, your CDs, that's fine. You can't stream your music because there will be an enforcer that comes along uh to probably very kindly ask you. enforcer is not the right word at all. A nudger

uh that will come along. And that job for a very long time was held by a man named Wesley

Seismore, which by the way, this all sprang, I think, a banger of a movie idea for me.

Oh, good. I can't wait to see it. You'll never see it, but I'll tell you about it one day.

Okay. Uh I'll blow the dust off the script and hand it to you. Um you don't know. It could be it could be your ticket to stardom.

Hey, you never know. But Wesley Seismore did this job of enforcer. Uh, it's a guy who drives around in a truck or a van equipped with RFI identifying gear.

Mhm. And look for this interference. Um, sometimes you say, "Hey, man." Or they don't say, "Hey, man." He goes, "Hey, Mr. uh Mr. Ronald,"

because he probably knows everybody. Sure. At least in my script he does. And says, you know, you you got to you know, you can't use that microwave. You got to you got to unplug that thing or just give it to me so it's not a temptation. sometimes uh he's he's goes uh I can probably work something out for you that works without interference. uh very very famously he is the guy I think

uh he there was a malfunctioning electric blanket that was causing some interference and so he went out and got one that worked and you know it's funded by the NRAO obviously he's not doing it out of his pocket but apparently a lot of people in town sort of see him or saw him while he was doing the job is like a free repair man in town

yeah like yeah just sit around and wait for Chuck Nay to come find you and repair you

he's the new guy oh Sorry. Yeah, that was um Wesley Seismore. Chuck Naday is the new guy. You're right. Um he's been going since 2011. As far as I can tell, he's still the guy who does this. I believe he has a background in electrical engineering. Um, and one of the things that like Greenbank does, including Chuck Naday in working with people who like want to put up some sort of radio antenna, they'll actually help you design it so that it works really well, but it doesn't interfere with the telescope. Like that's the level of coordination and cooperation they're doing ideally.

And Chuck Naday is one of those guys. He goes around and finds, you know, who's using Wi-Fi routers, but also kind of is hands-on as well, helping come up with solutions basically.

Yeah. I don't know if you have your phone, but I just texted you a picture of Chuck Naday or Nadai. Uh he looks exactly like you would think.

He looks like like like a like the dude super friendly that drives around in this truck full of electric gear.

Mhm. uh looking to to friendly solve problems in a friendly way like Steven Seagal basically.

No, no, no, not at all. Did I ever tell you about being behind Steven Seagal's house in LA?

No, this one's new. Uh I think I talked about being in Meatloaf's house at one point or another.

Yeah. Yeah. Um the the what's the cherry on top called again? The L Yap on Top. The land yap on top of that story that I don't think I ever revealed or I may have and it was years ago was that Steven Seagal lived behind him.

And I knew this because when I was jumping on the trampoline in Meatloaf's backyard, every time I went up, I saw these little like uh Asian pagod tops that look like little tops of little Taj Mahals.

And I was like, "What is that?" And they were like, "That's Seagal's place." Are you sure they didn't mean George Seagal?

Oh, well, that's George Seagull, but sure. That would have been a twist. Yeah, it would have. So, did you see Steven Seagal there?

Oh, no, no, no, no. I remember, no matter how high I jumped, I could not get a a picture.

I remember um I read there was a GQ profile, I believe, years and years and years ago about him and the title of it was the biggest liar in Hollywood.

Oh jeez. Yeah, he's he's not a good guy. It was eviscerating. I would I would recommend going and reading it.

Yeah, I'll check it out. Yeah, just add it to your list. Uh, should we take a break? I feel like Yes.

Okay. All right. We're going to take a break and we're going to talk about what they're doing out there right after this.

Then you came along and it was like uh Yeah. Well, we were work pals. Okay, Chuck. So, we were talking about um how cell phone towers and transmitters like that like GPS transmitters, that kind of thing, like commercial grade stuff are really the biggest problem for the telescopes. The reason why I don't think we said the reason why it's not just interference, right? I saw a sideby-side picture of a radio telescope um I think of a pulsar uh and one uh of the same thing but with a lot of interference.

And it's just like Yeah. you it'd be impossible to pick some of this stuff out. Interference is one problem. Another problem is is that remember how sensitive those telescopes are? Their amplifiers get blown out really easily.

Um there was a uh in that article they were talking about Chuck Naday helping fashion an antenna for a smoke alarm. And um they were like if this smoke alarm went off and it sent the this message out through the antenna, if we didn't make it right, it would blow the green bank telescope like it would blow the amplifier out. Like that's all it would take. So that's really there's a couple of problems with it, right? But there's also another problem that very few people could do anything about and that is from all of the satellites that are in orbit these days.

Yeah, for sure. Especially the low earth orbit satellites. Mhm. Uh not only you're going to get visible light pollution, which is its own problem with uh all the telescopes, but radio interference is a big problem.

Yeah. So, what they're doing there, again, these seem like the greatest bunch of people because they don't come at it again with a stick. They're like, "Hey, let's work together uh to to make sure you can do what you need to do and we can still do what we need to do, right?" Uh so they're working on developing what's called a national radio dynamic zone uh which is a a collaborative initiative basically between the two well not two groups between one group and a lot of other groups that have these satellites

um to try and you know just talk with each other better and make sure that they can all like I said get their jobs done. They don't have a permanent home yet uh but they're they're working on it.

Yeah. They're trying to build a research center where satellite operators can test new technologies that will let satellites work but minimize radio interference.

Hopefully they get that up because there's a huge problem with radio and light pollution um from satellites and we're just adding more and more and more every year.

Yeah, for sure. Um all right, so if you were thinking, "Guys, when are you going to talk about aliens?" Now's the time because uh we talked about kind of the things they're doing there and this is one of the things they're doing there. Uh one of the very first projects they started out on years ago was what would be the origins of SETI, the search for extraterrestrial intelligence. Uh in 1959, the NRAO researcher named Frank Drake uh launched a study called Project Osma, so named for one of Elrank Bomb's characters in his Oz books.

Mhm. um he started looking for life out there and while it didn't work initially it that really launched uh what saidi would become.

Yeah. Frank Drake uh we've talked about him plenty of times. He came up with the Drake equation which is a really interesting formula for trying to figure out how many intelligent civilizations might be in the universe. um he's the guy who came up with that and Greenbank is the place where he came up with it because he was working there and he also hosted a um pretty

pretty rocking party a rocking party that that featured Carl Sean a guy named Melvin Calvin who's a biochemist John Lily who we talked about the whacked out dolphin researcher who used to give acid to dolphins.

Yeah. uh and they so Frank Drake came up with the Drake equation as basically the agenda for this conference and then they kind of hashed it out and they very famously calculated that there's at least 10,000 advanced intelligent alien civilizations just in the Milky Way galaxy. Um if you don't know about the Drake equation, go look it up. It'll open up a whole world of interesting stuff with you. But the upshot is like you said this um still continues today because this research at Greenbank essentially thanks to Frank Drake and others gave birth to the search for extraterrestrial intelligence or SETI

and um SEI is still performed at the Greenbank Telescope to this day. Has the rapper Drake ever put out a song or album called the Drake Equation?

No, but I'm glad you brought I don't know. He may have. He should have. if he hasn't. That's it seems like a no-brainer.

I'm glad you brought that up though because I had heard of the the quiet zone before. I didn't know much about it. But the thing that prompted this episode is one of our listeners, a guy named Andrew Phelps. He's a photographer and uh with another photographer named Paul Cranler, they um went to the the quiet zone around Greenbank and took like they basically made a photo documentary of life in the area. Oh, cool. and they named their book Drake Equation and they sent us a copy. So, hats off to those guys for the the book, for making the book and sending it to us.

I thought you were talking about someone else at first cuz wish I could remember his name. I follow him on Instagram now. There's a listener that is an astro or astral photographer.

Oh, neat. Where basically he he's I don't know where he goes to get these pictures. It's obviously in other quiet zones of the world. Okay. or at least dark places, you know, uh, and gets and it's not just like he sets up a a nice camera and does a long exposure. Like it's really sophisticated equipment, uh, and and process that he goes through to get stuff that looks like it doesn't look real. It's like, you know, celestial bodies that like it looks like some AI generated art. It's incredible stuff. Um, I think if it was an astral photographer, he'd be taking pictures of like auras.

Auras. Yeah, I think as soon as I got Tell Make sure you um figure out that guy's name.

I will and I'll I'll follow up on an episode. I'll I'll see if I can find it. It's really really impressive, super cool and very just a super cool hypersp specific uh art form. I think you know.

Yeah. Or people if uh you can't wait, they can go to you Chuck the podcaster on Instagram and look at who you follow and figure it out. Yeah sure.

There you go. I follow Josh um Clark. Do you? Of course I do. I follow you, too.

Yeah. Thanks. Are you just now realizing that? Yeah. Well, you don't post much.

No, I really don't. I Good for you. I want to say I should more, but I shouldn't.

I'm doing just fine. I think you're doing just great. Well, you do great, too. Hey, you know who also does great?

Who? Jerry. She does do great, doesn't she? Uh, all right. We're okay. We were talking about things that go on there. Uh, SEI, another thing that might not surprise you is military intelligence goes on there. Um, many years ago, they uh started something called the Sugar Grove Research Station at the time called the Sugar Grove US Naval Radio Station. This was in 1959.

Mhm. Uh, when the Navy started building uh what was going to be the world's largest radio antenna. It was called the Big Ear where they were going to listen in and intercept, you know, Russian intel. Uh they never finished the Big Ear because they were worried it was not structurally sound. So rather than moving on to the medium ear, uh I guess they didn't think it sounded cool enough, they just scrapped it all together. But they still have a station at Sugar Grove and um the NSA is also there. So I'm sure it's all on the up and up as far as who and what they're listening to. Well, actually, I saw actually, Chuck, I saw that the NSA abandoned Sugar Grove.

Oh, they're not in like the last year. Oh, okay. And it's for sale. You can buy the whole dang town.

The um which is has like a number of houses. It has like a recycling plant. It has everything. All sorts of stuff. Just I think the the highest bid recently was like 1.6 million. And I guess it was a joke cuz they couldn't come through with it. So I think if you come up with $11 million, they'd be happy to take it and you could probably get it for less.

Wow. I mean, considering what Kim Basinger paid for Brazleton, Georgia in the 80s or 90s.

How much was it? Do you remember? It was a lot. Was it? I think so. But I mean,

did she that that was she bought a town? I remember. Does she still own it? No, she got out of the Brassleton business. She had the market cornered for a minute though.

Uh, I usually don't look these things up. Guess what? The AI overview talks about the average home sale price.

Oh, wow. How surprising. Yeah. And and home is misspelled. Uh, I'll find it at some point. You can continue.

Okay. So, um, there's also been a bunch of great scientific discoveries there, as you can imagine.

$20 million in 1989. Do you know how much she sold the town for? No, I'm I'm not going to look that up either. Some things have to be left to the imagination.

I think that's great, Chuck. Uh, plus the AI overview just shrugged, right? Put a shrug emoji up.

All right, I interrupted. You were talking about scientific discoveries. Yeah, and we're talking radio aastronomy. So, there's stuff like um interstellar molecules. Some of the first ones were discovered. I think half of the interstellar molecules we know about were discovered in the 60s at um Greenbank. um like pictures of pole stars and like we understand the universe a lot more thanks to it, but they're also really arcane

um I guess discoveries that seem like they were just like total like they would only interest like two people, right?

For example, the Ze they it was the first detection of zemen splitting. Zemen splitting is where spectral lines, you know those black bands like on the on the spectrum.

Sure. just kind of pop up spectral lines. They split in the presence of a magnetic field that was discovered at Greenbank Observatory. And you might say like great, who cares?

But this is just one of those things that shows you how science builds on science. This actually confirmed quantum theory for the first time because it showed that electrons respond to magnetic fields and it proved a lot of like the math that um had been um proposed for quantum theory. it hadn't been confirmed yet. That discovery at Greenbank Observatory confirmed it. That's just one of a number of incomprehensible discoveries that were made there. So, it is important. This isn't just a group of astronomers who who want their cake.

Um they're just fat little bully boys or anything like that. They there are actual like important there's important work being carried out because this is such a unique place. Oh man, the mental picture was astounding. That just came over me. Uh, all right. So, we mentioned earlier on people that move there that suffer from what's called electromagnetic hypersensitivity. This may be where you have read about it or seen news reports because there's a a woman named Diane uh Sha I guess S H O W there for a long time and she's she's basically the most kind of the foremost uh sufferer of EHS. Uh she moved to the NRQZI a while ago, got 14 acres near Greenbank.

um founded the wave analysis verification uh research is not a center just no because then it' be waver

I guess so but it's it's a nonprofit and uh basically she she went there to to to live more healthily um for her own needs and to also do research on the disease and also help bring people in and educate and care for people uh with the disease and the idea is that people are um super sensitive obviously uh to electromagnetic waves and they feel like it gets them sick, headaches, nausea, dizziness, chest pain, hair loss. Uh and I say feels like because it's never been proven that this is a real thing, right?

No. One of the things that really undermines the concept of electromagnetic hypersensitivity as an actual medical condition is that people who suffer from it can't reliably tell when they're in the presence of electromagnetic frequencies.

Right? They've been given tests and tests and tests where they are being bombarded with an electromagnetic pulse and next they um say that they are and they're they're not actually being bombarded with it and they can't say like yes now I'm I'm being exposed to electromagnetic radiation now I'm not. So that alone makes it seem like it's simply a psychological disorder or a noibo effect that people are being like their symptoms are real. Like they're losing their hair. They're not pulling it out in secret and saying I lost my hair because of this. They're their symptoms are real. What's causing it seems to just be in their mind. I say that though with the kernel of salt, grain of salt. Um

because there have been diseases before that were treated like this initially. Yeah.

Um and it turned out like no, these people were just a group of mistreated sufferers who actually were suffering from something that's now recognized. So it's possible that's the case. And even if that's not the case, these people actually are suffering, right? Um, so the World Health Organization uh recognizes it as a medical condition, but a medical condition that um warrants further study to figure out what the heck's going on and how to actually help people who suffer from this regardless of what the the cause is.

Yeah, for sure. And and if e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e either way uh in either case, it's really great that uh Diane Sha and whoever has has met her and followed her there have a place to go where it is quiet for them, you know.

Yeah. And if you're like this kind of sounds familiar, Lenny from Leverne and Shirley on Better Call Saul, he suffered from electromagnetic hypersensitivity.

Ah, I did not see that show. Oh, it's still on the long list, but um I thought you were going to say Julian Moore in the Todd Haynes film Safe,

but that was a little different. I think that was uh and I don't know the name for it that but the people that think um it's like uh everything's dirty and uh everything is going to get them sick.

Hypochondria. No, but more more of uh I mean I'm sure it's a maybe a subset of hypochondria, but it's like everything is dirty. Everything I touch will get me sick. Everything uh there's um everything's tainted

and dangerous and germy. I mean, that's just normal for me, right? No. To the point where they can't function in the world, you know?

Yeah. I don't mean to make light of it. No, I know. I know what you mean, though. But you're a little

Jeremy. The whole thing um reminds me of our episode from 2014 about Morgalon's disease. Remember that?

Oh, yeah. What was that again? It's where people I think think they're suffering from something that comes out of their skin and when they bring samples of what they what they think is is like this evidence that they're sick, it turns out to be like lint or thread from a coat or just the smallest weirdest stuff

and they're like, "This doesn't exist, guys." And and I I don't know where it left off, but it was really interesting.

That's right. Uh, and a nice way to remind people that Amorgalon's disease is in from the old vault. And there are lots and lots of episodes in the vault that you probably don't even know about unless you've been listening for 17 years.

Sure. Coming up on 18. That's right. In April. So, what's going on with the the uh the National Radio Quiet Zone, Chuck?

It's still it's still putting along, you know. Uh they're still trying to work it out with uh the the satellites in orbit near them. They're still trying to work it out with the residents.

Uh, and they're they're keeping on keeping on. There were two things that happened recently. Um, well, one not too recently, but one very recently. The the National Science Foundation turned the Greenbank Observatory out, said, "We're done with you."

And it looked like the end of it, I think back in like 2012, it looked like the end of the observatory. And instead, everybody who worked there banded together and um looked for private funding and now it's privately funded.

Oh, that's cool. The other thing that happened is that they seem to have figured out how to address the Wi-Fi issue for everybody and that was Starlink. Um the uh the the basically global internet

um they figured out that if you use fixed Starlink where like you're just using it in your house, you're not moving around using it,

it it doesn't disrupt the function of the radio telescope. The problem is if you use like the the moving around the mobile version to where like it's you're getting signals say like on your phone while you're driving that messes with the telescope. So for 95.5% of the population around Greenbank

their their problem is solved because they can use the fixed Starlink. For that other 0.5 percent though, it's a big problem because emergency medical services wanted to use Starlink um to communicate with each other to respond to emergencies and now they're like, "We can't use radios. We can't use Starlink. What are what are we going to do?" And that's kind of where it stands right now. There's a they're at an impass trying to figure out how to let EMS do its thing.

Uh yeah, and again, as of just August of last year is when they were allowed the Wi-Fi, but I don't think we said the speed at a robust 2.4 for uh what is it? I don't even know what it is. Is it that slow? Mega something.

Gigahertz. Gigahertz. And the I think the reason why they allowed that is I read that be because there's so many Wi-Fi routers operating on 2.4 now that that band of the radio universe is just it's just trash now. You can't do astronomy on it anyway. So I think they were like

do astronomy on it. No, you can't. Don't even try. Yeah. You got anything else? I got nothing else.

Okay. Uh I think then everybody that means it's time for listener mail. Uh this sort of ties in a little bit. It's about the AM radio episode. Uh cuz we mentioned it was an important alert system

still. Uh and this happened to Hannah from Texas in 2016 when Hannah lived in Denim Springs, Louisiana. Was hit by a terrible flood that knocked out cell phone communications.

So it was like Greenbank for a short time. Mhm. Uh guys, we we still had enough internet to receive information, but couldn't send anything. So, we had gotten word that we could tune in to a specific AM radio station each evening between a certain time to hear families who were calling and asking if their loved ones were okay. Uh my partner at the time and I would go out to my car, turn on the radio, and listen. And every evening, we got updates on who was looking for who, who was on the way to help us or not, and who had been marked as safe.

Uh, sure enough, a couple of days in, we heard my mom calling in to try and confirm that her baby girl, me, was okay. Wow.

Uh, we also got word that my dad, who was part of the Cinjun Navy at the time, haven't even looked that up yet, but that's

I absolutely need to find out what that is. I guarantee it's interesting. Nice. Uh, we would be uh that they would be headed our way if they didn't get word within the next couple of days. Uh we were able to through a long uh chain of communication though to let my family know we were okay. And we heard our own names marked as alive and well, which was surreal on the AM radio. And a few days later, we were able to coordinate our evacuation using that same AM radio station.

Wow. I've been I know. It's pretty great. I've been listening to you guys for years and you never cease to delight me with your jokes, references, and general information. I recommend you to everyone I meet. Much appreciated, Hannah. and I frequently cite your episodes when sharing fun facts with co-workers and friends. Hannah from Texas.

Man, Hannah, thank you. I'm glad you guys are okay over there. And uh that was an amazing email. That was one of the tops. Hannah,

agash that says as much. Uh if you want to be like Anna and send us a top email, we would love to get that. You can send it off to us at stuffpodcast@ iheartradio.com. Stuff You Should Know is a production of iHeart Radio. For more podcasts, iHeart Radio, visit the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.

Questions about this episode

Who speaks in "Doin’ Science in the National Radio Quiet Zone | STUFF YOU SHOULD KNOW"?

Josh Clark (Host), Chuck Bryant (Host), Anna (Guest), Wesley Seismore (Guest), Chuck Naday (Guest), Diane Sha (Guest), Andrew Phelps (Guest).

What is "Doin’ Science in the National Radio Quiet Zone | STUFF YOU SHOULD KNOW" about?

The National Radio Quiet Zone in West Virginia is an area designated for limiting radio frequency interference to support scientific research, particularly in astronomy. The discussion touches on the unique contrast between this serene region and noise-averse environments, highlighting both its significance in scientific studies and its cultural quirks.

What is mentioned in this Stuff You Should Know episode?

35 people, works and ideas are mentioned, including Greenbank, National Radio Quiet Zone, radio astronomy, Robert C. Bird Greenbank telescope, electromagnetic hypersensitivity, Frank Drake. Each one on this page links to its own page with every episode that mentions it.

How long is "Doin’ Science in the National Radio Quiet Zone | STUFF YOU SHOULD KNOW"?

The episode runs 51 min; the transcript is about 9,274 words in 197 timestamped sections.

More from Stuff You Should Know

About this transcript: the episode's spoken words as captioned on YouTube, split into timestamped sections. Reclip.Me locates every person, work and idea in the text, keeps the time it is first named, and quotes the words around it verbatim. Last updated January 24, 2026.