{"id":13312,"date":"2015-05-21T08:11:56","date_gmt":"2015-05-21T12:11:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/?p=13312"},"modified":"2015-05-21T08:11:56","modified_gmt":"2015-05-21T12:11:56","slug":"national-radio-quiet-zone-featured-in-bbc-radio-4-series","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2015\/05\/national-radio-quiet-zone-featured-in-bbc-radio-4-series\/","title":{"rendered":"National Radio Quiet Zone featured in BBC Radio 4 series"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"GreenBankTelescope\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Many thanks to SWLing Post<\/em> reader,\u00a0David Freeborough, who shares this brilliant, in-depth radio documentary featured on the BBC News and BBC Radio 4.<\/p>\n

This BBC News Magazine article<\/a> introduces the documentary:<\/p>\n

“Anyone driving west from Washington DC towards the Allegheny Mountains will arrive before long in a vast area without mobile phone signals. This is the National Radio Quiet Zone – 13,000 square miles (34,000 sq km) of radio silence. What is it for and how long will it survive?<\/p>\n

As we drive into the Allegheny Mountains the car radio fades to static. I glance at my mobile phone but the signal has disappeared.<\/p>\n

Ahead of us a dazzling white saucer looms above the wooded terrain of West Virginia, getting bigger and bigger with every mile. It’s the planet’s largest land-based movable object – the Robert C Byrd Green Bank Telescope (GBT) – 2.3 acres in surface area, and taller than the Statue of Liberty.<\/p>\n

But it needs electrical peace and quiet to do its job.”<\/p>\n

[Continue reading…<\/a>]<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The story continues on the BBC News site<\/a>, but I would encourage you to listen to the five part radio documentary series on BBC Radio 4<\/a> first. Green Bank, WV,\u00a0is certainly one part of the planet where a shortwave radio listener would be quite happy: residents have virtually no radio interference or obnoxious electrical noises that plague the rest of the modern world.<\/p>\n

\"telescopes-1911\"<\/a>The radio documentary can be streamed on the Radio 4 website<\/a>. \u00a0I’ve included links to each episode below. As far as I can tell, there are\u00a0no expiration dates on the Radio 4 streams:<\/p>\n