Bennie says: “The National Radio Quiet Zone is a 13,000 square mile area located in parts of West Virginia and Virginia. Some find the silence soothing; others because they suffer from electromagnetic hypersensitivity. Whatever the personal reasons, more people are flocking here because of the lack of cellphone signals.”
Here’s The Daily‘s Ashley Kindergan on the National Radio Quiet Zone:
The Allegheny Mountains are a natural block against radio signals, and federal law allows strict regulation of manmade signals from fixed, permanent transmitters, such as cellphone towers, within the quiet zone. State law sets limits for the signal strength of electronic devices within a 10-mile radius of the telescope.
Diane Schou may have been the first person suffering from electromagnetic hypersensitivity, a scientifically controversial condition that sufferers say causes them to become ill after exposure to things such as cellphone towers Wi-Fi, to settle in the radiotelescopes’ shadow.
“It’s not a perfect place, but it’s the only place in the world that in my opinion is protected,” Schou told The Daily.
See also this BBC article mentioned on Boing Boing.
(Image: microwave tower, a Creative Commons Attribution (2.0) image from cyrusbulsara’s photostream)