Radio Tracker Extrordinair

[wb1aij]

This guy could win any foxhunt or track down any rogue station. Imagine having him available to track down QRN? Check out the website below. I would love to have equipment like that.




http://www.comcast.net/articles/news-national/20081231/Interference.Hunters/

[k4kyv]

I wonder what it would be like living within that "radio free" zone.  Would you be allowed to transmit on lower frequencies?

If so, it sounds like a noise-free paradise.  Imagine no power line noise or random buzzies that have shown up all over the spectrum in recent years from the cheap made-in-China consumer junk, like plasma TV's, touch lamps and switching power supplies. 

But would you even be allowed to transmit on HF?

What would really suck would be if you already lived there long before the zone was established, with thousands of  dollars worth of equipment and antenna arrays, and one day someone informed you that you could no longer operate your station.

Would you be due any compensentation?  Would they pay for copper-screening for your shack and elaborate Faraday shielding for your antenna  tuners?

My recent line noise problem makes me think it would be worth it to live out in the middle of nowhere with no power lines for miles around, and run everything from a diesel generator that I could maintain myself to keep noise-free.  Enough to make anyone envy W2PFY. 

Too bad his diesel plant crapped out.

[W1RKW]

Not sure if HF would be permitted or coordinated however, there is a difference between a radio quiet and radio silent zone.

Some technical info for the radio quiet zone.

http://www.gb.nrao.edu/nrqz/nrqz.shtml#ApplRadServ

Another article on Wesley Sizemore
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/12.02/quiet.html

[k4kyv]

Regarding amateur radio, the National Radio Quiet Zone web page makes reference only to repeaters and beacon stations.  I see no mention of fixed stations.  Nor any reference to Part 95 (CB), but they do  make reference to AM broadcast transmitters.  Rule 1.924 may apply to CB, but I'm not sure that amateur radio falls under the definition of "Personal Radio".

Applicable Radio Services

The radio services that are affected by the NRQZ and the FCC rules that discuss them are:

FCC Rule   Radio Service
1.924   Public Mobile, Wireless Communications, Maritime, Aviation, Private Land Mobile, Personal Radio, Fixed Microwave
101.105(a)(7)   Fixed Microwave Services
23.20(b)   International Fixed Public
25.203(f)   Satellite Communications
73.1030(a)   Radio Broadcast
74.12, 74.24(i)   Exp., Aux., and Special Broadcast
78.19(c)   Cable Television Relay
97.203(e), 97.205(f)   Amateur Radio (repeaters, beacons)

NRQZ coordination is also required for the Personal Communications Service (FCC Part 24) and the General Wireless Communications Service (FCC Part 26). These services are not exempt from NRQZ coordination under geographic area licensing.

http://www.gb.nrao.edu/nrqz/nrqz.shtml#ApplRadServ

It would be interesting to find out what restrictions are placed on electric utilities regarding power line noise radiation, beyond the zone where underground wiring is required.  If the utility company serving the quiet zone can live with the limitations,  maybe, by extension, they could be imposed on all utilities nationwide.

Do the utilities remain in compliance by strict maintenance of conventional power distribution hardware, or do they use special hardware less prone to failure?  I would like to see an estimate of how much electrical rates would have to be increased to cover the costs of putting all power lines underground.

[W1RKW]

I would love to have a helium cooled receiver especially if I was in a quiet zone like out in the middle of the west (desert) and like you said Don, no power lines to cause power line noise. It would be interesting to hear a really quiet background with the type of receiver they have for amateur purposes and to hear what it really sounds like. And couple that with a very directional array in the HF bands.

[Steve - WB3HUZ]

None that I know of. I've been to Green Bank. It's in a very rural area, but from what I saw, the powerlines are routed and installed like they are anywhere else. I doubt the lower HF spectrum would be any more quiet than any other similarly rural location.

It would be interesting to find out what restrictions are placed on electric utilities regarding power line noise radiation, beyond the zone where underground wiring is required.  If the utility company serving the quiet zone can live with the limitations,  maybe, by extension, they could be imposed on all utilities nationwide.

Do the utilities remain in compliance by strict maintenance of conventional power distribution hardware, or do they use special hardware less prone to failure?  I would like to see an estimate of how much electrical rates would have to be increased to cover the costs of putting all power lines underground.

[k4kyv]

I would love to have a helium cooled receiver especially if I was in a quiet zone like out in the middle of the west (desert) and like you said Don, no power lines to cause power line noise. It would be interesting to hear a really quiet background with the type of receiver they have for amateur purposes and to hear what it really sounds like. And couple that with a very directional array in the HF bands.

Buy some acreage in the middle of the quiet zone, put up one hell of a receiving array, with multiple beverages, verticals and dipoles to cover all frequencies in all directions, to feed a solar powered computer controlled remote receiver with wired broadband access to the internet. 

Put all your home station receivers on ePay... and pray for no lightning damage or vandalism at the remote location.

[N3DRB The Derb]

been to GB several times. The only place I know of where you can see the milky way with the naked eye from horizon to horizon. Me and wifey used to go down and ride our bikes around the joint  2 or 3 times a year.

havent been able to go for a while.