Starlink Enters National Radio Quiet Zone

Starlink has launched home Internet service to 99.5% of residents in the National Radio Quiet Zone (NRQZ) after a multi-year collaboration with the National Radio Astronomy Observatory to minimize interference with radio telescopes. "The vast majority of people within the areas of Virginia and West Virginia collectively known as the National Radio Quiet Zone (NRQZ) can now receive high speed satellite Internet service," the National Radio Astronomy Observatory and Green Bank Observatory announced said. "The newly available service is the result of a nearly three-year collaborative engineering effort between the US National Science Foundation (NSF), SpaceX, and the NSF National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NSF NRAO), which operates the NSF Green Bank Observatory (NSF GBO) in West Virginia within the NRQZ." Ars Technica reports: There's a controversy over the 0.5 percent of residents who aren't included and are said to be newly blocked from using the Starlink Roam service. Starlink markets Roam as a service for people to use while traveling, not as a fixed home Internet service. The Pendleton County Office of Emergency Management last week issued a press release (PDF) saying that "customers with the RV/Roam packages had been using Starlink for approximately two years throughout 100% of the NRQZ. Now, the 0.5% have lost coverage after having it for two years. This means that a large section of southeastern Pendleton County and an even larger section of northern Pocahontas will NOT be able to utilize Starlink."

PCMag wrote that "Starlink is now live in 42 of the 46 cell areas around the Green Bank Observatory's telescopes." Pendleton County Emergency Services Coordinator Rick Gillespie told Ars today that Roam coverage was cut off in the remaining four cell areas. "After the agreement, we all lost effective use within the four cells," Gillespie told Ars in an email. Gillespie's press release said that, "in many cases, Starlink was the only Internet provider option residents and emergency responders had. This is unacceptable."

I don't get it

[evanh]

Why the frig were any of them there in the first place? Surely they understand the importance of having radio free zones. It's sounding a lot like building a house next to an existing speedway and then complaining about the noise.

Re:

[dunkelfalke]

And it hasn't occurred to you that it could have been the other way around? Like building a speedway next to an existing house?

Re:

[evanh]

Not given how long that zone has been there for ... established 1958.

Won't this endanger the people?

[quonset]

As a recent article on here [slashdot.org] (and elsewhere) recently reminded us, there are people who moved to this radio quiet zone because radio waves are making them sick. They have repeatedly told us cell phones and microwaves and other electronics cause health issues.

Would they like to explain how having electromagnetic radiation beamed at them from close distance (relatively speaking) won't affect their health?

Re:

[Ed Tice]

Well, Starlink has been operating there for quite a while. The people who moved there for the radio-free zone reported that their symptoms went away after moving. So it must be that radio waves from space don't cause them symptoms. Only WiFi and terrestrial cellular networks. This is good because it means that everybody can have internet, the radio telescope still works, and those people are now symptom free. What's not to be happy about? Admittedly, it's somewhat surprising in that a signal reaching

Re:

[evanh]

Most people seeking this moved there long before Starlink was around. Not that I think that the RFZ is their remedy. More likely the lower stress levels have helped.

Unfortunately TFA doesn't help

[93 Escort Wagon]

The article itself doesn't explain *why* that small subset of users have been cut off either.

Re:

[JamesTRexx]

Simple, just look at graphics of radio signals. They live where only the dip of the frequency sine wave reaches them, thus no signal.
They should move their house a few metres to see if they receive a better signal then.

Re:

[ravenshrike]

Because those are the specific cells closest to the Green Bank Observatory and Sugar Grove Research station, and the base stations probably still create enough interference to be an issue in those areas.