VERONA, Va. (WHSV) – The Augusta County Board of Supervisors has voted to adopt a resolution supporting the dissolution of the National Radio Quiet Zone (NRQZ) for better emergency service communications.

The National Radio Quiet Zone is the area around two Department of Defense (DOD) installations in West Virginia:

• Green Bank Observatory in Pocahontas County, West Virginia
• Sugar Grove Station in Pendleton County, West Virginia

These zones place restrictions on the power levels of communications towers, limiting the signal capabilities of a single tower.

To cover the same area as a regular tower, it is often necessary to build auxiliary towers to cover dead zones.

The board heard from Rick Gillespie – Pendleton County’s director of emergency communications – on the need to pass new regulations dissolving the NRQZ or have the construction of additional towers federally funded.

Gillespie’s concern comes from places far from the NRQZ. People visiting the region’s national forests and state parks may not have the same emergency communications as other areas of the United States due to the NRQZ’s low-power transmitter rule.

At the October 23 board meeting, the Augusta County Board of Supervisors voted 4-3 to pass the resolution on the side of Gillespie and several West Virginia counties. In its resolution, the board agreed with other resolutions filed in other counties that quiet zone regulations have not kept pace with modern technologies.

In the resolution, the board agreed with dissolving the zone altogether or urged federal agencies to provide funding because the burden should not be borne by local government.

According to Augusta County Administrator Tim Fitzgerald, this resolution would not hinder a large-scale project underway in the Greater Augusta area. He said there would be no additional tower construction, but the current towers would be fed higher, making it easier to access the signal in those areas.

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