NRAO Electronics, November 1979

On 6 August 1956, the West Virginia Radio Astronomy Zoning Act became the first legislation in the world intended specifically to protect basic research, and on 19 November 1958 The National Radio Quiet Zone (NRQZ) was established by the Federal Communications Commission to minimize potential harmful interference to the NRAO in Green Bank, WV, as well as to the radio receiving facilities for the US Navy in Sugar Grove, WV. This 1979 photos shows NRAO's frequency van, used to detect sources of interference in and around Green Bank, long before the era of ubiquitous computers, cell phones, drones, and satellites, when threats were more likely to come from malfunctioning household appliances or poorly sited TV broadcast towers.

The generator on the trailer was later moved to the inside of the truck. The equipment installed was a spectrum analyzer, NRAO radio and a CB radio. The CB was used to detect power line noise. One could not see the spectrum analyzer from the driver's seat, so the driver had to stop, go to the back of the truck, raise the mast and swung it around manually to look for RFI on the spectrum analyzer.

Records of the NRAO

Still Image

GB79-17652_van007.jpg

B&W negative

1979-11-20

NRAO/AUI/NSF

GB79-17652

Photographs Series

Electronics, Computers and Equipment Unit

2A