Tucker County Director of Emergency Management Kevin White said that the County’s Starlink Pilot Program is not the be-all, end-all answer to communication woes for Tucker County. In the end, White said, the answer is still likely going to come down to more towers and stronger signal strength.
“Starlink is a device that has a purpose, but it is not the answer,” White said. “Relaxing the requirements set by the National Radio Quiet Zone is the answer, more towers could be the answer, but the relaxing those requirements is where its at.”
During an update on efforts by Pendleton County Director of Emergency Management Rick Gillespie on research into the National Radio Quiet Zone (NRQZ), a 13,000 square mile region that spans parts of W.Va., Va. and Md. where radio transmission is heavily restricted, White informed the Tucker County Commission Sept. 9 of new independent study information regarding signal strength limits.
“They have received a lot of data back from an independent study that was done by a hired firm to help hopefully relieve a little bit of the restraints that have been placed on areas such as Pendleton, Pocahontas, Tucker County, due to the fact of the National Radio Quiet Zone,” White said.
The Zone was established in 1958 to minimize “possible harmful interference to the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) in Green Bank, WV and the radio receiving facilities for the United States Navy in Sugar Grove, WV.” Tucker County joined other county commissions in signing resolutions asking for flexibility in the Quiet Zone restrictions for emergency radio transmissions.
“Since we have Green Bank and we have Sugar Grove facilities that are monitoring whatever they monitor, they regulate the amount of radio signal your County puts out and receives, especially when it is directional in the area towards Green Bank.”
In the case of Tucker County, with its hills, valleys and mountains, the weaker the signal, the more dead spots in signal coverage there are for radio communication, White said. He said that he and Gillespie had come to the conclusion that the state’s siren tower network could be capable of 60 watts of signal, should regulators allow.
“We are currently allowed to push out two watts,” White said. “You can see where an area like Tucker County with the mountains and hollows and the hills. With all that, it is detrimental to communications for our emergency responders and in a lot of places they don’t have communications.”
Gillespie has been working with Federal officials at Green Bank and Sugar Grove in an attempt to get relief for emergency responder communication signals.
“Some of the studies show that the modeling that they are using is currently so outdated, it is no longer effective, being Green Bank,” White said. “Technology has changed so greatly in what is it, 50-some years, that it is no longer effective. Their communication devices, their receiving devices wouldn’t be interfered with as much today as it was before, is basically what we are finding out.”
White said that while Starlink has its place in the County’s repertoire, it is not the answer to the County’s dead zones. Starlink, according to White, has a 65% fail rate, comparable to radio.
White also equated the technology to more of a mobile hotspot and with the heavy canopy in many areas of the county, may not be of use in those areas. In areas with heavy trees, hollows and hills, the technology cannot replace radio, White said.
The answer lies in relaxing the regulations on the National Radio Quiet Zone. More towers may also help, White said, but the main answer is in the lessening of restrictions. Short of that, the Federal Government funding of more signal towers for emergency communications.
“We are being imposed on certain regulations without any relief to help with those regulations,” White said. “If they are steadfast that on that we are only allowed two watts, then we need more towers to cover more areas that are only pushing two watts.”