走进静默区：手机缄默的无网世界

by Elise

There are no physical[有形的] signs youve entered the National Radio Quiet Zone， but the silence of your cellphone is a pretty clear signal.

（to John Poole） How many bars do you have？ John Poole： Zero. Searching.

NPR注1 photographer John Poole and I noticed the silence near the Virginia-West Virginia state line. Almost every radio station disappears…except for Allegheny Mountain Radio， which broadcasts at a low enough frequency[频率] to avoid being banned. Caleb Diller： Welcome back to Traffic Jam. I am Dr. Diller. Im your DJ this afternoon.

进入美国无线电静默区并没有可见的标志，但手机的沉默会给你一个明显的信号。

（问约翰·普尔）你有几格信号？约翰·普尔：完全没有，搜索中。

我与美国全国公共电台（NPR）的摄影师约翰·普尔都留意到，弗吉尼亚州与西弗吉尼亚州的州际线附近寂静一片。几乎所有的电台都接收不到……除了阿勒格尼山地电台——该台没有被禁的原因是其播放频率足够低。

凯莱布·迪勒：欢迎回到《音乐不塞车》。我是主持人迪勒博士，将陪伴你度过这个下午。

DJ Caleb Diller hosts a weekly show. He grew up here in Pocahontas County， West Virginia.

Diller： We didnt realize that the rest of the world was like， getting connected and staying connected constantly[经常地]， you know， via[通过] phones and computers and all that， and so， you know， we were kind of， you know， back in time a little bit. We hadnt， you know， hadnt progressed[进步，发展] to that.

They still havent. With state and federal[联邦的] laws keeping out cellphone towers and Wi-Fi signals here， residents[居民] of Green Bank， a no-stoplight town， check the Internet over landline[陆上线路] connections or at the local library. Thats where we found Arnie Stewart， who moved here after retirement.

Arnie Stewart： Those people that have lived here all their lives have grown up without a cellphone， so they dont miss it.

Some of them chitchat[聊天] over ham radios[业余无线电]. Pat Schaffner says his ham radio hobby has actually helped in emergencies[紧急情况]. Pat Schaffner： Last year， the big wind storm we had， of course， and we were without power for some days and without a lot of communications[通信]—all the phone lines were down[故障的]. So we had different spots around the county that we could talk from one end of the county to the other， and you know， maybe relay[分程传递（消息）] about a store being open or somewhere having ice.

The reason for the low-tech life here is actually because of a sophisticated[精密的] radio telescope注2 at the National Radio Astronomy[天文学] Observatory[天文台].

Unlike the tube-shaped optical[光学的] telescopes you might be thinking of， a radio telescope looks like a giant satellite dish[圆盘式卫星天线]. The Green Bank Telescope is as tall as the Washington Monument注3， and large enough to fit two acres of land in it. Karen ONeil oversees[看管] the site.

Karen ONeil： Its a huge collecting area， and its what allows us to see these incredibly small energies that were trying to study. The types of energies we look at are less than the energy of a single snowflake falling on the Earth.

Energy from Wi-Fi signals can confuse[使糊涂] or interfere with[妨碍，干扰] the telescopes readings， and it can trip up[使失败] antennas[天线] at the governments Sugar Grove research facility[设备]， which is also in the zone—so no interference[干扰] is allowed.

ONeil： It is still the quietest place within North America.

Chuck Niday： We still have communications.

I mean， its just older. （laughter） Dial-up telephones—we still have phone booths[电话亭].

Thats observatory engineer Chuck Niday.

Each week， he drives a 20-mile radius[半径] around the Green Bank Telescope policing[管制] for possible interference.

Niday： Say someone has a Wi-Fi service set up near the observatory thats causing us interference. We can ask them to shut it off， and But keeping the noise down around here is getting harder these days. Karen ONeil.

ONeil： So if you think back to 1956， when this site was first built， there were issues[难题] with radio noise. But most of those issues came about through cars and spark plugs[火花塞] and power lines[输电线]. And now， were living in a society where everything is wireless.

And constant connectivity has become a consumer[消费者] and cultural demand[需求]. George Murphy is IT director[主管] at the Snowshoe Ski Resort[胜地]. It happens to sit right inside the zone. So Murphy has to get creative to get customers cell service without running afoul of[与……冲突] the astronomers[天文学家].

George Murphy： We have to find a way to communicate that doesnt interfere with them.

This summer， Murphy got a system of shoebox-size antennas installed[安装] in the resorts retail[零售] village. It brought cellphone service to a pocket of Snowshoe for the first time ever.

Murphy： This was huge. This was huge. From the day I started here， I was working on this project with several different companies.

So change is in the mountain air here in West Virginia. But for most of this area， life remains slower-paced. Instant messaging and texting is still something Chuck Niday， the interference cop， sees on TV or when he travels out of town.

Niday： Its nice to be able to just pull something out of your pocket and send a message to someone， and get a response[回答] within 30 seconds or so. But I dont know that its that necessary. At least， its not around here.

Around here， the people seem content to stay disconnected—at least， for now.

主持人凯莱布·迪勒每周主持一个节目。他就在西弗吉尼亚州的波卡洪塔斯县这里长大。

迪勒：我们以前并不知道外面的世界，你知道，通过电话和电脑之类的东西时刻保持联系，所以你瞧，我们有点像生活在过去那样。你知道，我们的生活还没那么先进。

他们（至今）依然没有那么先进。州立法令以及联邦法律禁止在此地设立手机信号塔以及Wi-Fi信号（装置）。在没有交通信号灯的绿堤镇上，居民如果想上网话，就要依靠陆上通信线连接，或者去当地图书馆。我们在图书馆遇到了阿尼·斯图尔特，他在退休之后搬到这里来住。