
$1M will buy 122 acres in part of U.S. National Radio Quiet Zone - jamessun
https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/trafficandcommuting/fed-up-with-high-dc-housing-costs-1m-will-buy-you-an-entire-w-virginia-town/2016/05/21/dfd4241e-16ce-11e6-aa55-670cabef46e0_story.html
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pmorici
It sounds like it is smack in the middle of a large area where Broadcast TV,
WiFi, and cellphones aren't allowed. Given the prevalence of those things in
everyday life you wonder how that effects the properties value regardless of
the location.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_National_Radio_Q...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_National_Radio_Quiet_Zone)

~~~
tlrobinson
If you make your house a faraday cage would you be allowed to use WiFi?

~~~
gambiting
Microwaves are not allowed, because for the fraction of a second between you
opening the door and the generator switching off there is always a tiny
leakage of microwave energy - and it has actually set off radars in sensitive
areas in the past. So to answer your question - probably not.

~~~
walrus01
I don't know where you got this idea, the NRQZ encompasses a huge area and
people most definitely do have microwave ovens.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_National_Radio_Q...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_National_Radio_Quiet_Zone)

You think that nobody in a city the size of Harrisonburg VA has a microwave?

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harrisonburg,_Virginia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harrisonburg,_Virginia)

It's within a 1 mile radius of the radio astronomy dish that petrol engined
cars (spark plugs) and emitters like microwaves are banned.

You can install licensed point to point microwave radio and VHF/UHF radio
systems, etc in the NRQZ, you just need to go through a coordination process.

[https://science.nrao.edu/facilities/gbt/interference-
protect...](https://science.nrao.edu/facilities/gbt/interference-
protection/nrqz)

~~~
gambiting
[https://www.theguardian.com/science/2015/may/05/microwave-
ov...](https://www.theguardian.com/science/2015/may/05/microwave-oven-caused-
mystery-signal-plaguing-radio-telescope-for-17-years)

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11748758](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11748758)

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melvinmt
Sounds like a perfect spot for Adult Summer Camp:
[http://campgrounded.org](http://campgrounded.org)

~~~
pcurve
Not to be funny, but considering its location and surrounding, I don't think
it's attractive as recreational facility. Maybe obesity camp, internet
addiction detox camp, or perhaps isolationist religious cults.

~~~
wolrah
Anyone looking to truly disconnect from the world. Being able to tell the
office "I literally will not be reachable" and have it be true is wonderful.

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sanj
"An array of giant parabolic dishes obscured by thick forest cover are housed
on a mountain ridge just over a mile southeast of the main property. These,
however, are not part of the sale."

~~~
adeel4
They can keep the dishes. Can you imagine how much it costs to dismantle them?

~~~
markps
When I was about 15, my dad and I volunteered to help strip cable and
waveguide off giant dishes in a decommissioned radio-free zone north of
Boulder. The material was donated to a local amateur radio club and was mostly
recycled as scrap metal.

I was given some wrenches, a harness, a few carabiners and some rope. I have
to say, hanging off those bottom supports with nothing below me was one of the
most exciting times of my life!

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nxzero
122 acres for $1M plus $5M a year does not sound like a deal, especially given
the RF ban.

~~~
throwaway76543
Agreed it's not particularly cheap at all. Average cropland per-acre cost is
$4k per acre, which prices 122 acres at under $500k. If you want cheap acerage
in the woods you can get it for around $1k/acre - expect to spend around $150k
in total.

Hell, for $1,700/ac you can buy a 160 acre plot within driving distance of
Silicon Valley out by Mt. Hamilton: [https://www.redfin.com/CA/Newman/5-W-of-
Hwy-95360/home/22910...](https://www.redfin.com/CA/Newman/5-W-of-
Hwy-95360/home/22910528) These old 160ac homestead plots come up for sale
periodically out there and they're quite cheap. Much, much less than a three
hour drive from say, Palo Alto.

Now, about that water ...

~~~
randomdata
Farmland fetches $15,000-20,000 per acre around here. $1M sounds cheap, if the
land is any good.

~~~
bhickey
Up in Vermont you can get timberland for $1-$3k acre. After you account for
the lumber the dirt looks like it has negative value.

~~~
someguydave
Sure, raw land is a liability to a degree - folks could go and hurt themselves
on it and sue you, etc.

~~~
throwaway76543
Tax liability as well. Holding land and doing nothing with it costs money.

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steve19
No WiFi or microwave ovens allowed, and I would guess no cell phones. Good
luck finding someone wanting to relocate their national headquarters...

[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_National_Radio...](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_National_Radio_Quiet_Zone)

~~~
nickpsecurity
Maybe a chef with a cooking show?

~~~
pyromine
A cooking shoe would 100% somehow manage to break an RF ban

~~~
nickpsecurity
Probably haha. I could design one which couldn't, though, as people have been
cooking since before cellphones, WiFi, and microwaves. There were five-star
restaurants before these. Even feedback from customers could happen over
landline. So, it's at least conceivable.

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minikites
There's also a lot of kooks who live there to get away from their
"electromagnetic hypersensitivity"

[http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-
canada-14887428](http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-14887428)

> Ms Schou is one of an estimated 5% of Americans who believe they suffer from
> Electromagnetic Hypersensitivity (EHS), which they say is caused by exposure
> to electromagnetic fields typically created by mobile phones, wi-fi and
> other electronic equipment.

Similar to Snowflake, AZ:

[http://99percentinvisible.org/episode/snowflake/](http://99percentinvisible.org/episode/snowflake/)

> Some people with MCS also experience sensitivity to electricity, so some
> houses forgo electricity, or have it routed through a single room which can
> be completely shut off from the rest of the house.

~~~
dmd
Number of these people, when actually tested in a double-blind study, who have
been shown to have any sensitivity or even awareness of the presence or
absence of electromagnetic fields: 0

~~~
profmonocle
My favorite (probably apocryphal) anecdote about EM sensitivity: A mobile
company built a new cell tower in a small town. Residents began complaining of
headaches and nausea. A town meeting was called, and after hearing the
complaints, a representative of the mobile company said "if it's that bad now,
imagine how bad it'll be when we turn it on."

------
lazyjones
Or you could buy approximately 20x as much land in a quiet area of Chile,
where there's also very little radio traffic going on and there are much fewer
strings attached. Patagonia is also one of the most beautiful spots on earth,
IMHO.

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Animats
There are lots of defunct military bases. Fort Ord, in Monterey, CA, was
closed in 1994, and it's still underutilized. Great weather, near the beach,
near a reasonably sized city, and still a tough sell.

[1]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Ord](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Ord)

~~~
saarons
I went to high school on Fort Ord land and I think the primary reason for it
being a tough sell is the unexploded ordnances. Every year we were given a
presentation on how to identify old landmines and avoid them. Even with the
recent cleanup efforts it's still somewhat dangerous and only the fringes of
Fort Ord (where cleanup happened a while ago) are being actively developed.

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walrus01
Given the NSA site, I wonder what the availability of commercial DWDM services
is to Ashburn, VA from dark fiber owners such as level3, zayo, etc. Locations
of buried 288 strand cable and raman amplifier sites would not be too
difficult to discover. The US government usually doesn't build its own
longhaul fiber.

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percept
[http://simpsons.wikia.com/wiki/Globex_Corporation](http://simpsons.wikia.com/wiki/Globex_Corporation)

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amelius
Or you could consider living amidst the Amish; it's a lot cheaper.

~~~
Shivetya
well oddly that isn't as true as some might believe. there is this whole
ownership versus usage game that some of them play to let them "use" computers
as long as they don't own them or the place where they are kept.

plus like many faiths, it depends on which exact subset you are

------
cschep
SCROLL JACK WARNING ARRGHGHHHHHGHHHHHHHH!!!!

~~~
dang
Please don't do this.

We detached this comment from
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11749136](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11749136)
and marked it off-topic.

