The National Radio Astronomy Observatory Venturing Crew 73 has been active in Buckeye Council since 2006 and we are chartered through the Canton Amateur Radio Club. As you might guess, we are technology-focused. Young people who join our unit are interested in computers, electronics and science. We serve our Council's summer camp by maintaining the camp's public address system, shower house emergency phones, and a modest sound and lighting system at one of the outdoor amphitheaters. In 2010, we remodeled a storage building on the reservation, making it into a ham radio "shack" and a small recording studio. This was done to bring the Radio Merit Badge to our camp. A Crew 73 member has always been on camp staff and in charge of the six-week summer camp program area. We are the holders of a club amateur radio license, KT8BSA, which is the call sign we use for our camp activities. In December 2013, there was an opportunity to take a quick road trip during winter break, desiring somewhere within a few hour's drive. None of the youth members had been to the NRAO (National Radio Astronomy Observatory) telescope facility in Green Bank, West Virginia. Also, within a 90 minute drive of that attraction sits the formerly top-secret Greenbrier Bunker, the previous evacuation home of our Congress in the event of an attack on Washington DC. The trip was quickly arranged, a tour plan filed, and off we went. Two adults (and a spouse guest) and two crew members made a pleasant auto trip of about five hours duration. Arriving in Green Bank at lunchtime on Saturday, we ate in the visitor center's cafe and took the standard tour soon after. Our guide was very knowledgeable and explained the scientific mission of the facility and told about its history. Our evening was spent making a 40 minute trip over the ridgeline to Snowshoe ski area, where we took a meal at a local restaurant and soaked up some Allegheny Mountain hospitality. Because there is a substantial black-out radius for most forms of communication, cell phones in particular per government restrictions, we were pretty well cut off from the rest of the world The next morning before any tours began, we hiked the access road to the large 100 meter telescope. Standing very close to the reflector's structure, it was time to obey the 12th point of the Scout law. Combine the absolute stillness of the site in the cool morning mountaintop fog with huge machines which help us understand God's universe and you get the perfect stage to read inspirational words. We had a 2:30 reservation at the Bunker, so we hit the road again just before lunchtime. A quick meal in the city at a cozy mom & pop restaurant, then off to check in with the tour. If you have never been to the Greenbrier in White Sulphur Springs, let me paint you a picture. This is a luxury hotel in the extreme. I'd give it six stars on a bad day. During the early days of the Cold War, the US Government needed a place to house Congress during an emergency. A multi-year project constructed an underground bunker containing two floors, each about the size of a football field. It was maintained as a getaway until the early 90's, when a journalist blew the site's cover. Now it's used as a repository for computer backups, business records and storage of other commercial records. And of course, as a mini-museum. Again, our tour guide for the visit was highly entertaining and knew her history quite well. We saw where Congressmen would enter, be de-contaminated of possible fallout, eat, sleep, work and possibly die. We saw gigantic blast doors which would seal the bunker against all but a direct nuclear strike. If you are a student of American history, especially Cold War history, this is a place you will want to see. There is a small fee at both NRAO and the Bunker to take the tours. Leaving the area, we arrived home in Canton late in the evening, exhausted but satisfied. Oh, yes... the trip took us very close to the Bechtel Reservation and the New River Gorge bridge, but we could not visit those on this trip. Our Crew will likely return to the area next year, possibly enjoying a campout in "bear country" and a little taste of whitewater. ~ Dale Lamm (Venturing Crew 73 Advisor)
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Crew 73 with a telescope that is 1 mile away!
At the main entrance