Galaxy News Radio (quest)

Galaxy News Radio is a Fallout 3 quest. It is also a Achievement on the Xbox 360 and PC; and a Bronze Trophy on the PlayStation 3.

Summary
The quest involves retrieving the communication relay dish from the Virgo II Lunar Lander in the Museum of Technology and installing it at the top of the Washington Monument.

Galaxy News Radio
It is possible to start this quest without talking to Colin Moriarty. If you discover the G.N.R station at random or by encountering the Brotherhood of Steel group and therefore fighting a Super Mutant Behemoth, you will activate the quest.

Skipping the Quest
Even though you are led to this quest through the main story line, it is one of the quests that can be skipped. You can retrieve the Project Purity Personal Journals from the Jefferson Memorial, go directly to Doctor Li at Rivet City, or even straight to Vault 112 in the basement of Smith Casey's Garage, where James is imprisoned in a pre-war simulation, thus bringing about the quest Tranquility Lane.

Unmarked quest: Caching in with Three Dog
If you find out where your father is (from Doctor Li in Rivet City or otherwise) in the middle of this quest, you may talk to Three Dog again and he will mark a location on your map, called Hamilton's Hideaway (Note: This is NOT where you get the Experimental MIRV) with a small weapons cache consisting mostly of small caliber, small weapons, and armor. This can also be done with a Speech check even if you haven't found your father yet. You will convince him to tell you without you helping first, then still ask for your help and offer the weapon cache reward.

Find the Museum of Technology
You can ask Three Dog for directions to the Museum of Technology and the Washington Monument. From the radio studio, where you met Three Dog, proceed downstairs to the back door of the Galaxy News Radio building. From there you will need to locate the entrance to the Collapsed Car Tunnel. From the back door of GNR, you can see a bus below and to the right. The entrance is to the right of the bus. You may also notice some Feral Ghouls roaming around the bus. Cross the bridge on the left and turn right to find some loot at the picnic table, then you can jump down onto the bus.

Enter the Collapsed Car Tunnel door and follow the tunnels to Dupont Station. Enter Dupont Station and follow the waypoints south, while staying on the Red Metro line. You will pass the Central Station and then later reach the Museum of Technology. During this trip you will encounter lots of Raiders, Feral Ghouls and a few Super Mutants, so make sure you have plenty of Stimpacks, ammo and weapons. See Metro for detailed directions.

Retrieve the Communication Relay Dish
Inside the Museum of Technology you need to find the Virgo II Lunar Lander, which is located in the West Wing of the building. You can obtain this information from a terminal in the Atrium to the right of the entrance when you come in. Note however that the place is crawling with Super Mutants. Your goal is to reach the West Wing going through the Vault-Tec demonstration vault, upstairs. You can also attempt retrieving Jiggs' Loot using the Museum Information Terminal in the Atrium.

In the West Wing, locate the Virgo II Lunar Lander. The west wing is divided in 3 areas: The Planetarium, the Delta IX Exhibition and the Virgo II Exhibition. Be ready for a fight as all these areas are patrolled in some way by Super Mutants. Beware that you do need either Science of 25 or Lock Picking of 50 to get through the Planetarium. So if you do not have those stats it's recommended that you go through the Delta IX Rocket Exhibit. Once you've found the Lander and cleared all hostiles, grab the dish by interacting with the Lander and make your way to the exit.

Another great method for more sneaky players is to go hidden and move on the Stealth Boy in the far right corner, from the entrance, of the main room that you start in. Then after gaining that use it to get past the guards and go up the stairs where on your left through the door there happens to be 2 more Stealth Boys. Using those you can sneak past most if not all of the Super Mutants and you never have to fire a single shot.

Find the Washington Monument
Exit the Museum and head west for the Washington Monument. It is also in The Mall area and can be seen from the entrance of the Museum of Technology as a giant obelisk. There are Brotherhood guards stationed there and you'll need to use the terminal to open the security doors. The password is given to you in your notes at the beginning of the quest. Take the elevator to the top and interact with the radio equipment to install the dish. Finally, return to Three Dog at Galaxy News Radio to finish the quest.

Bugs

 * There is a known bug on all platforms where, if you do not exit Galaxy News Radio via the back door as Three Dog instructs, you will be unable to return to the building to complete the quest via the front door (using the intercom will result in the doorman telling you that it's open, when it's not), and the side-door will be locked and require a successful very hard lockpick to open. You cannot backtrack to GNR from Dupont Circle. The back door to GNR is up a destroyed flight of stairs and cannot be accessed. Picking the very hard side door will result in negative karma, but will allow you entrance to the building to complete this quest. This bug can also be triggered by bypassing GNR entirely and going straight to Rivet City, then the Jefferson Memorial. This bug appears to be fixed in the patch.
 * This editor experienced this exact problem post-patch (360), so the problem is not entirely gone.


 * After you finish the quest the GNR radio station will still have short bursts of static when listening on the PipBoy, but only when the music is playing. Enclave Radio also gets it but not as often, and Agatha's station comes in clearly. It mainly happens after saving or when leaving one location and entering another.


 * Three Dog may not be at GNR when you return. Simply rest for any amount of time and he will reappear.


 * There is a rare problem on the PC where when you go to meet with Three Dog after installing the dish on the Washington Monument, the dialogue will activate but the text will not show up giving you no options to click and Three Dog will remain quiet. If you listen to the radio he reports that he had spoken with you and talks about your father, but your quest will not update and you will be unable to finish the quest.

Trivia

 * The computer terminal makes references to the metal band Fear Factory: Log Entry 20770103 uses the line, "The infection has been removed... the soul of this machine has improved," lyrics from the album Archetype (the word is also in the report).  Fear Factory was known for integrating the concept of man and machine (creating, fighting, and also becoming one with each other).  The Research Lead's name is listed as B. Bell: Burton Bell is the lead singer.