EMP, the electromagnetic pulse countermeasures

Solar cycle 25 is going to suck. Solar cycle 26 is going to suck harder.
The main threats to technology from emp is from solar storms and lightning.
Solar storms and lightning appear to be getting worse due most likely to earth's weakening magnetic field. The earth has lost up to 20% field strength since 2000, and the rate of loss appears to be accelerating.

So we have to employ counter measures to protect our technology and to keep our tech from bursting into flames and burning down our adult forts.

I'm not going to just throw shit at the problem and hope it goes away. I want measurable results and reproducible results so you apes can do it too.
So I bought an industrial surge suppressor and counter. I believe it works by putting a trip transformer on a wire or few coils of wire on a line that goes to a metal oxide variator. When the MOV shorts out a surge over a certain number of amps the counter gets tripped. Chart the number of trips over time to establish a base line and try to reduce that number.
I will remove what surge protection I have installed to make a good base line.

I have a lot on the line. The solar panels and the leaf. A few times a year I will come across a story about a nissan leaf with a fried charger from lightning, usually in Florida. I don't want that.

 

The only thing I am aware of that counters an EMP is shielding.

I did my best to make my house a faraday cage. Despite living only 1/4 mile from a cellphone tower, when you step in our house your cellphone signal drops by maybe half. It is not perfect, but it was the best I could do.

 

I've had good luck both at home and at our transmitter facilities with MOV type surge suppressors, never had one that counts though. I know they work because the old building that used to house a radio station does not have any, and we have lost things to lightning in there while the main building remains unaffected. At home, I keep everything unplugged if not in use, and keep my ham gear in 20mm ammo cans. The transmitter facility has a 2000' tower and it's guaranteed to take hits during a lightning storm. A good ground system around everything helps protect your stuff too. I have several hundred feet of surplus 1/0 copper braid buried around my house and attached to 4 8' ground rods (at each corner) that is tied to my service entrance.
I'm told by experts every time I attend a training class that nothing is 100% at stopping lightning, but providing a good source to drain it away can mitigate or sometimes prevent losses. The pics show inside and outside of the building, some of the 300' of bonding we have.

 

Solar storms are a form of weak acting emp that can only hurt stuff connected to a very large antenna such as the power grid.

 

Steel reinforced concrete house shell, Windows are lacking needed metal grid protection but a good cell phone conversation is impossible. Tornado shelter is 100% carbon steel reinforced concrete with steel door and grid over the single 10"x10" door widow with steel cover to be used when needed. 8 foot ground rod and system is also bonded to the water system/deep earth @ 400 feet.
The inside of the PVC pipe is now coated in a rust/clay compound due to years of build up so even if the well pipe is empty the path to ground is on the inside of the pipe to the water table.

I would like to find a copper roof company to do our cupola in copper with a lighting rod at each corner and a ground wire to earth.

Only so much time and since a copper roofing company with the desire to work 100+ miles from their shop is hard to find and after all it is only money.

 

and a copper roof is beautiful

 

True.

 

And the Fighter Jets/Choppers/Bell Boeing V-22 Osprey
already use us as a reference point and might I say part of their scenic runs to Austin.

 

wut?

 

Well we are not exactly a Camo Item on the horizon.
Fly due south from Joint reserve base and we are a direct sighting point for hundreds of miles.

 

It's like I can see the future.
Check this out, jump to 1:05.
"It's an insane lightning burst" 30,000 strikes with in an hour on a 8 mile long storm front.

Accurate lightning counting has been happening for at least 30 years and nothing like this has been seen to date.
This 8 to 9 lighting strikes per second over an 8 miles area, not sure how fast the storm front was moving.

 

Interesting I've seen some repeater sites actually use 3/4" hard copper tubing for such bonding as well, same idea.

 

I've seen that as well, but question it's ability to handle the large amperage, although it works well as an RF ground.

 

The plan is install the surge counter on the ground side of 2 breaker protected large metal oxide varresistors.
Install ferrite cores on wires to help funnel the charge to the MOVs. The ferrite cores will oppose a large change in current going out to the branch circuits trapping that energy in the main panel.
I'm not going to put them on high power circuits like the lines going out to the garage welder, the dryer or the electric range, hot tub, ect.
If a large power surge can be dispatched by the dryers heating element just because it happens to be on that moment then cool.

 

The government noticed space weather, namely the solar EMP that could fry the power grid.
Skip to about 2:30 for the meat and potatoes.

Even though the land hurricane flattened 7.5 billion dollars worth of corn the FDA is still projecting a record corn harvest.
Hmmmmm, idk about dat.

 

Solar influence = Eddy currents. For large scale utilities, this is becoming an issue.

Be prepared to unplug, not such an issue Lightening, esp the so-called super-bolt, is a problem.

Sort of living in a cave with no technology, the future (20, 30 Years out) is going to be a very different place.

Most people cannot imagine an extended grid down scene. I'll just say, if you thought the crap from the Plandemic Panic was bad, yo have no idea of just how bad it will get.

No electricity means for the vast majority of North American residents:

• No water
• No sewer
• No refrigeration (we now keep very little in the freezer/fridge)
• No motor fuel
  
• No NatGas (Obammy, the Sun God in his Imperial wisdom mandated all pressure stations be converted to electric powered compressors - the cascading failure of gas supplies in AZ/NM of recent fame is just of taste of what's to come)
• No NatGAs + No electric = No heating or A/C.

Oh yeah. If I was living in So Nv right now, I'd be looking for mining property with a good water source.

But it gets better. In addition to the increased lightening, hailstones will become more common and are growing in size. Then the UV levels spike, killing much of the vegetation. A partial ecosystem collapse follows.

I started writing an EOW book "Sunburn" It looked at just this this - a collapsing geomagnetic field and a few solar storms. After doing my usual research, I stopped writing - it was just too depressing. I was literally scaring myself to death....

I'll post the first part on another thread if anyone is interested....

 

Late for the party on the subject of ham gear and emp's. Sorry but I'm going to take my extra test in 2 weeks and just dropped for an IC 7300 and accoutrements. I also have 2 Baefeng BF-F8's. I'm running on DC and I guess I'll figure out a good way to easily disconnect/connect my antenna (a discreet dipole). But what have we got? 8 mins IF we get a warning about a solar incident. 0 mins in the case of a nuke. But in the latter case, I think we'll all have more pressing immediate problems. JMHO.

So I'm doing the ammo can thing for the HT's. I have heard so many opinions on a faraday box for the 7300. Including wrapping it with cardboard then al foil repeat ad nauseum. Boy that'll be handy to access. eye roll. I realize it's a gray area depending on the strength of the pulse but...

I went with a stupidly expensive battery (2500 cycles??? Can that be right???) and solar panels to try and keep it simple and relatively mobile. Besides more layers of steel and insulation???

Anyway, I'm reading everything I can on the subject so any additional conversation here about radio protection would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Tony

BTW. I just got my tech and general a few weeks ago so forgive my ignorance. Book smart and practice stupid right now. Lol

 

Thanks BTPost. I'll start digging into the .Gov publications. And U of F is only 35 miles away. I've spent many many hours there when I was in school.

Ya know, studying is a lot harder at 62 than at 22. Good thing this technology interests me so much.

 

https://www.swpc.noaa.gov/sites/def...larePowerGridOutages_SDMitchell_Final (2).pdf

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