HELP - Research for novel

<meta http-equiv="CONTENT-TYPE" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><title></title><meta name="GENERATOR" content="OpenOffice.org 3.0 (Win32)"><style type="text/css"> <!-- @page { margin: 0.79in } P { margin-bottom: 0.08in } --> </style> So, I'm working on a SHTF/post-nuclear novel. The premise is that the United States (and most of the world, but who cares about them? ) gets hit with nuclear armaments and an EMP attack.


So, knowing that a lot of you people on this board are interested in this sort of things, I have a few questions:

1. I know that some early-model cars (up to the 1970's) would survive EMP. How early does the car need to be to make it? How many of these cars are there?
2. From my reading, I understand that the most dangerous sorts of fallout complete their half-life within several hours. Supposing the protagonist is in a shelter within 100 miles of the nearest blast, how long does he have to wait before he can venture outside?
3. What methods are there to protect household electronics against the EMP? Would them being hidden underground help?
4. Would a Unimog make it through the EMP? Is it a sufficient bug-out vehicle?

 

1. Actually from recent testing a lot of modern Combustion engines would continue to work, The problem lies in the engines from around 92-98 when the computers inside cars were rudimentary at best.
Anything outside these years should work, nothing really fancy. (no I am not a certified mechanic, just a Manuals reader)
As for how many cars there are, well... A ton really...
2. Dunno
3. Faraday cages are teh best bet, with rubber insulators between the goods and the cage. Underground might dissipate the blast, but I dont think enough to make it a big change.
4. A unimog might, if its been armored for that sort of thing. However unless your Prot. is independantly wealthy, I wouldnt choose the MOG. Parts are a BEAST to get over here, and even then its expensive. If you want something thats like the style of the MOG go with a built up Bronco 2 for offroading. If its a narrow Gear hauler go with a Izuzu (tracker, trooper something like that). If you want it to be a big ole badass vehicle go with a F350 King Ranch 7.3 Turbo Diesel with dualies, stacks, and a track system. Dont forget the .5" hardened steel plate armor.

For the EMP stuff ask Overbore

 

Actually, this is a bit strange. My protagonist is supposed to be a very creepy fellow, a guy who has issues with human contact. He has inherited a sum of money that he has invested so as to live off the dividends, and purchased a home in the middle of nowhere. The sum is not very big (as far as millionaires go), allowing him something like $40,000 per year in income, a middle-class lifestyle, but he doesn't have to work, and can reduce his contact with other people, which is his goal.

So he takes up survivalism/preparedness as a hobby, rather than because he has really concerns about SHTF. So a lot of his measures will be not very well thought out.

 

Right so then His primary driver would be that F350 as I described above, and the Unimog would be "Gucci-fied" would have two different trailers with it. A Communications trailer with everything from AM transmission to Sattelite uplink. and a "Gucci" Bug out tralier.
I guess the best way to describe his preps would be that word:Gucci

 

If you want to do this right, you will want to do some solid research. This is an excellent place to go, this course is free, and I really enjoyed taking it: http://training.fema.gov/EMIWeb/IS/is3.asp

IS-3 Radiological Emergency Management

<!--Note: EMI is committed to providing the best customer experience for our emergency management students. Completion of courses on the EMI Learning Site provides rapid access to the courseware and ease of use for the student.
-->Course Overview

This independent study course contains information on a variety of radiological topics, including:

• Fundamental principles of radiation
• Nuclear threat and protective measures
• Nuclear power plants
• Radiological transportation accidents
• Other radiological hazards

 

Cool. I've been reading some survival manuals. I'll look over this.

 

It is listed as a 10 hour course, since I didn't take it all at the same time I don't remember how long it took me. I think that you will find that while reading it, ideas will flow into your head unlike you have had before.

 

I love the uni-mogs...absolutely love em! That said, I much prefer the Pinzgauers for any SHTF situation. Lighter, quieter, and plenty capable of moving gear and people across most terrain. The originals used a gas engine so if your setup uses mostly gas engines it's an ideal mule. Models after 2002 started getting a 2.5L VW diesel so if that is your kool-aid there are options there too! The newer models have other nice modern features but they are more rare in the civilian markets due to their fairly high price tags.

The 6x6 is particularly bad ass!

Byte

 

Quigley overestimates me as usual.

That said, I'll probably be over in America next year as I am applying to multiple graduate schools to work towards a Ph. D. in 19th century American History.

 

As far as the radiation and such also do a search on the site. I dont recall just where but I know there is a link to another gov site that covers a LOT of info on half life, radiation, fall out, home built shelters and so on. I dont remember all the info but I do remember that it basicly stated it was a gradual thing in that after a certain time (maybe a couple weeks in nearest areas likely to survive the blast) you could start venturing outside but that you could only handle very short times like say 10 min at a time a couple times per day then the next week its up to a couple hours and after a month or 2 then it should be pretty well safe. It also covered use of the Pro KI pills as well as dosage and use of straight iodine to help reduce/prevent radiation poisoning of the thyroid.