TOTM Feb. 2017- EMP A Real Threat or Fiction

Watching that "dark side of the sun" show on discovery Channel.
A nasa PhD astrophysicist says there will be another Carrington event.
Forcasting space weather is about like earth weather forcasting in the 1950. Lots of ground based observations but not a lot of purpose built instrumentation to get up close and personal to figure out what's going on.
That's going to change. In 2018 the solar plus probe is being made to go a very hot 4 million miles from the surface of the sun and serve as an early warning system when in place.

Mid Atlanta grid and Quebec interconnect could fry and people could be without power for a year. It might effect central grid. I'll take maybe screwed over 100% for sure screwed.

 

It may be short-sightedness or what not, but I don't think too much about emps. The things I do, I have a way of doing without electricity. Prepare to do without....and adapt.

 

Preparing for not having electricity is great...but then there are all the things that must be dealt with as a result of others not having electricity

I have always considered EMP one of the most likely potential major man made societal breakdown triggers. I have 2 shed sized "faraday cages" made using different theories of what will work and 3 vehicles that should work through an EMP (though 2 are too small to transport much...75 MG and 74 Triumph) as well as spare modules for the 89 Jeep and 90 Chevy based motorhome. We have the capability to generate electricity from the river as well as the ubiquitous lawn mower engine based alternators.

The thing about it is, we never really know what will work (or what we have forgotten) until the time comes...

 

Ignition control modules, at least the ones in general motors HEI distributors are bathed in electromagnetic interference, radio frequency interference and ionization during operation.
But they still last year's and years.
I they they're pretty safe.

 

Kinda like a gun. Better to have and not need than need and not have.

You go with your bet, I'll still cover all the bases I can find.

 

Oh yeah the old HEI ignition control module still randomly fail when they get past 75,000 to 100,000 miles.
It's best to keep on in the vehicle just in case.

 

I was talking to a very left leaning person today. I was surprised to hear him say that he thinks the US will have a bomb go off in the next six month. He went on to talk about protecting his IRA in case a bombing happens (worried about the market) but that was the only preparation he was making. He was only concerned about his money. He is one of those people that has never heard of am EMP and if one was detonated, would stand around wondering why his cell phone and TV didn't work. That would be his focus. On one hand that is sad but on the other, it gives people like us a head start in the survival game.

I do not know if it was bad not to steer the conversation to the threat of an EMP and maybe storing food but I have made light suggestions before and have not been taken seriously.

 

If you were not going to be taken seriously anyway, you shoulda just told him "with a name like IRA, of course it's gonna get bombed".

 

I believe EMP, whether natural or manmade, is indeed a threat, the big question is how destructive it would be to our electrical and electronic systems. Russian war theory during the Cold War called for an EMP strike to destroy our electrical grid, which they believed would finish off the soft Americans, and bring us to the point of surrender.

Just in case, I have acquired old hand tools that are human powered, to be able to work wood and metal, and I know how to use them. I do all my gardening with hand tools, and all the strenuous effort keeps me in shape along with mowing 2 acres every week during the warm months with a push mower.

A neighbor, who is a lifetime resident here, said my efforts haven't gone unnoticed by the other residents of the small town of 2,000 that I have lived near for 3 years now, and everybody believes I am the strongest and fittest man in the community, though I turn 63 this year. I usually lose 25 lbs. every summer, and pick it back up every winter. I know what it takes to survive in grid down situation because I live it, and have to say it will kill many who will attempt it without physical pre-hardening, no matter what survival knowledge they possess, it will be brutal.

Electronics are the candy of civilization, and you should be prepared to kiss them goodbye if EMP takes them out.

Dig Baby dig, like your life depends on it - because it does!

 

Why?

 

Probably why I don't understand it.

By the way, though I personally don't remember noticing one way or the other when in the lower hemisphere, I am fairly reliably told that the spin is determined by the design of the toilet bowl.

 

I got a little preview of the EMP yesterday.
A transformer at al local switching substation decided to blow smoke.
When it died its final death it shorted internally for a split second it produced a very high voltage transient.
I was at work and when the power came back on and about a dozen out of 249 of the programmable logic control nodes would not come back up. A few just needed to be reset manually a few times, so those ones are probably damaged and will fail soon, some just had a fried power supply, some of the ones that had fried power supply also had fried input cards.
I have never seen the PLCs not all come right back on after a power outage.

 

Agree 100%

EMP and the economy collapse are two 'biggies' I prep for. If you think about it, covering those two will cover many other bases as well. I have no idea if the home made cages will work, but this is what I've done after reading and talking with others over the years.

I use ammo cans, size is dependent on what I'm trying to protect. I coat the outside with a mastic to help with rust issues. Whatever I'm protecting goes into a 'bag' that was made out of a section of truck or tractor inner tube. The ends are sealed with a combination of the glue used to put on a tube patch,heating the rubber and then clamping the seam in either the sheet metal brake or using duck bill vice grip clamps until it sets up. It appears that these seams hold pretty well. That unit is placed in the ammo can. At the bottom of one outside corner of the can is a silver soldered copper grounding lug.The lug is NOT coated with the mastic. A small ground strap is attached to the lug and the whole thing is buried 3' down.

I have one box that is in a shed that has it's grounding strap connected to a standard 8' copper washed ground rod that is at the outside corner of the shed.The rubber seal has been removed and replaced with copper ribbon on the lid and lip of the can. My thoughts on the 'cage' inside the shed is that I'm risking a bit for ease of access and speed. I have some comm stuff in there, but if it fails the backups are in the buried cans.

Will any of this work? I've no idea, but it was the best I could come up with. Hoping 'ol Murph will grade me on a curve for the effort

 

That will probably work as long as you are out side of the pressure and thermal blast zone. Because if will be pretty difficult to dig up the ground when there is an inch of eviscerated soil covering everything after you have been vaporized.

 

Tis but a flesh wound!

 

I have always leaned toward a galvanized trashcan as the bestest cheap Farday cage of reasonable size. Grounded. of course--preferably by sitting on the ground.

Here is an article I found well worth reading:

Electromagnetic Pulse - EMP Myths - futurescience.com

It cuts thru some of the popular bull on the subject.

There is one error in it, i think. I believe Faraday cages will protect against solar storms, because electrons is electrons. and conductors don't care what motivates them. Any current induced by a pulse of electromagnetic energy should be diverted and grounded by a metal enclosure--even as the pulse is absorbed and dissipated.

 

Because I am sure many of us have been under the impression that anything we may do about EMP will help inside the thermal and pressure blast.

Thanks for clearing that up.

 

I will definitely have to try this.

 

A faraday cage will offer very little help in that situation but should you have a back up vehicle which is not fuel injection and some back up cylinoids. Having a good two stroke would allow one some mobility in those situations but again the problem isn't the attack or your equipment failing your problem is with your fellow man as nice and friendly as he apears he will become a wild animal when tested I have bore witness to this phenomenon personally it is terrifying a true zombie is born with no emotion. Just protect yourselves.