EMP

[bigpaul]

(23 April 2012, 18:51)Timelord Wrote: Exactly, cars are a pre SHTF misdirection of effort in this scenario and a mournful acceptance of the fact after it. lol

Thanks TL, thats what i thought! now where did i put my map with all the horses marked on it?

[Bjm]

If a solar flare can last for hours or days. Is there any way to know when an EMP is over?

Do you think that an earthed safe would make a good faraday cage? and is it rude to ask if any one
has a faraday cage fitted to there Bug Out Vehicle? Would it not be worthwhile if your vehicle
has an ECU, to buy a spare one,along with an alternator and starter to keep in the cage just in case?

[NorthernRaider]

Good question I honestly dont know but I'm asuming that if a big EMP toasts everything you can watch out for two things ( I'm guessing) First if we have a huge long EMP event then theres a high probability we will have northern lights shining brightly as far south as the south coast for days, and when they finally fade away the event should !!! be over. OR repair / reconnect / assemble a radio reciever and if its full of nothing but powerful interference then chances are the ionisphere is still being ionised etc.

[Skean Dhude]

An emp is basically a big charge in the air. Those little windmill things that are driven by light should be spinning like mad as the energy hits them. I'm investigating a nice little dial meter that can display the state. I'm not sure which one is best though and how can you test them?

[Paul]

I've simply put up all my major electronics into an earthed steel ammo box lined with silver foil.
With the radio equipment, I've also screwed in a shorted out aerial plug to all the radio gear.
TNC, BNC, UHF, and Motorola type plugs, all the same, simply crammed them full of coax braid.
It ain't perfect but it helps. Don't forget to take off mic and power leads. They basically act like aerials.
As a standard test, I placed my mobile phone in the box. It didn't ring when called.

You'll get notice of solar flares and natural EMP pulses from the rado or TV.
As for Nuke type EMP's, tough.
By the time you've cottoned onto what has happened, it's too late anyway.

[Tigs]

dont line it with silver foil!! it conducts electricity and will fry your electronics ! use anything thats not conductive to line a faraday cage, such as polystyrene, wood or cardboard ,

[Paul]

Silver foil is bonded to lid. Just used to seal the cracks. Whole box well earthed and like I said, stops 900Mhz cellular signals and my handheld CB's squelch doesn't open so that's 27MHz closed too. Admittedly all my tests are at low power but lets face it, if a decent sized nuke goes bang within 20 miles of me and EMP's me, I'm toast anyway.

Regarding Solar stuff. It's going to be mainly the ULF frequencies which hurt the power grid not so much if at all writing off cars and things.

I mean has anyone actually proved solar "fire" has cooked a car electrics yet?
Nukes fry electronics, solar flares knock out comms yes but destroy radio systems?
Again when did someone actually take a broadcast receiver into space and see if a solar thump knocks it out?

Besides if the car goes pop I've going to save £'s in fuel, tax, insurance, MOT, servicing.
Battery is still going to work though, fuel in the tank going to used to keep me warm.

I'm not too worried about all the hype though. Yes I'm taking minimal precautions, you've got to be a bit stupid not to BUT once again I wonder how much is pure speculation and hype than fact.

[Tigs]

it still needs lining any electronics touching the metal will fry , even just wrapping the electronics in old clothes will stop it happening

[Skean Dhude]

You should put your gear in a polystyrene box which is then wrapped in tin foil and put in a metal box. It may be overkill but better safe than sorry.

[Lightspeed]

Metal lidded, plastic lined chest freezers work well. ( And can be picked up dead for free from neighbors etc)

Bond the lid to the main body with Coax antenna wire screen.

Plastic lining insulates the contents from the outer metal wall.

Paul's test is a good one. If mobile phones and CBs are not receiving, that proves no EM radiation between 27Mhz and 900 Mhz is getting in.

I don't think that a Faraday cage needs grounding to work effectively, but others argue strongly for grounding.....if you want to ground it, its easy with a dead Chest Freezer: strip out the live connections in the 13a plug, leaving the earth, then just leave the plug connected to the mains and it'll earth through the ground pin.