EMP Attack in the UK

With what's going on around the World right now in Iran, North Korea, the Muslim Muppets attacking the US and UK interests etc., I was wondering how do we protect ourselves from a simple EMP attack?

I have a survival / ready to go bag with camera, two way radios (HF, VHF, UHF), solar torches, windup radio blah blah and if we were hit anywhere over the UK with an EMP Pulse, would I loose it all?

Can I simply put tin foil round everything electronic / electrical to protect them from this?

Any ideas out there?

The Military have everything supposedly sorted but what about our day to day stuff!

Things I would want and need if we did have something happen!

During an electromagnetic pulse all technology will go out. The power grids would be useless unless the government takes steps to replace the grid or in force it so an EMP will not take it out. It could take years to recover for an EMP.

LOl....foil will not protect your stuff.

Tin foil would help.

It acts like a Faraday cage where EMF inside equals zero. Just make sure it's sealed tight with no 'leaks'.

If there was an EMP attack, tin foil protection would be the least of your worries. Rule of survival = 3...

1. Humans cannot survive more than three hours exposed to extremely low temperatures.
2. Humans cannot survive more than 3 days without water.
3. Humans cannot survive more than three weeks without food.

i'd just get matches, fire starters, crap loads of canned food & water and if your foil ruins your stuff - stock up on some decent books you don't mind reading more then once!

reply to post by minkey53


If you are worried about this, buy a proper Faraday cage (don't use aluminium foil if you care about what's in it), and put all your post-EMP survival electronics in there, unplugged, and isolated. Make sure the cage is grounded. Then just get your usual survival kit (food, fuel, water, whatever), and wait.

That's it.

I always thought EMP only effected things which were turned on at the time and were powered?!?

faraday cages are the best bet, hell, just keep everything in an old microwave , their basicly just faraday cages anyway.

if you wanna check the faraday cage you use/makes work, put your mobile phone into it then try and phone it... if it rings its not a faraday cage!

Originally posted by PrisonerOfSociety


If there was an EMP attack, tin foil protection would be the least of your worries. Rule of survival = 3...

Baldly untrue. After, say a nuclear attack, the ability to detect radiation would be the single most important factor. Food, heat etc, irrelevant. Good looking food could be utterly toxic, even to handle and all water could well be so.

The best thing to do is to have a geiger counter in a Faraday cage with soft iron to protect it. Old fashioned Cold War ones are no good as they generally need to be recharged from the mains electricity supply, something that you would not have. Instead, it would be best to buy one that runs on rechargeable AA or AAA batteries. Medcom.com sell some great ones, although you will have to fill out a form to obtain one giving reason - for this, just fill in that you are an amateur geologist.

Other important points, only one isotope is commonly created in a nuclear explosion that dissolves in water - radioactive, Iodine 131 This is highly toxic and it is essential to possess an iodine blocker, however, it only has a half-life of about 8 days, so after a month or so, most undisturbed standing water would be pretty much safe.

If you have fore warning then put everything in your microwave.

This makes a perfect faraday cage and will protect all your electronic kit.

Originally posted by PrisonerOfSociety
2. Humans cannot survive more than 3 days without water.

We can.

reply to post by minkey53



If an EMP were to detonate lets say in DC, there are very few government buildings that would work the Pentagon, White House, and some of the Alphabet agencies, those buildings are hard-wired, you should look into something like that.

Prisoner is right. But, if I may add ...
Copper foil is a better conductor ... but costs way more.
Also, this last step is very important:
To protect against an EMP your 'cage' must be grounded or the pulse will set your cage up like a powerful electromagnet as it washes over it ... and erase, fry and otherwise render useless what you've put in there.
Also, if an electronic gadget is powered off ...and completely discharged, (no back-up power source saving settings, etc) it will not be affected.
Although ... if you are targeted by an EMP weapon ... The whole grid (electric power) for miles around will be fried as well. Including cell towers and repeaters ... so even if you save your stuff it may be a year or more before your area, community, country (depends on how big of a pulse .. and how many*) is back on line.
I'd be taking Bkaust's advice to stock up on essentials ... I mean if I were to think an EMP attack was imminent ... or, even probable.
Search the web and you'll see hundreds of sites telling you how to make one and test it.
Good luck ... !
*A Strategic Weapon Think tank put out a paper a decade ago and recommended that is EMP's are employed, the best scenario for total immobilization is to set off two or more EMP's in succession - about a half hour apart. Why? Cause the generals would think there was only one and take their stuff out of the Faraday cage they put it in ... then Whammo! I'll try to find that report and post it.

As an aerospace systems engineer, specialising in avionics, I say listen to UKWO1 (who I suspect is military) and boaby_phet. A closed microwave oven prevents the escape of non-ionising radiation. Therefore, it will also work the other way. Additionally, get some fine copper mesh, wrap your equipment in that and then put it in a metal container, grounded, or the microwave. Buy plenty of rechargeable batteries and solar battery chargers.

If an EMP weapons is deployed, the risk of fallout is low to nil. Fallout will only occur if it is a ground burst weapon, that is, where the fireball makes countact with the surface. EMP weapons are deployed high in the atmosphere in order to cause maximum pulse disruption.

In the case of EMP weapon deployment, food and water will remain unaffected. However, the reult of such a release will cause major disruptions to infrastructure, so, stock up and hunker down.

One of the great advantages of the old valve style electronics is that they were robust and highly resistive to EMP effects.

P.S. DO NOT FORGET TO GROUND THE MICROWAVE OVEN.

That nasty little pulse needs somewhere to go.

[edit on 27/1/2010 by TheLoneArcher]

Concerning using an old microwave as a faraday cage, should any precaution be given to the power cord? I'm not a scientist so I'm genuinely wondering if we might encounter an antennae effect.

reply to post by TheLoneArcher


One of the great advantages of the old valve style electronics is that they were robust and highly resistive to EMP effects


I read somewhere that even the latest Russian MIG fighters still use Valves etc. for their electronics and Radar in the Nose Cone because it's "safe" against this.

Good ol' Ruskies aren't that stupid after all!

reply to post by TheLoneArcher


Light is a non-ionising radiation, and that passes through the glass in the front of a microwave just fine. Maybe you meant "non-ionising radiation with a wavelength larger than the holes in the door shield"?

Faraday cages only work if the holes in the cage are significantly smaller than the wavelength of the radiation it's trying to block.

reply to post by minkey53
I thought someone would have caught this by now.... the foil is for wrapping around our heads!

reply to post by davesidious


Yes, you are absolutely correct in that statement. And I stand corrected by your reply, thank you.

Originally posted by minkey53
reply to post by TheLoneArcher

 

One of the great advantages of the old valve style electronics is that they were robust and highly resistive to EMP effects


I read somewhere that even the latest Russian MIG fighters still use Valves etc. for their electronics and Radar in the Nose Cone because it's "safe" against this.

Good ol' Ruskies aren't that stupid after all!

The old stuff is very bulky and heavy too. Avionics can't be built with the old stuff and even try to compare with stuff built with modern ICs.

[edit on 27-1-2010 by butcherguy]

reply to post by TheLoneArcher


No problemo! We're all here to learn, and this is one of the few threads on ATS that doesn't concern itself with Bigfoot creating a portal over Norway for the destruction of the Earth in 2012 by Barack Obama and Sarah Palin.

reply to post by minkey53


When I first started working on military comms equipment, it was all valve driven and mechanically tuned. You knew they were working becuase you heard them and they got damned hot.

Robust? You had better believe it. Bloody heavy too.