EMP effects and solutions

Originally posted by nightbringr

Originally posted by Hellhound604
The onliest car that will almost be EMP-proof, is an old diesel car, no electronics. One that just needs the battery to turn the starter motor.

I would think a better solution would be a hand-cranked or push start diesel. After all, the starter motor has electrical windings inside.

Of course, with the compression on diesels, im sure this is easier said than done, but as an earlier poster pointed out, the starter was fried in an EMP experiment by the FutureWeapons people.

For sure ..... I am just not sure if you still get hand-cranked diesel cars ..... just have a spare battery (charged), some wires and a new starter motor and alternator on hand, preferably stored in your Faraday cage. If a really huge EMP fries the starter motor, burns out the essential wiring and the alternator, you can just replace the faulty stuff

But of course, if the EMP device explodes on top of your garage, you are stuffed in any case

Radio waves are a directional energy. They don’t have a tendency to bend corners very easily. The main way they can travel around corners at all is by edge refraction. Unless you are close to the edge, or the wavelength is very long, then you will be in the shadow of the primary signal.

The primary way most people receive radio signals in valleys and ravines is by the signal reflecting off the stuff that is in the direct line of the signal. Same as how the sun illuminating a ridge line will illuminate the valley below. There is light making it to the valley below, all be it indirectly and at a far reduced level.

Like light, when ever radio waves travel through something, they are attenuated to some degree. Some things attenuate them very little, like air. Some things attenuate them moderately, like dirt, or concrete, and wood. Some things are impervious to them and reflect them outright, that is anything that is more than modernity conductive.

When you have a solid, or semisolid conductive surface, it will reflect the radio waves, and leave a shadow area behind it. Like if you hold a piece of aluminum sheeting in front of a dish network dish.

In regard to dirt, concrete, and wood. As the frequency goes, up, the attenuation goes up. A 100mhz radio signal will pass through a 1 inch plank of wood without much problem. A 12GHZ signal will not. A 1 mhz signal will pass through many feet of dry earth with no problem. A 100mhz signal will not.

The main thing that bothers isolated electronics is the part of the EMP that is in the upper frequency range of the EMP 1Ghz plus. And the only time those components of the EMP will damage something is when they are in the 10 to 20+kv meter range.

Considering the point of origin is the sky directly over head. Since the maximum signal level of an EMP is 50kvm, the only time you will see signal levels that can damage isolated equipment is if it is out in the open with no shielding over head at all. If you have a wooden frame structure over head, it will attenuate the primary signal down to the point it won’t damage anything. Heck, tree limbs and leaves will attenuate RF signals to a hefty degree. That is why VHF works better in heavy tree cover than 400mhz.

If you have a metal roof, then you will almost get zero incident signal. All you will detect is the signal reflected of the object around the house. That signal will be orders of magnitude lower than that of the incident signal. No threat to anything.

If you are deep inside a concrete and metal. Building in a city, then nothing you have on you will be bothered by anything from an EMP.

If you have a metal frame storage building or shed with full metal siding on it. And you can’t receive your local FM station, and your cell phones won’t work when the door is closed. (like many of my neighbors have) Then anything that is inside that building that isn’t connected to an outside wire will be perfectly fine.

In regard to cars. When electronic engine controls first came out, they was pretty sensitive to outside electrical fields. That is because the designers didn’t think through what they would be exposed to in the outside world. Things like 50KW broadcast stations and people running 1kw transmitters in the car right next to them, or in the car it’s self had a tendency to render vehicles inoperable. The owner didn’t like that, and gave the car companies an ear full. As a result, cars today have heavy shielding and filtering on all critical electronics to prevent them from being bugged by a car beside them transmitting on a 1KW+ CB linear. Or even transmitting from the car it’s self.

In general, there is a big step from an electronic circuit being bugged by a signal to being damaged by it. If a car is not effected by a wide band splatter box 1KW CB amplifier, then the signal level required to do it damage is quite substantial. And for most cars now in regular use, that substantial level is beyond what an EMP can produce.

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Because of all the above, for almost everything except a few isolated examples, the direct damage to equipment by the higher frequency components of an EMP can be ignored.

The primary, and only practical means of damage by an EMP is via the longer wave component of the signal. That component couples to power lines, telephone lines, and antennas. The primary point of damage is where the line in question comes into the house and connects with the item in question. An antenna hooked to a radio. The telephone line hooked to a telephone answering machine, or your computer modem. The power line where it hooks to a good portion of the stuff in your house. Things that hook directly to the power line like power supplies will be damaged if they are not designed to take that spike. But the things that hook to those power supplies will often be OK The power supply will take the brunt of the impact.

If you have lighting surge arrestors located on your telephone lines, antenna lead-ins, and your electrical service entrance, all hooked to a common and solid ground system, then that will protect you from most of the damage you could get from an EMP. There may be a few things damaged, but they will be an exception, not the rule.

Most parts of the country that regularly experience lighting storms already have that stuff in place as a mater of shear necessity. Places like California where the electrical systems are not normally subjected to that abuse will be worse off than most.