The Electronic Armageddon (EMP's)

Frontpagemag.com ^ | August, 02, 2012 | Staff

[Perseverando]

The Congressionally chartered Task Force on National & Homeland Security (FNHS) will be holding a nationwide webcast on The Electronic Armageddon: EMP. The webcast is a combined effort of the TFNHS, The United West and the New English Review. There is a distinguished panel of experts, new videos and a discussion of solutions for addressing both man-made and natural threats.

LIVE STREAM EVENT -FRIDAY- AUGUST 3, 2012 - 11am Est.

The Electronic Armageddon
Watch the Live broadcast right here at TheUnitedWest.org

Featured Guests :
R. JAMES WOOLSEY - Former Director, CIA
REZA KAHLILI - CIA Covert Operative
REP ROSCOE BARTLETT - House Armed Services Committee Chairman
DR. WILLIAM FORSTCHEN - NYT Best Seller of EMP Novel "One Second After"
AMB HENRY COOPER - Former Director of Strategic Defense Initiative Organization
FRITZ ERMARTH - Former Chairman National Intelligence Council
DR. WILLIAM R. GRAHAM - President Reagan's Science
Advisor, NASA Administrator Chairman EMP Commission

[PA Engineer]

It is a real problem that lead acid storage batteries are both expensive and short-lived. Static inverters are not bad.

This may help you. Check out Battery Minders. Lead acid are tricky when it comes to cycling, temperature and sulfation. The Battery Minders just work. I am on my second set of 8-L16 Trojans after 14 years. The maintenance on the old set was a headache, but now everything is pretty much hands-off standby, except for the occasional watering (have enough distilled water stored).

I hope this helps.

[BIGLOOK]

BTTT....indeed

[PA Engineer]

Most of this EMP talk is hype.

I'm sorry (and I rarely disagree with you here), but I'm going to have to disagree with you on this point. Long line and ground currents (E3) are a real threat.

You can actually test this yourself. During the next CME take two metal rods (if you have copper-copper sulfate electrodes the better) and a voltmeter set to auto DC/AC (ignore DC values below .5 volts. This is just the galvanic difference). Keep one electrode stationary in the middle and move the other in a circular pattern until you find the maximum readings.

It will be an eye opener. One caveat if you live very north is the background telluric currents. They will be very active, but hard to subtract out of your test.

[PA Engineer]

Oops. Space your electrodes at least 10 feet apart. Even the smallest guage wire will work just fine.

[danielmryan]

Are you sure about that grounding part?

That's what I remember reading. Is it wrong?

[bill1952]

>even the metallic screen wire on the old “screen door”.

So what? Nothing is protected in this country except some military locations and maybe your stuff enclosed behind metal screens.
Hundreds of Major transformers and power stations would be wiped out along with most transport & communications in the country.
Literally every building and piece of equipment would be compromised.
The die off rate would be stunning before widespread relief could be obtained. - If it ever could.

[Georgia Girl 2]

Thanks for the info. Will do.

[bill1952]

...f you try to calculate how many EMP weapons would be required to cover the country, you get close to looking at infinity.

Be afraid, be very afraid.

All wrong. In fact it takes one - more than that are actually counterproductive and the amount of time the field takes to hit & saturate is measured in billionths of a second (a shake in nuclear physics) No hype involved.

[UCANSEE2]

Has some exception to this basic principle of physics been repealed???

Yes. It is the physics principle which states that if you stick to science and facts, you will succeed. That has been repealed by the government, which has instituted the policy where if you don't say what the government wants, you no longer get funded.

From 1945-1992 there were over ONE THOUSAND NUCLEAR BOMB TESTS done in the United States.

How many 'electrical grids' went down ?

[UCANSEE2]

It is theoretically IMPOSSIBLE for any electromagnetic impulse to pass through any conductive barrier, even the metallic screen wire on the old “screen door”.

So...hiding under a wooden desk wouldn't protect you from an EMP pulse, any more than it would from a nuclear fireball.

Wow. My teachers in grade school lied to me.

[UCANSEE2]

[editor-surveyor]

Nonsense.

All electromagnetic fields are subject to the same physical laws. Field strength diminishes as the square of the distance.

Try another sucker.

[UCANSEE2]

[editor-surveyor]

You don’t understand, this is “special” science that has its own physical laws, passed by congress, and signed by Bo.

[sneakers]

An EMP is a result of a nuclear bomb which has been set off in the upper atmosphere. Tests were done in the early 1960’s. See “Starfish Prime”:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starfish_Prime

Scroll down and it talks about damage done to the grid in Hawaii.

[KC Burke]

If Starfish Prime had been a little lower and not 900 miles away, it would have had massive effects on Hawaii electronics, communications and electrical systems.

See how power-lines in the old USSR captured the EMP from one of their tests and fed back into the plant setting it on fire:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electromagnetic_pulse

[sneakers]

Thank you! I had heard about the tests in the USSR but didn’t know what kind of damage it did.

[PA Engineer]

The only purpose I can see is safety. Depending on the size of the cage you could develop a significant charge and "possible" shock hazard. That being said, all items stored inside the cage need to be electrically isolated from the internal surface. This is in regards to electronics protection and not radio work.

My personal opinion is that many devices will not be effected by EMP. YMMV, but battery operated devices without antenna should be just fine. Anything not plugged in should mitigate many of the problems of long line issues.

My greatest concern is still the installed inverters in a backup system. Further, imagine the wiring in the walls of your house. This is one heck of an antenna.

For more information check out this Wiki Link (it is wiki, but pretty decent). Pay particular attention to the discussion on E1. This is the electronics killer, but requires a high degree of sophistication in weapons construction. There is a discussion here where concerns are raised that E1 will damage protective devices that would protect against the second E2 (think lightening and static electricity) component. That I don't know about. Finally there is a discussion of E3. E3 is not static electricity. E3 is the component equivalent to the effects of CMEs.

[KC Burke]

One of the issues barely touched on is the penetrations and jonts in a building or space to be protected. Doors, windows, eaves, wiring penetrations, ductwork, pipe, fire protection, sanitary sewer, storm drainage and downspouts, hinges at door frames, knobs and other thru-wall details, and a host of other items play a part in allowing RF into areas to be protected from this issue.

[PA Engineer]

There was other damage in that test not reported on Wiki. From memory, they had problems with simple diesel generator failures. They found the varnish had broken down on the windings. The breakdown occurred at holidays (reduced or poor coatings). This should be a concern for those who think they immune to EMP with older vehicles or simple gensets. As I recall (could be wrong) these were in line of site but not connected.