Posted on 04/08/2015 11:01:25 AM PDT by Nachum
Very few subsistence farmers are left, which means that even those who grow something are ill-prepared to survive without resorting to trade or having to make some major adjustments.
yes IT IS real!
Get yourself a metal shed and put a generator in it
anything electric that is running OR NOT could fry from this
If you are building a house, consider metal lathe and plaster. If I was starting from scratch I would put chicken wire around the entire outside and roof (it all has to be connected) to make it a ‘faraday cage’
Very few subsistence farmers are left, which means that even those who grow something are ill-prepared to survive without resorting to trade or having to make some major adjustments.
Yes that is the nightmare scenario. It is also not likely to happen quite that way. Will the grid be down, most likely as power lines will act as antenna and direct the EMP spike. There will be a loss of power over a wide area. I am told that this could be substantially mitigated by having AC-DC-AC (VCI CSI converter) at each state boundary where transmission lines cross.
Cars and trucks disabled? Many but not all. Cars are fairly isolated due to their construction (metal box isolated from ground by tires). Many car chips are already isolated in a water proof box. This results in the need for the EMP device to be fairly close to the vehicle to disable it. Check out how close this vehicle is to the source. http://www.discovery.com/tv-shows/other-shows/videos/future-weapons-emp-bomb/
This becomes a “how close” and “how powerful” type question. Newer cars do seem to be more susceptible.
Likely that some portion of the distribution “grid” will be affected with greater affect closer to ground zero. Unlikely to take out the whole system without a substantial number of EMP devices.
Communications - phone, internet etc
Most land line communications for long distance are fiber optic cables that end inside hardened central offices. There is likely to be some disruption of long haul but not that much. The shorter “last mile” type of communications are more likely to be damaged. Home users are quite possibly cut off but it may not be that bad. Most PCs have aluminum enclosures and are protected by either UPS or power strip.
So the effect will be somewhere between “meh” and TEOTWAWKI. I’m thinking that the most likely scenario will be “Oh shit!” For those that are preppers, here are some things that you can do:
Small faraday cage - old metal trash can with cardboard / rubber mat on the inside. Designed to protect small but valuable components.
Mitigation for your house. Wrapping your house and attic with aluminum screening that is grounded, will significantly weaken most signals. You might even need an external antenna for cell phone to work inside the house. If possible, consider aluminum foil radiant barrier or aluminum siding. Dont forget the roof as well.
I highly recommend a whole house surge protector - $50 to $100 from home depot. Works for lightening strikes and any other grid power surges.
I was thinking the same thing the other day. The area I live in has abundant natural resources, trees for heat and building, plenty of good water, cattle, horses and fields of wheat and hay.
An EMP would be a major pain but nobody around here is going to die. When I think of the people who settled this land with next to nothing, we would be in a much better situation today than they faced.
As for urban areas it will be a disaster of biblical proportions.
Fire away.
They are already there culturally.
Maybe we should have our own category for this stuff
That’s my personal preference. Turn off the juice and then tell the Mullahs what they need to do to get it turned back on. No negotiating.
Do it while they can.
I’ve argued on other threads that I don’t much believe the hype about EMPs. I’ll say one thing..... this would be a great target of opportunity to find out exactly what effect a well placed EMP actually has.
Does anyone recall the report from several years ago when the Israelis reported that an Iranian cargo vessel was maneuvering off their own coast, and they believed they were training for a ship-to-shore rocket attack?
>> No more communications except equipment preserved in faraday cages <<
Hmm. I guess I should put my semaphore flags in one of them f***** cages!
“Semiphore flags. Yep, line of sight and fine if someone on the other end can understand. But, good thought.
“Semiphore flags. Yep, line of sight and fine if someone on the other end can understand. But, good thought.
“Back to the stone age...many car chips are already in a waterproof box...”
Ignition modules arent the only chips in a car.
Additional chips are used for the alternator, automatic transmission control, all wheel and four wheel drive operation, polution controls that must work for the engine to operate, and fuel system control chips.
Lose any one, and a horse may have to pull the vehicle.
>> Semiphore flags. Yep, line of sight and fine if someone on the other end can understand <<
A very good point. Thanks!
And I guess I should also keep my carrier pigeons in one of those f****** boxes?
“Carrier pigeons” Yep. Good idea. Unless some cat gets them or a hungry hunter shoots him down and cooks him.
If you’d like to be on or off, please FR mail me.
..................
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.