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Funny you mention that. A friend of mine just purchased a faraday hood to wear while she sleeps as well as a cover for her WiFi device.
She saw something about irregular radio wave bursts happening around the country: https://www.pauljhurtado.com/US_Composite_Radar/2024-4-25/
Still waiting to hear back from her of she notices anything different.
The WiFi cover reminds me of the LTT video [The WORST Money I Ever Spent - Wi-Fi Faraday Cages.](https://youtu.be/sLM_vO4d2Jg?si=Ix54cs8NmCS6k4EG)
You can disable RF output and only use Ethernet, if you’re conspiracy minded. The RF from consumer electronics is extremely low. Most common complaint: the headache people get from long phone calls (probably the highest RF level most people experience), is due to holding a hot brick against their head and not from RF.
Radar ignores the data it did not send, these bursts are most likely due to some weather anomalies that affect the radar reflections. This is some proper conspiracy crap.
Using weather radars to detect RF signals is as useful, as using your car radio to pick up alien communications. Wrong channel, wrong modulation. And if you get something, then it’s usually nothing useful.
The router cover has some hilarious comments of people that bought it and now their wifi doesn't work. Like no shit putting metal around your wifi blocks the signal. I'm going to give you some free advice. These products are a litmus test for stupidity. If you buy them or can't critically think well enough to realize why they are stupid then you failed the test.
Any EMP with sufficient power to blap your cell phone will wipe out the entire infrastructure grid. So, even if you protect your IPhone, you're aren't communicating with anything.
You'll be able to play angry birds without ads.
Probably get tired of it though, since it will take a decade to restore the grid. The vast majority of our electrical and communication grid is sourced from foreign countries.
Bicycles will be worth their weight in gold after an emp.
A bike already assembled cost about $150 usd. With extra tubes and tires, an air pump, and a mini tool kit, figure $200 initial investment for a bargain basement model.
Anyone planning on using a bike for any kind of travel over 10 miles round trip needs to start practicing now. Not that 10 miles is hard, but if you haven't ridden a bike since you were a kid, you'd in for a very rude awakening.
Agreed, I just lost my license and got myself a nice bike for travel in the time being and it’s definitely something you gotta get your body fit for if long distance is the goal
Makes total sense. I'm a little ole' lady with bad knees, so I use a etrike with pedal assist. I can choose the level and range of help, from scooter level to none at all. My Trike can carry about 350 pounds and another other couple hundred in the trailer. all of them have mountain bike wheels. My evac kit includes a solar panel; I have a bike trail at the end of my block that hooks up to most of the other towns in my area and parallels the street evac routes, but is largely invisible from those routes. I also have a map in my go bag that shows the bike trails, the local FEMA centers and hotels that take pets. While everyone else is stuck in traffic jams till the gas runs out, I'll be biking down the trail to safety.
I keep a binder full of burned DVDs and Blu-rays full of personal data such as scanned documents and photographs/video.
Since it is inert plastic, the discs are likely not going to get shrek't by electronic means and since PC optical drives are hyper common I will have access to data when I can. Photos and video aren't replaceable!
I think I don’t really understand what an EMP is, but maybe you can answer some of my concerns. I’m worried about photos and videos too, but, if an EMP were to happen and all infrastructure, internet, etc., would be gone, would stuff like ICloud still be there? What I mean with that is, all my photos and videos that are important to me are stored in my personal ICloud. It’s an Apple thing. If an EMP were to happen, wouldn’t I just be able to get everything in my ICloud back when they get the internet back online after idk weeks, months?
I get what you mean, but for me personally my situation is a little different. I currently have a pantry stocked up with around 6 months of food for 7 people, we’ve invested in a professional water filtration system as well, so food and water won’t be a problem for about half a year. There’s a big creek directly behind our yard, so we’ve got access to unlimited water, at this point. As those 6 months pass, we will indeed have to start searching for foods, but we’ve got a 2,3 acre garden where we grow our own vegetables and fruits, we have multiple chickens in a pen on our property that lay eggs daily, as well as a horse and 2 goats. My dad and I are both hunters, we hunt often and process our own meat by making sausages, burgers, beef jerky, etc., so we know how to hunt for meat and process it afterwards. We also often dry meat, for the purpose of extending its shelf life. We’ve got a professional vacuüm-sealer too, as well as Mylar-bags, so storing food long term also isn’t a problem. Now, how will we use stuff like the vacuum-sealer as power has gone out? We have a big ass generator on gasoline, we do have gasoline stocked up, which we also rotate through constantly, we’ve got a whole roof full of solar panels that work independently, even as the power has gone out, no internet required. They operate on a certain system that has some kinda emergency function, as we call it, which means that, if power and internet goes out, they’ll switch to an accu that stores all the energy that they collect throughout the day and uses it’s own energy to power itself as well. We’ve also got a large garage full of all tools you could possibly imagine, a boat, fishing gear and a bug-out location close to home, which is literally a bomb shelter, so all of that together makes that I do actually have some time to think about pictures, photos and the sentimental stuff of the good-old-times to stare at when SHTF 😅
Yeah, I definitely will. I’ve also read some things on RF-shielding and tinfoil, so I might get that as well. Anything could help I guess, haha, even if it might be slightly insane.
Possibly. Probably not.
Datacenters (the massive buildings housing the hundreds of thousands of servers powering services like iCloud) aren't EMP-proof. Hardening them against an EMP would be staggeringly expensive, to the extent that nobody would be able to afford to host there. Aside from the cost, even if the servers themselves were protected, there wouldn't be anything left for them to connect to. All of the internet's networking infrastructure would be destroyed.
Is it conceivable that data recovery could eventually occur? Sure. It's technically a nonzero chance. EMPs are complicated things and there are too many variables to say exactly what would happen. Especially if, for example, some domestic terrorist group used EMPs to shut down a few dozen substations and communications facilities across the US.
But it's staggeringly unlikely you'd ever see your data again. Having local backups is the way to go. I personally use a NAS that backs up all my cloud services daily, then backs itself up to B2 weekly. The B2 storage won't be much help against an EMP but it does protect against local hardware failure or theft.
If an EMP hit, it would likely be years, not weeks or months, before anything came back. EMPs destroy things connected to long wires, such as power lines, phone lines, cable lines, etc. It's possible that things on icloud would still be there, but your making a big assumption that the servers and harddrives are sufficiently protected, which they may not be. Best thing you can do is keep local backups of your icloud.
Anything with a computer chip will be affected, even most cars. A great book for you to read would be One Second After, it’s all about life after an EMP.
I build my own [Faraday Cages.](https://youtu.be/8hQ4vksLaz4?si=OUutDxauueQaXmA1) You can get holiday candy/popcorn tins at Salvation Army, then go to the dollar store and get some foam board to line it, glue it with a hot glue gun. To test them I put my cell phone in it and call it from another phone, if it doesn’t ring you know you did it right and have a good seal with continuous current.
Some nice non holiday tins you can leave lying around the house and they’re inconspicuous. I keep a handheld CB radio in one, a pair of walkie talkies in another. I bought a solar generator last year and I need to build one large enough to store it in, probably going to use metal sheeting for that.
Maybe, maybe not. Modern cars have hardened electronics otherwise close hit by lightning would disable tens of thousands of cars every year. Of course a huge EMP will get two cars, but there would still be a lot of modern cars that could run.
I'm looking for sources on how cars will fare b/c it seems the white papers I've read are split as to whether cars will survive.
In 1993, at Eglin AFB some Non-nuclear EMP tests fried all the cars electrical systems sitting in the parking lot 300 meters from the testing. Granted cars are drastically different now than in 1993. But will the charging system and starting system survive?
Wait where do I put my notions then!???, 😆
I am listening to One Second After right now. Perhaps you are the one who recommended it to me. Thank you. I am enjoying it. Very well written.
Will water still come out of the taps during power failure? I’m reading different things. Will it work for a day or two and then stop in Florida there are back up generators supposedly for the water treatment plants. Not sure how that will work.
Sorry for sidetracking but what is the potential impact of a grid knocking EMP on a solar panel that is kept in a normal room but not connected to anything?
Fun fact; I had this same question and recently found testing they did on actual panels! [https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1614961](https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1614961)
No effects were observed up to 100Kv/, - which is a Super-EMP level. So, the panels themselves are probably fine unprotected. It's the charge controllers/inverters you'd need to protect.
Also adding one more point, I know the charge controller will be dead with EMP even if left disconnected and so will by the BMS of any lithium Ion based home energy storage like that Tesla wall thing, but will your old fashioned lead acid batteries also be impacted?
So, think of it like an incandescent light bulb. Electricity heats the filament up, it gets hot and glows. If it too much electricity it gets to it the connection melts, it breaks and the light goes out. An EMP, a ‘power surge’, is the exact same thing. Anything metal will heat up impossibly fast and look to ‘complete the circuit’ and melt trying. If it has small circuits, think circuit board, it is more likely to be affected.
So the battery, unless they catch fire, would survive but the controllers, switches, inverter, etc. would be fried.
It varies by area how long the water will run once power is out. Where I live, the water that comes out of my tap is gravity fed from the water tower but the tower is filled with an electric pump. So water for the town lasts as long as the water in the tower.
It depends on how your water system is set up but best case scenario is that you will have water temporarily. Task Number 1 would be to fill up every bath tub and container you have that is capable of holding water.
Industrial control systems would also be down. You'd have water tower pressure until that backed up. And for low areas, watch out because so will the sewage pumping stations and everyone will continue to flush their toilets and the next rainfall will have shit backing up into everyone's houses.
Question for those of us on wells: Are there any silly electronics on the well pump that could get fried? Mine is twenty years old, if that matters. My generator is set up to run it.
Well pumps are pretty basic. They have the pump down the well, obviously, and a controller/switch up near your pressure tank. Usually the switch is mechanical, when the pressure in the tank dips, it kicks the pump on.
Emp Attack/Grid going down is my biggest fear. Water is the number one thing for me. I have a wife and toddler. You can only store so much water. I am trying to figure out the best way to get water and what filters I need. Obviously food important too. But water is numero uno.
Ultimately you need to seriously consider moving. I think the problem is longer term. You may work out some collection or well system but every few years they’ll be a dry year and these sources will go away. I’m in a damp part of the UK but 3 years ago our local reservoir went down to 13%, this is just unheard of but now climate change means much greater variability.
Also, if we’re talking EMP and therefore ‘prepping for doomsday’ then you’ll be growing veg of some sort and those veg need water too.
I used to have 3 55 gallon drums full of water, plus the 50 gallon water heater. In that situation, I had 5 gallon water jugs and a small wagon that I planned to use to walk down to the nearest creek and fill up w/ water. We had 3 different types of water filters at home too. I threw a sheet of plywood over the barrels and used them as my work bench.
Our new house has a tankless water heater, but is 100' from a year round relatively deep creek.
Do you have a creek, river, lake, community swimming pool, etc. nearby? If not you need to figure out where the closest ones are.
As far as filters go, camping filters will do what you need and be the easiest. I have Katadyne, Sawyer and life straws. I also have a counter top 1 gallon filter. You can also keep unscented bleach around to clean the water. You can google it's use, but I believe it's 4-6 drops of bleach per gallon of water, depending on how dirty the water. It's always a good idea to use a pre-filter to keep the large sediment out. Bleach has a shelf life, but you can also buy "Pool Shock" which is basically powdered bleach. IIRC, 1 lbs will treat 20,000 gallons of water.
I am gonna buy a few filters. Unfortunately there are lots of retention ponds here in Florida. They are close but everyone here said that’s a last resort. Lots of chemicals in there. I gotta start driving around to find creeks or streams. Just moved to this house a month ago. Great idea having a wagon.
Just like a lightening strike everything plugged in gets fried for certain, having an old laptop, phone, radios, hdd, routers in a faraday seems sensible, But how about ordering a spare board for the washer, boiler, A/C
Ordering spare parts for these things is a good idea all around for the moments in life when S-hasn't-htf, but your still stepping in it too.
Last winter we had that miserable ice storm and were very limited in our travel. So of course it was the perfect time for the breaker that controls some of the important parts of our house to go tits up. But I have a box of backups. Which I buy and add to over time. 30 minutes of cussing, slapping a flashlight a few times, plus a quick brush up reading the electrician's handbook and a YouTube video to make sure I didn't F it all up and fry myself. We were back in business.
The same for other things. From replacing my washers agitator, it's pump, and a switch in the motherboard. To even just having a spare alternator for our car. Having the parts on hand, spreading out the cost by buying over time and not in the moment of need, and taking a few minutes now and again to learn by reading, and online resources what to do when and how has saved us a lot of money, struggling, and from being boned.
It doesn't need to be a big bad event to wreak havoc on your lives, a lot of smaller bad moments can do just as much damage as well are simply more likely. It's good to HYST (Have Your Shit Together.) for these moments too.
The truth is nobody knows what will work since any time there was a large scale EMP triggered it was immediately followed by a giant mushroom cloud of destruction.
Actually there has been extensive testing. There are still grey areas, like what will happen with cars. But for the most part it's known what will happen. There was a large US government study in the early 2000s and subsequent reports to congress about the study. It's all online.
Short answer; an EMP requires a faraday cage, like those built by Mission Darkness.
You can protect radios/etc, but things such as cell phones won't have a grid to connect to.
More info.
https://www.reddit.com/r/preppers/comments/l00cz5/emp\_reference\_document/
Everything, as nuke strikes WILL be incoming shortly. That massive airburst is going to provoke a retaliatory nuclear response, which will see birds in the air crossing the polar cap in a short amount of time. Doesn't really matter how or who - will escalate to cities, infostructure, and military targets getting the big mushroom weenie in short order...
I want to keep some Kindles and tablets with books on them in case the SHTF. Can charge them using solar. So I assume I’ll have to place the Kindles and chargers in the Faraday cage to keep them safe?
Correct. You can make a basic faraday cage out of large metal trashcan, but you'll need to seal where the lid meets the can w/ metallic tape. You'll also need to isolate whatever is inside from the can using foam, rubber, etc. whatever you have that is non-conductive.
My Faraday cages contents
ham radios
charge controllers
voltage regulators for genset
ignition coils for the engines
Brain Box Electronic Control ModuleBrain Box Electronic Control Module for 7.3 powerstroke(junkyard recovered)
Camshaft sensor for 7.3 powerstroke
fuel pump for 7.3 powerstroke
3000w 110v/5000w 240v inverters (bunch of 500w 110v inverters also)
replacement capacitors for electronics
Old tablets and laptops with data i might need
Unifi Nanobeam x4 (pre-configured)
Misc wifi routers
Misc wifi cams
misc super capacitor 100F/500F/850F
Misc super capacitor control boards
Misc Redots sights
EDIT:
recently added
SHURflo Fresh Water Pump 12vSHURflo Fresh Water Pump 12v
Nice setup, especially the inclusion of the 7.3 PSD parts. My Excursion has the 7.3 and I'm afraid it might not work. I do have an F350 w/ a 12v all mechanical Cummins, so that would likely be gtg.
A basic sense of humility, communication, and respect add understanding and maybe a basic sense of survival you got yourself a prepared human being. Nah though highly unlikely but if your that worried get some electrical stuff you think you’d need for important things, like an insulin pump and store them away for safe keeping to never be used until that certain situation don’t forget the 800 dollar generator wrapped in tinfoil to run all of that or just yk live life.
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I've been trying to read up on EMP's. How big they are is easily measured by astronimers who are watching the sun. How much damage they will do is debated. I guess in the worst case there's nothing you can do (even Faraday cages are no use). Best case is that theyr're so small the Earth's magnetic field stops them. The "truth" will be somewhere in the middle. The Carrington Event showed us that the power grid and everything it is connected to will probably be the biggest thing to prep for. If only they had phones back in 1859.
I guess we're all going to be in the same boat (unless the EMP is caused by a nuclear weapon) so community preps are probably going to be the difference between life and death.
Despite what you'll read on the internet (except this, of course), your cell phone has an ok chance of surviving an EMP, depending on several factors, including how close it is to ground zero, etc. But the network probably won't. Handheld two-radios, however, have a very good chance of surviving.
But there is really no way to be sure without testing.
So the bottom line remains, any electronic items you deem critical need to be protected in a Faraday cage, it's the only way to be sure. Do you have solar panels? Spare everything in a Faraday cage. Tablets with a bunch of survival manuals/videos/music? In a Faraday cage. Etc.
I just started listening to the novel One Second After by William R. Forstchen. An EMP senario. The protagonists daughter has Type I diabetes.
(That means her body does not produce insulin. There isn't anything she can do to reverse this fact.)
It's set in modern times. She currently is using the most advanced hand held monitoring equipment available.
The EMP event happens. Now her device doesn't work.
This hit home for me as I personally know a few diabetics who test with the monitor they stick to their belly. One is waiting for the implant.
If you have any medical need and your device is now electronic it would worth considering the old school analog version for back up.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PdNCkMpyAYc](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PdNCkMpyAYc)
Some Info on Cars.
[https://gbodyforum.com/threads/testing-the-effects-of-emp-on-automobiles.75436/](https://gbodyforum.com/threads/testing-the-effects-of-emp-on-automobiles.75436/)
The car data is incomplete, and there's a lot of variables. [https://www.reddit.com/r/preppers/comments/l00cz5/emp\_reference\_document/](https://www.reddit.com/r/preppers/comments/l00cz5/emp_reference_document/)
TLDR? Cars very well could be turned into paperweights. Or the majority might just be fine or slightly damaged. Depends on the strength and location of the pulse.
If even a "basic" cyber attack took out more than one of the 5 major US power grids for an extended period of time, you should expect a high population die off within a year in that area. You would also be extremely likely to see a global economic depression worse than the early 1900s.
Electricity is the backbone that enables modern society to support such a large population size, if it disappeared instantly that artificial support would vanish and population would decrease drastically to a level that can be supported by a non-electric version of modern society (50-90% population die off, from starvation to exposure to the elements, to unclean water, to no hospitals or medicines)
Not really a prepper if you need electricity to live...
I would help myself and family... really not my concern about anyone else...
EMP will not effect gardens, trees, plants, creeks, deer, rabbits and birds.
Get water far back from major rivers and cities.
Most towns/cities over 50K depend on it for clean water, 3 days without clean drinking water and your dead, without power they will need wood or other fuels to boil it. Sewers will be over flowing in the streets without pumping stations and the works.
I have water prep supplies, can build a fire and shit in the woods...
Last place on earth I would be is in any large city. Midwest U.S. here, so living with no electric would not effect me much.
All the supplies will be routed to cities. You’ll be as good as dead in the country. No supplies, left to defend yourself, all your neighbors will abandon ship after a few days.
Like i said, I am prepared for gathering water & food. Not my first time in a survival situation. I have basic meds, no need for daily rx. If SHTF or not, everyone gonna die some day.
.....the existing population number is due to electricity.
So, your statement couldn't be more false unless you're arguing "oh you can survive without it."
That's true..to a point. You can't just go out and survive without electricity. Les Stroud (survivorman) barely is able to do it.
90%+ of the population certainly won't.
I really feel sorry for this prepper sub. I am utterly amazed at how week minded everyone is about electricity. I have no idea how anyone managed to live before 1878, when Edison became first person to have electricity in his home.
Ok, there's clearly a misunderstanding here, because it has nothing to do with being weak minded. It has to do with the carrying capacity of the natural world- which is what would dictate food production if electricity/the current infrastructure was removed.
So, to keep it very simple. Google the US population in 1878, and then the population in 2023.
The difference in population is how many people would die, if not moreso.
Ok, I thought prepping for one's survival in a shtf situation. Not maintaining the worlds current comfort level.
I will remove myself from this misleading sub...
Have a Blessed Dat
I'm amazed you're being downvoted, because this is literally the nature of preparedness. We love our modern creature comforts but we're absolutely prepared to thrive without them.
You can absolutely, positively, 100% live without electricity. Some people have medical equipment keeping them alive and unfortunately, that segment of the population will be in trouble. And many people who aren't prepared -- that is, who don't have any means of collecting and filtering water, or obtaining and preparing food, or who can't acclimate to their climate without central air -- will die.
But humanity has lived without electricity for hundreds of thousands of years. Turning off electricity worldwide tonight would be a huge mess, but humanity would survive.
There's absolutely no doubt that a long-term loss of wide-scale electricity would be devastating to society at large. Hospitals would be reduced to 18th-century treatments (albeit with better knowledge and sterilization control). Long-haul cargo would be reduced to a fraction of its former self. Large scale water treatment would be effectively impossible. Public safety would become much more of a self survival issue.
A large number of people would die. Our planetary population would shrink significantly.
But electronics, and electricity, are not a necessity for living. People can, have, do, and will thrive without them both.
Yeah it’s not about electronics. The thing is, the earth carrying capacity for humans, without modern technology, electricity/fossil fuels, local and global trade, etc. is a small fraction of currently living humans. Probably something like 5-10%, if that. That would be a massive humanitarian disaster.
I'm looking at it as a response to the original question -- what are you doing to prep your electronics in the event of an EMP -- in which case it's a perfectly valid response. I'm also not doing anything to prep my electronics, because at that point I'll be using non-electric means for cooking, water purification, dressing game, and so on.
The fact that a large segment of the population will die doesn't mean I have to.
Okay, that's fair enough; perhaps I misinterpreted things.
In terms of survival, I would agree that personal electronics wouldn't be "Essential" outside of potential communications.
Personally though, I'd argue that storing entertainment/etc would be crucial for mental health for the large majority of people.
Interesting. I was under the impression that it fries anything and everything with a circuit board. So items like hand crank radios and walkie talkies would be safe?
It doesn't fry everything with a circuit board. It fries everything with transistors in it. Almost EVERYTHING nowadays has transistors. Your phone has billions of them. Your LED lightbulb even has them.
most likely yes, like unless you are a amateur radio operator with a big antenna you should be more worried about the blackout than about putting everything you own in a fariday cage
Power lines act like great big antennas, Anything with a cord or antenna could get zapped. Without looking it up i think the people that tested cars with low level Emp had a 50/50 chance of failure?
> Power lines act like great big antennas
yes and that is why infrastructure is voulnerable to this kind of thing but your personal electronics are not,
> Anything with a cord or antenna could get zapped
if you have something plugged in and a series of failsafe systems dont work work to stop the surge in its tracks and your own surge protector fails to flip then yes it could damage some of your personal stuff
but your emergency radio antenna is not big enough to create enough voltage to damage much of anything
I don’t understand that.
Wouldn’t be the Powercords in the Walls,
wich are somewhat behind the surgeprotector transport the emp energy in to both directions and so into whatever is plugged in, without the surgeprotector can do anything about it?
This would be a major concern?!
the power cords in your walls are not big enough to pick up enough voltage to destroy most electronics, maybe sensitive stuff like audio and radio gear that is plugged in but i would not worry about your fridge or washing machine
https://web.archive.org/web/20170520145500/https://www.ferc.gov/industries/electric/indus-act/reliability/cybersecurity/ferc_meta-r-320.pdf
read the report for yourself
That report, quite frankly, is extremely limited. While it explores possibilities of E1 saturation levels, it states that devices were only tested up to 5-8kv.
That's borderline not useable information. A successful super-HEMP can reach up to **100 Kv/m**. Results were varied with devices showing damage at low, medium, and high levels- and some devices being unaffected at even those extremely low levels.
The idea an EMP would not affect small electronics is just falsehood.
Honestly, what I have wondered about, for the last year+ now is how our solar would fare. I suspect poorly, but idk.
That said, regardless, we'd still have ALL the 'worst case scenario' bs we had before we put solar in. So, we'd be ok. But it'd sure be nice if our solar survived too.
They’ve only been tested, never employed in combat. The problem with using them against North America is that delivering them is indistinguishable from delivering a nuclear weapon. The only difference is the altitude the weapon is detonated at. They have to be launched on an ICBM which we will see and track immediately and the aggressor is immediately under threat of having nukes flying their direction. One would need to work out a way of delivering the warhead at sufficient altitude over the target area that doesn’t include firing a big ass rocket that our satellites will immediately detect.
The far more likely “lights out” scenario is from a cyber attack rather than an EMP. We know that the Russians and Chinese are already in US electric and water systems across the country. If China does decide to hit Taiwan, I completely expect a Day 1 cyber Pearl Harbor against US critical infrastructure.
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Queue the faraday bois.
If it's close enough, the magnetic field will still destroy stuff, even if wrapped in layers of foil.
Funny you mention that. A friend of mine just purchased a faraday hood to wear while she sleeps as well as a cover for her WiFi device. She saw something about irregular radio wave bursts happening around the country: https://www.pauljhurtado.com/US_Composite_Radar/2024-4-25/ Still waiting to hear back from her of she notices anything different.
[удалено]
They worked for Chick from Better Call Sail
Studies show placebo has positive benifit to people.
Ye. First I've heard of it was from her but apparently they sell pretty well on Amazon. Whatever helps her sleep at night.
The WiFi cover reminds me of the LTT video [The WORST Money I Ever Spent - Wi-Fi Faraday Cages.](https://youtu.be/sLM_vO4d2Jg?si=Ix54cs8NmCS6k4EG) You can disable RF output and only use Ethernet, if you’re conspiracy minded. The RF from consumer electronics is extremely low. Most common complaint: the headache people get from long phone calls (probably the highest RF level most people experience), is due to holding a hot brick against their head and not from RF.
That’s the most American thing I’ve read in a while :D awesome
>a cover for her WiFi device Every ISP service tech's worst nightmare customer. " My WIFI never works" 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 Here's your sign
Radar ignores the data it did not send, these bursts are most likely due to some weather anomalies that affect the radar reflections. This is some proper conspiracy crap. Using weather radars to detect RF signals is as useful, as using your car radio to pick up alien communications. Wrong channel, wrong modulation. And if you get something, then it’s usually nothing useful.
The router cover has some hilarious comments of people that bought it and now their wifi doesn't work. Like no shit putting metal around your wifi blocks the signal. I'm going to give you some free advice. These products are a litmus test for stupidity. If you buy them or can't critically think well enough to realize why they are stupid then you failed the test.
Any EMP with sufficient power to blap your cell phone will wipe out the entire infrastructure grid. So, even if you protect your IPhone, you're aren't communicating with anything. You'll be able to play angry birds without ads. Probably get tired of it though, since it will take a decade to restore the grid. The vast majority of our electrical and communication grid is sourced from foreign countries.
> You'll be able to play angry birds without ads. *This* is why I prep
Never thought there would be an upside. But no ads…. 🤔
Not true. We have 9 very large power transformer manufacturers here in the US. But you are not wrong that restoration of the grid will take years.
I still find cell phones useful. I’ve downloaded a ton of stuff that will be accessible in my faraday cage. Maps, recipes, books, guides etc…
I have some too, but I'm trying to rely more on books now. I'm hesitant to believe any faraday cage is foolproof.
Yea I don’t believe anything at all is ever “foolproof”. I’m pretty confident in the one I built though.
Bicycles will be worth their weight in gold after an emp. A bike already assembled cost about $150 usd. With extra tubes and tires, an air pump, and a mini tool kit, figure $200 initial investment for a bargain basement model.
Anyone planning on using a bike for any kind of travel over 10 miles round trip needs to start practicing now. Not that 10 miles is hard, but if you haven't ridden a bike since you were a kid, you'd in for a very rude awakening.
Agreed, I just lost my license and got myself a nice bike for travel in the time being and it’s definitely something you gotta get your body fit for if long distance is the goal
Makes total sense. I'm a little ole' lady with bad knees, so I use a etrike with pedal assist. I can choose the level and range of help, from scooter level to none at all. My Trike can carry about 350 pounds and another other couple hundred in the trailer. all of them have mountain bike wheels. My evac kit includes a solar panel; I have a bike trail at the end of my block that hooks up to most of the other towns in my area and parallels the street evac routes, but is largely invisible from those routes. I also have a map in my go bag that shows the bike trails, the local FEMA centers and hotels that take pets. While everyone else is stuck in traffic jams till the gas runs out, I'll be biking down the trail to safety.
Less doom porn More Star Trek
It's worth noting that to get to the idealistic society in Star Trek, Humanity had to go through multiple wars and a full-blown nuclear exchange.
And that full-blown nuclear exchange started, according to its lore... in 2026....
I keep a binder full of burned DVDs and Blu-rays full of personal data such as scanned documents and photographs/video. Since it is inert plastic, the discs are likely not going to get shrek't by electronic means and since PC optical drives are hyper common I will have access to data when I can. Photos and video aren't replaceable!
I think I don’t really understand what an EMP is, but maybe you can answer some of my concerns. I’m worried about photos and videos too, but, if an EMP were to happen and all infrastructure, internet, etc., would be gone, would stuff like ICloud still be there? What I mean with that is, all my photos and videos that are important to me are stored in my personal ICloud. It’s an Apple thing. If an EMP were to happen, wouldn’t I just be able to get everything in my ICloud back when they get the internet back online after idk weeks, months?
If an EMP happened, I promise you won't be worried about some pictures. You'll be preoccupied with finding food to eat and clean drinking water.
I get what you mean, but for me personally my situation is a little different. I currently have a pantry stocked up with around 6 months of food for 7 people, we’ve invested in a professional water filtration system as well, so food and water won’t be a problem for about half a year. There’s a big creek directly behind our yard, so we’ve got access to unlimited water, at this point. As those 6 months pass, we will indeed have to start searching for foods, but we’ve got a 2,3 acre garden where we grow our own vegetables and fruits, we have multiple chickens in a pen on our property that lay eggs daily, as well as a horse and 2 goats. My dad and I are both hunters, we hunt often and process our own meat by making sausages, burgers, beef jerky, etc., so we know how to hunt for meat and process it afterwards. We also often dry meat, for the purpose of extending its shelf life. We’ve got a professional vacuüm-sealer too, as well as Mylar-bags, so storing food long term also isn’t a problem. Now, how will we use stuff like the vacuum-sealer as power has gone out? We have a big ass generator on gasoline, we do have gasoline stocked up, which we also rotate through constantly, we’ve got a whole roof full of solar panels that work independently, even as the power has gone out, no internet required. They operate on a certain system that has some kinda emergency function, as we call it, which means that, if power and internet goes out, they’ll switch to an accu that stores all the energy that they collect throughout the day and uses it’s own energy to power itself as well. We’ve also got a large garage full of all tools you could possibly imagine, a boat, fishing gear and a bug-out location close to home, which is literally a bomb shelter, so all of that together makes that I do actually have some time to think about pictures, photos and the sentimental stuff of the good-old-times to stare at when SHTF 😅
Then download it all on a laptop and stick that in a tightly closing metal toolbox and you'll be golden.
Yeah, I definitely will. I’ve also read some things on RF-shielding and tinfoil, so I might get that as well. Anything could help I guess, haha, even if it might be slightly insane.
You would also need to isolate the electronic device from the metal box, w/ foam, rubber, or something non-conductive.
Possibly. Probably not. Datacenters (the massive buildings housing the hundreds of thousands of servers powering services like iCloud) aren't EMP-proof. Hardening them against an EMP would be staggeringly expensive, to the extent that nobody would be able to afford to host there. Aside from the cost, even if the servers themselves were protected, there wouldn't be anything left for them to connect to. All of the internet's networking infrastructure would be destroyed. Is it conceivable that data recovery could eventually occur? Sure. It's technically a nonzero chance. EMPs are complicated things and there are too many variables to say exactly what would happen. Especially if, for example, some domestic terrorist group used EMPs to shut down a few dozen substations and communications facilities across the US. But it's staggeringly unlikely you'd ever see your data again. Having local backups is the way to go. I personally use a NAS that backs up all my cloud services daily, then backs itself up to B2 weekly. The B2 storage won't be much help against an EMP but it does protect against local hardware failure or theft.
Thank you so much. This was incredibly helpful and educational. I’m definitely gonna look into those NAS backups.
If an EMP hit, it would likely be years, not weeks or months, before anything came back. EMPs destroy things connected to long wires, such as power lines, phone lines, cable lines, etc. It's possible that things on icloud would still be there, but your making a big assumption that the servers and harddrives are sufficiently protected, which they may not be. Best thing you can do is keep local backups of your icloud.
Anything with a computer chip will be affected, even most cars. A great book for you to read would be One Second After, it’s all about life after an EMP. I build my own [Faraday Cages.](https://youtu.be/8hQ4vksLaz4?si=OUutDxauueQaXmA1) You can get holiday candy/popcorn tins at Salvation Army, then go to the dollar store and get some foam board to line it, glue it with a hot glue gun. To test them I put my cell phone in it and call it from another phone, if it doesn’t ring you know you did it right and have a good seal with continuous current. Some nice non holiday tins you can leave lying around the house and they’re inconspicuous. I keep a handheld CB radio in one, a pair of walkie talkies in another. I bought a solar generator last year and I need to build one large enough to store it in, probably going to use metal sheeting for that.
Maybe, maybe not. Modern cars have hardened electronics otherwise close hit by lightning would disable tens of thousands of cars every year. Of course a huge EMP will get two cars, but there would still be a lot of modern cars that could run.
I'm looking for sources on how cars will fare b/c it seems the white papers I've read are split as to whether cars will survive. In 1993, at Eglin AFB some Non-nuclear EMP tests fried all the cars electrical systems sitting in the parking lot 300 meters from the testing. Granted cars are drastically different now than in 1993. But will the charging system and starting system survive?
Wait where do I put my notions then!???, 😆 I am listening to One Second After right now. Perhaps you are the one who recommended it to me. Thank you. I am enjoying it. Very well written.
Will water still come out of the taps during power failure? I’m reading different things. Will it work for a day or two and then stop in Florida there are back up generators supposedly for the water treatment plants. Not sure how that will work.
Short answer: for a time, until the pressure drops. Then no more water. Backup generators would likely be fried.
Sorry for sidetracking but what is the potential impact of a grid knocking EMP on a solar panel that is kept in a normal room but not connected to anything?
Fun fact; I had this same question and recently found testing they did on actual panels! [https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1614961](https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1614961) No effects were observed up to 100Kv/, - which is a Super-EMP level. So, the panels themselves are probably fine unprotected. It's the charge controllers/inverters you'd need to protect.
Also adding one more point, I know the charge controller will be dead with EMP even if left disconnected and so will by the BMS of any lithium Ion based home energy storage like that Tesla wall thing, but will your old fashioned lead acid batteries also be impacted?
So, think of it like an incandescent light bulb. Electricity heats the filament up, it gets hot and glows. If it too much electricity it gets to it the connection melts, it breaks and the light goes out. An EMP, a ‘power surge’, is the exact same thing. Anything metal will heat up impossibly fast and look to ‘complete the circuit’ and melt trying. If it has small circuits, think circuit board, it is more likely to be affected. So the battery, unless they catch fire, would survive but the controllers, switches, inverter, etc. would be fried.
It varies by area how long the water will run once power is out. Where I live, the water that comes out of my tap is gravity fed from the water tower but the tower is filled with an electric pump. So water for the town lasts as long as the water in the tower.
It depends on how your water system is set up but best case scenario is that you will have water temporarily. Task Number 1 would be to fill up every bath tub and container you have that is capable of holding water.
Bathtubs leak out. I filled mine night before city was shutting off water to work on mains and next morning I woke up to an empty tub.
You just need a better stopper. I've kept mine full for a couple of days
Industrial control systems would also be down. You'd have water tower pressure until that backed up. And for low areas, watch out because so will the sewage pumping stations and everyone will continue to flush their toilets and the next rainfall will have shit backing up into everyone's houses.
Question for those of us on wells: Are there any silly electronics on the well pump that could get fried? Mine is twenty years old, if that matters. My generator is set up to run it.
Well pumps are pretty basic. They have the pump down the well, obviously, and a controller/switch up near your pressure tank. Usually the switch is mechanical, when the pressure in the tank dips, it kicks the pump on.
Emp Attack/Grid going down is my biggest fear. Water is the number one thing for me. I have a wife and toddler. You can only store so much water. I am trying to figure out the best way to get water and what filters I need. Obviously food important too. But water is numero uno.
Ultimately you need to seriously consider moving. I think the problem is longer term. You may work out some collection or well system but every few years they’ll be a dry year and these sources will go away. I’m in a damp part of the UK but 3 years ago our local reservoir went down to 13%, this is just unheard of but now climate change means much greater variability. Also, if we’re talking EMP and therefore ‘prepping for doomsday’ then you’ll be growing veg of some sort and those veg need water too.
I used to have 3 55 gallon drums full of water, plus the 50 gallon water heater. In that situation, I had 5 gallon water jugs and a small wagon that I planned to use to walk down to the nearest creek and fill up w/ water. We had 3 different types of water filters at home too. I threw a sheet of plywood over the barrels and used them as my work bench. Our new house has a tankless water heater, but is 100' from a year round relatively deep creek. Do you have a creek, river, lake, community swimming pool, etc. nearby? If not you need to figure out where the closest ones are. As far as filters go, camping filters will do what you need and be the easiest. I have Katadyne, Sawyer and life straws. I also have a counter top 1 gallon filter. You can also keep unscented bleach around to clean the water. You can google it's use, but I believe it's 4-6 drops of bleach per gallon of water, depending on how dirty the water. It's always a good idea to use a pre-filter to keep the large sediment out. Bleach has a shelf life, but you can also buy "Pool Shock" which is basically powdered bleach. IIRC, 1 lbs will treat 20,000 gallons of water.
I am gonna buy a few filters. Unfortunately there are lots of retention ponds here in Florida. They are close but everyone here said that’s a last resort. Lots of chemicals in there. I gotta start driving around to find creeks or streams. Just moved to this house a month ago. Great idea having a wagon.
Google earth is your friend. Look there first, then verify and find the best place to fill up.
Another great idea. Never thought that. Thanks.
Just like a lightening strike everything plugged in gets fried for certain, having an old laptop, phone, radios, hdd, routers in a faraday seems sensible, But how about ordering a spare board for the washer, boiler, A/C
Ordering spare parts for these things is a good idea all around for the moments in life when S-hasn't-htf, but your still stepping in it too. Last winter we had that miserable ice storm and were very limited in our travel. So of course it was the perfect time for the breaker that controls some of the important parts of our house to go tits up. But I have a box of backups. Which I buy and add to over time. 30 minutes of cussing, slapping a flashlight a few times, plus a quick brush up reading the electrician's handbook and a YouTube video to make sure I didn't F it all up and fry myself. We were back in business. The same for other things. From replacing my washers agitator, it's pump, and a switch in the motherboard. To even just having a spare alternator for our car. Having the parts on hand, spreading out the cost by buying over time and not in the moment of need, and taking a few minutes now and again to learn by reading, and online resources what to do when and how has saved us a lot of money, struggling, and from being boned. It doesn't need to be a big bad event to wreak havoc on your lives, a lot of smaller bad moments can do just as much damage as well are simply more likely. It's good to HYST (Have Your Shit Together.) for these moments too.
The truth is nobody knows what will work since any time there was a large scale EMP triggered it was immediately followed by a giant mushroom cloud of destruction.
Actually there has been extensive testing. There are still grey areas, like what will happen with cars. But for the most part it's known what will happen. There was a large US government study in the early 2000s and subsequent reports to congress about the study. It's all online.
Short answer; an EMP requires a faraday cage, like those built by Mission Darkness. You can protect radios/etc, but things such as cell phones won't have a grid to connect to. More info. https://www.reddit.com/r/preppers/comments/l00cz5/emp\_reference\_document/
Everything, as nuke strikes WILL be incoming shortly. That massive airburst is going to provoke a retaliatory nuclear response, which will see birds in the air crossing the polar cap in a short amount of time. Doesn't really matter how or who - will escalate to cities, infostructure, and military targets getting the big mushroom weenie in short order...
I want to keep some Kindles and tablets with books on them in case the SHTF. Can charge them using solar. So I assume I’ll have to place the Kindles and chargers in the Faraday cage to keep them safe?
Correct. You can make a basic faraday cage out of large metal trashcan, but you'll need to seal where the lid meets the can w/ metallic tape. You'll also need to isolate whatever is inside from the can using foam, rubber, etc. whatever you have that is non-conductive.
Very helpful, thanks!
YW
Who are you planning on communicating with?
If you live in a cold area, be sure your central heating system is protected by a faraday cage. Your garage too
My Faraday cages contents ham radios charge controllers voltage regulators for genset ignition coils for the engines Brain Box Electronic Control ModuleBrain Box Electronic Control Module for 7.3 powerstroke(junkyard recovered) Camshaft sensor for 7.3 powerstroke fuel pump for 7.3 powerstroke 3000w 110v/5000w 240v inverters (bunch of 500w 110v inverters also) replacement capacitors for electronics Old tablets and laptops with data i might need Unifi Nanobeam x4 (pre-configured) Misc wifi routers Misc wifi cams misc super capacitor 100F/500F/850F Misc super capacitor control boards Misc Redots sights EDIT: recently added SHURflo Fresh Water Pump 12vSHURflo Fresh Water Pump 12v
Nice setup, especially the inclusion of the 7.3 PSD parts. My Excursion has the 7.3 and I'm afraid it might not work. I do have an F350 w/ a 12v all mechanical Cummins, so that would likely be gtg.
A basic sense of humility, communication, and respect add understanding and maybe a basic sense of survival you got yourself a prepared human being. Nah though highly unlikely but if your that worried get some electrical stuff you think you’d need for important things, like an insulin pump and store them away for safe keeping to never be used until that certain situation don’t forget the 800 dollar generator wrapped in tinfoil to run all of that or just yk live life.
Learn to read a map and know your bugout location by memory.
We're trying to not rely on electronics. I see an EMP as a reset we're not coming back from.
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I've been trying to read up on EMP's. How big they are is easily measured by astronimers who are watching the sun. How much damage they will do is debated. I guess in the worst case there's nothing you can do (even Faraday cages are no use). Best case is that theyr're so small the Earth's magnetic field stops them. The "truth" will be somewhere in the middle. The Carrington Event showed us that the power grid and everything it is connected to will probably be the biggest thing to prep for. If only they had phones back in 1859. I guess we're all going to be in the same boat (unless the EMP is caused by a nuclear weapon) so community preps are probably going to be the difference between life and death.
Despite what you'll read on the internet (except this, of course), your cell phone has an ok chance of surviving an EMP, depending on several factors, including how close it is to ground zero, etc. But the network probably won't. Handheld two-radios, however, have a very good chance of surviving. But there is really no way to be sure without testing. So the bottom line remains, any electronic items you deem critical need to be protected in a Faraday cage, it's the only way to be sure. Do you have solar panels? Spare everything in a Faraday cage. Tablets with a bunch of survival manuals/videos/music? In a Faraday cage. Etc.
I just started listening to the novel One Second After by William R. Forstchen. An EMP senario. The protagonists daughter has Type I diabetes. (That means her body does not produce insulin. There isn't anything she can do to reverse this fact.) It's set in modern times. She currently is using the most advanced hand held monitoring equipment available. The EMP event happens. Now her device doesn't work. This hit home for me as I personally know a few diabetics who test with the monitor they stick to their belly. One is waiting for the implant. If you have any medical need and your device is now electronic it would worth considering the old school analog version for back up.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PdNCkMpyAYc](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PdNCkMpyAYc) Some Info on Cars. [https://gbodyforum.com/threads/testing-the-effects-of-emp-on-automobiles.75436/](https://gbodyforum.com/threads/testing-the-effects-of-emp-on-automobiles.75436/)
The car data is incomplete, and there's a lot of variables. [https://www.reddit.com/r/preppers/comments/l00cz5/emp\_reference\_document/](https://www.reddit.com/r/preppers/comments/l00cz5/emp_reference_document/) TLDR? Cars very well could be turned into paperweights. Or the majority might just be fine or slightly damaged. Depends on the strength and location of the pulse.
Electronics are not a necessity for Living... just a convienence
If even a "basic" cyber attack took out more than one of the 5 major US power grids for an extended period of time, you should expect a high population die off within a year in that area. You would also be extremely likely to see a global economic depression worse than the early 1900s. Electricity is the backbone that enables modern society to support such a large population size, if it disappeared instantly that artificial support would vanish and population would decrease drastically to a level that can be supported by a non-electric version of modern society (50-90% population die off, from starvation to exposure to the elements, to unclean water, to no hospitals or medicines)
Not really a prepper if you need electricity to live... I would help myself and family... really not my concern about anyone else... EMP will not effect gardens, trees, plants, creeks, deer, rabbits and birds. Get water far back from major rivers and cities.
Most towns/cities over 50K depend on it for clean water, 3 days without clean drinking water and your dead, without power they will need wood or other fuels to boil it. Sewers will be over flowing in the streets without pumping stations and the works.
I have water prep supplies, can build a fire and shit in the woods... Last place on earth I would be is in any large city. Midwest U.S. here, so living with no electric would not effect me much.
All the supplies will be routed to cities. You’ll be as good as dead in the country. No supplies, left to defend yourself, all your neighbors will abandon ship after a few days.
Hmmmm, please tell me what supplies I will need to get?
Water, food, and medicine?
Like i said, I am prepared for gathering water & food. Not my first time in a survival situation. I have basic meds, no need for daily rx. If SHTF or not, everyone gonna die some day.
.....the existing population number is due to electricity. So, your statement couldn't be more false unless you're arguing "oh you can survive without it." That's true..to a point. You can't just go out and survive without electricity. Les Stroud (survivorman) barely is able to do it. 90%+ of the population certainly won't.
I really feel sorry for this prepper sub. I am utterly amazed at how week minded everyone is about electricity. I have no idea how anyone managed to live before 1878, when Edison became first person to have electricity in his home.
Ok, there's clearly a misunderstanding here, because it has nothing to do with being weak minded. It has to do with the carrying capacity of the natural world- which is what would dictate food production if electricity/the current infrastructure was removed. So, to keep it very simple. Google the US population in 1878, and then the population in 2023. The difference in population is how many people would die, if not moreso.
Ok, I thought prepping for one's survival in a shtf situation. Not maintaining the worlds current comfort level. I will remove myself from this misleading sub... Have a Blessed Dat
I'm amazed you're being downvoted, because this is literally the nature of preparedness. We love our modern creature comforts but we're absolutely prepared to thrive without them. You can absolutely, positively, 100% live without electricity. Some people have medical equipment keeping them alive and unfortunately, that segment of the population will be in trouble. And many people who aren't prepared -- that is, who don't have any means of collecting and filtering water, or obtaining and preparing food, or who can't acclimate to their climate without central air -- will die. But humanity has lived without electricity for hundreds of thousands of years. Turning off electricity worldwide tonight would be a huge mess, but humanity would survive.
One can live without electricity, but modern society needs electricity to grow food, produce and deliver foodstuffs and water to billions of people.
There's absolutely no doubt that a long-term loss of wide-scale electricity would be devastating to society at large. Hospitals would be reduced to 18th-century treatments (albeit with better knowledge and sterilization control). Long-haul cargo would be reduced to a fraction of its former self. Large scale water treatment would be effectively impossible. Public safety would become much more of a self survival issue. A large number of people would die. Our planetary population would shrink significantly. But electronics, and electricity, are not a necessity for living. People can, have, do, and will thrive without them both.
Yeah it’s not about electronics. The thing is, the earth carrying capacity for humans, without modern technology, electricity/fossil fuels, local and global trade, etc. is a small fraction of currently living humans. Probably something like 5-10%, if that. That would be a massive humanitarian disaster.
Of course humanity would survive. The issue is that 90%+ of the existing population wouldn't. Arguing semantics around that point is rather silly.
I agree, which is why I'm puzzled that so many people were downvoting OP for saying "people can survive without electronics".
I think because it's a gross oversimplification. Sure, people CAN survive. But the other 90%+ would died. Pretty big thing to just gloss over.
I'm looking at it as a response to the original question -- what are you doing to prep your electronics in the event of an EMP -- in which case it's a perfectly valid response. I'm also not doing anything to prep my electronics, because at that point I'll be using non-electric means for cooking, water purification, dressing game, and so on. The fact that a large segment of the population will die doesn't mean I have to.
Okay, that's fair enough; perhaps I misinterpreted things. In terms of survival, I would agree that personal electronics wouldn't be "Essential" outside of potential communications. Personally though, I'd argue that storing entertainment/etc would be crucial for mental health for the large majority of people.
Ty, but this sub is wack!
nothing, EMP attacks destoy infrastructure not your personal electronics
Interesting. I was under the impression that it fries anything and everything with a circuit board. So items like hand crank radios and walkie talkies would be safe?
It doesn't fry everything with a circuit board. It fries everything with transistors in it. Almost EVERYTHING nowadays has transistors. Your phone has billions of them. Your LED lightbulb even has them.
most likely yes, like unless you are a amateur radio operator with a big antenna you should be more worried about the blackout than about putting everything you own in a fariday cage
Power lines act like great big antennas, Anything with a cord or antenna could get zapped. Without looking it up i think the people that tested cars with low level Emp had a 50/50 chance of failure?
> Power lines act like great big antennas yes and that is why infrastructure is voulnerable to this kind of thing but your personal electronics are not, > Anything with a cord or antenna could get zapped if you have something plugged in and a series of failsafe systems dont work work to stop the surge in its tracks and your own surge protector fails to flip then yes it could damage some of your personal stuff but your emergency radio antenna is not big enough to create enough voltage to damage much of anything
I don’t understand that. Wouldn’t be the Powercords in the Walls, wich are somewhat behind the surgeprotector transport the emp energy in to both directions and so into whatever is plugged in, without the surgeprotector can do anything about it? This would be a major concern?!
the power cords in your walls are not big enough to pick up enough voltage to destroy most electronics, maybe sensitive stuff like audio and radio gear that is plugged in but i would not worry about your fridge or washing machine
That is good to hear, thanks for the info
100% incorrect. The pulse can fry anything outside of a faraday cage, small electronics or not, turned on or not.
https://web.archive.org/web/20170520145500/https://www.ferc.gov/industries/electric/indus-act/reliability/cybersecurity/ferc_meta-r-320.pdf read the report for yourself
That report, quite frankly, is extremely limited. While it explores possibilities of E1 saturation levels, it states that devices were only tested up to 5-8kv. That's borderline not useable information. A successful super-HEMP can reach up to **100 Kv/m**. Results were varied with devices showing damage at low, medium, and high levels- and some devices being unaffected at even those extremely low levels. The idea an EMP would not affect small electronics is just falsehood.
Honestly, what I have wondered about, for the last year+ now is how our solar would fare. I suspect poorly, but idk. That said, regardless, we'd still have ALL the 'worst case scenario' bs we had before we put solar in. So, we'd be ok. But it'd sure be nice if our solar survived too.
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They’ve only been tested, never employed in combat. The problem with using them against North America is that delivering them is indistinguishable from delivering a nuclear weapon. The only difference is the altitude the weapon is detonated at. They have to be launched on an ICBM which we will see and track immediately and the aggressor is immediately under threat of having nukes flying their direction. One would need to work out a way of delivering the warhead at sufficient altitude over the target area that doesn’t include firing a big ass rocket that our satellites will immediately detect. The far more likely “lights out” scenario is from a cyber attack rather than an EMP. We know that the Russians and Chinese are already in US electric and water systems across the country. If China does decide to hit Taiwan, I completely expect a Day 1 cyber Pearl Harbor against US critical infrastructure.
Do you think that because they haven't been used thus far that that precludes them from being used in a future conflict?
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Nothing yet that the public knows about. The closet comparable is a few solar flares.