EMP, electromagnetic pulse, is the enormous radio spectrum energy given off whenever an atomic weapon is detonated, or a coronal mass ejection (CME) occurs. The EMP and its effects can be considered as life-altering/changing events. The EMP is currently the main concern of our government, and the U.S. army has been shielding itself for such an event.
A CME is a significant release of plasma and accompanying magnetic field from the solar corona. They often follow solar flares and are normally present during a solar prominence eruption. When it comes to a nuclear detonation, in-ground, and low air bursts, the pulse is limited to an area similar to the destruction area of the device, so it is not considered a big threat. However, if the device is detonated in near space, an EMP will be caused that can cause widespread electronic failure.
The EMP threat
For example, with all the satellites monitoring our planet if a device disguised as a weather satellite detonated over the center of the continental United States, and at an altitude of 150 to 300 miles. The triggered EMP would cover much of the country. Since it is well-known that most of the developed countries have such satellites in orbit, the likelihood of such an EMP attack is not fantasy.
For the last 40 years or so, the military has been prepping for an EMP event. They have been implementing ways to protect their equipment so it would be EMP proof. Often this is done by implementing the use of fiber optics instead of electrical circuits and copper wire. The copper wire acts as a magnet (or antenna if you will) to pick up the pulse. The light traveling through the fiber optic is unaffected. All this combined with proper shielding will make almost any circuit hardened to withstand the near-miss of an atomic device.
But how about us?
What are our survival chances when an EMP hits? Could we maintain at least some of our survival working after an EMP strike even though commercial power would be sternly damaged?Here, the answer would be clearly yes, but only with some effort.
EMP and its effects on Automobiles
Those black boxes that have been responsible for such wonderful gas mileage in the family car are full of semiconductors that will fry with the first EMP strike. For a vehicle to continue to operate, you must pick an older model with points and condensers. Even so, there is a little uncertainty because a very near EMP strike might still burn the ignition coil.
The real solution would be to go with a fully mechanical diesel engine, but those are not widely available anymore. If you have an old Volkswagens, GMC, Ford, and Chevy truck, you should cherish it and keep it in running conditions.
Imagine an electromagnetic pulse in tens of thousands of watts range, and the damage it could do! You might ask yourself why the federal government is not concerned with the auto industry manufacturing vehicles that are sure to stop in the event of nuclear war or emp event. For certain reason, they are interested only in keeping the commercial long-distance trucks and military vehicles on the road.
Related article: EMP Attack Survival Guide
Their own military hardware is diesel or hardened ignition gas so they also would run. Perhaps they realize that it would be better for the governing forces if civilian cars won’t run. Eventually, the military could get them off the road and out of their way!
Since almost all cars available on the market are vulnerable if an EMP hits, the best way to assure you can still use your vehicle would be to build an EMP-proof garage. There are many discussions on survivalists forums and other resources online that would help you achieve this goal.
EMP and its effects on Radios
Since EMP acts like a giant, super-powerful radio pulse, it stands to reason that it would destroy radios, which it does, but only if it gets to them, principally through long wire antennas. The key, then, is either to disconnect the antenna when not needed or to put a protective device on the antenna similar to those used for lightning protection, but operating much more quickly so that it would also protect the radio from EMP.
Small, battery-operated portable radios with built-in antennas, along with high-frequency radios with antennas shorter than 18 inches, are relatively safe. They can be made fully safe by storing them in EMP shielded containers such as metal ammo cans. You can also store them in an underground room such as root cellars, deep basements, or fallout shelters.
My recommendation would be to get a hand-cranked emergency radio to be on the safe side. You won’t have to worry about batteries, and it will save you a long time as long as you remember to store it in your faraday cage.
EMP and its effects on Freezers, Well Pumps, Other 110-Volt Equipment
Most appliances that have motors share one feature, they all plug into commercial power. For these, the danger is that the pulse would travel down the power line, which acts like a giant antenna and destroy the motor with a several-thousand-volt, several-thousand-ampere surge.
For better security, in some cases, it would help if the power line coming into your home were buried. It is less likely that the surge would break down the underground wire and short to ground even before entering the house. However, there’s no guarantee that critical equipment will survive.
Make a list of important items you need to protect, you can either buy replacement parts for them or buy a second item for each piece of gear, and store it in a protected container or a Faraday bag.
EMP and its effects on Computers
We live in the computer age, but would lose 95 percent of them with the first EMP strike! Only military and specially hardened computers would survive. That alone is a good reason enough for you to harden yours.
Shielding the computer, itself, will protect the components, which are very sensitive to EMP. Unfortunately, we also live in the age of plastic, which offers no shielding at all. Keeping the computer in a steel case would offer a measure of protection, except when you had it out for use.
The only real answer is to shield the room area, such as a basement or shelter. In the case of a basement, all that is needed is to staple copper wire to the ceiling above and solder a heavy bus wire to each copper screen and fasten the bus wire to a ground rod.
Recommended article: Your Daily Life With And Without Power
Make sure that all windows are also shielded with a grounded screen. If the computer can be located totally underground, such as in a shelter, then only the incoming commercial power must be filtered to fully protect the unit.
Another alternative would be to buy Faraday defense EMP duffle bags, but these are not accessible to everyone due to their price, and you would need to get multiple items, depending on the amount of gear you need to protect. I bought one to keep my laptop safe and other items (my Ipad and E-book reader, my HAM equipment, etc.).
EMP and its effects on Tractors and Rototillers
Like cars, most have electronic ignition and would eventually stop running at the first pulse. However, the good news is that there are some models of almost all manufacturers that still have points and condenser ignition, and they will run unless very close to a strike. If you are not sure whether your equipment has electronic ignition, ask the servicing dealer.
In case you are buying something new, keep in mind that they will almost always have electronic ignition.
Of course, an old diesel tractor would be a perfect solution.
EMP and its effects on Generators
If EMP strikes, commercial power would be terminated. That enormous pulse will fry all the control computers and many power transformers, including the one near your home. It would take years to restore full-electric power, even if the power industry had enough spare transformers. That’s not the case since most transformers are being shipped from China.
Obviously, without commercial power, life as we know it would come to a stop. It will take an incredibly long time to return to normal. For the short term, a small gasoline power generator would allow some transition time until things return to normal. Even so, there’s no guarantee that things will go back as they used to be and you will need to protect your generators.
As for power generators that work with conventional fuel such as gasoline, you should have a protection measure planned for them. You could get an EMP-proof cloth to protect your power generator and other items. Due to its large size, it can shield other items as well, like your motorcycle.
EMP and its effects on Solar Power
While the panels, themselves, would survive, only protected battery chargers that are plugged into commercial power will survive, and if they fail, they will burst the batteries, destroying the system. One option would be to go straight solar, leaving off the common commercial power back-up charger so often used. The main weak link is the inverter used to take the battery output and convert it to 110-volt or 220-volt power.
If at all possible, avoid this step and use the current directly from the battery. Keep all wiring short and buried if possible. If that is not possible, shield the inverter and filter all incoming and outgoing leads.
At first, this may seem like a lot of trouble, but what use is a back-up power source if it will not withstand the event that killed the commercial power. Learning about EMP and its effects will make your life easier when SHTF.
Looking To The Future
When shopping for a new appliance or some electric-powered equipment, look at it with an eye to protecting it from EMP.
Everything that is fully electronic, so popular today, would surely fail with the first pulse. In general, choosing lower-tech, rather than high-tech products, makes it easier to assure that some of today’s lifestyle and stored information would survive.
Take a step back and look at the old-timers and learn how they used to live without the abundance of technology we have today. It will give you a good idea how to return to your roots and if you can make it long-term.
Other Useful Resources:
Find Out What’s the Closest Nuclear Bunker to Your Home
Knowledge to survive any medical crisis situation during a major disaster
Learn how to Safeguard your Home against Looters
The vital self-sufficiency lessons our great grand-fathers left us
another solution to protecting your solar energy components from disaster would be to keep spare inverter and wiring in a faraday cage which could be as simple as a plastic trash can sealed inside a metal one.
A computer needs two inputs to be useful, AC power and a network. Your fancy Faraday room will be ineffective if your computer is wired to either. The best solution is to buy a second computer and seal it in a Faraday cage which can be built from a foil covered cardboard box, metal trash can, etc.
Will there be a network after the fact? Let’s hope so…eventually. In the mean time, your computer can be used as a library for books and videos to help get through the hard times (don’t forget to protect the equipment needed to power the computer though as a CME or EMPs occurring world-wide could keep power down for a decade or more).
The article states, “Perhaps they realize that it would be better for the governing forces if civilian cars won’t run. Eventually, the military could get them off the road and out of their way!”
This strikes me as being “conspiracy theory Purple Kool-Aid.” Using this reasoning, the failure to protect the national power grid from an EMP attack is because the government wants to keep the population in a state of helplessness and, as a result, in abject dependency on the government for months and years after the EMP strike. How’s the government going to deal with that? Very poorly, I suggest. In reality, the current lack of an effective EMP defense is far more likely to be proof of the old adage, “Never ascribe to malice what can adequately be explained by incompetence.”
I have what I believe to be an EMP vehicle. I expect that, if an EMP attack occurs, the most challenging task I will face is to prevent others, including both the government and private individuals, from taking it from me, the government being motivated by its view of “public necessity.”
For this reason, I expect to act quickly and to re-locate to my bug out location while individuals and local governmental entities are trying to figure out just what happened and before sheer desperation sets in and motivates them to take strong measures. Within two or three days of a major EMP event, I expect that police roadblocks and simple carjackings will be commonplace.
Hello- you have a “Survival MD” link on your page. I am curious if you have read this book? support this book and it’s content? I think we are all curious about survival skills and the medical component is a huge piece of that. I am an RN yet field practice is quite different than civilian practice. This advertisement states that this literature provides the reader with field type survival skills. I am curious if anyone has any other suggestions on something they have found to be of great help? Just looking for the down and dirty part of medicine here. Thanks for any help you can give.
Hello Kristen,
I have the book and it has great content. I got it because it’s written by a doctor from an undeveloped country (Romania, if I’m not mistaken) which has a health-care system that people say it’s similar to those in third-world countries. They are understaffed, they don’t have all the resources needed and they constantly have to find ways to improvise. They are dealing with a high level of corruption in their country and the public systems are in collapse. Also, considering the fact that most of the doctors from Romania are being recruited by countries such as France and Germany shows that they have a good education and experience that would help them excel in an environment that provides them with all the means to do their job. I hope this info helps.
Regards,
Bob