In July the current president of the United States publicly stated that it was ‘’highly unlikely’’ the Taliban would take control of Afghanistan.
They did. And it only took them a few short days. Just because someone says something is unlikely to happen, it is, under no circumstances, a guarantee that it will not.
It became clear that the Taliban had external support during their pursuit of national control. Several sources indicate that the Taliban would not have been able to be sustained for twenty years without Pakistan’s support and financial help. Many say it would have been an impossible mission.
There is one thing I am particularly worried about regarding the relationship between the Taliban and Pakistan, and I am not the only one. A former British commander warned that the biggest threat to take into consideration is the possibility of the Taliban getting access to nuclear weapons in Pakistan (Source).
Pakistan has 160 nuclear warheads, and each one of them can be used to trigger an EMP over the U.S. If someone detonates a nuclear bomb over America, it will send us back to the Dark Ages, burning most, if not all, electric components in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico!
Of course, some may say that it is unlikely the Taliban would gain this kind of access to nuclear weapons. I say we should not forget what the past has taught us—especially since we don’t have to look too far back. We already underestimated them once.
It is ‘’highly unlikely’’ they said…. But then again, they were wrong so many times.
Just Picture This
You wake up and check your phone like you do every morning. Oddly, the phone is shut down, and apparently there is something wrong with the charger too. That’s fine. You will fix this later.
However, you soon discover that the fridge has no power, just like the coffee machine and every other electrical item in your house. You go outside only to see your neighbors talking about having the same problems and being unable to start their cars.
In just a few days, your friendly neighbors that gathered that morning will probably end up fighting over the last piece of bread. Starvation leads people to do reckless things; it turns us on each other. When their survival instincts kick in, your lovely neighbor becomes another food rival.
Related: How To Deal With Neighbors And Friends That Come Begging For Food At Your Door In A Crisis
The Box That May Save You!
When the electromagnetic wave strikes, all electronics will shut down. The good news is that you can save some vital electronics if you do one thing: place them in a Faraday cage.
Whether you use a metal garbage can, a toolbox, or an old microwave, this safe box will shield all electronics you keep inside. Plus, it’s cheap, easy to build, and time resistant.
So what should you store in your Faraday cage? Here is my list of things I placed inside:
1. A Set of Walkie-Talkies
It is best for you and your family to stick together in order to ensure your security.
However, as you will have to find resources, a set of walkie-talkies will ease the communication, giving you a tactical advantage.
2. A Phone and a Radio
Keeping in touch with the news and latest updates could potentially save your life.
As regular communication will be critically damaged, you can find out vital information, such as areas you should definitely avoid or ways of reaching a safe place.
3. A Spare Laptop
Use an old laptop to store information you find useful in emergency situations, such as books on survival or guides to wild foods.
Related: 10 Survival Books Every Prepper Should Read
It’s best to buy them in physical format; however, the books stored on your laptop will be an extra advantage.
If you urgently need a specific information, you can simply search with a keyword instead of having to flip through the pages.
4. Portable Solar Generator
A mini generator will provide you with the necessary power for some devices.
I would choose this particular type of generator due to its dimensions so it fits in a simple Faraday cage.
But of course, the more powerful, the better! The solar generator also has the great advantage of being pretty quiet.
5. Manual or Solar-Powered Flashlights
Once the electromagnetic wave strikes and the national electricity network collapses, flashlights will become the light sources we will depend on.
My advice to you is to choose a solar-powered flashlight that comes with a hand crank. If you haven’t charged the flashlight with enough solar energy, one minute of cranking could generate power for almost one hour of use.
I would also choose a tactical flashlight. It is designed to withstand tough conditions and has a long throw; some of the farthest-throwing flashlights go up to 1,900 feet.
6. Night Vision and Thermal Optics
Since the crime rate will go through the roof, society as we know it now will be completely destabilized.
This device can be of great use when looters come onto your property at night, giving you a much needed tactical advantage over them.
7. Electronic Medical Equipment for Your Needs
I personally added a glucose meter, sphygmomanometer, and pulse oximeter, but you may want to add other things more suited to your needs.
8. Essential Car Electronics
Every vehicle has an electrical system that consists of three very important components: the battery, starter, and alternator (Source). Of course, the situation is completely different if you have an electrical car.
However, for most of you owning fuel vehicles, I would add a starter and an alternator to your Faraday survival kit, the exact duplicates of the ones in your car.
When the SHTF, your car will take you to safer places and to new foraging areas.
9. Water Pump
The water taps will be bone dry as the hydro system will shut down along with the electricity network.
The ideal choice for your Faraday survival kit is a centrifugal pump; this is perfect for providing clean, fresh water for your household.
The centrifugal pump also has a high discharge, and it’s cheaper to maintain compared to other pumps.
10. Electric Kettle
Boiling water for cooking without sound, smoke, or smell will be a great advantage. You don’t want to let your neighbors know that you are cooking.
Editor’s Note: If an EMP hits, our most important asset will probably be our knowledge, including the things that we learn here on this website from one to another. But in case of an EMP, no one will have access to the Internet, so whenever you read a useful article or comment, please go ahead and print it out.
We created a “print” button just to serve this purpose. When you buy survival books, it’s probably a good idea to buy them in physical format so you’ll have access to them when you need them most. There is a bundle of physical books created especially for on EMP if you want to check it out.
You may also want to check out an article about how to build different Faraday cages here. If there is an important thing that the author forgot to mention in the list, please comment below so we can all benefit from this knowledge.
You may also like:
How to Survive the First 24 Hours after the SHTF
7 Actions to Take Immediately Following an EMP Strike (Video)
How To Clear Your House When You Wake Up And You Think There Is An Intruder
Would Lead sheets be a good thing to put in a box or make a box out of the Lead sheets for an EMP.
If any one can give info on this. I would appreciate it.
I’ve been saving Lead for some time now and see that it is time that I use it.
How thick should it be to work.?
If it is to heavy to move then it’s not worth it. But if I can make very thin sheets, would it work as well.
Thank you.
Forget about lead. Buy a steel or aluminum trashcan with a tight-fitting metal lid. You can find these at Lowe’s or Home Depot. Put the electronic items you want protected into the trashcan. Don’t bother with a cell phone — if an EMP hits every cell tower in the country will be destroyed and you can imagine how many years it will be before service is restored — if ever.
just thinking outside the box.
Thank you.
A cell phone still has utility (camera, games, document & video repository, etc.) even if there isn’t cell phone service.
@LtColVenom Just remember to insulate your electronics from the metal of whatever container you have them in.
These smart phones are mini computers. I’ve got tons of pdf files, some from this site as well, saved on one of my smart phones.
You can also download maps as well, for those of us who know how to actually READ a map and plot a point on one.
Best part is, you don’t need cell service for these features to work. You could even have videos, movies, music or TV shows recorded to help alleviate stress and help with morale , depending on the actual excrement hitting the fan situation.
Remember not ALL electromagnet pulses are from attacks either, some can be natural, skin to a solar flare. I’ve had lightning strike so close to me while driving it shut my phone off on me.
Remember if something that seems stupid to you works… Was it really stupid? ???
Remember to Buy Made in the U.S.A. when you buy that steel trash can too!
The problem with cell phones is that you have to keep up with the service: if there are no computers or actual ability to contact your cell phone company to renew your contract, the phone will eventually stop working even for basics that are “included” (that aren’t making calls.) (because you haven’t renewed your cell phone service)
So, no matter what they will be useless.
No any metal will work as long as there are no gaps. ferrous metal will block the magnetic wave sent by an EMP. the lead will be great at shielding Gamma, Xray and cosmic radiation. don’t throw it away!
If you have quantities of lead, I would suggest investing in bullet casting equipment. It won’t cost nearly as much as some of the items mentioned in this article. I would also invest in some literature on casting your own bullets so that you don’t make as many mistakes as a complete neophyte. There are some significant dangers in casting molten metals. With lead, fumes from the molten metal are significant. The topic is too extensive to made a detailed explanation here. Stick to popular bullet sizes for your molds. 9mm, .357, .44 and .45. .224, .30, 6mm, 6.5mm. I would only make one weight in each size. If you have extra money or come into extra molds I would expand in the pistol sizes. I would also buy copper cups for the popular size. They fit on the bottom of the bullets so that you can fire the bullet at higher speeds but not get massive leading in your bore. Right this minute the exact term eludes me but any reloading manual will reference them.
The damaging waves from an EMP are not radioactive. They are electronic, so ferrous metal is the appropriate shielding. You want a material that either insulates or redirects. Lead, of course, would do the trick but it is so heavy that it becomes impractical. Steel is just as efficient and much lighter.
While the EMP is not “radioactive” per se, the nuclear explosion used to create the EMP is and depending on the frequency emitted by the EMP it could be in the microwave range and thus do damage to living tissue. The EMP will not be sustained long enough to probably cook the family jewels but it is a health concern. I think we will have more to worry about from conventional arms, biological/chemical weapons and ADS being deployed against us. For EMP shielding your small electronics think layers. A Faraday Cage inside a Faraday Cage inside a Faraday Cage. The more layers the better the protection.
you can use an old microwave to store these items in as well… I have 2 in my pantry with a small laptop, 2 way radios, a portable hard drive that backs up my computer as well as a radio… I would add other small items that need to be protected as you see fit..
A microwave oven does not work unless you do layers of protection. I have tested a microwave oven by itself and it offers little protection for your small electronics. I put my wife’s cell phone in the microwave and called it with mine. It lit up like a Christmas tree and started ringing. Once I wrapped it in aluminum foil the microwave oven did better.
There is at least divided opinion about the use of microwave ovens as an easy Faraday cage.
Personally, I am not in a position to know for certain which argument is correct, so I err on the side of caution. I would not depend and do not depend on an old microwave for EMP protection. Knowing that there is divided opinion, I would suggest that you also err on the side of caution. Or at least do some more investigating on line. Consider the expertise of the opinions you read and the background of the authors. If no author is listed I would give the opinion the same weight as any other anonymous article.
Forget about lead and use an old microwave, any metal cage that is grounded with what you want to protect insulated from it. Am EMP is a strong wave and what you are doing is sending that wave to ground in this way it stops the wave from getting to your devices..
This article is so wrong about keeping a alternator and starter for your vehicle. The reason is simple if an EMP kills your vehicle the alternator and starter will not be the only things that will be bad preventing you from using it. Your vehicle has electronics and that means integrated circuits and those will die first before the other stuff. So you would need all the electronics systems your vehicle has in order to repair it. Best thing is to plan on not having any vehicles or to buy a very old pre electronics vehicle.
A very good cheap EMP proof storage system. Put each item; radios, VOM, etc. to be protected in a zip lock bag, then wrap in aluminum foil. Place these items in 30 cal. ammo boxes. Then store the 30 cal ammo cans in a 50 cal ammo box. If you want the ultimate then you can ground each 50 cal box with copper wire to a copper ground rod.
I realize this is a bit more difficult than other methods but gives about the best protection you could have.
This is the way we used to protect very sensitive and expensive electronic equipment at Cape Canaveral in my years working there as an electronic tech. from 1958 to 1961.
Isn’t wrapping in aluminum foil like ‘touching’ the metal? Won’t it short out the item?
Scientists and other “authorities’ on the subject can’t agree on grounding. Some say it must be grounded, others say it will bring the EMP directly to the items.
If EXPERTS can’t agree, what are we to do? I will not ground because it is difficult to do…and I can’t afford to have 2 sets of items in 2 faraday cages…I’ll just have to take my chances.
Make sure to line your can with cardboard or rubber including the lid- the electronics need to not be touching metal
No mention of food or water, but I guess every Prepper already knows to have that!
he is only referring to items that need to be protected, that an EMP would fry.. of course everyone should have food and water as well
Interesting idea about the pump. I’ve got a well, the electronics are what tend to go bad on me, and having a replacement for those is actually pretty cheap.
So far as I know trying to run a well pump from a solar or wind system is very challenging to battery life because you have a surge start wattage of 2000 to 4000 watts every time the pump cycles on, plus 700w or more to run the sucker.
JH: You are quite correct. Unless it is a very shallow well, almost an artesian well, the amount of energy to pull water any distance is quite significant.
you can get a constant pressure well…. basically instead of either fully on or fully off…. it opens up based on load needed.
Claude. you forgot one very important thing. A modern vehicle uses a computer to run the engine(all of them including diesel). You must have a spare one as this is the part that will fail from an EMP. A starter will not fail and an alternator may not fail unless it has a built in regulator.
Some vehicles have more than 1 computer. the more modern the vehicle the more worthless it will be and harder to protect or acquire all the parts that will fail. Pre 1980s vehicles will absolutely survive.
Everyone should have an old vehicle pre 80s to use if needed
There are so many variables involved in both a CME and an EMP that a blanket statement about what will or will not survive is inaccurate. Getting a rocket to 350 miles and having an atomic device go off is a bit more complicated than making a blackpowder firecracker with a fuse lit by a match. All we have to do is look at how many failures our own space program has with launches. Didn’t Branson or Bezos have one of their rockets go boom shortly after liftoff recently? They certainly have the money to hire the best expertise available in rocketry. And we certainly have more experience in launches than probably even the Russians. While I don’t discount the danger, it is one thing to have an atomic bomb and have a possible delivery system. It’s quite another to have both pieces of equipment work in concert over a specific target.
Personally, I think our biggest problem is with Brother Sol. Even as I write this, an M category CME is headed towards earth. Fortunately for us earthlings, one M category CME probably will only affect radio transmissions for a bit. Even the two back to back X category CMEs twenty years ago this month weren’t enough to knock out our grid system. They bathed earth for fifteen hours. Twenty years ago in October we were still involved in the recovery effort of the Twin Towers. Our computer system was not as integrated into our lives as it is now. The electronics package in my 2003 Ody was not nearly as complex as the electronics package in my 2014 VW and doesn’t come close to the electronics in a Tesla.
Having a running car, however is not going to be a big advantage. Firstly, once all the gas tanks on sidelined cars have been tapped, the next step is to dip gasoline out of the underground storage tanks at gas stations. That is a task that has its dangers. I remember watching a video of a gas thief go up in flames. He had been dipping gas and had somehow caused a static spark. Then too, having a running automobile is going to make one a very visible target of folks who do not have a running motor vehicle and who strongly desire one. I would suggest that unless you armor it up a la Mad Max, you probably won’t keep it very long.
For vehicular travel after an EOTW event, I think a bicycle is the most practical form of vehicle that will be with us for a very long time. I would be stocking up on bicycle parts: spokes, wheels, chains, sprockets, brakes, tubes, tires, patches, tire pump, Slime (that’s a product that goes in the tube to seal small punctures. It is being included in some new cars in lieu of a spare tire) Also tire liners. A brand name is Gatorskins. They are liners that go between the tube and the tire and also cut down on punctures. On my bikes I ran both Slime and Gatorskins. I never suffered a flat. I also tried to avoid running over glass on the road.
Unless I were a really skilled automatic mechanic, I wouldn’t bother with stocking up on auto parts. With tens of thousands of dead cars on the road or dead owners, auto parts will be something that will be too readily available.
Yes, I share your skepticism.
Back in the days of atmospheric testing, there weren’t reports of widespread electronic problems. Of course, things were different then (vacuum tubes!), but still, I’d imagine EMP effects would be fairly localized.
Now a modern-day Carrington Event… that could well fry much of our grid and long-distance technology. But the amount of energy available will still be related to the size of the collector. So power grids, non-optical telecom, etc. will get hit hard — along with thing connected to them.
But automobile voltage regulators? I don’t think so. The impedances are too low, and there just isn’t a big enough antenna.
You will need to have a shitload of gasoline stored too, for at your local station nothing will be available without electricity either…
Gasoline can be extracted from underground tanks of gasoline. One just needs to be very careful when handling volumes of gas. The video I saw of the human torch who was stealing gas was very impressive.
High proof alcohol is relatively easy to make, and most gasoline engines will run fine on it.
Would love to see your results of doing it
For pre 80s vehicles that use points and condenser type distributor you will need to keep spare capacitors(condensers) in a Faraday Cage protected location so you can replace it after the EMP passes. Also you will want to have spare voltage regulators stored for your vehicle. If your pre 80s vehicle has been converted to electronic ignition, store an original points distributor in your spare parts cage as you will need one.
Capacitors will not fail on an EMP as there is no integrated circuits in them.
Ah, so all those capacitors we tested in engineering labs that spewed smoke or exploded are still good functioning capacitors? My bad, we forgot to put all the pieces back together or pump a fresh supply of smoke back into the capacitors. We didn’t learn that in college. Our professor told us that once you let the smoke escape or bits and pieces flew all over the classroom that they were no longer any good. Damn you can’t trust anything these professors say.
You put a higher voltage on them of course they will blow up We did that in Lab many times as well. that wont happen because
the lines or wires aren’t long enough to generate the voltage necessary to blow them
they are connected to a battery so it will snub the overvoltage’s generated by the E1 wave. but its still a great thing to have many spares of points and condensers as they last about 3 to 5 thousand miles before being worn out.
Most modern car’s will run just fine.. the goverment testing showed a wide variety of cars that ran and very few failed.
a emp isn’t a hollywood magic wand….. many things will run and be just fine. the biggest issue with the emp is the power lines…… which shuts down the grid and results in death.
Raven please show us what your information sources for this. The ONLY TESTING by the US government was well over a decade ago. When I read the report they BORROWED VEHICLES from other Agencies and had to return them in good condition. Thus TESTING was limited to Much Lower EMP energy than the Soviet tests. Soviet tests were quite severe using actual EMP nukes and they rebuilt that small city 3 times. Electric Transformers often burst into flames. Arcing across open Buss Bars and crippling vehicles. This was with 60’s technology.
Faraday Cages work if properly used. I expect a second EMP Strike a day or so later if we were attacked.
Raven: You keep posting that nothing will happen. The only experiment that I have been able to find was not a government sponsored experiment. The testers used their own personal cars and as soon as their cars started to fail they discontinue the experiment.
There is no question in my mind after an EMP, unless your Tesla was three stories down in a concrete parking structure and away from any electrical equipment, including lights, all such electric vehicles will be toast. Quite a few governments have a vested interest in converting us to electric vehicles. How do you think the knowledge that electric vehicles will be toast in some kind of EMP attack would affect Tesla sales or Prius sales or any of the other all electric or hybrid electric vehicles?
Why don’t you post the source of the test of which you speak and I will do the same.
i don’t say nothing will happen…. it isn’t a a total blackout like everyone thinks it will be. A emp will effect long wires…… aka power lines…. so while your cell might not turn off…. The power lines however will be on fire and down… Thus the worst thing in this country to happen is a total grid failure…. (which isn’t something you’re going to be able to bounce back from (depending on the severity of it all) So the small minded thinking of your own cell phone blacking out is silly when the entire grid is shutdown. This country can’t handle a world without power…… Even with a solar setup…. which is extremely costly to do…. You will need to take a setup back in time and reduce dramatically how much power you do use….. Can’t be leaving lights on or using the fridge and freezer every 5 mins….
Now the idea that a country fires a missile over the us…. well that’s a deceleration of war and right now i don’t see that working yet. You could however see a cyber attack that does somethings similar or arming terrorist cells to do something either directly like the substation attack or using something advanced like a missile is probably a stretch….however with the shipping issues and jam up at the ports imagine what is getting in without the customs noticing now.
No. integrated circuits are the biggest vulnerability. everyone needs to read the Congressional report on the threat of an EMP Attack. Also the automobile testing was years ago and is no longer valid as autos have so much more electronic integration.
Raven, we aren’t talking the change of Millenium, when the “change” was going to be the end of the world until it was corrected. Whomever orchestrates this EMP will make sure it’s lethal !! Maybe our own ? I put NOTHING past them !!
A cell phone loaded with a wild plant identifying program and other survival info will make a handy pocket computer that can always be with you. I would add that to my faraday cage as well as one of those mini solar rechargers.
I would also figure some sort of manual pump as additional back up.
There are dip buckets on the market that have been designed to use in the event of a massive electric failure. There has been discussion about them in the past in articles and replies. I investigated them at the time as I had a piece of property that I could use as a bug out location and it had an abandoned well on it. They were not very expensive as I recall. That property is no longer available to me, so the need for a dip bucket no longer exists.
Unfortunately, they only work with a fairly shallow well. If your well is 300 feet to the water level, that means for every bucket of water you pull up you are going to have to haul 300 feet of line.
excellent idea and they do work decently for the shallower wells….. laymans has them for around 150.
When you said dip buket,…..
All I could see was a spittoon
Old wind mills used sucker rods that would lift water from 250 feet. The same sucker rod tech with more robust pipe and seals will lift oil from a depth of 12,000+ feet. Lot of water wells in central Texas are 1000 feet deep. So I keep 8000 gallons of water above ground.
@LCC: Do you have a link or a source for these ‘dip buckets’? My well is only 53 ‘ down, so I could use something like this if I can’t get my solar with battery backup for my well professionally installed first. Couldn’t hurt to have one just in case.
Thanks.
I have a plant identification program on my phone. It is called Picture This. However, it is less than 100% accurate. I had a newly planted oregano plant that I tested the program on. It failed. It identified the oregano as something entirely different. I have read a review of three different plant identification programs including Picture This. The reviewer found that all three had significant problems and were not totally reliable. While they are certainly better than relying on one’s memory, I think I would back them up with a good book on plant identification. Be prepared to pay good money for such a book. Christopher Nysted’s seminal work on plants in California presently is going for used copies at $800 a copy. Accurate color printing is expensive work. The paper necessary for accurate color printing is expensive paper. Taking hundreds of accurate color photographs is expensive. Getting accurate color match for hundred of color photographs is very expensive. All that goes to making a very expensive book that will not sell nearly as many copies as 50 Shade of Grey. The more limited the run, the more expensive each individual edition is. The set up is where the cost is in printing. The plant book that Cause is selling is a good compromise. It too has its drawbacks but the price is certainly reasonable for the quantity and quality of the color reproductions. I don’t get a commission on his books sales, so I don’t care if you buy it or not, but it is worth the money in my view. I would certainly use it to back up your phone app. It too is valuable for what it does but it isn’t the complete answer. You don’t want it to mistake Queen Anne’s Lace for the highly poisonous look alike.
I missed Claude’s name which predictive changed to “Cause”. Ned another cup of coffee. Only had one so far this morning.
Most of your so-called emergency radios and flashlight’s have a internal battery which should be charged every couple of months even the solar ones.the only one I would trust is a shake flashlight only uses a capicator.Iwhat radio stations broadcast on one channel 24 hours a day making it hard to find a station. If you don’t have a water source why do you need a pump. Solar panels use diodes which would fry making them useless.To much electronics in cars today where would you go with no gas from the pumps.
I had three wind up flashlights that I believe use a capacitor to store the electricity generated to make the light function. When I cleaned out my van I tested all three of the flashlights. Two of them worked to store electricity and operate the light. The third one would operate the light as long as I wound it. As soon as I stopped cranking the crank the light quickly dimmed and extinguished in about a minute. While it would work as a back-up, having to crank continuously soon became a drag. It would be okay for using for a few minutes to find your way through the house at night, but impossible to operate to perform some function. They had not been operated at all for about 7 years and were stored in a box in the back of the van. They had been subjected to the changes of temperature for that period of time, including desert heat and high Sierra cold. Somehow the capacitor in one failed in that interim. Had I been more punctilious about recharging them periodically, all three might have worked. The devil is in the details. One needs to have a maintenance reminder and faithfully follow it for such devices to be of value. I am afraid many of us lack the discipline to follow such a regime.
No those diodes are huge they will not fail in a EMP. Think sensitive electronics.
Would a metal shipping container work to protect electronics in an EMP attack?
Almost anything you can think of will work to some extent. The most important question is: Will it work sufficiently good enough to reduce the electron flow to a level that will not affect the electronic parts I have contained in the protective device. It is not necessary to reduce the electron flow to zero. It is merely sufficient to reduce it to a low enough level that the parts won’t be fried. The hook is how to measure the reduction. The typical methods are to put a phone in the device you are using and call the phone. If it rings, it most likely is not protecting the electronics stored inside. The other is to put a radio inside turned on and see if you can hear the music outside. If you can hear the music, again, probably not good enough. There are electron measuring devices available that are much more accurate than the cellphone/radio test, but they are not cheap and require some expertise to acquire.
Before I purchased a container as a Faraday cage, I would perform the cellphone AND the radio test on it and see what you find. After you have acquired the container and had it installed on your property is too late to find out that it isn’t secure. My off-the-cuff, uninformed, non-tested opinion is that there are too many leaks in a shipping container for it to protect most sensitive equipment. With that opinion and a couple of bucks you can buy a cup of coffee at Starbucks. Do your homework with the cellphone and radio.
Shipping containers are made from corten steel. And I remember most had wooden floors.
Not sure if that info helps, but I’ll add my 2 pieces to the puzzle from what I remember.
talking a CONEX box??
lab testing that was done SCIENTIFICALLY – showed that the “invisible to the eye” hole(s) around the trash can handle rivets were enough to corrupt the effectiveness of an otherwise good to go Faraday cage ….
you can just imagine how effective a CONEX would be even after xtensive re-hab for the purpose …
What lab testing and by who?
Yes, if you seal the air vents and doors better. Think “No Holes”. Seal them with metal
On older cars (I have a 1977 MGB), if you have replaced the points with an electronic ignition, it will fail. i have a spare in a faraday can.
If you want to protect your vehicles, your home electrical system check out StanDeyo.com.
He has EMP boxes that you can buy for 12 volt or 120 volt systems. They’ve been tested by and being used by the military. The cost is VERY reasonable considering what they can protect.
POPPY
never seen one
Nobody knows how bad a solar emp would be including the military because it has only happened once that we noticed and it was minor although it was bad enough to electrocute a person using a telegraph.iam not worried about enp because of the nuke melt downs.anyone who sells something for protection is a scam because it has never been tested.
Actually there have been several coronal mass ejections that have had an effect on man’s inventions. Of course, the most famous one is the Carrington Event in 1853 which affected telegraph lines and railroad tracks. Inasmuch as the telegraph was a fairly new invention at that time and really only businesses and wealthy individuals could afford to use it there was minimal impact aside from the electrocution of a telegraph operator and wires melting what railroad tracks being distorted by the electric current. There was a coronal mass ejection in the late 1920s that had an effect on New York that was reported in newspapers of the day. Again, not many people were affected because electrification was just getting started. My mother said that even as a young woman, parts of Philadelphia still had gaslights for street lighting.
During WWII a coronal mass ejection affected radio communications in the North Atlantic for both sides. Look up How Many Coronal Mass Ejections have there been on line. You will see a surprisingly large number. CMEs certainly happen on a monthly basis if not weekly. The real questions that affect us are how intense the ejection is and its duration. There is no question in my mind that earth will once again experience a CME of the Carrington Event intensity and duration.
If you are talking about an EMP, besides Operation Starfish which had considerable impact on the Hawaiian Islands, the Russians did extensive testing of EMP in Ukraine. The results of that testing can be found on line and there was massive damage done.
This is bigtime fraud. Its a panel surge protector. I install these on every one of my automation jobs. Only a SEALED metal container will work THE CONGRESSIONAL REPORT IS VERY CLEAR ON THIS. NO HOLES Google this “HIGH-ALTITUDE ELECTROMAGNETIC PULSE (HEMP) PROTECTION FOR
GROUND-BASED C41 FACILITIES PERFORMING CRITICAL, TIME-URGENT
MISSIONS PART 1 FIXED FACILITIES” The only company I know of that sells EMP protectors is Transector and all they do is protect the incoming lines to the sealed control room
Could I make a faraday cage out of an old chest freezer. It is an old metal one from the 1930s or so. One of those that weigh a ton.
Far too much air gap around the door/lid
yes* but it is not a simple project-I’d say 3 on a 1-10 scale. Get some hardware cloth (window screen) NOT FIBER!. Cut 6 inch sections from the roll. If you have the happy circumstance of having sufficient length to entirely wrap the outside without a break, Roll all that hardware cloth into a tube that will flatten out to be a bit over 3 inches. This covers the moisture gasket (about a half inch) with ample overlap. Now the harder part- if a continuous length, put the seam at the center rear of the lid of the freezer and begin fastening at 2 inch intervals with pop rivets or really short self-tap screws; all the way around the lid. If using shorter sections overlap them by a half inch or so and put a fastner throught the overlap. Once done all the way around the lid should have an inch plus of hardware cloth past the gasket on either side. Make similar fastenings on the lower shell at the hinge side; DO NOT puncture coolant lines! Next, run a section of #8 or 10 stranded wire up to the back corners of the freezer and make reliable connection ensure connection to a reliable ground point such as cold water pipes. Test connections whith an ohmmeter and RF penetration with a cell phone and a ringing clock.
Grounding is not Important. completely sealing all holes and gaps with metal is.
of course grounding the top to the bottom is important as it makes it a sealed enclosure.
What if you wrapped everything in aluminium foil, before you put in the rubbish bin
It would be wonderfully shielded.
My 1st m.o.s in the Army was 31 P.
Microwave satellite operator / maintainer .I remember the instructors purposely waiting for a flock of birds to , key the mic on the transmitter.
Most of that flock wasn’t flying after that.
This was only a minute moment. I say this bc someone earlier saying short term exposure should be ok.
The Soviet EMP testing on that small city they rebuilt 3 times made no comments about civilian injury or death. The EMP is Not Microwave in nature its an multi level electronic strike.
People who have electronic medical devices I suspect are screwed. But the nukes that creates the EMP is so high attitude that there’s no radiation or blast damage .
I am one of the screwed. But, I keep a backup in a Faraday bag. Inside a cardboard box. Wrapped in tin foil. Inside a cardboard lined cookie tin, sealed with duct tape. There is no way I am going out without a MAJOR fight. I have also made the medicine from animal parts. This last month we backpacked for 10 days with little more than dehydrated fruits and vegetables, jerky, peanut butter, and I lived. We train so that when we are in a situation, we know what to do. I have made it this far. I am going to keep going and I will not give up. I may cause some serious hurt if you come up against me and mine. I have lived beyond what anybody thought and I have lived and loved (and been loved) well. Those of us that rely on electronic medical devices may be less screwed than you think.
The frequency drops off fast after 1 gigahertz
Depends on what one is exposed to for the short term. I understand that exposure to nerve gas of any duration and quantity is fatal. Even radiation in significant strength in very short term is fatal. As with the birds, the energy in the microwave was sufficient to fry the birds even though the dwell was short term.
I was riding with a friend past the old airport in downtown Denver. Suddenly her in-car radar detector went crazy. She said, “Oh, it’s not the cops. It’s the telephone company they have a microwave transmitter on the roof of that building there and that’s what is setting off the radar detector.”
The building she indicated was about a quarter of a mile from us but the waves in the air were enough to make her radar detector go crazy. I don’t know what it was doing to us, but I do know I would not want to live or work in that area. I wold be reluctant to drive by that building a lot of times too. Apparently the car wasn’t any protection as the radar detector was detecting a very strong signal.
As an aside, I understand there was an increased incidence of pelvic cancers in motorcycle traffic cops who used handheld radar guns. While waiting for cars to appear it was customary for them to rest the radar gun in their laps. I think you will find that officers employed similarly don’t do that any more. It may be an urban legend but were I so employed I would make certain the transmitting end of the device was always pointed somewhere other than at my body parts.
Sage advice
Lots of wrong information on the web, books and movies, prepper sites. EMP and CME effects are so technical the subject is above just about everybody’s pay grade. The best info I’ve ever found on possible effects is at https://www.futurescience.com/emp.html
somebody posted the link once, I tried it and think futurescience is the greatest science nerd site ever. The main takeaway for me is that EMP and CME both will shut down the national power grid for months or years. Whatever else gets fried doesn’t matter if the grid is down. No fuel for vehicles, no light or heat, no food or water. That’s why I cook dinner in the dark outside over an open fire several nights a week, practice.
I agree with LCC, CME probably more likely. We’re in a solar maximum now, interestingly the Carrington Event occurred during a solar minimum. You just never know.
If, as the article supposes, the Taliban got hold of a Pakistani nuke, about the only thing they could do with it was use it as a big glow in the dark paperweight. You need a big rocket to launch an EMP attack, and the technology to put it in the right place at the right altitude and have it go boom. I admire the Pashtun tribal people, but they don’t have electric light and probably no one in the Taliban can even conceive of an EMP attack. Plus, in the past and probably at this time the Pakistanis have stored their nukes at one military base and the tech packages needed to arm and detonate them at another. I’d vote for N Korea as EMP suspect 1, China also if Biden and the whole U.S. Congress are stupid enough to go to war over Taiwan.
Thinking if there are electronics you just have to have after an EMP you shouldn’t fool around with garbage cans, ammo cans, and tinfoil, do some research and put your money into something that will absolutely work. Computer circuits are easily damaged by microvolt charges, I learned this from a couple lightening strikes on our house that got just enough of a charge past the surge protectors to degrade the tiny little connections between components, causing everything to slowly fail over a period of 10 days. Phones, computers, T.V., coffee maker. Radio waves and the E1 wave from EMP are different things, I don’t think the radio test tells you much. And, evidently, grounding is something you just about need a Ph.D to do right, EMP and CME both can charge in ground wiring and conductive plumbing to the point they destroy anything they are connected to.
Our enemy’s absolutely know of our vulnerability in this matter.
Good comment, JH.
I copied this from the website that JH posted:
“It is important to note that the latest model of car that was tested by the U.S. EMP Commission (as noted in the quotation above) was a 2002 model car. Since 2002, the number of microprocessors in cars and the reliance on microprocessors in all motor vehicles has increased greatly. Also, the sensitivity of the electronic circuitry to EMP has increased due to the use of smaller electronic components designed to operate on lower voltages.”
As I stated earlier in this discussion, my 2014 VW has way more electronics than my 2003 Ody. It was the top of the line Ody at the time so it had everything but OnStar by way of electronics. My daughter’s Prius has even more electronic toys than both my Ody and VW combined. I recently drove a 2021 Tiguan as a loaner while my VW was being serviced. I wonder if one has to go back once a year to be re-certified in the electronics. I had to ask the service rep how to release the parking brake. It isn’t an emergency brake any more as it was when I learned how to drive. It is a push button affair and I suppose, depending upon what it’s basic mode is, if the electricity in the car is out, the parking brake is applied so that you can’t even push the car out of the way. You push the button down to set it and lift it up to turn the parking brake off. I don’t remember accurately, but I believe I was looking at a Honda that set the parking brake when you put the vehicle in Park. It automatically set a parking brake which was released when the vehicle gear selector was moved out of Park.
All of which goes to support the comment I copied, that the newest vehicle tested was a 2002 model. That was 18 years ago. In electronics, 18 years is dinosaur time.
Raven is partly correct in that only one vehicle was trashed in the test. However, as soon as the vehicles showed any anomaly, that vehicle was removed from the test. Also, the “voltages” for lack of the actual word used in the test were quite low. I remember reading a critique of that test which mentioned that the “voltages” were absurdly low and didn’t replicate present real life. They represented the kind of EMP that would be emitted by the bombs we used on Japan and not modern atomic weaponry.
The author of the futurescience article points out that there are so many variables, even which direction your car is pointed at the time of the event will influence how it is affected, that no one can make any kind of concrete statement. He debunks my statement about being three levels down in a concrete garage as concrete transmits the kind of waves under discussion and the electric wiring in the concrete would act as a conduit. So my point about being away from any electrical fixtures was at least partly correct, depending, I suppose on which way your vehicle was facing.
If you want a good and in my opinion, accurate, discussion of EMP/CME, I would urge you to read the article JH referenced. It is written by someone who claims to have a B.S.E.E. which if true certainly far exceeds my expertise in electronics. And I suspect the expertise of most of us posting on this list.
By the way, interesting to me, the vehicle that got totally trashed in the test was a pickup truck.
Oh, and Dr. Arthur Bradley, in a message in response to my query directly to him whether grounding was necessary for EMP protection told me definitely that grounding was unnecessary as the energy under discussion is totally different from the energy generated by lightening. He discussed the differences but unfortunately, his technical explanation was over the head of someone who has not yet completed Electronics For Dummies 101. His doctorate is in the field under discussion, so at least he did the academic work necessary to obtain a doctorate degree, again, study advanced over most of the posters to this list. Not that I am always overly impressed by advanced education. I have known some really clueless but purportedly highly educated folk. Of course, I never demanded to see their actual degree and I suspect sometimes there are mercy degrees awarded or perhaps there is some interpersonal relationship that has nothing to do with academics that resulted in the doctorate4 being award.
My Ph.D in porch sitting was honestly earned by years of hard work. I sit my porch better than that Queen of England sits her Golden Throne.
The better part of Modern cars is this …. they have heavy shielding around the wiring system’s . Where the 1970s….. tech isn’t and why you often got a the interfering signal from spark plug wire in the radio…. Or various other issues like not having relays so switches would fry out.
I think some cars if they are closer to the eye of the storm of the pulse might get damaged…. but nobody really has a solid information on it because it hasn’t really been tested or done.in a larger scale event.
What i can tell you … it isn’t a lighting strike….. but more of a cloud storm that would and again… go after LONG wires…aka your power grid…..
there is literally no useful shielding in new vehicles as I am a certified master auto technician, do not trust a vehicle before 1990 0r better 1980.
it is true that long lines will be damaged by the E3 component of an EMP, Its the E1 component that ruins sensitive electronics
Arthur T Bradley’s book explains it very well.
Here’s an interesting publication put out by the National Cybersecurity and Communications Integration Center
Arlington, Virginia
https://www.cisa.gov/sites/default/files/publications/19_0307_CISA_EMP-Protection-Resilience-Guidelines.pdf
Interesting link, can’t wait to read the whole thing. 2019 date on it, hard to find anything that up to date.
I’m positive that an EMP would be the end of the world as we
know it because very few people know what it is and fewer have any idea how to possibly take precautions to survive the aftermath.
Cars may or may not run and the same for most electronic devices.We will not know for sure until it happens.It does not
have much research data.
There is an extremely comprehensive book that will help if you
are interested. Darkest Days:How To Survive An EMP Attack To
The Grid.
The most obsolete out dated rundown sector of the US National infrastructure is the power grid.Enemies alway strike the greatest vulnerabilities.
The EMP is what I prepare for and hopefully survive for a while.
These are my preps.
#1 Manual Well Pump.The Simple Pump Co.is a good product.
A Well Bucket.There are many DIY plans online.
A transfer switch set up so you run the well with a generator
A rain water harvesting system.
We can’t survive with out water and if you have it you’ll be
valuable and will acquire new friends.
#2 The EMP Shield Co. has a device to shield your house,cars,
and generator.
#3 A steel container with one 275 gallon gas tank and one 275
gallon red diesel tank.Both with filters and hand pumps.
#4 A National Safe Co. safe to store all communications gear.
Each radio in a Faraday bag.
Everything is expensive of course.I had to nearly hog tie my wife to pay for it all but we both sleep better at night.
Get what you can as soon as you can.Start with the book that I
listed.
Knowledge is power.
If someone would attack us with EMP in winter if you didn’t freeze all water would be frozen in bursted pipes unless under ground or fast flowing.It would kill most of the people and those who don’t have a root cellar and can subsiste on what they can grow would die.- myself just trust in God if I am called it will be joyous.But I still prepare for 1 a one year disaster.Afterall the nuke plants would make this world unlivable.
wood heat is pretty critical but for the most part nobody is ready for it or has the ability to do so… and no i don’t mean a rocket stove.
I went to Amazon to check on the book that Ron recommended in his post. It sells for $85 these days. I also copied a one star review which I found informative. Just casually glancing through the other reviews, it appeared to be the most comprehensive review of the ones I read.
“This book seems to be a collection of information derived by the compiler(s) from internet searching. The disclaimer reads, “No part of this publication shall be reproduced, transmitted or resold in whole or in part in any form, without the prior written consent of the authors.” – yet, no author(s) is named anywhere in this publication! It is a spiral bound book with quite a few typographical errors. The problem with this book is that it doesn’t go far enough in describing things and tells you in many places to further research items on the internet or to get a book on a certain subject. An example of not going far enough is that it will tell you to use a desiccant, but doesn’t include a simple recipe for even one desiccant. Therefore, you will have to look that up yourself. When the compiler did his cut-and-paste for DIY Vegetable Oil on page 71, he copied from the website Survivopedia.com., but only some of it, leaving out an important part of the article I found what it was with a web search. (I wonder if he got written permission from Survivopedia!) The bottom line is this. If you want a book of searches that have been copied from websites in order to save yourself some time, then this could be somewhat helpful. You will know what needs to be researched further. If you want to save your money to purchase items you would actually need during survival times, then don’t buy this book and spend it on the things you would find on the internet yourself. It has no isbn number, no author and is material plagiarized from websites.”
You can decide for yourselves whether you want to pop $85 for the book.
EMP shield co is fraud. it is a surge protector. it will however help from surges coming in from utility.
You say do not trust a vehicle before 1990. If that vehicle has a set of points all in you have to worry about is the battery and condenser. It does not matter if the generator works or not if you have a fully charged battery you can go for 100s of miles without the generator I know I have done it. You don’t even have to worry about the starter park it on a hill and use the trans to start it(most of them were stick shifts) now an auto matic may or may not start using the push of method it depends on the trans some of them would and some would not.
I would come closer to trusting a 1966 model with a manual trans then any of these new cars.
A series of fiction books about life after an EMP starts with “One second after” by Forstchen, William R. and two following books. Lots of tips within the story line of the book.
The one thing i took away from these books is that folks who know how to invent steam powered devices will be king.
Good recipe for family dog in the 1st book.
I hated those books because he let his daughter die while there were animals around. Insulin can be made. Look up Victor Saxl.
I met Eva several times. I have made insulin multiple times and I used it in my pump. I am still live. And oh, I was in Diabetic ketoacidosis in 1980. One thing I will NEVER forget was the pain and discomfort. You would not die all calm and quiet. Sorry to rant. He could have a least tried. I know… It is fiction.
Lol yeah so easy to make
something that never gets discussed and it usually isn’t because of the prepper EMP fantasy scenario ….
there’ll never be a “terrorist” EMP attack – nice plot for One Second After but that’s it >> they’ll be going for an outrite body count and not some long drawn out grid down death count – they don’t expect to live that long …
what you can expect is a dedicated enhanced nuke specific for the purpose – not all that different from a neutron bomb rad killer – they’ll be going after the heavy heavy protected military electronics buried in the deep bunkers like Cheyanne Mountain …
better have the very best Faraday cage you can construct – seriously doubt a tin foil layer will be getting the job done !!!!
something that never gets covered in a Faraday article – the initial burst – either EMP or CME – will be the last burst that occurs >> a sun event could last months – a nuke war might never really end ….
you’ll need a Faraday cage specifically designed for the “use & scoot” usage environment – remove your radio for that “on the hour” report while protecting everything else – just another reason why layers and layers of foil wrap isn’t the best design thought …
Fantasy. who is this person. Its been proven in 1966. Just lookup starfish prime.
And yes 1 layer of aluminum foil WILL work Its been proven.
and whos to say that a rouge power wont wait until people like us pull out our protected gear and fire another nuke. It also turns out that older nuke technologies have more gamma rays associated with it and that’s the prime mover in an EMP attack It only takes 1!
Suppose you are going to store laptops and cellphones in the EMP kit. Make sure that you have extra batteries in the kit. Most laptops run on 18250 cells, and newer laptops run on what is called a pouch cell. As for cellphones, forget it you can not replace those batteries. Not with the newer cell phones. The oldest cell that I personally know of that you can replace a battery in is the Note 4 by Samsung. Then you will need a way to charge it, so make sure that a car charger is included in the kit along with your solar panels.
people are worried about their smart phones in a shtf moment is hilarious. That’s pretty funny and laughable.
They are “fiction,” but, based on fact. Forstchen tried to ensure information on the importance of “hardening the grid” got the attention of our government; sadly, the report was introduced at the same time 9/11 happened, so the very important information went by the wayside and our government has STILL not taken the necessary steps to shield our vulnerable electric grids from the very real possibility of EMP/CME. It won’t stop with loss of electricity; that will be the first domino in a chain reaction that will put us back 150-200 years. We ALL need to be growing food and learning skills our grandparents/great-grandparents used every day (what we call prepping – they called living.)
I recommend the Forstchen trilogy to anyone who doesn’t understand EMP/CME.
I mean, even without that happening, look at the current breakdown in society- elevated crime/ lack of basic items in stores/ Brown-outs and black-outs/ lack of emergency medical care, etc. which is happening due to the Pandemic (which our government was also not prepared for!)
Something that many people never think twice about is WHERE RX MEDS COME FROM! We must stop taking everything for granted…
most of your meds come from china
I know people that are senior Execs at power grid company’s, at least we can be reassured that nuclear powerplants have been hardened. So he says
Prepared for? They caused it. Look no further than the Demon Anthony Fauchi
and gain of function research.
I copied this from Rufus’s link: Level one protection is what is within the capability of most of us.
“Table 1. Four EMP Protection Levels for Infrastructure and Equipment
Level 1: Lowest cost; longer mission outages permitted
Level 2: Only hours of mission outages are permitted
Level 3: Only minutes of mission outages are permitted
Level 4: Only seconds of mission outages permitted
• Unplug power, data, and antenna lines from spare equipment where feasible.
• Turn off equipment that cannot be unplugged and is not actively being used.
• Use at least a lightning rated surge protection device (SPD) on power cords, antenna lines, and data cables; maintain spare SPDs.
• Have either EMP protected backup power or a generation source that is not connected to the grid with one (1) week of on-site fuel or equivalent (e.g., renewable source).
• Wrap spare electronics with aluminum foil or put in Faraday containers.
• Use priority phone services like GETS, WPS (for cell phones), and TSP; join SHARES if applicable (see Appendix C).
• Consider land mobile radios with standalone capabilities, HF radios, and FirstNet.
• Store one week of food, water, and other supplies for personnel.
• Use battery operated AM/FM/NOAA radios to receive Emergency Alerts.
“In addition to Level 1 …
• Use EMP-rated SPDs on power cords, antenna lines, and data cables to protect critical equipment.
• Use on-line/double- conversion uninterruptible power supplies (UPS) or a high quality line interactive UPS.
• Use fiber optic cables (with no metal); otherwise use shielded cables, ferrites, and SPDs. Note: shielded racks, rooms or facilities may be more cost-effective than hardening numerous cables.
• Use EMP protected backup power that is not vulnerable to EMP coupled through the power grid.
• Implement EMP protected, high frequency (HF) voice and email for long- distance communications.
• Consider geosynchronous (GEO) orbit satellite services, like BGAN. Avoid low- earth orbit (LEO) satellite services. Use terminals that are EMP resilient.
• Consider shortwave radio for situational awareness.
“In addition to Level 2 …
• Use International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) EMP and IEMI protection standards (IEC SC 77C series, see Appendix F).
• Shielding should be 30+ dB of protection through 10 GHz.
• Use EMP shielded racks, rooms, or facilities to protect critical computers, data centers, phone switches, industrial and substation controls and other electronics.
• Use “Recommended E3 HEMP Heave Electric Field Waveform for the Critical Infrastructures” from EMP Commission for grid and undersea cable protection planning. Use 85 V/km for CONUS E3 threat.
• Use EMP tested SPDs and equipment.
• Institute IEC level hardness maintenance & surveillance (HM/HS).
• Have 30 days of EMP protected power/fuel.
• Store 30 days of food, water, and critical supplies and spares.
• Use time-urgent EMP resilient comms, like X, Ku and Ka satellite, and either HF groundwave or Automatic Link Establishment (ALE) HF.
“In addition to Level 3 …
• Use Military EMP Standards (like MIL- STD-188-125-1 and MIL-HDBK-423), and 80+ dB hardening through 10 GHz.
• Use EMP shielding in rooms, racks, and buildings as needed to protect critical equipment.
• Use EMP protected double-door entryways.
• Validate per Military guidelines, like Test Operations Procedure (TOP) 01-2-620 HEMP.
• Have 30+ days of Military Standard protected power and fuel, plus alternate generation source (renewables preferred).
• Consider double surge protection on critical external lines entering EMP protected areas.
• Consider using communications systems/networks that are designed to meet Military EMP standards, like: Advanced EHF (AEHF) satellite, EMP protected fiber optic networks, and EMP protected radios.
• Institute ongoing Military Standard HM/HS programs.”
Level Four is basically what the military should be doing.
The military ground equipment is pretty sensitive with electronics involved. Cat engines are excellent but are not the old school Detroits. The fuel system and electronics is pretty maintenance heavy. Huey systems compared to the mechical fuel setups are not as rugged
this is great but surge protectors are useless for the E1 component but may or may not protect from E3 because almost all surge protectors are designed to operate for milliseconds not minutes. At most you would hope the long surges trip the circuit breakers.
This is only one of recent govt studies on EMP effects: https://www.cisa.gov/sites/default/files/publications/19_0307_CISA_EMP-Protection-Resilience-Guidelines.pdf
It was produced in 2019, not 10+ years ago. Google will uncover more.
Why would you want laptops, cellphones, and electric kettles if there is no electricity? Likewise radios, because radio stations need large amounts of electricity to broadcast. I would invest in non-electric medical supplies as better options. Manual blood pressure cuffs are inexpensive, for example. Even battery-powered items can fail, I believe, though I’d like confirmation. As for cars, a study I recently read said there were 50 cars built between 1987 and 2002 that would survive an EMP.
Not trying to be a jerk, just trying to clarify based on what I’ve read. I’m open to correction.
An additional note: I would invest in camping gear over all the electronic stuff. Survival may not depend as much on electronics as adaptation to post-EMP living conditions.
Thank you all for the comments and advice. There was a lot of information to consider. I hope all will prepare for what is to come. I’m afraid that I am just not as prepared nor that I can afford to be. May God bless us all with the knowledge and ability to survive our volatile society.
Here we go again, another long “debate” over what will work and what won’t after an EMP, and how to protect electronics from an Electro Magnetic Pulse (EMP). An EMP is not a microwave, not a radio transmission, not a lightning strike, not radiation such as Gamma and X-ray, it is Magnetic Pulse waves that will then cause harmful reactions when it contacts various metals and electronic components, and in layman’s terms, it fries them. I saw a couple of posts that comprehend the idea that we should not rely on one layer of protection, but should try to have two, or three layers of protection as long as they are easy and relatively inexpensive.
After I tested both my microwave and an insulated cookie tin to see if my cell phone would receive a signal and ring, my phone rang when inside the closed microwave, but did not ring when inside the insulated cookie tin, so here is what I suggest. Obtain several snack tins with snug fitting lids like for popcorn, cookies, candy and such – both previously used or brand new will work, as long as they are clean, dry, and should not be rusted. Line the entire inside, bottom, sides, and even the top with cut-to-fit cardboard to act as a layer of insulation between the metal and your items, then put your electronic items inside, and use the metallic type Duct tape (if you have some) to seal the lid to the container. You can always use several different tins, they come in various sizes, can be round, square and rectangle, and are often sold brand new for holiday gifting containers. I searched Walmart.com for “tin cookie candy storage container” and came up with this:
https://www.walmart.com/search?q=tin+cookie+candy+storage+container
I’m sure there will be way more for sale on Amazon and Etsy. Personally I have more than enough tins from previous holiday gifts for all the smaller items, but I will be looking for larger size tins that will hold laptops and other larger items.
After the tins are filled and taped, I then put the sealed tins inside a galvanized garbage can that has also been lined with an insulating barrier of cut-to fit cardboard, The garbage can should work as a first layer of protection, then the smaller tins inside would be the second layer of protection. To me, this is much more practical than trying to accomplish something excessively expensive like buying a metal shipping container, and then having to modify it to be totally sealed from EMP waves.
I do have one unanswered question: Will smaller gasoline engines that use a magneto for spark, such as kick start motorcycles and pull start lawnmowers (go-carts), survive “as is” without having to replace any components if hit by an EMP?
I checked Walmart.com for “popcorn tin” and it lists a lot of Christmas design 22oz popcorn tins for $5.00, so you can eat the popcorn and then keep the tin to use as a small EMP faraday cage for just $5.00.
https://www.walmart.com/search?q=popcorn%20tin&typeahead=po
hey is this BS or what am I missing???
I thought kewlio!! So I put my Mobile phone in my microwave oven and rang it and it sat there happily singing the usual tune???
so its not blocking it is it??
nope, microwaves do not block radio signals, nor would I trust a microwave to block EMP waves.
I just watched this video someone posted to a previous EMP article of an online radio show that tested some EMP protection methods, as well as other EMP concerns like vehicles and solid state components.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGMuqYHoGBw
The EMP protection testing starts at about 28 minutes if you want to scroll forward. The DJ tested by calling his cell phone when placed inside an EMP protection bag, a microwave, and a cardboard lined garbage can. The DJ’s Tech Protect faraday bag blocked the cell phone from receiving, his microwave did not stop the cell phone from receiving, and also a garbage can he tested did not work, so I may “retest” the garbage can concept with and without the metallic tape sealing the lid, and see if the phone inside can get a signal. The DJ did not test snack tins, ammo cans, or safes, but I tested them and snack tins were the only item I have available that blocked the cell phone signal. When the DJ tested his faraday bag again, if it was not 100% sealed properly then it also failed, so he resealed and the farady bag blocked the signal again, so using the same faraday bag, with the same phone, was protected whe n properly sealed, then failed when not sealed, then was protected again when ensuring it was sealed. I think this helps reinforce the concept of multiple layers of protection in case one layer fails, maybe the other layers will help protect your items anyway,
I searched for techprotectbag.com and they have a lot of information about EMP’s and protecting your electronics, advising to “layer” for better protection, as well as having the Tech Protect bags for sale.
https://techprotectbag.com/
I do not have any faraday protection bags to test, but will be shopping for some that includes sizes large enough for laptops, and then put the 100% sealed faraday bags in cardboard lined snack tins for a two layered protection.
So what needs protecting or shielding in a faraday cage on a machine like a basic motorbike or small pull start machine like a mower? No, I’m not going to need a lawn mower after an emp/cme but those sort of small motors can be adapted to do a lot of other things and they are everywhere.
yes, a small kick-start motorbike like the kind used all over Asia, or a go-cart like we used to make as kids using pull start lawn mower engines, may be the only functional motorized transportation after an EMP, and should be small enough to maneuver around incapacitated vehicles blocking the roads, and also don’t use nearly as much fuel as full sized vehicles, but the range will be more limited. I was trying to think of something motorized to use for hauling water from a small reservoir that is about five miles from my house, and another larger reservoir about 15 miles away. I haven’t researched yet, but are there ATV’s that are pull or kick-start? All the ATV’s I’ve seen are electric start, but I haven’t really shopped around yet.
I think our atv has a pull start for when the battery is flat. I’ll check it out again.
Pull the bar and chain off your chain saws gas or electric models have sensitive circuitry.Put the engine in a galvanized trash can lined with cardboard.
Really appreciate all the good information all of you are providing. I have some old wooden camping boxes that I am planning to cover in old roofing metal. Do you all think that would work as a makeshift faraday cage? The boxes are stored inside a metal sided pole barn.
I was also hoping the metal sided barn would provide some protection for my pickup.
Don’t forget to insulate the items you put into a trash can. Either put them in cardboard boxes or line the trash can with cardboard. Anything metal or conductive that touches the can metal conducts the EMP current to that item and through that item to whatever is touching that item.
I agree. I was at a prepper convention several years ago where they suggested placing a plastic trashcan inside the metal trashcan for insulation and putting electronic items inside that.
You are way under estimating the strength of an EMP weapon. Remember, they have developed EMP weapons to harm hardened military installations. Think of this as if you were the enemy. How would your distribute the EMP weapons across the US? Tool boxes or trash cans may or may not protect your equipment. As long as your Faraday cages have seams and joints, they are penetrable by an EMP strong enough to do so.
Don’t get me wrong, any protection effort is better than none. If you have to access the components you are trying to protect, you need to double layer protect the items. This means an open able Faraday cage inside another open able Faraday cage.
I suggest you perform a survey of your home. Go through each room and evaluate the items in that room. And ask yourself, if I were going to use this for SHTF, how would I use it. If you can use it, then the next step is to perform a risk assessment of that item relating to your survival. The two categories of the risk assessment is level of important charted against the suitableness of the item to an EMP.
MLK, thanks for a refreshing and practical post. I see way to many people focusing on trying to explain how to create extravagant faraday structures that most people just cannot afford. Also how to save vehicle travel, but they fail to consider that most fuel sources will run out fast, and even if you do manage to keep a vehicle running and can salvage fuel, what conditions are the roadways you will need to travel? Will there be massive numbers of abandoned OOC vehicles? Will there be other debris or obstacles making road travel difficult or impossible? Will there be roadblocks set up by those trying to keep people out, or those who use roadblocks to make it easier for them to conduct criminal activity?
Do you know if a magneto powered engine like a kick start motorcycle will still function after an EMP?
Since most people cannot afford to build entirely enclosed bunkers, they should prioritize what they should try to save from an EMP. My first priority will be trying to protect information saved on digital files (disks, thumb drive, etc.), along with devices to power and access the information. Second is communication equipment that can be powered by other means than plugging into a wall socket, such as using solar chargers and rechargeable batteries. I try to think along the lines of small, portable, and usefull under various conditions after SHTF.
I have tried testing several homemade methods for a simple and practical faraday cage and the only thing I’ve found that will stop a cell phone signal are snack tins with tight fitting lids and an insulating layer inside so nothing contacts the metal. What do you think about using properly sealed faraday bags, then placing those bags inside insulated snack tins, with the lids then sealed by metallic ducting tape?
I am guessing the only real way to know if the homemade methods we attempt to protect from an EMP will work will be after the EMP hits, but if I can make the attempt relatively easy and inexpensive and discover it did work, so much the better. If not, then take stock of what does function and adapt accordingly.
To survive the SHTF EMP and not lose all of your data, go old school. Making hard copies of your data is the best way not to lose it. Human powered transportation instead of gas and electric transportation. Wind mills and hand pumps to get water from a well. Ammunition will not last forever but rocks will so keep a slingshot around. Electronic security alarms will fail so use other noise makers to create a warning system of danger approaching. Start thinking old school about how to survive and not become just another statistic.
ZeroZ, having hard copies for data is good, but how about we expand beyond a single option and have digital copies also. I have a full set of Encyclopedia Britannica, and quite a few hard copy books for subjects like home repairs, health and medical, gardening, survival, defense, etc., and also multiple printouts of various subjects. The idea of having digital copies is they are compact and can store massive amounts of information that is easy to transport. The issue with digital information is being able to access it if you lose electric power or your devices get fried from an EMP. Issues for hard copies are bulk, weight, and can be easily damaged or destroyed. Both forms of data storage can be lost from fire, but digital might survive flooding, mold, and insects where hard copies won’t.
For the other examples you list, I would to try to be prepared for multiple options. Use gas and electric powered devices if feasible, and hand powered when needed. I often use hand tools rather than go break out the power tools, but that all depends on what I’m doing. I would prefer a bow or atlatl and arrows over a slingshot, and snares would be my primary method for obtaining small game, but everyone needs to decide what works best for them. I do not have a water well but I did buy two small stainless steel hand pumps to get water out of the 55 gallon potable water drums I have stored, and I can also rig up some PVC pipe or a garden hose to try to get water from deeper sources, but I do not know what the real static head for these hand pumps are.
Old school perspectives are good, that is how our ancestors survived before modern industrialization. They used what was available (no running to the store to buy stuff) and adapted to their circumstances to get done what they needed to get done.
If I understand the two forms of radiation,
ionizing and non-ionizing…
– The Electro-Magnetic-Pulse is a non-ionizing radiation;
– And nuclear fallout causes “ionizing” radiation.
Since we know water (H20) blocks ALL non-ionizing radiation (including the EMP),
and it blocks most ionizing radiation (except for Gamma waves)…
Would storing electronics is a water proof container, anchored to the bottom of a bathtub, or swimming pool, or the bottom of a Bugout pond…would that H2O protect the electronics from an EMP?
Just curious if there are any experts out there that might know the answer to that.
be sure to line your trash can with cardboard do not allow any item you are trying to save touch the metal. Or you could line it with wood, just be sure the electronics do not touch the metal. The metal can will be what will fry and what is inside can be saved if it is not touching and has something between it.
If any of you are interested. The EMP Commission did a very in depth report of what may or may not work. It is a government report and reads drier than a popcorn fart. to all my prepper family Have a Very Nerry Christmas and Happy New Year!! PS the report is out there you just need to search it!!
Hello to all. I’d like to hear what people think of some prep things.
1. I have propane for my furnace and fireplaces. What do you think about a “whole house” back-up propane generator? The generator power box is to be connected to the power lines that come to the house. Plus, there is a “surge protector” to be placed between the power lines and the generator lines that go from there to the generator itself.
2. I have a generator that came with a Faraday Bag as well as a Box that it fits in.
3. There is Faraday Fabric to wrap thing up in (like a gift) and Faraday Tape to seal the wrap. But how should one “store” the items that are wrapped in the Faraday Fabric?
I’ve thought about prepping for years, but I am just starting off on prepping.
Thanks in advance for any Constructive Criticism.
Does it have to be metal trash cans, can it be plastic trash barrels?