EMP - what will it knock out?

[Plymtom]

So Ammo boxes, galvanized dustbins, and on a smaller scale our chrismas quality street tins are pretty much NFG then?
Thanks for that information though very thorough, and not too long, trouble is with EMP bomb wise, no warning is likely so shielded stuff would need to be spares for the most part. Solar flare however may allow a hasty stashing of many things which might be effected, I have meter blocks so I would go as far as removing the tails and taping them up (yes live) but I know what I am doing, unplugging everything you can and turning every switch off aswell as packing your electronics is as much as most of us could do I suppose?

In the event of a bomb EMP and the UK being sent back to the stone age even if only for 6 months, I do hope that our government of the time have few qualms about blowing those responsible's country off the face of the planet, in fact making plain that that would be a certain consequence may be the best hope of preventing it, there has to be a point at which we would push the button ( of course we shouldn't ever want to) otherwise having the damn things will be a complete waste of money, in other words a nuclear strike, any nuclear strike EMP, dirty bomb, warrants a complete nuclear response, the rulebook goes out of the window in such circumstances doesn't it ?

[Dr_zoidberg]

A galvanized aluminium dust bin isn't all that bad. Apparently if steel tins have an enamel coating on they loose their effectiveness as shielding. Although steel is quite good at shielding from the magnetic component of the pulse. Its not easy to build a container out of steel that has 100% coverage.

If you build the container properly you can keep them as readily accessible spares in any event. Not just EMP. In an economic crisis many things like light bulbs and batteries won't be affordable anyway.

As for unplugging your mains in a solar flare. I'm actually not sure. The currents induced in the grid could be catastrophic. I'm not sure a fuse box at home could cope with it. I'd certainly be concerned about fire. And unplug all of my appliances.

Well an EMP would be an act of war. The current nuclear deterrent operates on the principle of there always being 1 nuclear armed submarine on patrol. But my guess is the nuclear deterrent will be axed in the next parliament. In the event of a nuclear attack the Captain and first officer can agree to open the letter from the PM with their orders and retaliate against those responsible. Unlike the American system where orders have to come from the top. Which is lucky because after an EMP there will be no working phones to give orders to strike back.

The thing is who do you retaliate against if it isn't a rogue nation but a terror group? The concept of deterrence also doesn't really apply to people who are crazy. Iran, North Korea. etc.

[Plymtom]

A galvanized aluminium dust bin isn't all that bad. Apparently if steel tins have an enamel coating on they loose their effectiveness as shielding. Although steel is quite good at shielding from the magnetic component of the pulse. Its not easy to build a container out of steel that has 100% coverage.

So burn the paint off of steel ones and they could be OK?

As for unplugging your mains in a solar flare. I'm actually not sure. The currents induced in the grid could be catastrophic. I'm not sure a fuse box at home could cope with it. I'd certainly be concerned about fire. And unplug all of my appliances.

Yes fire would be the first concern secondary is saving what we can.

In the event of a nuclear attack the Captain and first officer can agree to open the letter from the PM with their orders and retaliate against those responsible. Unlike the American system where orders have to come from the top. Which is lucky because after an EMP there will be no working phones to give orders to strike back.

I'm glad that someone would, have the choice to respond with the big stick to that kind of attack and in some ways wish it was a foregone conclusion that we would but only from the point of view that I want our deterent to deter.

The thing is who do you retaliate against if it isn't a rogue nation but a terror group? The concept of deterrence also doesn't really apply to people who are crazy. Iran, North Korea. etc.

That again is a bone of contention I know but if those likely to do such a thing thought that we would fry their country for sure, then we would be getting value for money from the deterent, in the actual event the likes of you and I would be busy surviving, what seems plain to me is that the cold war was in many ways a success, the average westerner did not hate the other side and vice versa, yet both sides knew their homeland would be screwed if they kicked off killing millions of innocents, what's different ? The fact is the country as a whole never was the enemy yet always was the target, in my eyes this has not changed those who would do such a thing have to feel that they have much to loose doing so, and their places of origin need to do more to deter them, if Osama could hide as long as he did where he did everyone needs to know that we dont want to but bloody well would retaliate, then we would not only feel safer, but be safer, if we leave it till it happens in order to remain PC does it only make the event more likely?

[desertman]

I have only just seen this posting - I wrote a chapter for my freely available on-going online publication 'Are you prepared for a Jericho-type event' concering EMP events etc - see here http://www.ambilacuk.com/jericho/5emp.html
My main interest, however, is the very strong possibility of a Solar EMP type event caused by a strong geodirective (eartbound) X class Coronal Mass Ejection, the result of which will produce similar effects to that of an EMP bomb detonated at altitude, many be worse!
In the article I cover the making of faraday cages etc and many other related themes with various links.
Back in 1999 I was part of an original global 'Solar anomaly' group, there were 12 members all well known at the time..we are now two, all the others have passed away.
You can access my related page on this subject here - [url]urlhttp://ambilacuk.com/solorbit/index.html[/url]

In the meantime if you wish to discuss any points on the effects of Solar activity, you know where to go..LOL