DIY faraday options in case that whole "sat phones for senators" thing = EMP incoming
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Your microwave is a pre built Faraday cage, just don't turn it on if your cell is in it!
Yeah, also pressure cookers
Not an expert on EMP's, but wouldn't they wipe out sat phones as well if they are exposed to the blast?
yeah probably, maybe they are giving them faraday stuff too
Yes. People keep missing this point. Those only really come into play when there is no cell signal or land lines...not if they are unprotected at the time of the EMP.
I suspect the sat phones are for when the switch is thrown on the internet (server farm shutdowns and such) and not an EMP.
The satellite phones utilize networks to connect the satellite link site to the phone network. Of the internet goes down, only the old school hardlines will work and even then, only some will still work. Most of the hardline infrastructure has not been maintained because of a lack of subscribers. Most of the companies are using VOIP systems for all their phone lines within their buildings. Most government buildings and military bases are using networked phone systems, as well. I am not sure who they will be calling if the internet goes down.
I seem to recall pre-internet sat phones. Am I wrong in that memory? Not being snarky in the question. I'm not a tech guy so not sure.
The old analog systems used the hard lines for connecting between nodes. The uplink/downlink site connected to hard lines to route calls to regular users. The hardlines are not used as much as they once were. They are still available in some older buildings and sites, but mostly have been upgraded to VOIP phones and connected via ethernet vice the older RJ11 connections that we used to see. Most everything now has upgraded to RJ45 connectors and ethernet switches/routers.
Thanks.
Keeping the devices in a fireproof safe will also block an EMP.
Also pick up a CB and/or HAM radio and keep it in a bag.
Don't you have to have a receiver and an antenna to go with a ham radio?
I'm interested to know what is required.
Thanks in advance.
You can get just a "receiver" to hear what's going on in the event shit goes south. Better than totally being in the dark.
Thanks.
Yes, you need to have an antenna. Ham radioes operate in HF, VHF and UHF frequencies. There are particular civilian bands within these frequency ranges. The HF band is the only one that allows long range communications beyond line of sight, unless you have a relay tower for VHF and UHF. Some States have Ham operated relay towers that span the entire State and allow Statewide communications via VHF and UHF. HF simply needs an antenna and with the right frequency, you can communicate with anyone else with an HF radio anywhere in the world. Choosing the right band to communicate isn't terribly difficult. Using your receiver to listen to the different bands will tell you which band is operating long-haul. The more traffic you hear in a band is where the propagation is. You simply choose a frequency within that band and know that your signal is travelling long-haul. Whether you can communicate with a specific targets location is a bit trickier, but this is why we practice HF.
Thanks.
We actually have little real data on EMP's over land. How much protection is actually required is debatable, whether or not a Faraday cage or an EMP "bag" will actually do anything is really unknown. A Faraday cage has a limit to how much EM radiation it will attenuate and how much will get through. The energy has to be dissipated by resistive heating, reflection and reradiation. In order for an EM shield to perform at its most effective ability requires the shield to be grounded with the Earth. Military grade shielding has multiple large gauge grounds wires to copper coated steel rods pounded deep into the earth. This allows the shield to absorb the energy from an EM wave and convert it into current and voltage and drain the energy into the earth. Even then, a high enough magnitude field will literally melt the Faraday cage and turn it into molten metal. An EMP that is large enough to affect a wide area requires a massive release in energy, think nuclear bomb size. And EMP will reach a much wider area than the direct effects of a nuclear bomb. The best information that we have is the atomic bombs tests from the 50's in the atolls in the Pacific Ocean. Hawaii was hundreds of miles away and the EMP still blew street lamps bulbs. This was travelling over seawater that is highly conductive and draining energy from the wave over the entire distance. These were filament lamps, not LED's. LED's are solid state devices and are far more susceptible to electrical discharge. IC chips are even more delicate. What this all means is that we have no idea how a large nuclear detonation over land will affect the entire US, but it doesn't look good.