Turning a room into a Faraday Cage

[ATOMonkey]

This reminds me of Car Talk episode where a woman in Texas(?) called up and complained that if she drove by a particular weather RADAR tower her car would sputter. It seems that car was not fully shielded.

Of course, the answer they gave was BOOOOOGGUUUSSS!!!!!

Yes, something was terribly wrong with that vehicle.

The Indy Doplar Radar is LITERALLY right next to I70. I've never seen a car shut down because of it. I've never had a car so much as hiccup driving through there at least twice a day.

Not to mention that the Airport Radar is right there too.

The EM in that corridor is crazy high.

 

[LockStocksAndBarrel]

So let me ask this, then. I have 2 way radios. One with me, one at home in the charger. Charger is plugged in. Are either or both relatively safe?

 

[Cat-Herder]

I built a small one around a vocal isolation booth in my old studio. It worked well, but my goal was to shield from a local radio antenna broadcast. For some reason it only affected that particular booth.
It was a complete pain in the rear and it looked terrible, but it did reject RF and cel reception.
Anything powerful enough to damage electronics will bring with it a host of other, more pressing issues...as has been previously stated.

 

[shibumiseeker]

So let me ask this, then. I have 2 way radios. One with me, one at home in the charger. Charger is plugged in. Are either or both relatively safe?

Relatively. The charger is more susceptible from spikes from the power lines, and a powerful enough EMP could fry the final amplifiers in the radios, depends on how robust they are. Rubber duck antennas are notoriously inefficient. Against a directed EMP device very nearby, maybe not. Against a HAEMP device, probably.

 

[NathanJefferson]

Relatively. The charger is more susceptible from spikes from the power lines, and a powerful enough EMP could fry the final amplifiers in the radios, depends on how robust they are. Rubber duck antennas are notoriously inefficient. Against a directed EMP device very nearby, maybe not. Against a HAEMP device, probably.

I'm going to guess there is a DC converter for the radio charger, would that be the end point that gets fried by an EMP? Most likely leaving the radio itself ok but ruining the charger that's plugged into the wall.

 

[NathanJefferson]

to the point, EMP is a security issue on the infrastructure level, not on the individual level.

This is probably the most important point!

and let me follow up with a wonderful survivalblog post

Real World EMP Effects on Motor Vehicles, by Michael Z. Williamson

Sunday, Aug 1, 2010

I distilled the following from another forum:
See the EMPCommission.org links. The auto testing results are on page 112 of that report. They tested a sample of 37 cars. Here is a summary of the results:

Most cars will not even stall. In a test, where cars were subjected to EMP conditions, they tested both with cars turned ON, and cars turned OFF. I quote "No effects were subsequently observed in those automobiles that were not turned on during EMP exposure." NO EFFECTS FOR CARS THAT WERE TURNED OFF during the EMP, they just started right up.
EMP effects on cars that are running: "The most serious effect observed on running automobiles was that the motors in three cars stopped at field strengths of approximately 30 kV/m or above. In an actual EMP exposure, these vehicles would glide to a stop and require the driver to restart them." In other words, 90% of the cars would not even stall if they were running when an EMP happened. There were some further effects, blinking dashboard lights on some cars, etc.., read the report to see them described. Over 20% of cars experienced NO effects while running, not even burnt out radios, and to reiterate, for the cars that were OFF, there were NO effects.
Here's the conclusion of the commission for trucks: "Of the trucks that were not running during EMP exposure, none were subsequently affected during our test. Thirteen of the 18 trucks exhibited a response while running. Most seriously, three of the truck motors stopped. Two could be restarted immediately, but one required towing to a garage for repair. The other 10 trucks that responded exhibited relatively minor temporary responses that did not require driver intervention to correct. Five of the 18 trucks tested did not exhibit any anomalous response up to field strengths of approximately 50 kV/m."
An EMP could cause some cars to stall, which could definitely lead to accidents when the EMP happens. Most cars will run just fine, we will not likely see a breakdown of our auto transportation system from an
EMP. - SurvivalBlog Editor at Large Michael Z. Williamson



Copyright 2005-2012 James Wesley, Rawles - SurvivalBlog.com All Rights Reserved

 

[shibumiseeker]

I'm going to guess there is a DC converter for the radio charger, would that be the end point that gets fried by an EMP? Most likely leaving the radio itself ok but ruining the charger that's plugged into the wall.

That's the probability. EMP induced current rise time is faster than that of say a lightening strike, which makes most consumer level surge protection less effective, but that also means that some items aren't as likely to be damaged as they would be from a voltage spike from other induced means.

 

[LockStocksAndBarrel]

Thanks, guys! That's some pretty awesome info you're providing throughout this thread. I was sure this was a much bigger threat to my electronics and vehicles.

Good to know.

 

[JettaKnight]

...

Most cars will not even stall.
...

Well that's anticlimactic.

Any one catch the Top Gear episode where Richard Sits in a car that repeated struck with artificial lightening?

 

[Iroquois]

I like the trash can idea. Simple and cheap. If one were to place a replacement set of ignition parts in one it might be the difference between bugging out or staying put.
My simple understanding of employees shielding says there can't be any gaps in it..the trash can lid overlaps the can to cover the gap. Clever.

 

[Iroquois]

Employees shielding? Stupid spelling program.EMP! !!