Emergency Service Preparedness "equipment survival"

[ISNJH]

I am helping out with my squadrons web site stuff and just finished taking my technician test. Last night I was reading an article about EMP and protecting equipment against  EMP "Electromagnetic Pulse" effects. After reading the article it got me thinking, todays electronics play just as important a role in emergency response as the human element does and without equipment that functions things would be a lot harder to respond in the event that a major disaster did happen.  So I was considering about maybe writing up a article for CAP members like myself on how they can work to ensure that any equipment that is in the unit and stored could be kept safe from the possible effects of EMP damaging electronics.

Do you guys think that it be would worth the effort to do a write up on this??

[SSgt Rudin]

as long as it doesn't involve aluminum foil hats or window coverings, I think it would.

[lordmonar]

As an electronic technician for the USAF.....let me tell you....if we take an EMP hit we are so screwed that nothing you do individually as a CAP unit will help.

To protect your electronics you have to store them in a shielded container that is grounded to earth.

But if we to do take an EMP hit...nothing will be flying...no base stations will be working...FAA will be down...90% of the cities communications will be out.

So there will be no one to talk to.

Your best bet would be to buy a bunch of note books and a gross of ball point pens.

[_]

As an electronic technician for the USAF.....let me tell you....if we take an EMP hit we are so screwed that nothing you do individually as a CAP unit will help.

To protect your electronics you have to store them in a shielded container that is grounded to earth.

But if we to do take an EMP hit...nothing will be flying...no base stations will be working...FAA will be down...90% of the cities communications will be out.

So there will be no one to talk to.

Your best bet would be to buy a bunch of note books and a gross of ball point pens.

So to sum it up... we're screwed

[lordmonar]

As an electronic technician for the USAF.....let me tell you....if we take an EMP hit we are so screwed that nothing you do individually as a CAP unit will help.

To protect your electronics you have to store them in a shielded container that is grounded to earth.

But if we to do take an EMP hit...nothing will be flying...no base stations will be working...FAA will be down...90% of the cities communications will be out.

So there will be no one to talk to.

Your best bet would be to buy a bunch of note books and a gross of ball point pens.

So to sum it up... we're screwed

Pretty much...even the military has been buying Commercial Off the Shelf (COTS) equipment for the last 10 years or so and have made no efforts to hardened against EMP.

Most of the older stuff was hardened but it is being phased out.

[ISNJH]

Well any shielding is better then not having any. I was talking with a friend of mine and he said it depends how close you are and how well shielded equipment is. If you are close to where an EMP goes off shielding is not going to help. But the more farther away one is anything that one does to try and minimize damage to equipment the better.

As you said a lot of equipment is not shielded and the military is not hardening their stuff. But we as Civilian volunteers should at least take steps to make sure our equipment is protected that we may need to use.

And I'm not talking about aluminum foil hats or window covering

[Major Lord]

Right now, there is only one way to use EMP as a weapon: detonate a nuclear bomb over the target site. The thermal, X-Ray,  and Gamma radiation will make the electromagnetic damage to semiconductors a moot point. ( What with your being flashed instantaneously to plasma and all.....) The non-nuclear EMP weapon does not really exist. There is research focusing on consolidating energy by imploding a charged high energy capacitor, but no real weapons yet.

Major Lord

[Eclipse]

Does EMP kill the gear or just reset / wipe it?

[Major Lord]

EMP induces high current in all conductors, much like a generator does, by passing a magnetic field through it and collapsing. It can totally melt the gear and destroy semi-conductors at high levels.

Major Lord

[♠SARKID♠]

So we don't have to worry about the Ocean's Eleven scheme?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ydV3hmz7a2o&feature=related

Right now, there is only one way to use EMP as a weapon: detonate a nuclear bomb over the target site. The thermal, X-Ray,  and Gamma radiation will make the electromagnetic damage to semiconductors a moot point. ( What with your being flashed instantaneously to plasma and all.....) The non-nuclear EMP weapon does not really exist. There is research focusing on consolidating energy by imploding a charged high energy capacitor, but no real weapons yet.

Major Lord

I wouldn't be surprised if something came out soon.  The miltary and their contractors have made some big leaps in directed energy weapons.