My biggest issue with the Starfish Prime reference is that I don't want to rely on information that has been twisted and is over 50 years old. Technology has advanced in leaps and bounds since then. Take a look at the 1989 solar flare that took down Quebec's power grid. This incident is often used as an example of the devastation that could occur from a solar flare. Yes, the power grid went down, but only for a few hours. No transformers were damaged or destroyed and the system simply needed to be rebooted. The grid went down because currents induced in the transmission lines tripped some safety features, meaning it worked the way it should have. Since then, Hydro Quebec has made some adjustments to the safety limits and more serious solar events have struck since then, with absolutely no effect.
Could terrorists cause a lot of issues with a nuke? OH HELL YES! However, retaliation would be brutal, and evryone with nukes knows that. To date, no nuclear power has been brave or stupid enouugh to let these radicals get their hands on the tech. If it were to happen, no one could know for sure who lit the fuse, but you better believe they can figure out where the tech originated from. All the superpowers know that in the case of nuclear war, no one can possibly win, which is why it hasn't happened. It's all one big mexican standoff.
I have looked into emp protection and testing myself, and honestly it can take days just to find good, reliable info. There are companies out there producing emp proof electronics, specifically solar energy components. They have the gear to properly test stuff and the results are actually quite surprising, if you've been reading all the doom and gloom stuff that many, many prepper websites publish. basically, not everything is automatically destroyed. One test done on motor vehicles showed that there was absolutely no effect on vehicles that were not running when the emp was applied. Most vehicles that were running showed only minor damage which was corrected by restarting. Very few were damaged beyond immediate use and those that were could be easily repaired by a mechanic.
With all that said, I do have to say that EMP protection has NOT been scratched off my to do list and I have made some preparations already, but I have to prioritize my projects. Drought is higher on my prep list because it happens, and is happening. Extended power failures is higher on my list because they have happened. Is this list final and unchangeable? No. It changes constantly.
In the end, we all have to make our lists. Mine will be different than that of say Tazweiss, which will be different from that of say Preppercorn, or DougM, and so on. That's fine. Prepping is about what YOU believe has to be done. We have discussion boards like this so that we can share views, ideas, research sources, etc. Just because I have different priorities than someone else doesn't mean I'm going to say they are wrong. Quite the opposite...we should all be paying attention to what others have to say and at least think about others' points of view.
Every opinion imaginable, and often contradictory on the subject even by those with letters after their name. I would say the waters are muddied by the smell of profit to be made. Both sides are saying Emp is a real condition that can be measured. The degree of interpreting the effects is where the argument lies.
I will submit both sides for consideration...first, the flavour I favor.... https://arxiv.org/ftp/physics/papers/0307/0307127.pdf I think this one is from roughly 1990s. There are others out there reaching the same conclusion... its rather dry reading, light on visuals, a paper not likely to be cited for a news program (not a if it bleeds let it lead story)
I cant vouch for the math, quantities exceed my digits, but the text is rational to me. Note the conclusion...Based upon the analyses presented in this paper and in Refs. [7-81, it appears highly improbable if not impossible that the EMP from a single nuclear burst could blackout this nation's power grid. It would be practically impossible for the EMP to cause widespread damage to the U.S. transmission line system. With the exception of isolated cases, it appears highly unlikely that EMP could produce extensive damage to the U.S. distribution grid. A single nuclear device exploded at high altitude will not render vital electrical services inoperable across the entire United States as has been suggested in many media references.
Concurrent multiple bomb bursts will not have an additive TEMP effect, and will even interfere to produce less TEMP than a single burst.
I actually would expect that if there was a emp attack, distribution systems to one degree or another would go off line (likely due to the odd overcurrent devices doing their jobs (eg spark gaps, fuses, breakers), but little to no lasting damage. Whats not considered is the responce to such a attack. Almost certainly the attacked country (lets just say USA) would order (regardless of damage) the distibution grid down, or to stay down. I can only point to the analogy of WW2 where windows where blacked out..to give the attacker limitted feed back. Or the example of 9/11 where all flights continent wide where ordered down.
It would be advantagous not to let the enemy see if and where they were successful or to the degree. It would not surprise me one bit if its not SOP to order the islanding and or shut down of those power stations that can, in the event of such a attack. So by default its reasonable to assume the loss of grid distibution for whatever length of time in the event of such a attack, regardless of damage. Just my thoughts...and also a good reason to prepare for such a loss, no down side in that.
Here is the other side. Not my flavour but great presentation... https://www.nrel.gov/esif/assets/pdfs/eckert-cybersecurity-workshop-2017.pdf
Regaurdless of what side of the two above arguments we stand on. Emp, great or little is only one of two parts.This wonderful powerful emp must now transfer energy into devices. The devices now need to catch this emp in a way that destroys them and this is were we wander into the weeds.
The devices must be oriantated in the right way to recieve the maximium power transfer into them, or the wires going to power them must be oriantated correctly to do the same,
The four electromagnetic interference (EMI) coupling modes.
There are four basic coupling mechanisms: conductive, capacitive, magnetic or inductive, and radiative. Any coupling path can be broken down into one or more of these coupling mechanisms working together.
more later
Give a man a gun, and he can rob a bank. Give a man a bank, and he can rob the world.
So, back to the OP...
Do I dread a doomsday-creating EMP? Not so much. BUT... I have some spare room in my heavy duty gun safe, so may as well put some electronics there, ya know, just in case?!?
1) a solar battery charger
2) a Kaito crank/solar multi band radio
3) A set of FRS radios
4) a set of Baofeng radios (which I still have yet to program...)
