EM pulse and the deuce, will it survive?

[SCSG-G4]

Since most of our communications runs on fiber optic lines, not copper and many of the (telco) buildings have Faraday cages built in their exterior walls, the main thing they would lose would be power and the cell phone towers.
It's the large sized (50 megaton) NEUTRON bombs that will take out the electric grid, computers, cars, cell phones, and people. BTW, neutron bombs have very little residual radiation (fallout).

 

[Blythewoodjoe]

Just to re-cap:
A "friend" asked me if I ever ran across old army trucks with no EMP sensitive equipment. The only thing I see for sale from the government that I thought might fit the bill is the M35A2. It would appear the deuce would be as good a vehicle to have sitting in the back yard as any for "emergency" use.

Sound reasonable?

 

[davidkroberts]

As i understand it, most if not all US military vehicles have been designed for at least some semblance of EMP shielding. Being the M35 was basically the logistical backbone of both the foreign based troops and domestic national guard operations I see no logic in it not being moderately shielded. The Faraday Cage was mentioned earllier which is basically a metal box with in a metal box. How many metal boxes are our vehicles enclosed within considering the tons of metal body panels, dash, floorboards, ect.

Im not too worried about the chance of an EMP killing my vehicle electronics. Someone stealing all your diesel fuel while your sleeping after a disaster is much more likely.

So to answer your question the answer is "It Depends." The distance from the source is the determining factor. If your close enough nothing would help. If your far enough away you can be wearing your pacemaker in your underware and nothing would happen.

 

[papercu]

Well Don't knock the guy too much. Ground strap ARE a good idea. I hear a lot about fill up fires at self service stations caused by Static electricity.
Wouldn't matter about a lighting strike, the strap would be the discharge point and you want a strike to go to ground as quick as it can. The thing you don't want to happen is YOU being the ground. If using a vehicle for shelter during a lighting storm you still don't want to be touching any metal in the car. Also these days, cars are no longer all metal. Wayne
http://www.lightningsafety.com/nlsi_pls/vehicle_strike.html

 

[bugei]

i might be wrong here, but i cant think of anything on the 800 series trucks that requires eeeee-lectric to run. you can drag start them too if you have a big enough "dragger".

and bigger is always (usually) better

btw, it is not always the grounding straps that worry me, it is the tinfoil pyramid hats that cause me concern

 

[OPCOM]

Even if the alternator diodes and regulator go out, you should be able to salvage some diodes from something else, and either repair the regulator with scavenged parts or use a rheostat in series with the field to adjust it. 'Twas done so in ancient times before regulators, and a man watched the meters and operated the system. If you can find a carbon pile regulator from an aircraft system, it would be ideal and more automatic. haha this topic reminds me of mad max beyond thunderdome.
Max: "Save the little man! He knows the doin' of alot of things!"
(and also.. Max: "I have skills".. Auntie's Nephew: "Sorry, the brothels are full"). hahahahaha!

 

[Desert Deuce]

WWWD.......

Still currious about my CUCV. . . . , just kidding.

 

[roger-wilco-66]

A little anecdote from another side:

I was an enlisted short wave radio operator with the Bundeswehr in the 80ies.
I served with the military intelligence and we exchanged informations with other NATO-contingents or headquarters via teletype.
When I was transferred to my unit I was startled to find after having been trained on the most modern equipment during my primary in-service education - that they used the _oldest_ equipment in the army, even some of the cyphering equipment. The receivers and transmitters were 50ies and 60ies tube-type boat anchors. The teletypewriters were finemechanical wonders with only a switch and a single electromotor inside. The trucks were the old MAN 630 Multifuelers, which were simple like the M35. No more push button synthesizer radios, but swinging big handwheels to tune a 1 KW transmitter without busting the main-amp tube! Thats when the fun started...
I was of course curious why such a vital information-unit used totally outdated equipment and they told us it was because there was still a nuclear threat, and that it was believed that this old equipment had a better chance to function after a strong electromagnetic pulse...

 

[cranetruck]

Maybe there should always be a "vintage" back-up system in place.....