EM pulse and the deuce, will it survive?

[Blythewoodjoe]

I was talking with someone about emergency preparedness and they wanted me to let them know if I ran across any former military vehicles that didn't have much electronics in them so they would not be disabled by an EM pulse (if I am talking about the right thing).

So the question is: Will the multifuel powered M35A2 crank and run if there was an EM pulse generated near it? I know it will run with out electronics but what about the charging and cranking systems? I assume the old style turn signal units would be ok. Are the alternators ok?

This individual is a retired Air force guy and as an example he pointed out Iran has developed a missial that could deliver a nuclear payload over a large city that would wipe out computers and everything with a chip in it (except cookies, thank goodness).

Any thoughts? Everybody needs a M35 to drive around when their regular car won't start

 

[mangus580]

Oh no... here we go again!!!!!







WWWD????

 

[gimpyrobb]

Mike's comment makes me think this has been covered before. I thought the truck had to be running to be effected by an emp. So I think you would be fine. Just make sure it is parked facing down hill so you don't need to worry about starting it!

 

[clinto]

http://www.steelsoldiers.com/showthread.php?t=7981

For those that weren't around to listen to Wallew bloviate.

 

[Blythewoodjoe]

Well am I know about this kind of stuff I learned from "Golden eye", or some other 007 gold member.

For what's it's worth, this is the first thread I have started that the new little "keep the dummy's from posting when they shouldn't" feature actually said "no matchs start you thread and let somebody answer your question" (I don't remeber the exact wording)

According to the movie you had to kill a bunch of russian and steal a one of kind chopper to travel near an em pulse. My goal is assure someone with no MV's in the yard that he should buy a deuce instead of a 61' ford falcon

 

[Blythewoodjoe]

EMP. I didn't search for EMP. I'll have to read that thread. The search feature wouldn't look for EM the other day because it was too short.

You may return to your regularly scheduled program

 

[mangus580]

Actually I wasnt referring so much that it had been covered... just HOW it had been covered....

It was shall we say 'fun'....

 

[cranetruck]

Park the deuce on a hill (or portable ramps), so that it can be bump started after all else have failed.

 

[Jones]

EMP is bad for solid-stste equip like transistors and IC 'chips'. IF the equip is running at the time, as I understand it. Not sure about voltage regulator diodes.
Since EMP's are invisible, tasteless, odorless, silent ( the pulse, not the nuclear blast that generates them ), and have no predictable broadcast timetable (9/8 central); it's kinda hard to know when to shut off your electronic equip.
But then if you're in the right/wrong place at the wrong/right time, EMP may not be your most pressing concern.

OR, you could always shield sensitive components with a layer of the same tin-foil as I use for my hat.

 

[SCSG-G4]

Bottom line - the deuce will survive, even if the driver does not!

In service, I worked at a place that was designed to remain operational as long as it was outside the 'plastic zone' of a nuclear explosion (double the diameter of the fireball), which included keeping the people and the equipment 'alive' and functional for a year after the blast.

Having a Faraday cage for sensitive electronics (or spares) is not a bad idea, but becomes moot if the device is a neutron bomb (or a series) set off high in the atmosphere - as there would not be anyone around to operate it.

Instead of filling up this site, how about using 'wikipedia' and 'google' to do your own research. I'd much rather talk about more likely problems with our toys.

 

[cranetruck]

The danger was real and recognized in the sixties...not sure if you'll find this kind of "emergency" switch on new vehicles. I have an old semiconductor catalog with nuclear "hardened" components somewhere and only mil-spec components were to be used in electronic equipment at that time.

 

[papercu]

I read some of the posts on the link given and looked up USS Enterprise I never heard this story before. That Captain must have had a huge set of ... Wayne

On 25 April 2001, Enterprise began her 17th overseas deployment with CVW-8.

From 18 June to 28 June 2001, the carrier and four escorts participated in an exercise with the British Royal Navy in a joint and combined warfare training exercise in the North Sea, near the Hebrides Islands and in Scotland.

Enterprise was beginning her voyage home from the Persian Gulf when the attack of 11 September 2001 were carried out. The carrier, without orders, did a 180 degree turn, came to flank speed, and headed back to the waters off Southwest Asia near the Persian Gulf out running her escorts.

 

[DanMartin]

That thread is awesome....

 

[FreightTrain]

Pretty much,your truck is safe......you on the other hand.....about a week and your dead if you don't get turned to a charcoal bricket.There is nothing on the truck that will get roasted unless it has commo gear in it.Now if you had tube fired commo gear you would be fine there too.Tube stuff is immune to EMP.EMP is basically a Massive static shock.Anything that can be damaged by static electricity is gone bye bye.

 

[Elwenil]

My turn...


opcorn:

 

[bugei]

i was a com "geek" in the military. ft's post about tubes brought back a memory, one day in a discussion, we were all laughing that the russians (they were the bad guys then) used tubes in their field and mv com gear. until one guy said, "but what about emp ?".

"can you hear me now ?"

be safe

 

[Barrman]

Just to add some more smiles to this thread.

My two Gasser M35's had been bought by a country Dr. back in the '50's. He thought WWIII was going to happen any minute and wanted to be prepared. He died a few years ago and they had an estate sale. A month after the sale is when I heard that everything sold on the place except for "these two really rusty Army trucks."

I got to deal with the son. He is one of those know it all types we all come across every now and then. I was still shaking hands with the guy for the first time and he asked me if I knew anything about military vehicles. I told him "I have a M71....." "I KNOW ALL ABOUT THE M715..." He proceded to tell me all about them and how anything I thought I knew was all wrong. He lectured me on every aspect of any vehicle we discussed. Including how "wonderful" these trucks I was looking at were.

The next weekend Pistolnut, Agengr and myself went back to go flat tow one of them home. The son told us not to wander away from where the trucks were because "Daddy had a few buried shelters around here." We were giving a 6 hour lecture on how any and everything we were doing was the wrong way, how my M715 wasn't close to stock and I should be ashamed, he knows what he is talking about, etc... We were soon calling him Mr. Positive among ourselves.

Mr. Positive really flipped out when Pistolnut, Kwai, Boxcar, Sermis and myself showed up two months later to trailer the other Gasser home. He saw those big tires on Sermis' truck and was so worked up he almost couldn't talk. It was a nice distraction for us as we were able to change tires and pull axle shafts without him looking over our shoulders.

Anyway, 18 months later. Mr. Positive calls me up out of the blue to tell me he has some of my parts. I drive to Austin and meet him at a storage lot. I have to hear a lecture about each and every part I load. Then, when we are done he ask me what I know about EMD?

I ask if he meant EMP for EM Pulse?

"No, I meant electro magnetic discharge. It isn't a pulse you know. It is actually a 20-30 minute discharge of electricity that will fry everything."

I foolishly didn't just nod my head in silence and asked why he thought that. I got lectured for 30 minutes about the difference in a pulse and a discharge. He told me to make sure my Gasser was turned off in the event of an Atomic explosion "And don't kid yourself by thinking it won't happen, either!" He went on to say that as long as the acc switch in a diesel M35 was off, they would be ok. He also pointed to the 4 ground straps going from the body to the pavement under his 1981 Ford F150. "You need something like that to survive too."

So, you can draw several conclusions from this story:

The son is a freak like his dad seems to have been,

Even paranoids have enemies,

proper preparedness is something we should all practice no matter how outdated it may seems,

only "experts" really know what will happen when or if a Nuke goes off overhead.

or, free parts aren't always that free.

 

[Elwenil]

Heh, I still remember the multiple posts about "Mr. Positive" over at the M715Zone, lol. That was great stuff and I got a lot of laughs out of it. If any of you guys get some time and want a good story, pop over to the M715Zone.com and search for Barrman's posts on Mr. Positive. We have probably all run into a person like him and it's funny as hell to read about Tim's experience with this guy.

Tim, do you get much lightning down your way? Maybe you will get lucky and read in the paper where Mr. Positive got zapped since those ground straps eliminate the insulating effect of the tires. They say the safest place to be in a lightning storm is a car. Well, any car but his it seems, lol.

 

[dburt]

According to a news story within the last 6 months on Fox and also on CNN, a recently retired 4-star (from the Pentagon section that works to prevent such things), said it was not a question of if but when we would be attacked by an EMP weapon. According to this general, someone like the Iranians will set off a nuke about 200-300 miles above the center of the USA, and it will fry the electrical grid, all computers and most electronics except that which the military has shielded well. He says it will set us back to the stone age for a least 1 year if not longer. That way the Al Quaeda (sp?) types could do some real damage to us at a very minimum cost to themselves, and make it hard to exactly pin-point where or who the attack came from to lessen the results of our retaliation. It was mentioned on the show that most all newer vehicles, trucks, planes, trains etc would be affected, rendering our modern transportation system useless, not to mention our banking systems and electrical grid. So perhaps if our older deuces don't have much in the way of modern type electronics, they will survive if we are attacked in such a manner. Another news story made mention of the Iranians trying to develop or get thier hands on such a missile to deliver a nuke for such an attack. An old hand crank start John Deere 2-cylinder tractor might be foolproof!

 

[poppop]

Got several of those.