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can radio stations withstand an E.M.P.?
- Thread starter bigtime
- Start date
I'm no nuclear scientist, but I play one on the Internet.
From what I've heard, if such a scenario WERE to happen, the effects would be felt hundreds - maybe even thousands - of miles away. Anything with an electric pulse fried. With all the electronic components of a radio station, I'd bet even with a back-up transmitter and back-up generator that it would be extremely unlikely to get back on-air.
It would be pretty chaotic. Not just with the lack of broadcast, but the hassles airports, hospitals and power plants would face. Fingers crossed we never see anything like that.
Other than that, it's a pretty day...
From what I've heard, if such a scenario WERE to happen, the effects would be felt hundreds - maybe even thousands - of miles away. Anything with an electric pulse fried. With all the electronic components of a radio station, I'd bet even with a back-up transmitter and back-up generator that it would be extremely unlikely to get back on-air.
It would be pretty chaotic. Not just with the lack of broadcast, but the hassles airports, hospitals and power plants would face. Fingers crossed we never see anything like that.
Other than that, it's a pretty day...
bigtime said:
For all of our sake, let's hope we never find out.
It’s my understanding that old tube-type electronics can survive an EMP. WASK in Lafayette still has a 1950’s era bomb shelter that had been attached to the main building until they moved into the former WLFI-TV building. Former Chief Engineer George Williamson maintained a tube-type board and studio gear in the shelter in case of an EMP. Both WASK and WASK-FM also had tube-type backup transmitters. I’m not sure if any of that stuff is there now (except for the bomb shelter)!
Scott Fybush visited the WLS transmitter site a couple of years ago and revealed the back up of the back up transmitter, a 5kw Continental transmitter sitting in a room. It wasn't attached to power or an antenna. This was the last resort to get back on the air if the other two transmitters were disabled.
The former KBLA/KBBQ/KROQ-AM Burbank, CA transmitter building is actually an underground bunker atop a mountain. It even had a concrete blast shield that covered the entrance.
The former KBLA/KBBQ/KROQ-AM Burbank, CA transmitter building is actually an underground bunker atop a mountain. It even had a concrete blast shield that covered the entrance.
Would anyone have a working radio anyway?
Yeah if you have a pre world war 2 radio lying around in the basement
MikeStandardsFromIndiana said:
If those godless commies do drop the big one and my HD radio quits working, I'll just build me a crystal set. ;D
I think it would be like the episode of "WKRP in Cincinnati" with the "godless tornadoes". Maybe we need Les Nessman in charge of Homeland Security.radiorob2.0 said:
http://www.hulu.com/watch/307/wkrp-in-cincinnati-tornado#x-0,vepisode,1
KyDXIn said:
Thanks for the link!!! I live in tornado alley and that episode comes to mind every time there is a warning I search the skies for those "godless com...I mean tornadoes".
It's not whether the radio stations can withstand an E.M.P. ... it's the devastation of the power grid itself that would be rendered useless. Battery power --from vehicles to radios, would stop running. Generators would cease to run and r.f. subjected to a thermo nuclear explosion would dissipate into nothing because of radiation density so powerful, it would get out for hundreds, if not thousands of miles, depending on the initial blast, shutting down radio waves due to the power of the nuclear radiation.
Further, the effects of a properly detonated device at ground zero would render, immediately, broadcast facilities useless, turning them to rubble ... including towers, which could not take a devastating nuclear wind blast. Those which did survive would have to still deal with the effects of super radiation in a "hot" atmosphere.
For the simplistic, look what happens when radiation from a sunspot or interruption (with an abundance of radiation from the sun's angle towards earth twice each year) and it wipes out all satellite communication for up to 10 minutes for about 3 or 4 days. It doesn't destroy the satellite, it destroys the frequency dissemination around it between the satellite and the receiving dish 22,300 miles away ... from an originating source 93-million miles away.
Imagine, if you can, what that would do in a "concentrated" form at ground zero.
An ABC-TV "Movie of the Week" showed such effects from E.M.P. quite powerfully some years ago.
The radio would literally melt in your hands, vaporize or be useless. You would be long in the hereafter without any trace ... if you were lucky.
You're Internet connection without battery power or electricity would be useless, and the infrastructure would be devastated.
All that would be left is ... Ryan Seacrest in middays, somewhere far, far away, though, DXing would be a pain through the nuclear static.
Further, the effects of a properly detonated device at ground zero would render, immediately, broadcast facilities useless, turning them to rubble ... including towers, which could not take a devastating nuclear wind blast. Those which did survive would have to still deal with the effects of super radiation in a "hot" atmosphere.
For the simplistic, look what happens when radiation from a sunspot or interruption (with an abundance of radiation from the sun's angle towards earth twice each year) and it wipes out all satellite communication for up to 10 minutes for about 3 or 4 days. It doesn't destroy the satellite, it destroys the frequency dissemination around it between the satellite and the receiving dish 22,300 miles away ... from an originating source 93-million miles away.
Imagine, if you can, what that would do in a "concentrated" form at ground zero.
An ABC-TV "Movie of the Week" showed such effects from E.M.P. quite powerfully some years ago.
The radio would literally melt in your hands, vaporize or be useless. You would be long in the hereafter without any trace ... if you were lucky.
You're Internet connection without battery power or electricity would be useless, and the infrastructure would be devastated.
All that would be left is ... Ryan Seacrest in middays, somewhere far, far away, though, DXing would be a pain through the nuclear static.
oaktree said:
Now, that's more scary than the nukes themself lol!!!!
But seriously, you mentioned the ABC Movie of the week. I assume you mean "The Day After". That movie focused on life after nuclear war. However, The Day After was a comedy compared to "Testament" http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0086429/.
If the Iranians, North Koreans, Taliban etc. managed to pop one high altitude nuke over Chicago the blast probably wouldn't kill that many people, but it would shut the mid section of the country down for a long time and there would probably be rampaging hordes. Wonder if our all knowing government has a plan for that possiblility.
A dirty bomb might not do much here if detonated in Chicago other than send those fast talkin Northern Indiana people South. Look at Chernobel.
A full blown strike (multi megaton) on Chicago would send a heat blast S to Louisville causing fires and major damage. The Hiroshima and Nagasaki blasts did little damage (killed thousands and maimed hundreds of thousands) in relation to their tonnage because the bombs were detonated closer to ground level. A perfect detonation for the most damage would be higher to allow more line of sight coverage and therefore spread more damage. (Top of the Hancock Bldg or more likely in a large commercial aircraft - scenario from a book I read.)
Now something even less possible than radio stations after a nuke blast.
What format? Club Music, Thunderdome, Mad Max. Neutron Dance by the Pointer Sisters?
A full blown strike (multi megaton) on Chicago would send a heat blast S to Louisville causing fires and major damage. The Hiroshima and Nagasaki blasts did little damage (killed thousands and maimed hundreds of thousands) in relation to their tonnage because the bombs were detonated closer to ground level. A perfect detonation for the most damage would be higher to allow more line of sight coverage and therefore spread more damage. (Top of the Hancock Bldg or more likely in a large commercial aircraft - scenario from a book I read.)
Now something even less possible than radio stations after a nuke blast.
What format? Club Music, Thunderdome, Mad Max. Neutron Dance by the Pointer Sisters?
The most likely purpose of a high altitude detenantion wouldn't be to cause direct blast damage, but to cause chaos by destroying infrasture & communications by frying electronics over a wide area. IF a terrorist had access to a decent sized device and a plane, we could be in big trouble.
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