Does anyone sell an EMP-resistant tube radio these days?

I've forgotten the manufacturer, but there was a television set with "new" - at the time - transistorized VHF and UHF tuners that was highly susceptible to RF amplifier device failure. This problem made itself embarrassingly evident when salesmen would walk across a carpeted floor in a showroom to display the set's functions to potential customers. Apparently it was the spark from fingers to channel selector knob(s).

And I don't want any static over the veracity of this story, either...

 

If I wanted something like this, I'd think in terms of building it, not buying it. Addressing all the suspected points of vulnerability would be an interesting project.

 

Living 20 miles from one of the nation's largest nuke stockpiles (Submarine Base Bangor, Washington) and 14 miles from Bremerton Naval Shipyard, I don't personally spend much prep time regarding EMP.... I'm in the "get vaporized in a microsecond" zone I'm pretty sure.

But should I survive, maybe my Henry Radio Tempo One, Eico 753, SB-101 or SB-301/401 will manage to survive so I can contest and check in to the Noontime Net while the fallout drifts and the overall society collapses in the Western hemisphere

Dave
W7UUU

 

Unfortunately, all of the radios you list have a considerable number of solid-state components in them - particularly in the power supplies.

OTOH, the Southgate Type 6 and Type 7, along with most other Southgate Radio products, are entirely hollow-state.

 

Yes I know -- but the likelihood of ALL of them getting blown is pretty low. According to everything I've read, EMP is not an absolute - it's a continuum based on lots of variables that cannot be predicted in advance.

But again, either way, being 20 miles from HUNDREDS of active working nukes as I type this, I'm pretty sure that EMP will never be something I live long enough to perceive after the "really bright flash"

Do you by any chance have video of The Type 7 in operation? I'd LOVE to hear how it sounds

Dave
W7UUU

 

While I do not wish to come across as an "Eek-er" there are many facets and unknowns to this. I'll just throw these out there...

-- While most modern warheads are in the 1 MT or less range, there is nothing stopping anyone from building, say, a 20MT warhead, and there are plenty of vehicles that could deliver such a warhead. A Trident II (AKA D5) can carry up to 8 W88 warheads, each with a yield on the order of 475 KT. A similarly equipped MIRV could do a pretty good job at a blanket EMP attack. Not saying some rogue state or bunch of crazies could obtain the hardware, but who really knows?

-- What would concern me most is the impact on infrastructure. The U.S. power grid is notoriously antiquated and fragile. It would not take much to take it out. What about cars and trucks? They're loaded with electronics, none of which are likely hardened against EMP. Everything delivered to your local supermarket is delivered by semi-trailer. Would an EMP attack knock them out? For how long? I suspect most markets have at most a 3-day food supply on hand. Similarly with cars. What about hospitals and emergency vehicles? There are many other points of contention as well.

Yes, there have been tests and research. But no one has tested it on a society. Which is my point, it remains a virtual unknown as to what the results would be.

 

Any nuclear detonation that could take out the power grid....the EMP would be the LEAST of your worries. EMP pulses from a nuclear detonation are a third order or fourth order effect. The shockwave, UV radiation, and fallout are a far bigger problem. Fake news.

 

Yes....we had a 1GW pulse generator (capacitive discharge) at HIPAS Observatory. We could peel the trace off a circuit board at about 1 km. But the device was over 400 feet long....nothing a terrorist could fit in a suitcase...or even load onto a B-52. And it was probably one of the most inefficient devices ever created.

 

Zombie thread fear mongering. Must be an exceptionally slow day out here.

 

Here's the spark gap of the device....at the center of a 400 foot long dipole. The spark gap is 6ft long....the chamber is pressurized with SF6 gas at about 140 psi. The secondary coil (inside the white cylinder) was about 3500 turns of magnet wire wrapped around a 1 foot Sonotube.

It was a very fun project to work on....but very impractical.