[editor-surveyor]

Most of this EMP talk is hype.

All signals weaken exponentially with distance.

If you try to calculate how many EMP weapons would be required to cover the country, you get close to looking at infinity.

Be afraid, be very afraid.

[PA Engineer]

Most of this EMP talk is hype.

I'm sorry (and I rarely disagree with you here), but I'm going to have to disagree with you on this point. Long line and ground currents (E3) are a real threat.

You can actually test this yourself. During the next CME take two metal rods (if you have copper-copper sulfate electrodes the better) and a voltmeter set to auto DC/AC (ignore DC values below .5 volts. This is just the galvanic difference). Keep one electrode stationary in the middle and move the other in a circular pattern until you find the maximum readings.

It will be an eye opener. One caveat if you live very north is the background telluric currents. They will be very active, but hard to subtract out of your test.

[bill1952]

...f you try to calculate how many EMP weapons would be required to cover the country, you get close to looking at infinity.

Be afraid, be very afraid.

All wrong. In fact it takes one - more than that are actually counterproductive and the amount of time the field takes to hit & saturate is measured in billionths of a second (a shake in nuclear physics) No hype involved.