Quote
Originally posted by jwooten:
Quote
Originally posted by TeletypeJoe:
[b] Hi,
I can make a reasonable bet that if our world is blasted by the sun or (God forbid) a direct hit from a nearby gamma ray burst, that my old hollow state radios, TUs, TTYs, 1A2 systems, and "BELL SYSTEM NOT FOR SALE" telephones will still work. I will also bet my next month's salary that your supper dupper I-phone 4S that cost 500.00 USD will be nothing more than a desk paper weight.

Just my two yen worth.

Joe Herdler
All things electrical will be no more than paper weights as the power grid will be gone. When that happens the dominoes will fall or in your case the house of cards! [/b]
This is quite true. However, a number of folks have either gas or Diesel powered generators. Now I admit that I need to build a Faraday cage for mine, but I also have a small Coleman generator that I have keep in the next best thing to a faraday cage... a clean, grounded (with welded ground straps)galvanized trash can with a tight fitting lid that is also connected to the ground with a welded ground strap. That contraption is itself resides in a metal barn that is also well grounded. I doubt that I could run a TTY off of it, but I can very well run my tube radios with it. I know, because I have done it. I also keep a number of packages of batteries, flashlights, a wind up radio, and a small solar battery charger. Granted, if such a scenario happens, that we will be living with a lot less electrical things, but we will not be completely without comms.

The main point I am trying to make is that we have set ourselves up for disaster. This is a complete shame and is unexcusable, as it is relatively simple to harden our infrastructure as it is being built, but now that we are so over built, it would take decades of intense retrofitting and sheilding to make a difference in our survivability.

Best,

Joe

Real comms took 200lb teletypes, hand keys, sounders, operators and cranked phones!