From sirius.imperium.net!f402.n3666!not-for-mail Fri Aug 16 09:44:07 1996
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X-Comment-To: All / Bernard Chariff     Subj: Re: Electromagnetic
From: Scott Hoffman 
Date: Tue, 13 Aug 96 08:36:08 -0400
Subject: Electromagnetic Pulse Weapons
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No, it simply is not in any way shape or form possible as of current
technology (but of course who knows we could develop new technologies
tommorow for all I know), to creat a portable EMP (also reffered to
by other terms such as H.E.R.F. and also H.P.M.R.F. weapons.  The debate
over these devices has been going on for years and some of the top
experts in the country have written extensively on the matter and
have concluded that it simply is not possible to create a portable
device for the following reasons:  (non-technical explanation)

(1) The EMP device would release """MASSIVE""" mounts of stray
    energy which would fry anything and everything in its path,
    which is obviously dangerous,  but for the purposes of this
    conversation lets just say that it would 'fry' the gene cells
    and burn  the skin almost off of the user of the device.
    (thats in addition to all the other cars and passenegers on the road).
    So the device would have to be cased in an enormous amount of lead
    to prevent leakage from the sides.. Experts have said that you would
    need hundreds of thousands of pounds of shielding or at least
    tens of thousands of pounds of shielding (lead as one example) to
    prevent stray radiation..  Now I cant verify whether 50,000
    pounds of shielding is necessary, but common sense would dictate
    that even without gettng into any fancy formulas and calculations
    you would absolutely need 500 pounds of shielding minimum, and
    that right their kills any ideas about a "portable" EMP device.
    I mean you just can strap a 500 - 500,000 pound EMP device onto
    a police car hood.
(2) Secondly is the issue of developing a "directional antenna" to
    direct the high energy E.M.Pulse in a semi-straight direction with
    a coherency of no more than a degree or two at most.

    Actually, the EMP devices being researched are not supposed to
    have a coherency (beam divergance) of more than a couple of
    millirads (3 - 5 would be reasonable). So that just throws out
    the whole theory about using an EMP gun as a weapon to stop a
    car in high-speed persuit, It would be far easier for a cop to just
    shoot out the tires on a car, as opposed to attempting to aim
    (while driving no less) a EMP beam the size of a quarter at the
    engine in a specific spot, its just purely impossible). So lets
    just say the beam was made larger, well then you "fry" the driver and
    kill him for what? speeding?  i dont think the folks at the ACLU
    would like that one bit.

    This is perhaps the most hotly debated area, because antenna technolgy
    is always developing rapidly, especially in the field of
    "directional" antennas.  But from what I have read on the
    subject by the experts, it would take an antenna element 10 feet
    in dimater (at a minimum) to 50 feet in diameter to create
    a beam which is semi-coherent (within a degree or two) but
    then again that leads us back to the impossibility of using this
    device with its wide beam without frying everyone in its path ahead.
    No antenna yet developed can create the necessary small beam divergance
    size needed for a 'tactical' EMP device.

So to sum it all up, its one big unrealistic pipe dream which is proof
of how conspiracy theiries have gone rampant and are spread without any
factual basis.  Which is why this country is so screwed up as it is.
Too many politicians passing laws based on technology they dont even
understand.

Now for some actual reality!!
If I know the mentality of people in power, the device would work
much simpler and as follows..  All new cars manufactured after a ceartain
date would have to have a small $5 receiving sensor hidden in the car
which cant be removed as it would be coupled with some kind of
cryptographic key which controls the ignition (like is used in many
of the modern cars now). And the police send out a signal that says
"shut the car off" and voila, the car is turned off..  Of course,
actually its more complicated than that, because a system would
need to be designed similar to IFF (Identify Friend or Foe) where only
a specific car would be turned off and not every car on the highway,
but then thats another discussuion and this is the wrong FIDO_Echo
for this conversation.