Waukesha legacy system

[Brendan Ahern]

I lived in Waukesha from 1993 to 1999. Here is some background on the old alertronic system. I remember after a tornado warning in 1998, the local newspaper ran an article on the sirens and the issues they were having. I saved the clipped article, but can’t find it now. But I copied the highlights.

The alertronics located at Avalon Manor, Pebble Valley park, the Waukesha County Courthouse roof, and at the corner of Fox River Parkway and School Avenue were installed in 1985

The 2 EOWS units. One on the roof of the hospital that I believe is still there. The other on the roof of New Tribes Mission(now called Ethnos360) which has been removed. Both installed in 1986.

The remaining alertronics at meadowbrook school, Grandview Park, Bethesda Elementary, Roberta Park, prairie elementary, Buchner Park, Banting School, the Waukesha County Radio tower behind Skateland, and Minooka park were installed in 1989.

The final siren was an ASC alertronic at Waukesha West high school in 1997.

The T128’s went in over 2 years. The T128’s that were installed on existing siren poles went up in 2004. The ones on new steel poles went up in 2005. Most of these were moved sites. The courthouse siren was replaced by the T128 on Pewaukee Rd. The one on Fox River Parkway and School Drive was replaced by the siren on Sunset Drive at Fox River sanctuary. The siren at Dopp park replaced the eows on the hospital. The siren at Banting replaced one right next to it. This is the only siren on a steel pole that replaced an existing siren directly. Probably due to a damaged pole.

It should also be noted that the ASC alertronic at West high school was installed with a metal pole in 1997. It appears that the metal pole and the t128 that was installed there in 2004 was also replaced with a taller metal pole and a new t128 within the last decade or so. No idea why.

Does anyone know what Waukesha used before the electronics? I’ve always wondered this.

Anyway, had some time to kill today and thought maybe some would find this interesting.

[supermaximax]

To my understanding, Waukesha used to have a Federal Signal 500 DHTT that once stood on the Avalon Manor before being replaced by the Alertronic. I believe the controls for it are still in the building, though the 500 head most likely got scrapped. BTW, thanks for posting their history!

[FSThunderboltfan1000]

Couple thoughts. We are the City's current siren contractor. We recently had to take the Alertronic down on Avalon Manor due to Verizon putting in a new 5G tower where the Alertronic was. As Max mentioned, we found the controls for the old 500 near where the controls to the Alertronic were. Before the electronic sirens, they appeared to have a system of 500s and Model 7s we believe. Some of the T-128's have old Federal Signal electrical disconnects are still on the pole. Towards the end of their life, they were controlled by Plectron decoders inside ACA boxes. The Alertronic's were then installed and used CompuLert 2 radio decoders. In 1997, when the last Alertronic was installed, the rest of the system had a control upgrade, the CompuLert 2 decoders and original tone generators were removed and replaced with CompuLert 3 decoders and tone generators. The radio had already been removed from the Avalon Manor siren, but the CompuLert 3 board was still inside. Seeing that the radio interface cable was for a Kenwood TK762G, and that the current sirens use that same radio, my guess is that when the system was upgraded in the early 2000's the physical radios were removed and re-used. Pieper Power put in the Alertronics when those went in. Action Electric performed the board upgrades as well as installed the last Alertronic and the T-128s when those went in.

Avalon Manor AL-4000



Avalon Manor Alertronic Controls



Old Federal Signal 500SHST Controls

[Brendan Ahern]

Very cool! When I lived there, the alertronics were dual toned. I heard most of them go off over the years. Obviously the one at West was not. The eows were also dual toned but obviously used the federal tone generator so sounded a bit different. I never knew that they upgraded the tone generators, but I moved right as they were doing the upgrades. I’m surprised they did those upgrades only to replace a few years later. I know the city got a lot of flak for sirens not working/ not being loud enough during a tornado warning that produced damaging high winds. So maybe a stop gap measure.

But thanks for those pictures. The 1985 models had that civil defense sticker on them. The newer ones did not. The 1989 models also had the battery door flush with the rest of the cabinet. Not hitting out like the 1985 ones. But man, that cabinet is nice looking. The others were pretty beat up and rusted by the late 90’s.

That system will always hold a special place in my heart as it’s the first system I remember. The first one I ever noticed was at Bethesda elementary. Once I learned what it was (originally thought it was part of the school PA system) I started seeing others. Interestingly enough, the “new” T128’s have been there longer than the alertronics.

[Someone22]

Here's a picture of the 500 that was on the Avalon Manor.

waukesha.PNG (515.97 KiB) Viewed 25535 times

[jerrylovessirens]

Constructive thread guys! Good information here. Very interesting how Waukeshas system evolved!

[FSThunderboltfan1000]

Very cool! When I lived there, the alertronics were dual toned. I heard most of them go off over the years. Obviously the one at West was not. The eows were also dual toned but obviously used the federal tone generator so sounded a bit different. I never knew that they upgraded the tone generators, but I moved right as they were doing the upgrades. I’m surprised they did those upgrades only to replace a few years later. I know the city got a lot of flak for sirens not working/ not being loud enough during a tornado warning that produced damaging high winds. So maybe a stop gap measure.

When the sirens were upgraded to CompuLert 3 tone generation they were re-wired for single tone. When I was working on making the controller back the way it was, I had to take the jumpers out of the controller that they put in that combined both amplifier channels into one audio signal. Rest assured the controller had an original analog tone generation board back in it as well and is back to being dual-tone.

[Eclipse DDS]

Here's a picture of the 500 that was on the Avalon Manor.
waukesha.PNG

Is it just me, or is the air intake more conically shaped than on most 500s?

[HudsonRiverSirens]

Here's a picture of the 500 that was on the Avalon Manor.
waukesha.PNG

Is that a 500-DHTT with a missing cone or just a regular 500?

[Snowpix]

Here's a picture of the 500 that was on the Avalon Manor.
waukesha.PNG

Is that a 500-DHTT with a missing cone or just a regular 500?

It's an early 500-SH.