Whelen WS-2016 monthly test (Voice, Alert, Attack/Fast Wail)

[bigloudnoise]

It's once again the first Wednesday of the month...siren test day! Today's siren star is an old omni-directional Whelen WS-2016, located in a rural area about five miles southeast of Vinton, IA. Voice announcement sounded four times, followed by a one-minute alert, then a one-minute Whelen attack (AKA fast wail).

Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wjh0Da0PmS4

[kswx29]

Awesome video. Those older whelens don't sound to bad. I wonder what those cows thought about the siren. This siren seems to have a litttle bit longer wind down then that last whelen you filmed.

[ACAP10]

Awesome video! Never heard one of these before. How old are they? It has a much faster, abrupt wind up (kind of like a 3016) compared to 4004's and the newer omni-directional Whelen sirens

[3t22]

Awesome video! Never heard one of these before. How old are they? It has a much faster, abrupt wind up (kind of like a 3016) compared to 4004's and the newer omni-directional Whelen sirens

The WS 2000 series is about 30 years old. This one looks to be fairly recent as it still has a faded "Whelen" logo and black speakers and a much lower tone than I'm use to (the older ones lack the logo, and have faded gray speakers and have a very high tone) There were 3 omni-direction models in the WS 2000 series, the 2008 which has 4 sets of 2 speakers facing 90 degrees. I'll record ours on Saturday which has a very high tone and does a 1050hz tone followed by voice, than does 3-4 rounds of wail do to it being timed on the old 5's timer (the EM director is working on correcting this). The 2012 which has 4 sets of 3 speakers. Next time I'm in Middlefield I'll record theirs. and the 2016 which as you saw has 4 sets of 4 speakers. Again I'll record one of Middlfield's next time I'm down there. There was aparently a 5 array WS 2000 which looked like a 2016 with an extra array. There was also a Uni-drectional WS 2000, the 2000R (or 400R not sure which is correct), which looks like one array of a 2016.

These sirens ranged from 105db (2008) to 115db (2016). I believe these were discontinued around 1994 when the 2700 series came out.

[bigloudnoise]

...This siren seems to have a litttle bit longer wind down then that last whelen you filmed.

Not only that, but it sounds (To me, anyway) that during the wind-down, it eventually reaches a certain pitch that it cannot go below, and sits there for a second or so before finally getting cut off. I don't believe the 4004 I recorded back in April did that.

As I said in the video comments, these must be a custom set of tones specially requested by DAEC, because from the siren ambience I hear out in the field, almost all of the DAEC sirens sound nearly identical to this one (Although in this video you can hear a distant 4004 that sounds more "normal", lower-pitched). I wouldn't be surprised if the 3016 I'm hoping to record during a future test sounds the same as well.

[kswx29]

I think all whelens do that on the wind down, or atlest the ones I have heard do.

[jkvernon]

I think it was the very late model 3016s used that lower pitch as did the early 4004s. I imagine that DAEC installed their Whelens at about the time that Whelen switched to the 4004 from the 3016.

[bigloudnoise]

...There was aparently a 5 array WS 2000 which looked like a 2016 with an extra array...

You are correct. There are two of these five-array sirens about 20 miles away from here, one in Van Horne and the other in Norway. Here's a picture of the one in Norway, Van Horne's looks exactly the same:



Definitely a Whelen product, because the assembly of the speaker array is 100% identical to the 2016, right down to the rivets and screw holes on the side of the speaker housing. I'm still seeking the official name/designation of this particular model. "2020" maybe?

[zetronist]

I think that the Mooing Cow adds a lot to this Is that a new Whelen sound? LOL!

Great vid!

John

[Ziginox]

...There was aparently a 5 array WS 2000 which looked like a 2016 with an extra array...

You are correct. There are two of these five-array sirens about 20 miles away from here, one in Van Horne and the other in Norway. Here's a picture of the one in Norway, Van Horne's looks exactly the same:

Definitely a Whelen product, because the assembly of the speaker array is 100% identical to the 2016, right down to the rivets and screw holes on the side of the speaker housing. I'm still seeking the official name/designation of this particular model. "2020" maybe?

Sorry to awaken a dead thread here, but have you gotten any progress with the five array models? Station 2 of the Idaho Falls Fire Department has one. I'm guessing both this one and the one on the other fire station (didn't get its number) which IS a four array model are the older gray type without logos. Too bad they are never tested though, at least to my knowledge.