The Siren Board

Ohio_Man wrote: ↑

Mon Jun 15, 2020 4:18 pm

Usually single cone sirens are mounted in pairs. It's almost always fire departments that do this.

Here's a map I found With a list of paired up single cone sirens:

https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?ms ... CTjq4&z=20

Most of them are sentry F2's and Federal signal model L's.

The fire sirens are all listed in red.

The map is NOT mine.

Wow! I have never seen so many pairs of small sirens in such concentration before. Is there any particular reason why the fire departments in that area decided to install sirens in that manner? Why would they choose those over regular omnidirectional sirens?

archizackture wrote: ↑

Mon Jun 15, 2020 9:57 pm

Ohio_Man wrote: ↑

Mon Jun 15, 2020 4:18 pm

Usually single cone sirens are mounted in pairs. It's almost always fire departments that do this.

Here's a map I found With a list of paired up single cone sirens:

https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?ms ... CTjq4&z=20

Most of them are sentry F2's and Federal signal model L's.

The fire sirens are all listed in red.

The map is NOT mine.

Wow! I have never seen so many pairs of small sirens in such concentration before. Is there any particular reason why the fire departments in that area decided to install sirens in that manner? Why would they choose those over regular omnidirectional sirens?

I'm guessing those sirens definitely take up less electricity, and maybe they don't have a need to cover such a small area?

archizackture wrote: ↑

Mon Jun 15, 2020 9:57 pm

Ohio_Man wrote: ↑

Mon Jun 15, 2020 4:18 pm

Usually single cone sirens are mounted in pairs. It's almost always fire departments that do this.

Here's a map I found With a list of paired up single cone sirens:

https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?ms ... CTjq4&z=20

Most of them are sentry F2's and Federal signal model L's.

The fire sirens are all listed in red.

The map is NOT mine.

Wow! I have never seen so many pairs of small sirens in such concentration before. Is there any particular reason why the fire departments in that area decided to install sirens in that manner? Why would they choose those over regular omnidirectional sirens?

1) A small siren like a new model 2 or sentry 3V8 runs into the shallow end of 5 figures. A pair of those cones could cost <5 grand. If you went with a clone like something from vixen horns it could be <$500.

2) Possibly redundancy?

3) Those cones have low power requirements. You don't need three phase 240V or even single phase 240. Those seem to run on 120 with a 15 amp breaker.

Not to mention these departments are located on flat, relatively unobstructed land. They don't need a model 7 or M10 like what a lot of Cincinnati departments had.

Ohio_Man wrote: ↑

Wed Jun 17, 2020 3:44 am

1) A small siren like a new model 2 or sentry 3V8 runs into the shallow end of 5 figures. A pair of those cones could cost <5 grand. If you went with a clone like something from vixen horns it could be <$500.

2) Possibly redundancy?

3) Those cones have low power requirements. You don't need three phase 240V or even single phase 240. Those seem to run on 120 with a 15 amp breaker.

Not to mention these departments are located on flat, relatively unobstructed land. They don't need a model 7 or M10 like what a lot of Cincinnati departments had.

That makes sense, I'm just so used to my area where most fire departments have a Model 2 at the very least.

Not sure if this counts as a twin but the Lockland fire department used a whistle on the searns technical textiles building to blast a location code to firefighters. (Like how northeastern fire departments run diaphones.) Also on the papermill was a Thunderbolt.

In the station tower a block away there are 4 electronic speaker things, some kind of houseless siren (naked model 5/ HOR siro drone?) And an actual fire bell. (Think schoolhouse/church rope pulled bell)

When a fire happened the whistle would blast the location code while either the bell would sound or the siren would go off, depending on the year.

Today the papermill is gone, along with the Thunderbolt that used to be on top of it. No idea about the whistle. Maybe Thunderbolt went to Werden?

Here are coords for station. 39.226599,-84.453784. mystery siren bell and speakers are all in steeple. Speakers seem relatively modern. Maybe they do a noon chime. Bell worked when used last and mystery siren is mystery and presumed inactive.The person telling me this, a Lockland firefighter at Lowe's, said there maybe a siren in the tower but he wasn't sure. I checked and the bell has something dark directly under it and it isn't another speaker since those are mounted outside.

A good place to look at the firehouse is the gas station across the street. It's also pretty safe considering it's near the station.

Not sure if it counts as a twin but I never knew there once was a fire bell, steam whistle, thunderbolt, Possible HOR and electronic speaker thing all a block away from each other and within driving distance of my place. In 2008 that was the case.

Now I have the stuff in the station.

Ohio_Man wrote: ↑

Wed Jun 17, 2020 3:44 am

archizackture wrote: ↑

Mon Jun 15, 2020 9:57 pm

Ohio_Man wrote: ↑

Mon Jun 15, 2020 4:18 pm

Usually single cone sirens are mounted in pairs. It's almost always fire departments that do this.

Here's a map I found With a list of paired up single cone sirens:

https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?ms ... CTjq4&z=20

Most of them are sentry F2's and Federal signal model L's.

The fire sirens are all listed in red.

The map is NOT mine.

Wow! I have never seen so many pairs of small sirens in such concentration before. Is there any particular reason why the fire departments in that area decided to install sirens in that manner? Why would they choose those over regular omnidirectional sirens?

1) A small siren like a new model 2 or sentry 3V8 runs into the shallow end of 5 figures. A pair of those cones could cost <5 grand. If you went with a clone like something from vixen horns it could be <$500.

2) Possibly redundancy?

3) Those cones have low power requirements. You don't need three phase 240V or even single phase 240. Those seem to run on 120 with a 15 amp breaker.

Not to mention these departments are located on flat, relatively unobstructed land. They don't need a model 7 or M10 like what a lot of Cincinnati departments had.

I have family who have lived in that county for practically their entire lives and have gone there more than my fair share of times. The sirens were originally used in two purposes: To alert firemen to come to the station back when most of those departments were volunteer, and also to alert incoming traffic of fire engines entering the road. The family members I spoke with about this do not remember when they stopped using them to alert firemen to come to the station, but a guess could be made of the late 90s or the early 2000s. What they are used for today, I know not. They are still actively tested every Friday at 6:00 PM.

Most of the time with 2 sirens of the same kind, one would be inactive. It costs money to remove them, so often times places will leave the inactive sirens there.

floor-a-matic wrote: ↑

Sun Jun 28, 2020 4:58 am

Why would some towns have two or more sirens next/close together? I think its pointless; they should either move one siren or get rid of it

It could be a case of different jobs. In Glendale there's a model 5 in a fire stations tower and a ASC128 in a city park 500 ft away. The model 5 is the town fire whistle and backup storm siren while the 128 Is part of Hamilton county's system.

Occasionally there's a story behind it. Galva has a new 3v8 and a 2t22 on opposite sides of a ball field. The 3V8 was suspected to replace the 2T22, but the 2T22 is louder being dual tone and having horns. So they just sit on opposite sides of the field. The 3v8 is a good siren, it's just meant to compete with smaller model sirens like a whelen hornet or model 2.



I've also seen sirens for nuclear plants and storm sirens next to each other, but I can't think of any examples.

[/quote]
Quote was messed up for some reason
2T22 is louder being dual tone and having horns.


I've also seen sirens for nuclear plants and storm sirens next to each other, but I can't think of any examples.
[/quote]

I'm going to have to correct you. It's actually proven that single tone sirens are louder than dual tone, and the 3V8 in Galva does have horns. I don't know exactly why single tone is louder than dual tone, but I'm sure some of our experts can tell you.

And about the twin siren setups for nuclear plants, I can think of a few for the Susquehanna plant, and for the Ginna plant, they have a few strange setups of
Penetrators with select fire station sirens like so: