The Siren Board

It has been said that Madison county will complete the replacement of its Whelen WPS-2904s and 2906s by the end of this month. Several sirens have already been removed, but a lot of them still stand next to a T-128. From what I've been able to gather, the Whelens sounded their final noon chime on the first Saturday of this month.

They've said that they will continue to monitor the sirens for issues, which I can assure you there will be if you watched 4j25's recent video on one of the new ASC Claritys on EKU's campus. Apparently the entire system will not be voice capable, but I really doubt that if EKU installed these Claritys (it's listed on ASC's website as being a campus-oriented siren)

At least right now, it's unknown what will happen to the Whelens or if the test schedule will remain the same, but I might have to call the EMA to find out.

Below are some photos I've taken from a siren hunt I did today with a mix of the new and old sirens.

It's been about a month and I'd say there has been a little development from me that has happened since.

Firstly, I've gotten contact with someone from the Madison County EMA who's been able to answer a few questions for me.

The removal and replacement of the Whelens appears to be done by SWS, as I looked on their website today and saw photos that looked like they're from the area, and they were. The EMA doesn't take part in the removal and replacement, so ASC/SWS had the bid and they take care of everything.

Some people might say that the system activates automatically, since the offices are "closed" over the weekends. This was confirmed to be false, as there's always at least 2 people at the offices at all times to send out info during an unexpected emergency.

The siren systems for Eastern Kentucky University and the Bluegrass Army depot are independent from the system. This explains why EKU is now using Claritys instead of T-128s like the rest of the county. I myself am unsure as to the status of the sirens inside the depot itself, but I'm assuming the ATIs will remain there until the depot is full cleared and is shutdown.

I attended the recent test of the system on the 4th to see if the T-128s were working. I waited for 20 minutes and unfortunately, they did not sound. I sent an email to my EMA contact and am still awaiting a response. (Update after a few minutes, apparently it sounded 30 minutes late, however I had to be somewhere and couldn't stay for longer)

This might not be much but it does clear up some theories as to how the system functions, and to the possible future of the system.

Is this the first Clarity in the wild? I was beginning to think it was "vaporware"

From what I can tell, yes. Eastern Kentucky University is the only system to use Claritys. However, they use a simple recording of a T-128 instead of the standard ASC electronic tones. (watch the video by 4j25 if you'd like to see it in action)

SWS has just been the cleanup crew down there. This is an ASC and ANS job we go down to get the project back on track when it starts going astray...

I see. Thanks for the clarification.

I've returned to Madison county again for their monthly siren test. To my surprise (but also expected), all of the Whelens are gone. I guess over the winter season they decided to get all the removals out of the way before storm season.

However, I found something peculiar. On my way to where I was going to film, I noticed a siren that I filmed last year sitting on the ground next to its now replacement, T-128.

After the test, I got a closer look at the siren had been gutted. No drivers, batteries, or wire connections to be found. Not even the driver covers were still there. The date inside the siren's top cell indicated that this was installed in May of 2008.

I think its safe to say that most if not all of Madison county's Whelens will be parted or scrapped.

However, if there's still time, and if anyone knows someone, I might consider getting my hands on this, since whoever was taking care of it cleaned it pretty well. I'll be honest, I'm not sure how I'd move a 2906 and its cabinet across the interstate, but it anyone knows someone, please let me know!!

Not sure if anyone else heard this but around 9:40 I heard one of the sirens near my location sound off and it startled me a bit, I completely forgot about the post on their Facebook site that I saw yesterday..I must say the new sirens sound a lot clearer in my opinion from what I've heard in their last few tests.

Looks like they have abandoned their 155.8275 activation frequency following the now fully upgraded ASC system. I wonder what frequency they activate on now. I did some searching around using an SDR but couldn't find anything.

I was wondering about that as well. When I went to go record a T-128, there was nothing on that frequency and the siren went off without me knowing. I prefer to hear activation tones before a siren goes off...