foxtrot5 said:
Then you're probably not going to like me when I'm done with my truck. Just for fun I want to see what 2 electric sirens pushing 200w each plus a model 28 sound like!
I like the idea, but if you have the 28 underhood, no one will hear it if you're running two 200-watt sirens, if the speakers are mounted outside.
"Way back when" a longtime friend, long since gone, favored running twin sirens on his ambulances. When I was a kid he had a '59 Pontiac wagon that had a 28 and a 76 doubletone both mounted behind the grille. On this ambulance he had more sound than light power, as the only lighting was a single red jr. beacon on the roof and a pair of red Unity lights cowl-mounted. He exited the ambulance business in 1966 like a lot of funeral homes had done, but in 1970 he was back in with a brand new low-top Suburban.
On this ambulance he had a VisiBar with twin red beacons, two blue Dietz lollipops and a 77GB doubletone siren mounted in the center. And true-to-form, he had a 28 under the hood. Early one Saturday morning he responded to a stabbing close to the east side of town. I worked as a cab driver at the time and was just leaving for work when I heard the call cme over the scanner. My route to work would take me right past the ER, so I watched for the ambulance on my way, and sure enough, here he came! I had yet to see the new Suburban run "hot", so I was in for a treat. That time of morning it looked neat all lit up, but what I noticed when he got within "ear shot" was the way he alternated between the two sirens. He went back and forth between the two: on and off, never allowing either to reach its peak. Had it been me, I would've let loose on the doubletone at intersections, but at 6 AM, who would've noticed?? Now as I said, this was an older gentleman, having been in business since the '30s. When he talked about sirens, and he liked to do so every bit as much as I still do, he always referred to the 28s as "juniors". I never could figure that one out until I ran across a very old 28 that a friend of mine got off Ebay. And there it was, right on the name tag: Federal Junior Longroll Siren! He was right!
The old fellow only kept the Suburban a couple of years before retiring and selling the funeral home. The Suburban ended up for a time with the Lions Club in a small town in New Mexico. When their fire dept decided to establish an
EMS they ended up with the Suburban which stayed in service until 1981. The VisiBar went on their chief's car. I got to visit with him once and he really liked the doubletone, moreso than the electronics he'd been running.