so whats your favorite siren tone ??
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guy m.
Member
Wailer said:
May well be. It's a fairly late model with Hi-Lo. But I would disagree with you a bit. I've gotten the chirp and bark off the older Interceptors and Directors, too. Another funky tone I've gotten is by sliding the selector switch just slightly off wail. It emits a funny sound that starts with a steady tone that drops with a "wow" or almost "yeow" sound, something like a eee-ow. Haven't tried to do that in years. First time I ever hit that tone was with an old PA5 Director. We were at the racetrack when a guy crashed his motorcycle. I had the siren already powered and just reached and flipped the selector and that's where it landed. Totally by accident. What was funny,though, was one of the race promoters who had been up in the announce booth was leaning out the open window talking to someone when I let loose on that siren. It startled him so much that he almost spilled his coffee on the guy he was talking to and almost fell out of the window! Well, at least it got someone's attention!!!
Skip Goulet said:
I've never heard a 1960s PA20A (series 2B, 2C, or 2D) do a chirping sound. I know that they will squeal if the selector is caught between wail and yelp - I heard one squeal when a fire engine approached an intersection and the siren operator didn't turn the knob to 'yelp' quickly enough.
After the local ambulance services switched to van-based ambos the high-pitched PA15A series 1E and PA20A series 2E sirens were commonplace. Some of the siren operators liked to catch the switch between wail and yelp and do the chirping sound. I remember one time I heard an ambo that just had the siren tones alternating between yelp and chirp, and I'll bet that the siren operator was having a lot of fun with that.
Wailer said:
I agree with both of you! The doubletone has the "prettiest" of all the siren sounds. It's just too bad they weren't built bigger like the Qs and Super Chiefs. With my vol. service in Lubbock our first-ever ambulance, an old '60 Chevy wagon, came with a 77GB doubletone on the fender. Turns out that this siren had been rebuilt at some point and the replacement motor was larger than what came on it. Needless to say, that thing would scream. In Lubbock, one of the busiest intersections has always been 50th and Indiana. When we first start making runs from the local racetrack (where the old wagon had come from), there was always a police escort waiting for us at either Hwy 87 and Loop 289 or at the Loop and Indiana, which was our route to then-Methodist Hospital. One Friday night we had to transport a patient from the track, and when we got into town we realized there was no escort. That sort of freaked me out as we had been told by the track owners that we had to have an escort in order to run "hot". But there was no slowing down for this run. When we were about a 1/2 block away from the intersection of 50th I let loose on the siren and let it wind! But just as we hit the intersection an LPD unit that was headed south did a 180 right in front of us and away we went. Turns out that he had been sent to escort us and had just been late getting down Indiana. At that time the movie 2011 Space Odyssey was playing, and it had an intermission. Right at 50th and Indiana in a small shopping center with a movie theater and that movie was playing. One of our guys worked at the theater and just happened to have to work that night. He would later tell us that they had just broken for intermission when we hit the intersection, and when we had let loose on the old doubletone, it began to vibrate the big plate glass windows in the theater building. He said there were a lot of kids in the lobby for the intermission and when they heard our siren, there were all sorts of little noses pressed against those windows, and they were oohing and ahhing. But when the PD unit did the 180 in front us, he said that they all almost wet themselves! Wish we coulda seen those kids faces! We would later find out that the escorts weren't necessary, so that was the end of that, and we were on our own. Once we got rid of the old Chevy wagon the doubletone got donated to a small VFD nearby and it went on their rescue. That was close to 35 years ago,so there's no telling where it is now!
Wailer said:
One thing I bet they never tried that got people out of our way was by hitting the manual button rapidly while in the chirp mode. That was one wicked sound and people moved!
JennyCop
Member
liberal noob said:
Thanks for the info Wailer,I have always liked that in between tone. Question for you, since the Mars Clarion II is based off a Federal PA20, is it capable of doing the in between tone too?Wailer said:
JennyCop
Member
But is the Mars capable of producing that in between tone, chirp,? famous in the Blues Brothers movie??Wailer said:
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I love the whelen standard wail tone. I love responding with it, and how it has such a crisp up and down.
Black Hoe
Member
Speaking of old mechanical sirens, my all time favorite is the Federal Pulsator. It brings back some great memories of the NYPD in the 60's!
I love the Galls Street Thunder "Thunder" tone. Only one other person in my county has it so it is very unique and attention grabbing.
jasonefd19
Member
SVP SS741MG (Dual Siren) with Wail and Two-Tone going, does a really good job of moving traffic.
guy m. said:
The Stat VI has a yelp tone that sounds very close to that of the Smith & Wesson Magnum sirens that were made in the early to mid-1970s. I like the Stat VI and the Magnums because their yelp tones sound like the late 1960s Federal Director and Interceptor sirens.
TritonBoulder47
Member
Wailer said:
I had one of the Clarions that was the first with a microprocessor, not a "real" amp. It sounded terrible! Someone broke into the ambulance and stole. Ordiarilly I would've been pissed, but I was glad to see it go. Hope whoever ended up with it got what they wanted!
DispatchGuy said:
You would've liked the ambulance that the small town of Browfield, TX once had. It was a '74 Wayne Dodge MediCruiser ambulance that had a Q in the center of the roof flanked by a pair of CP100 speakers powered by an original G.E. Powercall Siren. I lived in an apt. complex on road that their ambulance took coming into Lubbock. When they would get to the intersection by my place they'd have the G.E. on what we now refer to as the Powercall sound and they'd let loose on the Q. Awesome! :yes:
JazzDad said:
Tell us what it is and maybe we'll talk about it. Is it anything like the old Smith/Wesson Mark IV?
Black Hoe
Member
Skip Goulet said:
Yeah I saw it but I am waiting to hear back from the seller to see if the flapper works...
Tie between the Martinshorn 2297GM:
http://www.youtube.com/embed/MDKM_d7ULVo
And the rare, denied-it-exists-by-Whelen, Magnapulse:
http://www.youtube.com/embed/5jTg274S36s]Whelen Galls 295HFG Traffic Alert Siren Demo - YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/embed/MDKM_d7ULVo
And the rare, denied-it-exists-by-Whelen, Magnapulse:
http://www.youtube.com/embed/5jTg274S36s]Whelen Galls 295HFG Traffic Alert Siren Demo - YouTube
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http://elightbars.org/forums/f24/new-jd-8000-taking-orders-now-27321/#post234582 #16Skip Goulet said:Tell us what it is and maybe we'll talk about it. Is it anything like the old Smith/Wesson Mark IV?
Black Hoe said:
I started to ask him the same thing and got distracted and forgot to send a message. Those were bad about the pulser not working. I bought once at a surplus store one time for about $30. The siren worked fine but not the pulser. I removed the front end and replaced it with a PropelloRay attachment that I had traded for that had come off an old 78 siren. This was just the light only and fit on the 66 front end just fine.
Solvarex said:
I never saw the need for that to be a 'tone'. It can be re-created by selecting Piercer/T3 and tapping the horn button like a compulsive, retarded six year old.
The Martin horns are starting to grow on me though.
C420sailor said:
I have a friend who's the fire chief in Walterboro, SC. His ambulances (the big International rigs) have Federal Qs, Martin horns and some other air horn that I can't remember at the moment. I've seen pix of the rigs but haven't heard them on a run. But I have heard his chief's car while responding. He has both a PA200 and one of the newer Whelen sirens that has mega-sounds. One time he had called me from his cell while responding. The PA200 was on wail and the Whelen was doing a nice Powercall sound. And while he didn't have them on at the time, he also has the Martins on that unit; and he like them better than anything.
Or you could keep your hands on the wheel, where they belong.C420sailor said:
As far as "needing" tones, who needs anything beyond wail and yelp? This thread's about favorite tones.
Solvarex said:
"Needing" tones is not the issue. It's more about what moves traffic! If that can be done with wail, yelp, or hi-lo, fine. But the interesting little variations over the years that help get people out of the way short of hanging your head out the window and screaming ought to be fine. If you'll notice, some of these little variations like the "chirp" on old Federal sirens are now included in newer equipment.
Still, nothing moves traffic like a Q or Super Chief....period!
Agreed. Sadly only one rig in my area has a Q and I'm nowhere near it. The few times I do get to hear it I'm all smiles.Skip Goulet said:
Solvarex said:
Are there many of the Super Chiefs or other B&Ms in your part of Canada? The deep-throated roar of the Super Chief would blow you away if you got to hear one. I've mentioned elsewhere on this board that the Super Chief is the only siren that's ever actually hurt my ears.
Solvarex said:
I got to hear a real live Q only once, and that was back in the mid-1970s. The city fire department had an early 1950s International pumper truck that they had converted into a generator unit, and it had a Beacon Ray 17 on the roof and a Q on the driver's side fender. I was walking down the street as a bunch of fire engines went by, and just as that old International truck was approaching the Q was revved up to full speed. The sound was so shrill I flinched and felt ready to cover my ears. A couple of years later the Q was replaced with a 66G, which is not so hard on the ears.
That was the only truck that had a Q. The rest of the mechanical sirens on the older trucks were Federal 66 series, W series, C series, and Sterling model 30s.
Black Hoe
Member
Skip Goulet said:
B&M Sirens like the Super Chief were very rare east of the Rocky's just like Crown Fire Coach apparatus were.
I've been told for many years that the B&Ms were never seen out East, and when I was at the PCS meet in Lancaster ,PA in 1999, I didn't see a single one; but there a lot of Federals and Sirenos. However, the B&Ms were very popular in the Southwest, and quite popular here in Texas. I grew up with the old S8B Siro-Drifts and never saw a Q until 1956 when Thomas Funeral Home opened. Their '56 Ford sedan-delivery had a roof mounted Q and the Midland Fire Dept's multi-use '56 GMC panel had a Q on the left fender. I guess one of the most amazing sights came in 1955 when Midland PD put their new '55 Ford accident investigation unit on the road. Traditonally the accident investigator's car was a bit more fancy than the "routine" patrol units since it was more apt to run "hot" than anyone else. Compared to the other navy blue cars, this car was white; and rather than the common Adam-12 lights on the roof it sported a Model 17 beacon on top and a pair: yes a pair of fender-mounted B&M Siro-Drifts. I only saw that thing run "hot" once and that was enough. The more spectacular unit I ever saw besides that Ford was a '66 Pontiac station wagon ambulance that was a special build for the Longview,TX FD. It came with five roof-mounted Dietz 211 beacons and triple roof-mounted Qs between the front beacons. All of this was powered by twin batteries and twin high output alternators. The car was built by the former Gordon K. Allen Co. in Dallas. GKA had been the longtime Superior coach dealer and also built literally thousands of station wagon ambulances and later lowtopSuburbans. Gordon Allen, Sr. was the primary owner of the short-lived Modular Ambulance Corp., whose ambulances were seen regularly on "Emergency!" My longtime friend Travis (Festus) Hagen was one of GKA's longtime salesmen and was in on the build of the '66 Pontiac. He said that Longview's then-fire chief had them dig out every single Q siren they had in stock. They then went out in the country where he had to run up every single Q until they got the three pitches that the chief was wanting to hear. I only got to see that car once. It ended up in 1973 in Clovis, NM at Gold Cross Ambulance which was owned by a friend of mine. I got to go on one run in that vehicle and that was enough. Not long after that run, Gold Cross' owner Phil Bickerstaff, removed the two "extra" Qs and put them on other ambulances. Glad I got to experience that wagon when I did. :yes:
Absolutely none. I was stunned to see this ladder rig with a Q (and a Roto Ray too!) and was told that it wasn't even spec'ed that way, the manufacturer or salesman threw them in as a bonus.Skip Goulet said: