More Vintage Sirens For The Collection

[crescentstar69]

Some new sirens: Sireno Projector, Mars Clarion II, Whelen WS-295 with switch panel, LTV University Vanguard 100, and Dietz, which was also the controller for the rare Dietz 4 bulb beacon/speaker combo. Not the greatest pics, as you can see my moon face reflecting back.

 

[lotsofbars]

Looks great! How exactly does one function the "manual" siren on the Dietz?

 

[crescentstar69]

Looks great! How exactly does one function the "manual" siren on the Dietz?

Good question........ I haven't had the opportunity to fire it up yet. I was told it works, but I have been too busy to play with it.

 

[lotsofbars]

Good question........ I haven't had the opportunity to fire it up yet. I was told it works, but I have been too busy to play with it.

The plot thickens . . .

 

[Clarence H]

It has a spot on the connector for a foot switch, or horn ring, to cycle in the manual position.


Clarence

 

[crescentstar69]

Thanks Clarence! Truth is, I have about 20 sirens to clean up and bench test. I work on them when I can.

 

[fireball3]

very nice! I love them all ... soon more pics sirens?


Cyril

 

[Henry455]

Videos please especially of the Sireno. Great finds.

 

[Hoser]

Nice! Better get on those 20. Im probably going to have some coming up for sale when I get to them. The siren thread is getting to be an amazing place. I was testing some in the garage the other day, had a friend call and say he could hear it in town.

 

[crescentstar69]

Keep me in mind....

Nice! Better get on those 20. Im probably going to have some coming up for sale when I get to them. The siren thread is getting to be an amazing place. I was testing some in the garage the other day, had a friend call and say he could hear it in town.

 

[Wailer]

You are the electronic siren king on this forum. That collection keeps growing. If the Sireno Projector works and you can make a video demo, I'd love to hear how it sounds.

 

[Torpedo]

Ican'tseethepicture!

 

[fyrboy]

Ican'tseethepicture!

Neither can I.

 

[JennyCop]

Well that answered my question, I can't see the pics either and that's on any thread for the past two days. :sadcry:

 

[fireball3]

Well that answered my question, I can't see the pics either and that's on any thread for the past two days. :sadcry:

too, he seems to have a problem, I can see that some of these


Cyril

 

[Skip Goulet]

I'd very much like to see the LTV siren. There are so very few of them out there. Is it the pushbutton model or the rotary switch. The Lubbock PD had an early LTV siren on one of their units as a demo c.1963, several years before they actually began using electronic sirens. This particular unit was the pushbutton model and was powered by two 50-watt speakers. It was my first encounter with an electronic siren, so I considered it quite loud. Lubbock went to Federal Interceptors and twin CP25 speakers on their patrol cars in 1969. Prior to that they had been using a single 173 beacon (which they retained)with a little Federal EG motor siren mounted in front of the beacon. When Lubbock traffic really began to increase in the '60s, they had a lot of trouble getting thru traffic with that little EG siren. The Intercetors made a very big difference!

 

[Wailer]

Lubbock went to Federal Interceptors and twin CP25 speakers on their patrol cars in 1969.

If they bought those Interceptors new in 1969 they would have been the early PA20As with the deep low-pitched slow rising wail and yelp tones. In my opinion the early PA15As and PA20As (B, C, and D series) are the best sounding electronic sirens ever made.

 

[Skip Goulet]

If they bought those Interceptors new in 1969 they would have been the early PA20As with the deep low-pitched slow rising wail and yelp tones. In my opinion the early PA15As and PA20As (B, C, and D series) are the best sounding electronic sirens ever made.

Yeah....those Interceptors were all brand-new when they went on the '69 Polaras. As I note above, the retained the 173 beacons with the CP25s mounted at an agle on each side of the beacon. Those sirens were extremely loud and very attention getting. When I lived on campus at Texas Tech I was right on the corner of 19th St. and Flint, one of Lubbock's busiest intersections. I happened to see one of the PD units running code west on 19th one day, and when he hit the intersection the yelp increased extremely fast. Not sure what he did, unless he pushed the manual button rapidly while in yelp mode. You're aware of some of the funky sounds those things would make.

 

[Wailer]

Yeah....those Interceptors were all brand-new when they went on the '69 Polaras. As I note above, the retained the 173 beacons with the CP25s mounted at an agle on each side of the beacon. Those sirens were extremely loud and very attention getting. When I lived on campus at Texas Tech I was right on the corner of 19th St. and Flint, one of Lubbock's busiest intersections. I happened to see one of the PD units running code west on 19th one day, and when he hit the intersection the yelp increased extremely fast. Not sure what he did, unless he pushed the manual button rapidly while in yelp mode. You're aware of some of the funky sounds those things would make.

The late 1960s PA20As may be capable of funny tones of their own, but they will not do the same funny tones as the PA20A series 2E (the 1970s version with high-pitched wail and yelp tones).


The 1970s PA20As will do the chirping (between wail and yelp) and barking (between yelp and hi-lo) tones.

 

[Skip Goulet]

The late 1960s PA20As may be capable of funny tones of their own, but they will not do the same funny tones as the PA20A series 2E (the 1970s version with high-pitched wail and yelp tones).

The 1970s PA20As will do the chirping (between wail and yelp) and barking (between yelp and hi-lo) tones.

I think the reason the early Interceptors wouldn't do as much as the later ones was the difference in the circuitry. As you know, the early ones had the Alert feature rather than the later Hi-Lo. My early Director had the Alert function and I was able to hang it between wail and yelp and get an unusual tone that would be hard to describe here. The best attempt would be a long tone followed by a deeper tone: a sort of eeeee-ooooh sound.

 

[CrownVic97]

My PA15A 1E Director has the standard WAIL and YELP, but it won't do the funny in-between tones when you place the selector knob between the two. Instead and to my pleasant surprise, I get a steady tone. No crazy sounds, just an ALERT-type tone. I can't complain, though, I've got a PA200 to do the funny tones anyway :haha: .

 

[Wailer]

I think the reason the early Interceptors wouldn't do as much as the later ones was the difference in the circuitry. As you know, the early ones had the Alert feature rather than the later Hi-Lo. My early Director had the Alert function and I was able to hang it between wail and yelp and get an unusual tone that would be hard to describe here. The best attempt would be a long tone followed by a deeper tone: a sort of eeeee-ooooh sound.

Yes there is a huge difference in the circuitry. There are three basic variations of the brown face Director and blue face Interceptor sirens:


PA15 and PA20: both have wail, yelp, and alert tones (low-pitched tones)


Early PA15A and PA20A (B, C, and D series): PA15A (wail and yelp tones only); PA20A (wail, yelp, and hi-lo tones) (slow rising low-pitched tones)


Late PA15A and PA20A (E series): same features as early PA15A and PA20A but with redesigned circuitry (fast rising high pitched tones)


I've got all three variations and they don't sound anything like each other.

 

[Skip Goulet]

My PA15A 1E Director has the standard WAIL and YELP, but it won't do the funny in-between tones when you place the selector knob between the two. Instead and to my pleasant surprise, I get a steady tone. No crazy sounds, just an ALERT-type tone. I can't complain, though, I've got a PA200 to do the funny tones anyway :haha: .

I agree with you: I love the PA200s, too; and they will get the funny tones as you note. One of the loudest sirens I've ever had is on my '74 GMC VanDura Type II ambulance. Its a PA150, the forerunner of the PA200s. The only difference I can see is that like the old Directors, it came with a wired-in microphone. It's pushing a pair of CP100 speakers. If you push the manual button just momentarily, you'll get a deep roar out of it that will rattle your brain. I've never had the case open, but I'm assuming from the sound of it that the slide switch inside is set for the full 200 watts.

 

[Skip Goulet]

Yes there is a huge difference in the circuitry. There are three basic variations of the brown face Director and blue face Interceptor sirens:

PA15 and PA20: both have wail, yelp, and alert tones (low-pitched tones)


Early PA15A and PA20A (B, C, and D series): PA15A (wail and yelp tones only); PA20A (wail, yelp, and hi-lo tones) (slow rising low-pitched tones)


Late PA15A and PA20A (E series): same features as early PA15A and PA20A but with redesigned circuitry (fast rising high pitched tones)


I've got all three variations and they don't sound anything like each other.

What you need to do now is line all three of them up and give us a video of how they sound differently. Someone has a website which I haven't seen in a very long time that has demos of almost all the electronic sirens that were built by the time that demo was made. I can't remember where to find it, but I'd bet you've been there.

 

[CrownVic97]

What you need to do now is line all three of them up and give us a video of how they sound differently. Someone has a website which I haven't seen in a very long time that has demos of almost all the electronic sirens that were built by the time that demo was made. I can't remember where to find it, but I'd bet you've been there.

That was Wailer's site that was all about the old Federal electronic sirens until the website host server shut down. It was a very informative website for those restoring police/emergency vehicles. Hopefully Wailer will bring it back one day :2thumbs: .

 

[usonian]

I'd very much like to see the LTV siren. There are so very few of them out there. Is it the pushbutton model or the rotary switch. The Lubbock PD had an early LTV siren on one of their units as a demo c.1963, several years before they actually began using electronic sirens. This particular unit was the pushbutton model and was powered by two 50-watt speakers. It was my first encounter with an electronic siren, so I considered it quite loud. Lubbock went to Federal Interceptors and twin CP25 speakers on their patrol cars in 1969. Prior to that they had been using a single 173 beacon (which they retained)with a little Federal EG motor siren mounted in front of the beacon. When Lubbock traffic really began to increase in the '60s, they had a lot of trouble getting thru traffic with that little EG siren. The Intercetors made a very big difference!

Hey, Skip: As a one time and once again Lubbock resident, do you happen to have any photos of LPD and UMC EMS vehicles in from the '60's thru the '80's? Other than that one Chev Type I ambo I posted long ago, I've never seen any old buses, and I've always been curious to what the squad cars looked like before I came here at the dawn of the 1990's.

 

[JennyCop]

Can you repost the photos please! I never got to see them. Thanks


I had messaged Jman about them and this was his reply:

Every other thread I have checked out seems to be working fine now, except I still cant see any of the images in these two threads! Thanks

http://elightbars.org/forums/f18/more-vintage-sirens-collection-49534/


http://elightbars.org/forums/f18/possible-score-tomorrow-its-been-awhile-49375/

We are working on an issue with attached images. Please Standby. These two threads were posted on the day the issues took place, they are, unfortunately, unrecoverable.

 

[Skip Goulet]

Hey, Skip: As a one time and once again Lubbock resident, do you happen to have any photos of LPD and UMC EMS vehicles in from the '60's thru the '80's? Other than that one Chev Type I ambo I posted long ago, I've never seen any old buses, and I've always been curious to what the squad cars looked like before I came here at the dawn of the 1990's.

I believe that LPD has some old police cars and the old Chevy paneltruck paddy wagons on their website. I'm not sure how to find the link. A friend of mine had been to that site and had sent me a link, but that was a couple of years ago. What I do remember, though, was a picture of the tail-end of one of Franklin-Bartley's ambulances: a '62-ish Buick coach-type ambulance. That's one car I never saw. Everything of F-Bs that I ever saw was after 1963, and except for the two big Pontiac ambulances that eventually became AID Amblance's first two units, everything Bob Bartley ran were Ford station wagons. I think that all of the Troxel pictures that were posted came from LFD's website.


Back to the old police cars before I forget: Until LPD started using the Interceptors and CP25s, all LPD vehicles were equipped with a single 173 beacon on top with a little chrome EG siren mounted in front of the beacon. When we first started transporting from the old Arena Park Raceway in 1970, the track mgt kept calling for escorts for us due to misinformation given to the track owners. On one of the escorts one Friday night, the cop turned out to be a friend of mine, so I just had to comment on how much I liked the new Interceptors. He said that they really liked them because with the little EG sirens people just didn't want to move over and they had a lot of LPD units piled up in intersection accidents.

 

[crescentstar69]

Pics reposted. The shiny faceplates feature my moon face reflecting back, so believe me, they are much better in person!

 

[Skip Goulet]

My PA15A 1E Director has the standard WAIL and YELP, but it won't do the funny in-between tones when you place the selector knob between the two. Instead and to my pleasant surprise, I get a steady tone. No crazy sounds, just an ALERT-type tone. I can't complain, though, I've got a PA200 to do the funny tones anyway :haha: .

If you get that steady tone, try pushing the manual button. It should give you a manual hi-lo sound. My first-ever Director had the old alert function and if you hit the manual button it would change the tone.

 

[Skip Goulet]

Pics reposted. The shiny faceplates feature my moon face reflecting back, so believe me, they are much better in person!

Your Sireno Projector siren is like the one I have. The LTV siren is not like the ones Lubbock had. Theirs was the pushbutton model. If I'm not mistaken, LTV only produced those two models.


The Dietz siren is like the one we had at Baker Ambulance in Odessa on our '67 Pontiac wagon. The owners had bought the complete package with the beacon/speaker and the siren, but only used the siren on the Pontiac, using a Federal SA24 speaker mounted right in front of the old 2-lamp Trippe beacon. The car also had twin red lollipops on the front corners.