Old NYPD electronic sirens

tahoe603

New Member
Nov 16, 2016
5
china
I can't open the link in your post..IIRC, the NYPD Smartsiren (Premium Vision) was programmed with Wail, Yelp and Hi-Lo and the Priority tone was the horn ring Tap ll tone when the siren was in Yelp mode and or Wail
Thks a lot. And do you know how to transfer yelp and prty into the manual mode?(Which means the sound goes when pressed, and the sound stop when the button is lifted)
The siren is SS2000SB, in the version of NYPD.
 

em2436

Member
Nov 26, 2014
169
NY
Just to clarify a little. NYPD has all 5 siren tones on their old ss2000's because the vision controller model of the ss2000 had all of those tones.

As for the way they have the 'manual' mode for yelp and priority. Thats simply a little trick the guys like to use by holding down the pa mic while the priority button is activated and it will stop any tones. Letting go plays the siren, acting like a manual button.
 

CHIEFOPS

Member
Jan 24, 2011
1,532
NYC
Just to clarify a little. NYPD has all 5 siren tones on their old ss2000's because the vision controller model of the ss2000 had all of those tones.

As for the way they have the 'manual' mode for yelp and priority. Thats simply a little trick the guys like to use by holding down the pa mic while the priority button is activated and it will stop any tones. Letting go plays the siren, acting like a manual button.

Yes, keying the PA mic PTT overrides any active siren tone so keying and releasing the PTT mimics manual use of the siren
 

CHIEFOPS

Member
Jan 24, 2011
1,532
NYC
I don't remember them either, maybe they selected a van chassis for '1 Truck' for it's shorter wheelbase to use in mid-town & lower Manhattan streets. I do remember those "low boy" pickup setups, I think they were on International Harvester platforms. This documentary was filmed in 1976, a year into the City's fiscal crisis, maybe the van REP was budgetary.
 
I know the department used a mix of REPs back then not including this. Ive seen pictures of the IHs and Dodges mostly and I've seen one picture of a mid 70s ford REP. I don't really know what was used when. If you look in the part with the barricaded EDP there is one of the IH REPs
 

CHIEFOPS

Member
Jan 24, 2011
1,532
NYC
That may have been specific to HWY RMP sirens or an oddball or even a personal touch by the officer(s) regularly assigned to the RMP because to the best of my memory the precinct RMP PA300s had instant peak & hold and no coast down.

Given the date of of incident in 5/90 I doubt that's actually a 1990 model year Caprice so if I'm right than that PA 300 pre-dates our fleet-wide application of them for the one model year they were standard between the SPs and the SmartSirens.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: FCV96

FCV96

Member
May 8, 2013
149
Queens, NY
Here's a question for you all. Of the Mark VII's that I've heard, some are generally higher pitched than the usual sound I expect from these. Were these variations from the factory, could age have something to do with it, or is there another explanation for this? Here's a comparison video to illustrate what I'm referring to - they were both routed through the same speaker (not simultaneously, of course :D).

 
Aug 25, 2016
150
NYC
Apparently there was a wide margin of acceptable range of sounds/pitch/etc. with these things. I learned that when I was trying to get a Stat VII to sound "right" with the help of MtnMan.

I'm not sure if your high pitched one came out of the factory like that or is a result of age, but the low pitch one sounds proper to me. Then again there's this video:

 
  • Like
Reactions: MtnMan and FCV96

MtnMan

Member
Dec 20, 2012
1,533
Eastern PA
If you want to do some investigation, you could look for differences between the units in the resistor color codes and capacitor values. There may have been substitutions, either intentionally or out of expedience.

Even when new, resistors and caps have up to 10% variation, which can increase over time. Electrolytic capacitors are the most notoriously variable, but they would affect the wail / yelp rates, rather than the pitch.
 
  • Like
Reactions: FCV96 and Tony P

CHIEFOPS

Member
Jan 24, 2011
1,532
NYC
In my NYPD experience spanning the final 10-12 years these sirens were in use I'd say the low pitch was the norm and that high pitch was the exception, possibly a component deviation/failure or maybe modded by/for the retail owner after it left Dept service.
I was friends with the manager and the chief tech at SP in Harlem and had them perform a few mods on my personally owned sirens so it's possible this was modified.
 
  • Like
Reactions: FCV96 and Tony P

CHIEFOPS

Member
Jan 24, 2011
1,532
NYC
Apparently there was a wide margin of acceptable range of sounds/pitch/etc. with these things. I learned that when I was trying to get a Stat VII to sound "right" with the help of MtnMan.

I'm not sure if your high pitched one came out of the factory like that or is a result of age, but the low pitch one sounds proper to me. Then again there's this video:


This may have been one of the new generation digital SPs they re-designed to meet the NYPD spec that ultimately was rejected
 
  • Like
Reactions: classifieds869294

Ghost1141

Member
Apr 14, 2016
28
Kentucky
Here's a question for you all. Of the Mark VII's that I've heard, some are generally higher pitched than the usual sound I expect from these. Were these variations from the factory, could age have something to do with it, or is there another explanation for this? Here's a comparison video to illustrate what I'm referring to - they were both routed through the same speaker (not simultaneously, of course :D).

That's different....
 

CHIEFOPS

Member
Jan 24, 2011
1,532
NYC
The NYPD PA300s were not labeled "series" and they had the original paddle manual switch not the current toggle switch
 

Wailer

Member
May 24, 2010
2,290
Canada
Here's a question for you all. Of the Mark VII's that I've heard, some are generally higher pitched than the usual sound I expect from these. Were these variations from the factory, could age have something to do with it, or is there another explanation for this? Here's a comparison video to illustrate what I'm referring to - they were both routed through the same speaker (not simultaneously, of course :D).


I don't care for either one, but if I had to choose I'd say the low pitched version sounds better.

User deelony posted the definitive 1990-spec NYPD Caprice in another PA300 thread I have. Amazing find!

It's not the old style circuit with the slow rising fast falling wail tone.
 
Aug 25, 2016
150
NYC
It's not the old style circuit with the slow rising fast falling wail tone.
It's what the NYPD ran in 1990, none the less. Later in the video you can see that it's a black face siren box with "PA300" in white lettering.

The early very deep sounding models seem to be quite elusive, maybe mid-80's
 

CHIEFOPS

Member
Jan 24, 2011
1,532
NYC
It's what the NYPD ran in 1990, none the less. Later in the video you can see that it's a black face siren box with "PA300" in white lettering.

The early very deep sounding models seem to be quite elusive, maybe mid-80's
Because that's a HWY car not a precinct car I can't say with certainty it's a 1990- their fleet was known to differ from the rest of the JOB in any model year, it could be an older car with a stock/retail PA300 before the standardized 1990 PA300s.
 
Aug 25, 2016
150
NYC
Because that's a HWY car not a precinct car I can't say with certainty it's a 1990- their fleet was known to differ from the rest of the JOB in any model year, it could be an older car with a stock/retail PA300 before the standardized 1990 PA300s.

You would def know better than me. I do find it interesting that the siren in the old video sounds pretty much identical to the clip that mercury posted of his siren box. I realize that one is a much newer “PA300 Series” model, but Fed Sig could have configured it for the same tones.
 

CHIEFOPS

Member
Jan 24, 2011
1,532
NYC
You would def know better than me. I do find it interesting that the siren in the old video sounds pretty much identical to the clip that mercury posted of his siren box. I realize that one is a much newer “PA300 Series” model, but Fed Sig could have configured it for the same tones.

I think the wail tone of our model year 1990 PA300s had a slightly longer windup before peaking and falling similar to FDNY. In any event they were not the "series" version and did not have the chrome toggle manual/air horn switch.
Assuming this somehow is an 'NYPD PA300' I can only guess it's a more recent version that was/is limited to certain vehicle types that don't do much emergency operation such as tow trucks, field command post vehicles or newly-merged traffic or school safety vehicles.
 

MtnMan

Member
Dec 20, 2012
1,533
Eastern PA
The ambulance pulls up, has a 174 on the cab roof behind the speaker, only the white lights are on. Reds are there, not on. Read somewheres there was a separate switching function?

Yes, but the typical setup was red+white or red only. So either this is an odd configuration or, considering it's in recently-bankrupt NYC, could just be that the reds are burned out.
 
Aug 25, 2016
150
NYC
Mar 10, 2020
2
California
Sorry to necropost on such an old thread, but could I please have the Mark VII siren’s servicing manual? I’ve been looking to build one for a while, but information about SP sirens is near-impossible to find.
 

Tony P

Moderator
Sep 13, 2015
1,940
Midwest, USA
hi guys, the manual is uploaded in this thread:

Sorry to necropost on such an old thread, but could I please have the Mark VII siren’s servicing manual? I’ve been looking to build one for a while, but information about SP sirens is near-impossible to find.
Click the post that was linked above yours, part way down you will find the manual as a PDF.
 

Forum Statistics

Threads
53,964
Messages
449,809
Members
19,103
Latest member
Safetylight5

About Us

  • Since 1997, eLightbars has been the premier venue for all things emergency warning equipment. Discussions, classified listings, pictures, videos, chat, & more! Our staff members strive to keep the forums organized and clutter-free. All of our offerings are free-of-charge with all costs offset by banner advertising. Premium offerings are available to improve your experience.

User Menu

Secure Browsing & Transactions

eLightbars.org uses SSL to secure all traffic between our server and your browsing device. All browsing and transactions within are secured by an SSL Certificate with high-strength encryption.