Squad 51 Siren?

chief1562

Member
Mar 18, 2011
5,840
Slaterville/NY
Been watching reruns of Emergency 51,and Adam-12,Combat and 12 o-clock High for more than a month now and have not heard what you are saying about a motor whine other than the engine of the squad.


Also since being a member here for sometime now and learning about the older equipment it sure put a different perspective on what to look for in Emergency 51 and Adam-12. :thumbsup:
 
Jun 4, 2012
34
New England
Since we're talking about the different squads, I figured I'd bring up something that's been on my mind for a while now: I once read that they did two more "Squad 51" conversions, one on a '73 Dodge, the other on a '74 Dodge. However, I don't know if this is entirely true or not.
 

Skip Goulet

Member
Feb 23, 2011
4,241
Midland, TX
Wailer said:
I looked at a couple of the YouTube video clips, and it looks like Rescue 8 has a B&M siren mounted underneath the front bumper. The sound technicians goofed on the siren sounds for that show too. In some scenes the siren sounds like a B&M, in others it sounds more like a Federal or a Sterling.



The squad in the pilot episode was Squad 10, I believe. I was a 1960s Dodge with a Federal C5G siren mounted on a 'platter' on the roof.


The Rescue 8 truck that I remember had the siren underhood, as does the truck Joe Ortiz now owns. If it was under the bumper when the show was filmed, it may have been relocated at some point: either from the original being damaged, or relocated under the hood for safety reasons since Joe Ortiz leases his old vehicles to the move studios.
 

Tristar

Member
May 24, 2010
899
MA
chief1565 said:
Been watching reruns of Emergency 51,and Adam-12,Combat and 12 o-clock High for more than a month now and have not heard what you are saying about a motor whine other than the engine of the squad.
Also since being a member here for sometime now and learning about the older equipment it sure put a different perspective on what to look for in Emergency 51 and Adam-12. :thumbsup:

I, too have been watching Adam-12 & Emergency for the past couple of weeks. About two weeks ago I saw an episode where the squad and engine were both responding to a call, and I heard two motor driven sirens (and no electronic siren). In addition, I just finished watching an episode where the ambulance (modern modular) and the squad left the scene of an mva, enroute to the hospital, and I heard two motor driven sirens. I also enjoy watching 12 o-clock high, as my father few in them (B-17s) in WWII.
 
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Skip Goulet

Member
Feb 23, 2011
4,241
Midland, TX
Tristar said:
I, too have been watching Adam-12 & Emergency for the past couple of weeks. About two weeks ago I saw an episode where the squad and engine were both responding to a call, and I heard two motor driven sirens (and no electronic siren). In addition, I just finished watching an episode where the ambulance (modern modular) and the squad left the scene of an mva, enroute to the hospital, and I heard two motor driven sirens. I also enjoy watching 12 o-clock high, as my father few in them in WWII.

Since most of those sounds were dubbed in they would occasionally get the sounds wrong as has been discussed above. But on a couple of occasions where they used one of Snyder's big Cadillac ambulances that had a B&M Super Chief, they actually allowed the ambulance to "rack off" on the Super Chief when leaving the scene on a couple of episodes. On the pilot episode of Emergency! where they were working the big cave-in (which was based on a true story), you could hear a lot of Super Chiefs and other motor sirens on the ambulances that were coming and going; but that episode would be the only one with real siren use except the one above, and the episode where Johnny and Roy rode in the S.F. Batt car with the underhood doubletone siren. That didn't appear to be dubbed in.
 

RyanZ71

Member
Jun 14, 2011
1,001
Denver, Colorado
Skip Goulet said:
Since most of those sounds were dubbed in they would occasionally get the sounds wrong as has been discussed above. But on a couple of occasions where they used one of Snyder's big Cadillac ambulances that had a B&M Super Chief, they actually allowed the ambulance to "rack off" on the Super Chief when leaving the scene on a couple of episodes. On the pilot episode of Emergency! where they were working the big cave-in (which was based on a true story), you could hear a lot of Super Chiefs and other motor sirens on the ambulances that were coming and going; but that episode would be the only one with real siren use except the one above, and the episode where Johnny and Roy rode in the S.F. Batt car with the underhood doubletone siren. That didn't appear to be dubbed in.

You would have thought that they would have the doubletone going at full bore when approaching and going through the intersection but it was not :(
 

Wailer

Member
May 24, 2010
2,290
Canada
lotsofbars said:
See if you can figure out from this clip. Squad siren @ 0:47.

The siren is being operated in manual mode, so it's hard to tell. I've seen a photo of the inside of the truck after it had been restored, and it has a PA20A. But I don't know which version of the PA20A it has. When the series was being filmed there was a shot of the radio and siren setup in one of the earlier episodes, and it showed a metal bracket that held the radio control head and siren underneath the dashboard. There was a Motorola Motrac radio control head on top and the PA20A underneath.


The restored squad has all the electronic equipment mounted in a console. I believe the radio is a GE unit, and I don't know if the PA20A is the same siren that appeared in the early episodes.


The early PA20As (series 2B, 2C, and 2D) were introduced in the late 1960s and have low-pitched wail and yelp tones. Series 2D was still available as late as 1971-1972, and the original siren in the squad may have been a 2D.


The later PA20A (series 2E) came out in the early 1970s and has high-pitched wail and yelp tones like the electronic sirens we hear nowadays. The restored squad could have a series 2E. As I listened to the manual wail in the video it sounded fairly high in pitch.


The siren sound that was dubbed in for the squad in the TV show was a PA20, not a PA20A. The PA20 is a much older siren and it doesn't sound anything like either version of the PA20A.
 

stansdds

Member
May 25, 2010
3,533
U.S.A., Virginia
Is it just me or did Station 51 (127) look a lot bigger on tv?
 

Skip Goulet

Member
Feb 23, 2011
4,241
Midland, TX
Wailer said:
The siren is being operated in manual mode, so it's hard to tell. I've seen a photo of the inside of the truck after it had been restored, and it has a PA20A. But I don't know which version of the PA20A it has. When the series was being filmed there was a shot of the radio and siren setup in one of the earlier episodes, and it showed a metal bracket that held the radio control head and siren underneath the dashboard. There was a Motorola Motrac radio control head on top and the PA20A underneath.

The restored squad has all the electronic equipment mounted in a console. I believe the radio is a GE unit, and I don't know if the PA20A is the same siren that appeared in the early episodes.


The early PA20As (series 2B, 2C, and 2D) were introduced in the late 1960s and have low-pitched wail and yelp tones. Series 2D was still available as late as 1971-1972, and the original siren in the squad may have been a 2D.


The later PA20A (series 2E) came out in the early 1970s and has high-pitched wail and yelp tones like the electronic sirens we hear nowadays. The restored squad could have a series 2E. As I listened to the manual wail in the video it sounded fairly high in pitch.


The siren sound that was dubbed in for the squad in the TV show was a PA20, not a PA20A. The PA20 is a much older siren and it doesn't sound anything like either version of the PA20A.

It's obvious that they just hit a short burst on manual on that clip since they were doing it for the audience. Since there have been a number of Emergency Reunions lately, I would assume someone was taping this for part of it. When I was out there in 2001 for the Go West Meet of the SoCal PCS chapter (now PCI), we were supposed to have been taken on a tour of "Station 51", but it never came off as too many people signed up and whoever handles those tours didn't have enough people to accomodate all of us:(.
 

Skip Goulet

Member
Feb 23, 2011
4,241
Midland, TX
RyanZ71 said:
You would have thought that they would have the doubletone going at full bore when approaching and going through the intersection but it was not :(

You would've thought so, Ryan, but that's California for you....and San Francisco is a lot different than the rest of the state. But that reminds me of an incident up in Lubbock many years ago. The old guy who ran the ambulance service in Big Spring (40 mi. east of Midland) didn't like using sirens on his ambulances and would fire drivers if he caught them using the siren even on an emergency run. Of course if the drivers were well out of "earshot" of the office they would use the siren anyway.


One night while I was living in Lubbock the old fellow made an emergency transfer up to Lubbock with a gunshot victim. When I heard the PD dispatch a unit out south to intercept the ambulance for an escort to Methodist Hospital, I drove over to the ER since I was only a couple of blocks away. At that time Lubbock PD was running 1969 Dodge Polaras with a single 173 red beacon and Interceptors powered by twin CP25 speakers mounted at an angle. In just a bit I heard the escort vehicle coming up Indiana, so I waited at the ER drive. In just a minute or so here came the PD unit around the corner, followed by the ambulance. But by this time both vehicles were silent but still lit up. I helped the old guy whom I'd known for many years unload. His attendant was a nuse from the ER. After we had got his patient unloaded from his gurney on to the hospital gurney we came back outside to visit for a minute. The cop who had made the escort was still there, so my friend walked over and thanked him for the escort. The cop said he was glad to help but had one question: "What's wrong with your siren?" The reply was "What siren? I don't believe in using those things....they get you run over". Turns out that this particular ambulance didn't even have a siren. The cop was livid and let the old guy know that if he ever came to Lubbock again on an emergency, it had better be in an ambulance with a working siren with the siren in use. 'Nuff said, I guess. But I couldn't even imagine breaking a busy intersection...even in Big Spring....with red lights only. At one time ambulance could get by w/o running the siren if they tought it would unduly disturb the patient. But that law changed sometime in the late '70s or early '80s due to ambulances getting hit on runs. Makes sense....you gotta be heard!
 

flahotrod

Member
Aug 1, 2011
254
Florida
Tristar said:
From what I remember, there was a law enforcement agency (I think in AZ?) that had split Twinsonics on them.

I had forgotten about that until you posted this. I think it was Phoenix PD. For a while, several AZ agencies used red & amber as their primary emergency lighting.
 

Wailer

Member
May 24, 2010
2,290
Canada
pop2one said:
From the movie "The Gauntlet" with Clint Eastwood.

I think Phoenix fire engines had the dual CP25s on the front bumpers. I remember seeing a video clip of Mack CF pumper and rescue units with dual CP25s a long time ago.
 

stansdds

Member
May 25, 2010
3,533
U.S.A., Virginia
pop2one said:
From the movie "The Gauntlet" with Clint Eastwood.

From that picture it looks like either the speaker cover was cut to accommodate the twin CP speakers or stainless straps were made to hold the ends of the lenses in place.
 

Tristar

Member
May 24, 2010
899
MA
stansdds said:
From that picture it looks like either the speaker cover was cut to accommodate the twin CP speakers or stainless straps were made to hold the ends of the lenses in place.

It looks like the Twinsonic's speaker grill is there...the Twinsonic in the photo I remember clearly had no speaker cover...it looked like two mini SD bars, with (1 or 2?) CP speakers in the middle of them. I really wish I could find the photo!
 

Tristar

Member
May 24, 2010
899
MA
It's not the light in the photo above, but according to the catalog page below, Code 3 made an SD bar specifically without a center speaker cover so larger speakers or mechanical sirens can be mounted on the bar.

code3cat006.jpg
 

stansdds

Member
May 25, 2010
3,533
U.S.A., Virginia
That was not difficult for PSE/Code 3 to do as their SD lenses had retaining lips on both ends of the lens. Federal's Twinsonic lens was designed with a lip on the outboard end, but the inboard end was flat and had no lip as the speaker cover was to hold the inboard end to the bar.
 

Skip Goulet

Member
Feb 23, 2011
4,241
Midland, TX
Tristar said:
It's not the light in the photo above, but according to the catalog page below, Code 3 made an SD bar specifically without a center speaker cover so larger speakers or mechanical sirens can be mounted on the bar.

I've seen a few instances down this way where the speaker housing on TwinSonics was removed and other sirens mounted in their place. One I remember was in 1973 on a trip to Lewisville,TX where we worked a week-long motorcycle race program. The track owners thought they could get by with just my single ambulance but quickly realized that wouldn't fly so they hired the ambulances from Dalton Funeral Home. One of their units was a long-wheel-based '67 Pontiac combination that had a single 174D (Hawaii-5-0 style) beacon just over the windshield. Behind the beacon was a red TwinSonic with the speaker grille removed and Q mounted in that space. I remember a thread on here sometime back that showed some VisiBars with varioius mechanical sirens mounted in the center.
 

Scaemt

New Member
Mar 19, 2011
2
Usa/pa
I did a ride along on Squad 29, Baldwin Park, back in 1990. The GMC they used had what they called a Maserati two tone horn. The button was on the floor. They used it at intersections in addition to the siren. LA County had running them on the squads for a number of years according to the paramedics. That is probably why it was added on the show intro.
 

Skip Goulet

Member
Feb 23, 2011
4,241
Midland, TX
Scaemt said:
I did a ride along on Squad 29, Baldwin Park, back in 1990. The GMC they used had what they called a Maserati two tone horn. The button was on the floor. They used it at intersections in addition to the siren. LA County had running them on the squads for a number of years according to the paramedics. That is probably why it was added on the show intro.

I wonder where your paramedics got that kind of info. Hi-lo horns were never used on the LA County squads and were not allowed in California back then. Even when the Interceptors began to be made with the hi-lo sound, CA wouldn't allow it. Wail and yelp only were allowed. I'm not sure what they allow nowadays, since there are so many funky tones out there.
 

Tristar

Member
May 24, 2010
899
MA
Skip Goulet said:
I wonder where your paramedics got that kind of info. Hi-lo horns were never used on the LA County squads and were not allowed in California back then. Even when the Interceptors began to be made with the hi-lo sound, CA wouldn't allow it. Wail and yelp only were allowed. I'm not sure what they allow nowadays, since there are so many funky tones out there.

Why is the yelp tone never heard in any of the old TV shows, such as Adam-12 or Emergency?
 

Skip Goulet

Member
Feb 23, 2011
4,241
Midland, TX
Tristar said:
Why is the yelp tone never heard in any of the old TV shows, such as Adam-12 or Emergency?

That was the producers' fault. With a very few exceptions, all the siren sounds were dubbed in. The producers probably didn't give it a thought about using another sound than wail. Sometime when you watch Adam-12 and the camera is inside the patrol car where you can see the Interceptor, nine times out of ten you'll see the selector sitting on radio. But if they get a Code 3 call you'll see Malloy hit the switch on the panel that says "siren" and suddenly the siren starts. Same things true for the Squad 51 siren. And has already been mentioned, on occasion you'll hear a hi-lo horn sound dubbed in on top of Squad 51's siren.
 

Tristar

Member
May 24, 2010
899
MA
Tristar said:
It looks like the Twinsonic's speaker grill is there...the Twinsonic in the photo I remember clearly had no speaker cover...it looked like two mini SD bars, with (1 or 2?) CP speakers in the middle of them. I really wish I could find the photo!


I stand corrected...I found another photo of the same car, and there is no speaker cover - just the straps holding the lenses down. For what it's worth, actual Phoenix PD cars were used in the movie (according to the sight the photo is from).


http://pics.imcdb.org/12851/snap330.4.jpg
 

JohnMarcson

Administrator
May 7, 2010
10,971
Northwest Ohio
Skip Goulet said:
I wonder where your paramedics got that kind of info. Hi-lo horns were never used on the LA County squads and were not allowed in California back then. Even when the Interceptors began to be made with the hi-lo sound, CA wouldn't allow it. Wail and yelp only were allowed. I'm not sure what they allow nowadays, since there are so many funky tones out there.

LA county and LA city I think both did/does (starting in the 90s) use a dual tone airhorn to do hi-lo. It's like the martin horns in Germany. They get away with it because it's not a siren tone, it's a horn used only at intersections.


http://elightbars.org/forums/xenforo/f14/lacofd-lafd-hi-lo-air-horns-6004/


read all about it and see some videos


http://elightbars.org/forums/f14/lacofd-lafd-hi-lo-air-horns-6004/
 

Wailer

Member
May 24, 2010
2,290
Canada
Tristar said:
Why is the yelp tone never heard in any of the old TV shows, such as Adam-12 or Emergency?

The siren you hear in both shows is a Federal PA20 running in 'manual' mode. That irregular wailing sound is a manual wail tone. In some scenes the actual PA20 wail tone is dubbed in on Adam 12, particularly the 'drive by' scenes when the patrol car is responding to a call or chasing another car.


The PA20 'yelp' can be heard in early 1970s cop shows like Hawaii Five-O, The Rookies, McCloud, and Police Story. The wails and yelps have been recorded straight (no effects added), with reverb added, slowed down (slower wail and yelp cycles), and wail and yelp overdubbed together. The Hawaii Five-O dual tone siren effect is an example of overdubbed wail and yelp tones.


And as I said earlier, the siren is a PA20, not a PA20A.
 

stansdds

Member
May 25, 2010
3,533
U.S.A., Virginia
Dual wail and yelp tones were dubbed into all Starsky and Hutch scenes where Starsky's Gran Torino was running in code 3.
 

Scaemt

New Member
Mar 19, 2011
2
Usa/pa
Skip Goulet said:
I wonder where your paramedics got that kind of info. Hi-lo horns were never used on the LA County squads and were not allowed in California back then. Even when the Interceptors began to be made with the hi-lo sound, CA wouldn't allow it. Wail and yelp only were allowed. I'm not sure what they allow nowadays, since there are so many funky tones out there.


Where did he get that kind of info? It was easy. They used it on a call that I was on with them and when I asked about it afterwards, he opened the hood and showed it to me. It consisted of two small air horns. When the floor button was pressed the horns alternated sounded giving the hi-lo sound. I guess since it was a horn and not a siren it was permitted since they only used it when needed such as intersections. The one paramedic told me that they had had those for a number years on the squads at that point.
 

Wailer

Member
May 24, 2010
2,290
Canada
WS224 said:
No such thing as a double tone Q.

The 77 series sirens are Federal's version of a double tone siren. They have rotor/stator assemblies with two rows of ports tuned to different pitches.


I've also seen pictures of some Federal mechanicals that were dual tone with low and high pitch (8 and 16 port) rotor/stator assemblies. They must be very rare or custom made.
 

WS224

Member
Nov 28, 2010
1,049
West Tennessee
Wailer said:
The 77 series sirens are Federal's version of a double tone siren. They have rotor/stator assemblies with two rows of ports tuned to different pitches.

I've also seen pictures of some Federal mechanicals that were dual tone with low and high pitch (8 and 16 port) rotor/stator assemblies. They must be very rare or custom made.

Exactly, none of which are Q's.


Q is a model number, not a brand.
 

Skip Goulet

Member
Feb 23, 2011
4,241
Midland, TX
JohnMarcson said:
LA county and LA city I think both did/does (starting in the 90s) use a dual tone airhorn to do hi-lo. It's like the martin horns in Germany. They get away with it because it's not a siren tone, it's a horn used only at intersections.

http://elightbars.org/forums/xenforo/f14/lacofd-lafd-hi-lo-air-horns-6004/


read all about it and see some videos


http://elightbars.org/forums/f14/lacofd-lafd-hi-lo-air-horns-6004/

Thanks for that link, John. The late Dennis Stouffer knew about everything there is to know about LA Co. FD and what went into the Emergency! show. What he clarified was that the hi-lo on electronic sirens wasn't legal but "real" airhorns were. That's something new to me, as I've had PCS friends in SoCal tell me that the hi-lo sound was illegal in CA....period!
 

Skip Goulet

Member
Feb 23, 2011
4,241
Midland, TX
Wailer said:
The 77 series sirens are Federal's version of a double tone siren. They have rotor/stator assemblies with two rows of ports tuned to different pitches.

I've also seen pictures of some Federal mechanicals that were dual tone with low and high pitch (8 and 16 port) rotor/stator assemblies. They must be very rare or custom made.

WS224 is correct. The Federal doubletones were neither rare, nor custom made except for adding rear lights on outside mount models or weatherguards...both of which were extra-cost options. Federal began building the doubletones in the 30s, maybe early 40s. Tim Parker has a post on the catalog sticky thread that shows a 1948 Federal catalog. At that time the doubletones and the C series were their sole coaster sirens. If I'm correct, the original doubletone was the 78B which has always been a lighted model. The first 78s were called "Traffik-Kings" (their spelling) and had a moving red light that oscillated horizontally. By 1948 the Traffik-King was replaced with a 78 that had the PropelloRay, and in 1959, the PropelloRay lights were replaced by the SolaRay. One of the first sirens I ever remember seeing close-up was the 78 with the PropelloRay light that was mounted on the front center of the roof of a 1948 Chevy Paneltruck ambulance. That siren-light was the sole piece of emergency equipment on that ambulance. That siren went from the '48 Chevy to a '51 Chevy sedan-delivery, with the siren mounted on the left fender. That ambulance was then sold to the predominantly black funeral home in 1953, and in 1959 that funeral home removed the 78 and replaced it with a tiny Federal VL siren, because the 78 used too much "juice". And until that operation closed in the early '60s, the operator never understood why no one would move over for that little VL siren:no:. The sad thing was, he scrapped the nice doubletone, figuring it wasn't worth anything. Now you can imagine what it would be worth today.


If you check out the Federal catalogs up until the mid to late '60s, you'll see on the coaster sirens that at that time the brakes were optional. They were standard on all coasters by the time that Federal dropped all but the Qs c.1978.
 

Wailer

Member
May 24, 2010
2,290
Canada
Skip Goulet said:
WS224 is correct. The Federal doubletones were neither rare, nor custom made

Skip, the sirens I was thinking of are a cross between a model 66 and 66H or 28 and 28H. The number of ports for the higher tone are different than a standard double tone. That particular version of the double tone is rare.
 

JohnMarcson

Administrator
May 7, 2010
10,971
Northwest Ohio
Skip Goulet said:
Thanks for that link, John. The late Dennis Stouffer knew about everything there is to know about LA Co. FD and what went into the Emergency! show. What he clarified was that the hi-lo on electronic sirens wasn't legal but "real" airhorns were. That's something new to me, as I've had PCS friends in SoCal tell me that the hi-lo sound was illegal in CA....period!

CA is very specific with their vehicle code, imagine that...


http://elightbars.org/forums/f13/official-location-based-warning-hide-away-leds-general-meaning-discussion-thread-30732/#post255158


CA law dictates what is a siren and what is not. Dual airhorns are not according to CA law. Hi-Lo is actually specifically defined as "nonsiren". All LAFD and LACoFD units with these also have a compliant siren that is used to meet the state siren requirements. The hi-lo horns are used at intersections only, like a standard airhorn.


Chapter 4. Special Equipment -SIRENS


§ 1020. Scope.



This article applies to sirens for use on authorized emergency vehicles in accordance with Vehicle Code Section 27002.



§ 1021. Definitions.



(a) A "siren" is an audible warning device that produces the readily recognizable warning sound identified with emergency vehicles. An audible device, such as a vehicle theft alarm, that produces a sound with one or more of the following characteristics is not a siren:



(1) an unvarying sound.



(2) a varying sound that cycles at a rate faster than 400 cycles per minute.



(3) a discontinuous sound that repeats at rates lower than 90 cycles per minute or higher than 400 cycles per minute.



(4) a sound frequency (and any second harmonics) lower than 100 Hz or higher than 5,000 Hz.



(
B) An "authorized emergency vehicle siren" is a device that meets the requirements of this article.


© An "electromechanical siren" consists of a stator and rotor driven by an electric motor.



(d) An "electronic siren" consists of an oscillator, amplifier, and speaker.



(e) A "mechanical siren" consists of a stator and rotor driven by a mechanical connection to a moving part of the vehicle or engine.



(f) "Manual" means a siren control that allows the operator to produce a wailing sound by alternately applying and releasing a momentary contact switch.



(g) "Wail" is a siren sound producing a slow, continuous automatic cycling of increasing and decreasing frequencies and sound levels.



(h) "Yelp" is a siren sound producing a rapid, continuous automatic cycling of increasing and decreasing frequencies and sound levels.



(i)
"Hi-Lo" means a nonsiren sound alternating between a fixed high and a fixed low frequency.


20


§ 1023. Identification Markings.


Sirens and components shall be marked as follows:


(a) Siren Markings. Each siren shall be permanently marked with the manufacturer's or vendor's name, initials, or lettered trademark and a model designation in letters and numerals at least 3 mm (0.12 in.) in height. . . .


(d) Control Markings. Electronic siren controls shall be marked to indicate each siren function by the words "Manual," "Wail," and "Yelp" spelled out or abbreviated. Markings for other nonpermitted functions, such as "Hi-Lo," may remain on the control panel provided the function is made inoperable on sirens manufactured after January 1, 1978.


(e) Permanence of Markings. Required identification markings shall be molded, etched, embossed, stamped, engraved, or printed with epoxy paint or screening ink on the device or on a metal label of substantial thickness permanently affixed to the device by welding or metal fasteners. Speaker driver markings may be of indelible ink or nonepoxy paint when protected by coverings or they may be stamped on a metal plate attached by a screw.


(f) Visibility of Markings. Required siren markings, except those on the speaker driver and on speakers mounted within warning lamp housings, shall be clearly visible when the siren is installed on a vehicle. Amplifier markings may be on the front, top, sides, or bottom of the case provided they are in a location where they are legible to a person inspecting the component without using mirrors or removing the component when it is installed in a vehicle. . . .


§ 1028. Performance Requirements.


(a) Siren Functions. Electronic sirens shall have a wail function and may also have manual and yelp functions. No other function is permitted on sirens sold after January 1, 1982, except for voice communication. . . .


§ 1029. Installation Requirements.


Sirens and speakers installed on authorized emergency vehicles shall be mounted as follows:


(a) Electromechanical and Mechanical Sirens. Class A electromechanical and mechanical sirens shall be mounted outside, between the grille and radiator, or under the hood. Class B electromechanical and mechanical sirens shall be mounted outside or between the grille and the radiator. . . .


( B) Electronic Sirens. Class A and B electronic sirens installed after January 1, 1976, shall be mounted outside or with the horn opening facing forward ahead of the radiator with a relatively open path for the sound to project forward. The horn axis shall be parallel to the road and vehicle centerline.


© Dual Speakers. Dual speakers for electronic sirens shall be connected in phase and mounted so that the speaker axis is parallel to the vehicle centerline or angled outward not more than 10 degrees to the sides.


(d) Speakers in Lightbars. Electronic siren speakers may be mounted facing forward behind a speaker grille in a lightbar.


(e) Transfer. A siren . . . meeting the requirements established by the department at the time it was first installed on an authorized emergency vehicle may be transferred between authorized emergency vehicles by the owner or sold by the owner for use on other authorized emergency vehicles.
 

Phillyrube

Member
May 21, 2010
1,272
Flatistan
stansdds said:
Dual wail and yelp tones were dubbed into all Starsky and Hutch scenes where Starsky's Gran Torino was running in code 3.

Remember hearing the dual tones in "The Rookies". Kate Jackson, SUPERNURSE! Worked all over the hospital.
 

Skip Goulet

Member
Feb 23, 2011
4,241
Midland, TX
WS224 said:
Exactly, none of which are Q's.

Q is a model number, not a brand.

I like that comment! A few years ago a lady had a 66G on Ebay which she described as a Federal Q siren. I emailed her and corrected her, telling her that Q siren (like you said) is a Model number, not a generic term describing all motordriven sirens. She apologized saying that she had been told that "Q siren" was a generic term. She corrected the error before the siren sold. But what used to erk me even worse was the people who would refer to the little Jubilee alarm sirens or the small V-series or EW series of Federal sirens as "baby Qs". Sheesh! :eek:
 

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