Type of Sirens: Alerting Comuunicators of America P-50, Federal 2001-SRN-B
Number of Sirens: 4
Test Date/Time: Unknown
Activation: Radio controls, encoding method unknown.
Control frequency probably VHF
This is the easiest siren to find in The Colony. It is right
on Main Street not too long after you turn off 121 onto
Main by the high school and a water treatment facility.
This siren replaces an Allertor that used to be on the other side of the high school
Lets take a closer look
It is much easier to tell now that this is a (very) new Federal
2001-B.
The white mast sticking up is the antenna for this siren
This type of antenna is very common on the newer (late 2002+)
siren installations in North Texas
It is made of fiberglass with a white radome covering the antenna
From a radio standpoint, this should be a tough antenna with significant gain
for the radio controls
Here are the aforementioned controls on this siren.
They are pretty much your typical current model 2001 setup with a decoder/radio,
battery box, and charger
(on the far side of this pole and not visible in this view)
The writing on the box says
"4180 Main
Office Creek Pump C
Suite B"
This is the siren my compatriot for this siren hunt wanted to
see
It is an original ACA P-50 and has been here quite some time
It is the only siren in the original system still left.
Here's something you don't see every day
An ACA Siren with a Federal Signal Control box on it
This is site #6 in the system
I am assuming this was/is the original decoder from the old
system, given
it has the ACA logo on it
Here is a good shot of that antenna that I was talking about
earlier.
This looks like it can survive a beating.
This box is the motor starter for the siren, though careful
inspection will note an antenna mounted to the
top of this box.
This thing is really huge.
I am looking almost directly up at the massive head of the P-50.
A look at the siren from the front. One can stuff a man in here
That little speck to the right of the siren is a twin-engine aircraft
Say "Aaaaahhhhhh"
You can't get into the horn all the way due to the screen on the siren,
but the smaller tube is the air intake, with the air being discharged around
the
"fluting" at th very back of the horn.
The stickers are arrows indicating that the rotor turns counter-clockwise.
It almost looks like this should fall off of the pole, but it
is quite solid.
We were experiencing fairly gusty winds this day and the siren wasn't moving
at all.
A very fine older siren to look at and admire.
I didn't take a full-on shot of this siren, but some close detailed shots of the components.
Here is the battery charger.
The black area is a heat sink to dissipate the heat this device generates in
use.
Here are the control boxes.
The bottom box is for the batteries, with the top smaller box being the controller and radio combined into one box.
The antenna here is just like all of the others.
If there is any doubt in your mind what this device is, the rotator clearly spells it out for you.
This is a good example of the flat back on the newer 2001s
On the older sirens this back panel is more rounded.
The dark grills are where the siren draws its intake air from.
Here again is the head of the siren from another angle, showing
the wide central cone bearing
the mark of its maker.
I would not have found this siren if it weren't for the eagle-eyes
of my hunting partner this day.
He spotted it from 121 on the way back to more familiar cities
(We couldn't decide whether this one was a 2001 or a P-15 until we got close to it.)
Here are the controls. Much the same as the other 2001s in this system.
This siren is directly in an alleyway behind someone's house.
I wonder if they are siren fans or whether or not they hate the siren being
in their back yard
(Timberland is one of the newer, ritizer neighborhoods in the Colony)
Not much else to say here.