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Matt Hackler
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Whelen WS-200?

Tue May 23, 2006 5:27 pm

Hey All,

Does anyone know what the decible rating at 100' would be for the WS-2000 series of sirens? I can't find any info after googling it, and the Whelen website has no information on it. I would appreciate any help anyone could throw on this one. Thanks everyone,
"The Federal Thunderbolt siren is a rotating-beam siren that disperses high-intensity warning signals over a large area." :TBolt:

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3t22
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Wed May 24, 2006 5:44 am

I have had many incounters with the WS 2000 series up close, and there's still quite a few in use around me (mainly as fire sirens). I think if memory serves me right the WS 2016 is 115db @ 100ft. The 2012 I speculate is around 110db and the 2008 around 105db. The 2000-R is 115db if I remember right. I can take some readings with my db meter of the 2008, 2012, and one of the 2016s in Middlefield. I'll figure out a few good 100ft vantage points for each siren. There are no WS 2000-Rs around me that I know of. Maybe someone who lives in the St Louis area can shed some light on the 2000-R's db rating.

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va_nuke_pe
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We got it

Thu May 25, 2006 9:46 pm

I had a scanned copy of the WS-2000 installation manual - I sent it on to Mr. Hackler. It has all the Whelen data. However, if you can take measurements up close and personal, I would love the test data. Rather than stick you in a bucket truck, please take a measurement at ground level at 200 feet from the base of the siren. It should be taken over soft ground (grass, low shrubs) with no sound reflective surfaces around (asphalt, concrete, buiding siding, rock formations, etc.) around and direct line-of-sight with the siren horn and along the centerline of a horn array (directly in front of one array). If you have a digital meter, set it on "dBC" and "slow" measurement ranges. If you can take Leq or average, then please do so but only during the steady output phase (no wind-up or wind-down because these will artificially push down the average). Otherwise, if you have a straight meter reading, then try to use "eyeball" technology to come up with the weighted average output. Take the reading you have at 200 feet and add 6 dB, and voila, you will have the bucket truck reading at 100 feet straight in front of the horns. If you can record the frequency (or 1/3-octave band) that would be great too.

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3t22
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Re: We got it

Fri May 26, 2006 3:19 am

va_nuke_pe wrote:I had a scanned copy of the WS-2000 installation manual - I sent it on to Mr. Hackler. It has all the Whelen data. However, if you can take measurements up close and personal, I would love the test data. Rather than stick you in a bucket truck, please take a measurement at ground level at 200 feet from the base of the siren. It should be taken over soft ground (grass, low shrubs) with no sound reflective surfaces around (asphalt, concrete, buiding siding, rock formations, etc.) around and direct line-of-sight with the siren horn and along the centerline of a horn array (directly in front of one array). If you have a digital meter, set it on "dBC" and "slow" measurement ranges. If you can take Leq or average, then please do so but only during the steady output phase (no wind-up or wind-down because these will artificially push down the average). Otherwise, if you have a straight meter reading, then try to use "eyeball" technology to come up with the weighted average output. Take the reading you have at 200 feet and add 6 dB, and voila, you will have the bucket truck reading at 100 feet straight in front of the horns. If you can record the frequency (or 1/3-octave band) that would be great too.
I have 3 perfect locations to measure all 3 WS 2000 models in Middlefield CT. I can go into the VFC lot for their 2016, park in the Wadsworth falls park lot an walk up to the 200 ft mark for the lone 2008, and this maybe a bit on the tricky side do to the terrain (the siren's on top of an old factory on a hill), but there's a spot kind of down the road from the 2012. All of them are tested nightly at 6PM for one cycle. The 2008 and 2012 do "peak" longer than the 2016s and each are lower in tone than the 2016s (the 2008 is the lowest toned, followed by the 2012, than the 2016s are the highest toned)

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va_nuke_pe
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If you can't get 200 foot reading

Fri May 26, 2006 11:55 am

The near-field correction which is due strictly to spherical divergence is 6 dB per distance doubled. If you can't get 200 feet, then at 250 feet the correction is 8 dB. At 300 feet the corection is 9.5 dB. For devices of this size, however, I wouldn't recommend taking a near-field reading beyond 300 feet.

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