About the Thunderbeam

[KnightFox]

I got to thinking about the Thunderbeam today, is it an Onimdirectional or Unidirectional or a combination of both?

[Justin]

It's omnidirectional, even though the actual siren itself does not rotate, the deflector plate does, bouncing sound waves in all directions.

[Gil]

Well, in the Federal Catalog (on Jmarcoz's site) It says its Uni-Directional.

The plate spins slowly, covering a certain area. If it were to spin as
fast as the siren motor, it would be omnidirectional..

[The Big Labowski]

saying things without researching first again, eh? It's uni-directional. The sound is pointed downwards at a plate set at a 45 degree angle. The plate rotates and the sound is bounced off in the direction that the face of the plate is pointing. Listen to a recording, the sound gets louder when the plate faces the camera.

[KnightFox]

No I did research, it's just I got to thinking. I know that when the plate faces you, the siren is LOUDER, but even with the plate away from you, you can still here the siren pretty clearly

[The Big Labowski]

that comment wasnt directed towards you. but, even with a tbolt that has a heavily forced sound path, you can hear it even when its pointing opposite you depending on how far away you are. the tbeam is less effecient at directing the beam, but nonetheless, it still points most of the sound in one direction. but just the fact that it DOES direct the sound in a particular direction for the most part automatically classifies it as uni-directional.

[Nelso90]

Well, there is this 'beam in Fisher, MN... It goes so fast it almost pulses. Is that a common problem for this model?

[Justin]

No I did research, it's just I got to thinking. I know that when the plate faces you, the siren is LOUDER, but even with the plate away from you, you can still here the siren pretty clearly

I still say omni-directional for two reasons.

The sound being projected is being directed in a constant 360? rotation, like the 2001 or the Thunderbolt.

You can also hear the siren clearly even if the horn is not facing you, also like the 2001 and Thunderbolt

Princeton defines 'omnidirectional' as 'not directional'. Bear with me.
Sirens considered to be omnidirectional, are directional in a sense, but not specifically fixed to a specific direction.

Princeton defines 'unidirectional' as operating or moving or allowing movement in one direction only.
Unidirectional sirens are designed to send out signals in a single direction, like a diaphone, or shiphorns.

My point is the Thunderbeam emits a signal in all directions regardless of which direction the 'sirens north' faces, thus omnidirectional.

See where I'm coming from?

P.S. I'm not trying to turn this into any sort of p!$$ing contest, but I think that Omni and Uni directional have been mixed up here.

[Elliott]

I think it should be redefined as Unidirectional, Rotational and Omnidirectional....examples being:

The fixed position "custom" siren in Colerain, Ohio ( Hamilton County, Paul's Siren Archive)...this is the only true unidirectional siren I can think off.

T-bolts are rotational, obviously

SD-10's are Omnidirectional

Elliott

[AllSafe]

Well, there is this 'beam in Fisher, MN... It goes so fast it almost pulses. Is that a common problem for this model?

Someone talked about that on the old board as well. There is a shaft which runs to the rotator gearbox from the siren rotor to power the rotator. The gearbox is broken, and thus the plate is allowed to drag on the shaft, causing it to spin very quickly.