P-50...up close and personal

[Brendan Ahern]

For those of you who have not heard a t-135/p-50 up close...wow. I drove out to Lemont to hear one of theirs. I was with a friend who videotaped the whole test. We sat across the street in the post office parking lot. It was kinda funny. An ambulance sat under it for a min or so after it started, then drove away, then after it stopped they came back, looked at it, and left again. I guess that is their SCADA system. HAHAHA. But really, very attention grabbing siren. It shook the ground I was standing on. Its not bad when its not facing you, but man, you cant hear yourself think when it hits you. I was temped to go read the electric meter when it was going off. Im sure we'll get the video up soon. Oh btw, does anyone know how the inner workings are? Mainly, how it rotates. It came to a dead stop on shutdown, so I dont think it is directly driven. There has to be a separate motor.

[SirenMadness]

I think there is a horizontal motor in the siren-rotating mechanism box; there is probably a system of forty-five-degree angle-changing gear. You don't want a chain or belt-mechanism. Directly driven? I think A.C.A. quit that long ago, with the Allertor. The noise-maker systems are pretty simple: the motor in the back cone, with the rotor and stator separated from the motor by a wall between the two major parts.

B.T.W., very interesting story! Ha, ground-shaking! Good luck with the video!

[Robman2ka]

wow i cannot wait to see that video

[Gil]

Thats cool. I was going to go to Lemont on my siren hunt, cause
i knew they had T-135s, but i didnt know of any locations.

Little off topic, but when my mom was little, she used to go to her
Grandmothers house and heard the siren at the FD everyday at
noon. I think ti was in the early 60s somtime. Does anyone know
what sirens they had back then?

[SirenMadness]

Federal Signal's and the A.C.A. company's products were popular.

[hobbeekid]

There's somebody on u tube that stood directly under one of those things for the whole three minute test or however long it took without hearing protection! I'm sure everyone has seen it.In Fact I think there was a thread on the old board about it..........

[Brendan Ahern]

I didnt have ear protection, it was pretty loud. But the best part was everyone elses reactions. People stopping at the mailboxes and such. One old lady refused to lower her window and kept her ears covered till it stopped. Another guy just held his ear when the siren came around. One lady riding by on a bike had one ear covered. Me and Mike were the only ones who were enjoying it.

[Archon]

N/A

[Robman2ka]

im still waiting for the video ??

[AllSafe]

There must be an enormous amount of space in the horn on those sirens taken up just by the motor; I would say at least one-third to one-half. It can't be a sealed unit because a sealed 50hp motor would have to be bigger than the siren. I would imagine there is an air opening behind the chopper to allow the motor to ventilate itself.