ARCHIVED: Mystery Sirens (2008-3/2021)

[uncommonsense]

A DSA array maybe?

No. They look nothing like a DSA.

They're not Federal or Whelen arrays. Beats me what they're used for because I don't see a control box for the speakers and I can't tell where the wires are going.

[PeachtreeSirens]

They strike me as having the general lines of Altec speaker arrays, but I couldn't say for certain, and I certainly haven't the foggiest idea of what they'd be used for. I don't see anything nearby that could have much use for a PA system.

[murrfarms]

I'm beginning to think that the rotor's broken and they just stuck those up there instead of repairing/replacing the rotor mechanism. Notice how it's pointing the same direction in both street view and satellite imagery, and the general direction that the other speaker array covers supports that theory even more. Not sure how they have the whole setup hooked up, but I feel certain the fixed array is fed from the Whelen cabinet along with the 3016 head. The only other box on the pole is a CD&F controller above the Whelen cabinet, and those definitely don't have any sort of tone generator/amp inside.

[turtlbrdr]

I'm beginning to think that the rotor's broken and they just stuck those up there instead of repairing/replacing the rotor mechanism. Notice how it's pointing the same direction in both street view and satellite imagery, and the general direction that the other speaker array covers supports that theory even more. Not sure how they have the whole setup hooked up, but I feel certain the fixed array is fed from the Whelen cabinet along with the 3016 head. The only other box on the pole is a CD&F controller above the Whelen cabinet, and those definitely don't have any sort of tone generator/amp inside.

I was joking to myself last night and this morning that might be the case. I can't imagine putting up an entire new siren (even a crappy one) would be less than replacing a simple rotator though. But then, what would the DSA be used for? These siren is notably outside the town proper, and is in fact are only two sirens that I could find.

Is it possible this siren is locked to only rotate like 90 degrees? Whelen's don't freely rotate like the familiar ASC and FS models, they have to turn around at some point. The town proper is located to the north of the siren (where it's faced in the pictures). The DSA points to a small neighborhood to the south, and the Whelen would almost be overkill for this small area. Is this a community that was worried about the effectiveness of a siren that could only be heard a percentage of the time it was facing you, so they restricted it's movement to a smaller amount?

[turtlbrdr]

Got another one guys, a rarer specimen I'm hoping this time:

This is definitely some kind of horizontal Sterling siren as far as I can tell, but I'd never be able to tell you the exact model.



Once again, the direct url to the streetview: https://maps.google.com/maps?ll=38.5126 ... 1,,2,-7.27

[Chicagosiren-hunters]

M-5/M-10 for sure

[freebrickproductions]

Probably an M-10. It looks rather large.

[turtlbrdr]

anyone know the dimensions on an M-5 vs an M-10?

[holler]

M-5- Heavy
M-10- Sinfully heavy

[Mark N]

What is this siren? It's at Niskyuna Fire Department-District 2. It's the little vertical red thing and it sounds like it has 10 ports.