I decided to make a post about sirens in Switzerland.
Switzerland has 7800 sirens, around 4200 are stationary, that means, they are mounted on a house or on a mast, which is very rare. Mounting on a house is pretty common, I know only one siren which is mounted on a mast. (I think, it's an Landert MSL-6, but this could be replaced) Now all old sirens (mechanical, pneumatic and some old electronic) are/will be replaced, because they aren't compatible with Polyalert. This is a system, where you can start ALL sirens in Switzerland or all sirens in the canton.
The other ~3000 sirens are mobile sirens. One model ist that (German language!): http://forum.ig-wasi.de/viewtopic.php?f=34&t=4659 There are many pictures and videos. The same siren in action:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y0k2fn_YFZ0
Some of you might already know that link, because I already posted that in Siren Enthusiasts. The mobile sirens are mounted on a roof and the cars have to drive a pre-set route. Another model is the Landert MSL-1.
Now the stationary siren models: We begin with the mechanical sirens:
Landert MSL-3:
Manufacturer: Landert
8 ports
2850 rpm = 380 Hz
4 kW
100 kg
99 dB@30 m (2 dB lower than an E57)
manufactured between 1938 until an unknown point.
Landert MSL-6
Manufacturer: Landert
10 ports
2850 rpm = 480 Hz
11 kW! (Strongest motor siren I know!)
145 kg
114dB@30 m (loudest motorsiren in Europe)
manufactured between 1938 until an unknown point
All MSL-3/6 get replaced because they're too old and not compatible with Polyalert.
Now the pneumatic:
We don't know much about the KTG 9/10/11, but there are some videos from it. This famous siren is like a HLS, but the horns can only play a single tone, so the regulation has to control each horn, that there is a signal. They sound not nice but a siren doesn't have to sound beautiful, they have to alert the people! The manufacturer is Kockum Sonics in Sweden, they produce today the Delta siren, I'll write about them.
The KTG are like a HLS, because they work with compressed air. But I read some articles and they wrote that the KTG are too quiet.
They are on the same niveau like the HLS!We dont' know how loud she is exactly and how many she weighs and other informations. Sorry. But on Youtube are so many videos about it. Just type in "KTG siren". Or here is a page of a Swiss siren enthusiasts (in German, but many pictures!) : http://www.sirenen-schweiz.ch/sirenen/ktg/
At last the electronic sirens. I have to say that Switzerland become a state of electronic sirens. They have many different models, so I begin with the older:
Kockum Sonics ET 751:
Manufacturer: Kockum Sonics
500 Watt
Weigh: unknown
It sounds so amazing to my ears! Hear here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SiRwZtQoM4A Another video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BjwNdZZohVo
Unfortunately they get replaced and a friend of me will record a ET751 (which become very rare) at the next siren test next year. Then we have a very good video of a ET751.
There is another model with the same design, but the difference is, it has only 3 horns and they show in the same direction. Look here: http://forum.ig-wasi.de/download/file.p ... &mode=view We don't have any informations of this sirens, the only thing we know, the manufacturer is Kockum Sonics. We don't know more. Sorry.
Delta-4/6/8
This is the newer model of a electronic siren of Kockum Sonics. Every model sounds a bit different. The number says how many sound makers and horns are (in) there.
Delta-4 has 1000 W and has 105 dB on 30 m
Delta-6 has 1500 W and has 109 dB on 30 m
Delta-8 has 2000 W and has 112 dB on 30 m
They sound very ... ugly...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8zWV7s4-3HQ
The next electronic siren is a Sonnenburg SES 1000, which sounds also ugly. It has 1000 Watt and is 115dB in 30 metres loud. Here is a video of MardekSirenen (a friend of me, I know him very good because he lives only 30-40 km away from me). The SES 1000 is built by Sonnenburg Swiss AG, which also produce the SES 500 and SES 2000, which are rare (I think) in Switzerland (I mean, I didn't see much of them) .
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IvnuW--vsKM
The next siren is known as the Tecenet. I have to make a correction:
The name Tecenet is wrong.
It is from Wiedmann&Dettwiler.
I don't know where the name Tecenet is from.
Here is a video, how it sounds:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TEyLubPbylw(Yes, I know, too much Youtube links, but you want to hear, how they sound, don't you?)
The next siren is the Nanzer ESA 35. It's probably from the 80ies. I don't have more information but I have a video again.
[youtube]Kr1SXrNOCrs
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The last siren is the APEX EPS 1000. I don't have more informations, but some videos again. Here with Allgemeiner Alarm:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3izgncuAk3E
The next is with water-alarm. More informations to signals later. Water alarm:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fm1hyn6smqE
Now the signals:
Today in Switzerland exist three signals.
1. Allgemeiner Alarm (general alarm) - Wail
2. Wasseralarm (water alarm) - 12 deep tones which are 20 sec long and are given with 10 sec pauses between the tones.
3. Feueralarm (fire alarm) - HiLo
Until 2004 there were 2 other signals, which are now included in Allgemeiner Alarm:
C-Alarm (chemical alarm) - interrupted wail (duration 2 min)
Strahlenalarm (nuclear alarm) - (1 min continuous tone)
How they sound (attention: they were simulated with Audacity, please apologize that and it's in German again!) :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v= bYT-N-_u448
If you wonder: "Wait, isn't that HiLo?" Yes, Switzerland has HiLo!
I always thought, they also put that away in 2004, until MardekSirenen said to me, that Fire alarm is still in use. But giving HiLo from sirens are now forbidden, only firehorns (very very very rare!) are allowed. If you want to hear, how they really sound, here (yes, the last video
for today): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zcUIKvuDwro
We have finished! I wrote now about 1 hour
Have fun and ask, if there are any questions!
