Kockum Sonics Sirens in Arkansas

[4J25]

Jacob and I were mapping out some sirens in Arkansas, when I plopped down into Streetview in the town of Batesville, in Independence County. What greeted me was a Hörmann-esque electronic siren on a steel pole. I did some digging, knowing I had seen something similar at one point, and discovered that they are the Kockum Sonics TYFONIC Delta 4. And it wasn't a one-off, the county is full of them- from the city of Batesville to the small town of Cord. Jacob searched around and found a few articles claiming that the sirens have been temperamental, and Michael found one from 2014 that stated they haven't worked in years. Another from 2011 states that the sirens were disconnected.

According an article from 2006, the county has 24 of them, and sometimes they simply don't work during testing. They also mention that they have no one to contact, which makes sense given that they are foreign sirens.

I am unsure of the current state of the system, except that they are still standing as of March 2016. It also appears that at least one was replaced with a smaller Sentry siren.

[Model L]

these things sound so weird...

[siren fan]

They look weird. Any video's of them?

[Synther]

They look weird. Any video's of them?

Yea, in Switzerland.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8zWV7s4-3HQ

[siren fan]

Thank you. Those do sound rather strange...

[AndyEitel290]

Do you have any coordinates for these siren locations? Me and this guy named Cole Outlaw are working on an AR Statewide Map. If there is any necessary I'll give necessary credits.

[WindowsWhistler2419]

They look weird. Any video's of them?

Yea, in Switzerland.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8zWV7s4-3HQ

I wonder why sirens in foreign counties (except for the UK) sound and look so strange?

[Chem_Boffin_6589]

It's something to do with a standard on an easy to distinguish sound that cuts above everything.

Back here in the UK, our electronic sirens also sound slike electronic E-57s, just like in Germany. It's probably for the best as it's a tried and true system.

They look strange because their speaker technology is a pretty good concept, having sound directed in specific beams instead of in a circular pattern with your standard EOWS 1212 speaker horns.

[Adam Pollak]

I’m digging up old posts tonight

I was in the Batesville and Jonesboro areas in April of 2018 and saw a few of those sirens. I’ve seen the articles about the systems being not used anymore, but this siren was freshly moved to a new fire station here. The fresh auger dirt hole and dirt on the control box and horns (from lying on the ground) look like it couldn’t have been installed more than a week or two before I was there.

14053A3F-F2F3-4B07-9C18-B2D1E3C42EAF.jpeg (701.72 KiB) Viewed 17297 times

[Taterworks]

For those interested in getting a video, it looks like there's a Tyfonic siren in Batesville at the intersection of Harrison St and N St Louis Street, where northbound AR-69 turns east. There is a Walgreens on that corner, and the Tyfonic is on that corner of the intersection. I found it almost right away.

Another one near Lawrence Street and Allen Street. They are kind of small on the poles but they use a folded horn design so they might still be able to achieve high output.

Another one in the entrance to Batesville High School off Pioneer Drive.

Another one at Harrison Street and Eagle Mountain Blvd.