Tolt Dam and its neglected sirens.

[OwenLester]

I’ll probably keep this post short, as I am typing this on my phone instead of my computer.

I’m a siren enthusiast, and let’s just say, washington is one of the worst states to be an enthusiast, at least from my experience. They seem to have this weird obsession with Modulators. Siren that needs maintenance? Nah, replace it with a Mod.

The Tolt Dam system at one point consisted of rare analog Whelens. However, it seems like the Whelens have had many false alarm issues. From what I’ve seen, at one point SPU claimed they “fixed” the system, but im unsure if they were talking about the Whelens or Mods. But at one point, they replaced the Whelens with a bunch of Modulators, thinking it would fix the false alarms. Obviously, they were way far off from the truth.

Now SPU claims they are having professional third party investigators figure out what is going wrong with the system. Apparently, in typical Seattle fashion, they were having a rough time. So much for professionals, huh.

Now the reason I came here to post about this is because I wanted to share my own solutions, and to see if anyone else possibly has an idea. Now I believe the Mods may be using the same faulty controllers as the Whelens, or just different faulty ones. However from the information I have, it seems to most likely be a controller issue. The controls they use as of now are obviously faulty, as a decent chunk of the time, false siren soundings come from faulty controllers. I also feel that electronic sirens suffer from false alarms more than other types do, but I may be wrong.

As an enthusiast, it genuinely hurts to see how spu is handling this. To end this post off, I might give a few possible solutions.

The least they can do is to fix or replace the controllers. Thats pretty much all I got to say for this one.

Perhaps a new system of chopper based sirens. My suggestions are either 2001s ( I love 2001s. fight me ) or perhaps T-128s, as they’re both pretty punchy sirens with battery backup. But knowing SPU’s insane obsession with Mods, its a pretty fat chance haha.

For anyone who decided to read though this, thanks lol.

[HudsonRiverSirens]

It has to be a problem on their end. Maybe with their communications equipment, or something like that. I don’t know much about that, but what I do know is that every single thing connected to those Mods is brand spanking new. There is absolutely no reason for them to be having such faults so early in their life. Certainly very odd. To be expected from decades-old Whelens, but not months-old Modulators!

[Greenrid]

It's definitely a problem on their end. I've personally have heard of no malfunctions of our siren system, and all of them use Federal Signal RCMs. Either it's the antennas or broadcasting system that they're using, or if the sirens are hooked up via phone line, then it would have to be the broadcaster that sends the signals. Someone there might be accidentally setting them off, and they probably don't even know it!

I could definitely be off about this, though, but I'm pretty sure I didn't.

[OwenLester]

It's definitely a problem on their end. I've personally have heard of no malfunctions of our siren system, and all of them use Federal Signal RCMs. Either it's the antennas or broadcasting system that they're using, or if the sirens are hooked up via phone line, then it would have to be the broadcaster that sends the signals. Someone there might be accidentally setting them off, and they probably don't even know it!

I could definitely be off about this, though, but I'm pretty sure I didn't.

you could be right, although I feel like someone accidentally setting the system off 8 times may be a bit much lol.

[OwenLester]

It has to be a problem on their end. Maybe with their communications equipment, or something like that. I don’t know much about that, but what I do know is that every single thing connected to those Mods is brand spanking new. There is absolutely no reason for them to be having such faults so early in their life. Certainly very odd. To be expected from decades-old Whelens, but not months-old Modulators!

Yeah, its definitely either a controller issue or a radio issue. On the flipside, I heard that the old analog whelens are going to siren enthusiasts, which is great! Analog Whelens arent very common anymore. I actually may be in a deal with someone from the spu to finally save that rotting thunderbolt and give it a new cozy home, but unfortunately I have to wait for this “3rd party study” to go through with it. I was planning on refurbishing it in time for the next SirenCon, but they recently told me that they havent gotten any results and to check back in 2025, so I guess unless I can restore it ungodly fast, I dont think I can bring it this year haha.

I honestly find it strange that these “professionals” are absolutely stumped by it. Honestly it seems like the SPU should hire siren enthusiasts to investigate instead haha.

[Greenrid]

It has to be a problem on their end. Maybe with their communications equipment, or something like that. I don’t know much about that, but what I do know is that every single thing connected to those Mods is brand spanking new. There is absolutely no reason for them to be having such faults so early in their life. Certainly very odd. To be expected from decades-old Whelens, but not months-old Modulators!

Yeah, its definitely either a controller issue or a radio issue. On the flipside, I heard that the old analog whelens are going to siren enthusiasts, which is great! Analog Whelens arent very common anymore. I actually may be in a deal with someone from the spu to finally save that rotting thunderbolt and give it a new cozy home, but unfortunately I have to wait for this “3rd party study” to go through with it. I was planning on refurbishing it in time for the next SirenCon, but they recently told me that they havent gotten any results and to check back in 2025, so I guess unless I can restore it ungodly fast, I dont think I can bring it this year haha.

I honestly find it strange that these “professionals” are absolutely stumped by it. Honestly it seems like the SPU should hire siren enthusiasts to investigate instead haha.

Let's hope that you're able to get it! I was kind of wondering at first if they would be able to be convinced to re-activate it, possibly just as a storm siren or even as a backup dam-failure siren. The only problem with that happening is how to get power back to it or if it's even in workable condition!

[OwenLester]

It has to be a problem on their end. Maybe with their communications equipment, or something like that. I don’t know much about that, but what I do know is that every single thing connected to those Mods is brand spanking new. There is absolutely no reason for them to be having such faults so early in their life. Certainly very odd. To be expected from decades-old Whelens, but not months-old Modulators!

Yeah, its definitely either a controller issue or a radio issue. On the flipside, I heard that the old analog whelens are going to siren enthusiasts, which is great! Analog Whelens arent very common anymore. I actually may be in a deal with someone from the spu to finally save that rotting thunderbolt and give it a new cozy home, but unfortunately I have to wait for this “3rd party study” to go through with it. I was planning on refurbishing it in time for the next SirenCon, but they recently told me that they havent gotten any results and to check back in 2025, so I guess unless I can restore it ungodly fast, I dont think I can bring it this year haha.

I honestly find it strange that these “professionals” are absolutely stumped by it. Honestly it seems like the SPU should hire siren enthusiasts to investigate instead haha.

Let's hope that you're able to get it! I was kind of wondering at first if they would be able to be convinced to re-activate it, possibly just as a storm siren or even as a backup dam-failure siren. The only problem with that happening is how to get power back to it or if it's even in workable condition!

Thanks mate! Knowing seattle they probably wont use it again haha. I wonder if us fellow enthusiasts could maybe band together to fix the system, because the spu obviously doesnt care it seems.

[SamtheSirenMan(531)]

The city of Carnation for a while now has been considering legal action against SPU for their inability to maintain the system of sirens that warn of the dam that would wipe the town off the map. It's damn sad how the Whelens, Analog 2800s, were working comparatively fine when they made the decision to "upgrade". The system has been in offline for nigh on three years now. It's totally destroyed my confidence in WSS as a company. Should mention that after the original Mods were installed, new larger ones had to be dropped in later because they were actually way quieter than the original Whelens and WSS had totally botched the coverage calculations. The vast majority of the grievances can be attributed to West Shore Services' incompetence and I feel like more people should make that connection and possibly withdraw their support of them. Seems like they're the new ECS.

[OwenLester]

The city of Carnation for a while now has been considering legal action against SPU for their inability to maintain the system of sirens that warn of the dam that would wipe the town off the map. It's damn sad how the Whelens, Analog 2800s, were working comparatively fine when they made the decision to "upgrade". The system has been in offline for nigh on three years now. It's totally destroyed my confidence in WSS as a company. Should mention that after the original Mods were installed, new larger ones had to be dropped in later because they were actually way quieter than the original Whelens and WSS had totally botched the coverage calculations. The vast majority of the grievances can be attributed to West Shore Services' incompetence and I feel like more people should make that connection and possibly withdraw their support of them. Seems like they're the new ECS.

Yeah, thats honestly a good point. I do believe its more SPU than WSS, but probably because I have a hatred for seattle lol. On the bright side, i'm glad the analog Whelens are going to enthusiasts, and perhaps a certain popular older siren may go to me, haha (I have such an emotional attachment to this siren in particular compared to any other model).

Although, that is, if SPU finishes this so called “investigation” soon.

[Lycanroc76]

I went and saw some of tolt dam's sirens yesterday and they seemed fine.