The Siren Board

SuperBanshee wrote:The news footage showed a Performance Plus Penetrator spinning around in the wind. Either the rotation chain broke or its gearbox stripped - they never really specified what went wrong. For all the Performance Plus' problems, Dane County did try to keep them running as long as possible. The one in Verona was closest to original configuration.

Madison's Super Sirex does not have a rotator, it sits on a stationary platform. The rotating Super Sirex was HOR's vain attempt to keep up with newer rotating sirens like the Thunderbolt and Mobil Directo. It didn't have any real benefit compared to the non-rotating model.

I can't find the news video, can you link it?

That particular video is long gone, so here are some other goodies instead.

A clipping from the Safety & Health Council magazine, dated 1989.
By the late 1980s, ACA kept their advertisements fairly basic with listings like these.


A separate picture of a Performance Plus Penetrator. Dane County requested they all be painted Civil Defense Yellow.


High quality photo of Verona's Performance Plus Penetrator. This is the one that was closest to original configuration.


That's all for now.

Found a video of one if anyone is interested:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jnqk1JHBRUc
Its a Black Earth one aswell

Sorry for the bump but I'd really like to mention that the 8/12 port Allertor on Emil Street and Fish Hatchery was replaced with a brand new T-128. I didn't check the other older sirens as I was in a bus to Iowa but some of the others might've been replaced too by now

I recorded that particular Allertor in 2011. It was a tough day because it was very windy, my Parkinson's was acting up, and the camera glitched during the recording. Also the siren was wired up backwards so it wasn't very loud.
I eventually managed to salvage a nice video from the original file although this never made it to Youtube - my first attempt at editing the file went less than ideally. Nowadays I can edit videos and audio handily so it's no longer a problem if something didn't turn out perfectly. It's much easier than constantly going out again for do-overs.

It was my plan to record the other Allertor in Belleville but the county replaced it with a 508 before I got the chance. As far as I'm aware it was another 8-12 Allertor just like Madison's. Only one in Marshall was confirmed to be 9-12 rather than 8-12 and I believe it is also gone. All of Dane County's Allertors were 3 phase, running on 230 volts, seemingly wired backwards, and installed between 1970 and 1971. There were at least 10 of them.

Here are all of Dane County's Allertors prior to removal. All looked identical except for Middleton's which was repainted black, and Marshall's which was 9-12 dual tone. The Allertor is one of my favorite sirens.

So Cambridge and Middleton are the only two left unless one or both got replaced. I might do a siren hunt later this month to see if anything else got replaced

That's correct. Middleton's Allertor was located along the rail line while Cambridge's is next to an old water tower and Presbyterian church.
Dane County's Allertors were interesting since they were some of the earlier production models. The smaller horn intake, motor cover hood, 8-12 blade chopper, and worm-gear rotation platform made them very distinctive from later Allertors. I do not think any other towns in Wisconsin use the older Allertor anymore. It is a shame they're gone, but at least we have lots of pictures, information, and a couple videos to remember them by.

SuperBanshee wrote:That's correct. Middleton's Allertor was located along the rail line while Cambridge's is next to an old water tower and Presbyterian church.
Dane County's Allertors were interesting since they were some of the earlier production models. The smaller horn intake, motor cover hood, 8-12 blade chopper, and worm-gear rotation platform made them very distinctive from later Allertors. I do not think any other towns in Wisconsin use the older Allertor anymore. It is a shame they're gone, but at least we have lots of pictures, information, and a couple videos to remember them by.

Wait so both were replaced? And do you know if any of the four Thunderbolts were replaced this year like the one at Madison East?

As far as I know, they would all be gone by now unless they had a delay with siren installations. It was my impression that they wanted as many sirens done in time for storm season.

The Marshall Decot IS not working I has no motor