The Siren Board

I thought it was hilarious. A great example of that dry, midwestern sense of humor that I was raised with and love. If I were to explain the midwestern state of mind to an outsider, I'd probably point to that video. It was pretty damn funny.

When I was about 8 we had a terrible outbreak of tornadoes in my hometown. I remember the sirens going off all night, my mom ushering me into the hallway after looking out the window and a seeing a fat funnel a block away from my house illumanted by lightning. It was terrifying.

The tornadoes destroyed a signifigant portion of town, and almost completely demolished several smaller villages around here. Still, I'm not irate about somebody pointing to a plastic funnel. I'm more offended by those idiots who go out and film actual tornadoes, all the while hooting and hollering and cheering as it tears through somebody's home.

Once again, some people need to get thier priorities in order.

Both video's were dumb.. again! That 3 minute straight siren cycle is so annoying.. If they did rounds , rises and falls like the sirens I have always heard i think i'd like them more out your way ...

HERE listen to this.. This is how sirens should sound!!!!

http://www.longislandfirealarm.com/Carl ... lCycle.wma

Some nice Federal 7T's CD sirens in there for you guys..

The warning tone for tornadoes/severe thunderstorms is steady tone. You have to understand that not all situations need a attack tone. The only time a siren should be blown in attack or wail mode is when there is an actual attack! The steady alert tone should be used for severe storms. Some communities don't bother to go by FEMA guidelines but thats life not everybody listens to guidelines though. People may get a wail tone confused with a firetruck or EV especially in higherpitch sirens and when something like a tornado is approaching you don't want people to get confused!

Thanks, Tyler.

I was about to ask why not rise and fall Wail.
It would be more noticeable.

Once attained, a steady tone may not be as noticed.
It may blend in with ambient noise or covered by notes in music one is listening to.

A siren's changing frequency is unique and makes it stand out.

(What my wife and I mistook for a truck brake squeal turned out to be an approaching Denver FD engine responding with Q siren peaked.)

Clever.

My home town uses the attack (rise and fall) for warnings. And 3 mins of steady wail for all clear. It is more noticable. The steady tone blends in with the background wind and screaming cats!

Robert, STOP KNOCKING MY Q SIRENS!

I love Q sirens!
I want one!
(I'd like to turn one into a hand-crank siren.)

But Q's are now obsolete - like me.

Electronic do so much more, cost less, weigh less, use less power.

To their credit, I think Denver FD no longer orders electromechanical on new rigs.
(If I could only convince them to replace some Qs with electronic maybe I could acquire one.)

My town's fire department uses all Q sirens. I have a pic somewhere.

Last night I molested the Q on our engine. (I cleaned it with a damp cloth.)

I wanted to remove the front grill and stator cover (all one piece) but assumed as soon as I did, we'd get a call.

A young fellow firefighter bet me a meal that we would get no calls.

"We always get calls on a weekend night with a full moon." as I shook his hand.

I lost.
Hope he likes my wife's squid tentacle stew.