The Siren Board

josh555 wrote:

AST128_RyanK wrote:All of the images are broken and can't view them.

thats because this thread is 3 years old...

Oh...duh, didn't see that.

I think 1 can be heard in this video... https://youtu.be/PuNWkwGBldI?t=2m59s Well, you hear the 2001's wind up first, but then at 3:00 I hear a mystery siren wind up, and all they have is that CTI, some 2001's, and once a RSH-10(which I own the chopper and stator to ). But yeah, possible its the CTI? There is also 1 more video of the ambiance. The same siren can be heard in this video too! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lsWLSrOYGFQ

In the case no one knows what siren I'm talking about(Dillon does ;P).. its this one.

Okmulgee I think still has a few of their Thunderbeams left. There was one sitting on the ground where I got my SD-10 from. You can also hear an SD-10 in that video, but that is pretty far away from the CTI so not sure what the lower pitched siren could be.

CTI's sirens are interesting, albeit far from the best siren designs out there. I'm open to any further information that might be out there, but here's what I can scrape up.

Compliance Technologies Incorporated was founded on May 16, 1991 in Homewood, Ill.
Leonard R. Gargas and Daniel W. Bromley served as registered agent and president respectively. CTI originally supplied custom equipment for fire department trucks such as deflector plates for the Federal Model Q fire truck siren. By the late 90's they moved to Broken Arrow, Oklahoma and were now installing siren systems for cities across Oklahoma. They installed a mass of RM-130s for Ardmore, OK in 1998, hiring Ben Shinn as a subcontractor for the project.

The CTI Storm Sirens venture was an attempt to cash in on the new siren craze during the early 2000s. Ben Shinn was a dealer for these sirens, alongside offering parts for discontinued siren models including the Thunderbolt and RM-130. His parts business was called "ShinnParts".
The small siren posted above was CTI's attempt at a DC battery-backup model. It is doubtful CTI ever had a large-scale manufacturing facility to build these sirens, their products are very crude and prone to premature mechanical problems. I believe they shared some common parts with other sirens - the rotating SMR-15 sounds conspicuously similar to a Federal 2001-SRN.
The small DC siren had notoriously flimsy horns - I don't have its photos on hand, but it looked more reminiscent of a shop class project than any professional product.
None of these sirens appear to have been sold outside Oklahoma. The biggest problem with CTI besides quality control was the inability to seriously compete with established siren companies. CTI bowed out of the siren market almost as soon as they entered - they couldn't live up to the flashy promotional material posted on their old website. Had there been more resources behind CTI, they might have had a better chance at surviving.

As of 2015, they are no longer in business.

The SMR-15 almost seems like a knockoff 2001. They have a very similar horn setup in the projector. User velocityflier16's video of the one in Bixby shows the inside of the projector as the siren finishes its attack cycle.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hu8MalNQ1xA

It and the T-128s have been upgraded to shiny new AC/DC Federal Signal panels. It takes 48VDC apparently.

https://goo.gl/maps/1NnMg5KHbqT2

I've compiled some more information from Ben Shinn's old websites. They are a pain to navigate in the web archive browser so I'll post it here.

First, here is Ben Shinn with one of Ardmore, OK's RM-130 DC sirens - August 1998.


The first Storm Master website popped up in 2002, with Ben Shinn acting as a dealer. Ben Shinn touted a number of operations including Shinn Emergency Products, ShinnParts, and The Shinn Group. It's doubtful that any of these concerns drew in much success as none of them are in active business anymore. The siren business was, and always will be, a dog-eat-dog world.



First we are shown the StormMaster I, described as follows:



StormMaster I from CTI
Covers over 4 square miles.
20hp Rotating Beam
128dbc @100 ft.
ZERO maintenance.
Sealed bearings throughout. Stainless steel grade #8 fasteners. UV Resistant composite materials WILL NOT RUST. Built with the quality you require and expect for years of trouble- free operation.

In 2004, this omni-directional model was introduced. The rounded stator ports bear similarity to contemporary Federal and ASC fare, however it is not a total match. There are no particular specifications for this siren. If one looks carefully you can see the motor housing is a cube shape - an unorthodox choice.


A flyer touts the rotating siren as a 15 horsepower model instead of 20.


The small DC siren is not mentioned anywhere on the site. It seems there was never a formal page dedicated to it. Invariably, it was not a success given its lackluster performance and low quality build.


Ben Shinn also sold spare siren parts for a while. Here's a "blast" from the past:


Things were different 10+ years ago. Every siren spotted was a discovery, good quality recordings and photos were a rarity, very few people owned a Thunderbolt, and viable siren information was hard to come by. Enjoy the StormMasters while they last.

Thanks for all the awesome info and pics!!

Yeah, ever since these started being discovered, the build quality never looked that great. The one in Bixby that Cory and I saw obviously had a messed up rotator. The DC one he owns is just two pieces of what looks like cast aluminum with a DC motor on top. There are no name plates or anything on the siren. Here are more pics of it.








This is me with the siren.

Ben Shinn was pretty active on the forums around 15 years ago. Me and him had quite a few conversations over AIM. From what I can recall, he wasn't doing so hot with the siren business then. I wish I could remember more.

dilloncarpenter wrote:Thanks for all the awesome info and pics!!

Yeah, ever since these started being discovered, the build quality never looked that great. The one in Bixby that Cory and I saw obviously had a messed up rotator. The DC one he owns is just two pieces of what looks like cast aluminum with a DC motor on top. There are no name plates or anything on the siren. Here are more pics of it.

So it is true Corey owns a CTI omni! Wow, that is very interesting, it would be amazing if Cory did a drill run of it some day But.. the design of square horns just didn't make sense.. I'm guessing a 10 port siren?

Yes, it's 10 horns/ports. I haven't really talked to him about it in awhile, but the last I heard was he was planning to get a new DC motor for it. This one is seized from sitting exposed as long as it did. Notice that it had no motor cover on it.