The Siren Board

It lives! It seems Idaho Falls suddenly has a renewed interest in their sirens. I believe this is the first test in ten or fifteen years of their system, and according to the news report they want to test every three months. They have an all-Whelen system with this 3016, two 2020s, a 2016, and a 2750.



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

It seems it was a good thing we went to record this, afterwards I called up the EMA and reported the sound and rotation issues and they made it sound like they knew nothing about them. You can hear either a 2016 or a 2750 winding down after the 3016 stops.

EDIT: The news story.

That is one strange tone.

Poor thing. I wonder why it sounds so bad...?

Did the thing go off for warnings, or just not test? Cause that would be a long time for it not to be active then finally come active after 15 years.

Kasm279 wrote:It lives! It seems Idaho Falls suddenly has a renewed interest in their sirens. I believe this is the first test in ten or fifteen years of their system, and according to the news report they want to test every three months. They have an all-Whelen system with this 3016, two 2020s, a 2016, and a 2750.

What gives? No wonder this siren is jacked up. If I was the EMA, granted we'd have the money, I'd have new controllers put on those sirens at least. Are those controllers all ESC-864s?

On a side note, I think that this is an early WS-3016 because of the X on the screen, where newer ones have a X with a line through it, though I could be wrong. Look at some videos of the 3016 really closely to see it.

I think the drivers are going on this one.

Sifed1 wrote:Did the thing go off for warnings, or just not test? Cause that would be a long time for it not to be active then finally come active after 15 years.

They either wanted to test them for that long to see how they are doing after 10+ years, or that is their test length. No storms, it probably would've went off again or longer

Sifed1 wrote:

Mark N wrote:I think the drivers are going on this one. They either wanted to test them for that long to see how they are doing after 10+ years, or that is their test length. No storms, it probably would've went off again or longer

Did the thing go off for warnings, or just not test? Cause that would be a long time for it not to be active then finally come active after 15 years.

No. I am wondering if the siren has been dead for 15 years or just used for tornado warnings and not tested.

Sifed1 wrote:No. I am wondering if the siren has been dead for 15 years or just used for tornado warnings and not tested.

Tornadoes? In IDAHO?
But anyway, all of the sirens in Idaho Falls have stood silent for about that time. This was just a test of the system. I plan on calling the EMA office and asking some questions about why they were installed and why they just decided to bring them back into operation. I'd like to think that I indirectly triggered it when I talked to one of the workers at the sewage plant when I was getting pictures of the WPS-2750...

EDIT: Oh, and I imagine they're 864s. I doubt they've ever been replaced.

Kasm279 wrote:

Sifed1 wrote:No. I am wondering if the siren has been dead for 15 years or just used for tornado warnings and not tested.

Tornadoes? In IDAHO?
But anyway, all of the sirens in Idaho Falls have stood silent for about that time. This was just a test of the system. I plan on calling the EMA office and asking some questions about why they were installed and why they just decided to bring them back into operation. I'd like to think that I indirectly triggered it when I talked to one of the workers at the sewage plant when I was getting pictures of the WPS-2750...

EDIT: Oh, and I imagine they're 864s. I doubt they've ever been replaced.

Oh, that's embarrassing! I didn't know what Idaho's climate was like. I wonder why they have the sirens then. Floods, Chemical Spills?

Edit: I can see why Idaho doesn't have tornadoes; It's really dry! They're probably for Flash Floods or a Chemical Plant.

Well, we kinda have some nuclear stuff in the area, but not very close. Flash floods aren't a huge possibility, but there are some dams in the area. Either way, it's nice that they're trying to get things going again. Oh, another thing: the 3016 never pointed directly at me, but I didn't have to even plug my ears. Something is certainly wrong with either the amplifiers or the drivers...

Oh, and were the rotators belt driven on these older Whelens?