"Duck and Cover" siren, Fedelcode in general

[StonedChipmunk]

This is the siren in the well-known Duck and Cover CD film. It doesn't sound (they use the generic Carters sound) but I wanted some info on it:
It's probably a Fedelcode, due to the label on the left side. What the heck is Fedelcode, though? An offshoot of FedSig? All I've seen from Fedelcode is Model X's, so that's what I'm inclined to think.

[JasonC]

They were pre-1950's sirens fitted with dampers to make a coded signal. Its short for "Federal Electric Coded" and was a name that Federal Electric branded those sirens.

[Trey]

That is a Fedelcode Type 2 (equivalent to the Federal Model 2: housing was just a bit different).

[Daniel]

Did the Model 2 version have a coding mechanism or was it the same as a normal one?

[loudmouth]

didnt we go over what Fedelcode is in a older post.?

just woundering

[StonedChipmunk]

Ah, makes sense. Wonder why they don't exist today.

And yes, we brushed up a bit on the name, but not really anything else about it.

[JasonC]

Wonder why they don't exist today.

Same reason they don.t do the coded air horn blasts anymore. Theres no need for it. Remember, these were the days before portable radios and addresses, and when the fire department was called, there was literally a fire! The siren/horn would send out a coded blast. The volunteers would interpret the blast as to what part of town the fire was at. They would drive to the station, respond in the fire trucks to that part of town, and literally drive to where the smoke was. Now we have radios and physical addresses so there is no need.

[Daniel]

I'm sure that some town somewhere still has a Fedelcode or a Sterling coding siren set up for coding. I would love to hear one. There is a town about 20 miles away (Canby) with a Fedelcode Model 5 -- I'll have to ask around to see if it's still in use. I still remember some of Mount Shasta's air horn codes, which haven't been used in fifteen years. The fire call was three shorts, one long, repeated. Street codes were a series of shorts, such as 2-4. All clear was three shorts. Since the town is in a valley, there was evacuate north (1-2-3) and evacuate south (1-4-4). A short blast was one second and a long was eight.

[Adam Pollak]

For the number of sirens with Fedelcode housings, I would not think more than a small percentage actually have coding mechanisms installed on them. I have owned a Fedelcode Model 5 and have seen inside numerous ones and have only seen one coded one ever. That siren was destroyed in Hurricane Charley for those of you wondering. Though the option surely existed and was used, Fedelcode seems like more of a trade name than an actual indicator as to what was inside.