The Siren Board

Here is our purchase agreement from our last 2001 we had installed in Richfield in March 2017.

The proposed siren is a 2001-DC Squareback which stands abandoned after it replaced a Sterling M-10 in Mantua (in neighboring Portage County) in the early 1990’s. However, the Village of Mantua presumably deemed the new siren too loud, had the old M-10 removed from the old fire station and it was refurbished both mechanically and cosmetically by the fire department and reinstalled on top of an old windmill tower downtown at Village Hall/PD. The 2001 was subsequently disconnected from power after the M-10 was placed back into service (it is 8/16 Port Model from 1957) and was put on a timer which sets the siren off for one minute every Sunday around noon or shortly after noon (and is also activated manually or by radio for tornado warnings); the 2001 is down the road behind Crestwood High School and has been sitting abandoned ever since.

Anyways, back to our town here; here’s the purchase agreement for the siren installed in March of 2017.

Originally Federal Field Services quoted us $32,000 but according to the agreement and the invoice from FS which is attached in the link the grand total came down to $23,682.60 probably with the help of grant money. Here is the link: http://www.richfieldvillageohio.org/Doc ... PDF?bidId=

Does anyone know a preliminary cost to install an older 2001-DC (and possibly both estimates with and without having to replace the old controller boxes) and adding an AC/DC rectifier and Yagi antenna? I’m assuming it would be less than the cost for a new 2001-130, but that info would be great...either PM me if you know or reply here (although a PM would probably be best as manufacturers don’t necessarily like their prices being public although in the invoice the prices are there because it’s constituted as public records and therefore had to be released per Ohio law.

Thanks!

I’ll let everyone know the status of this project as it progresses (with the exception of confidential stuff should we get to the Village Council level to negotiate and present this idea to them)! Right now the best thing would be to add one “new” siren to the system in best interest of the town budget.

Just a question, would the radio communications be on an 800Mhz system? I don't believe the radios on FC controllers can work on 800Mhz trunked systems.

Phone Goat wrote: ↑

Thu May 16, 2019 4:13 pm

Just a question, would the radio communications be on an 800Mhz system? I don't believe the radios on FC controllers can work on 800Mhz trunked systems.

Not sure what they use except I've never gotten tones for their sirens before, although I don't have a scanner either because I don't really care about tones or not in my videos. Although my friend has a scanner and has never gotten tones for the sirens either, so they are probably trunked which is a good thing.

Also, caught this error in the invoice too; seems FFS messed up or changed the order somehow originally: According to the invoice, it says we purchased a 508-128, yet FFS installed a 2001-130 here instead! I wonder if the 508 cost too much so they got a 2001-130 instead? Either that or they decided to get a 2001 so that the siren would sound the same as the one at the High School which is also a 2001-130. I’m assuming the latter was the reason but it’s still interesting how that got changed. Either way, I don’t think anyone noticed that! It likely was changed probably because Federal Field Services loves to push 2001-130's over 508's for whatever reason.

Something I forgot to mention is I’m assuming I the prices in the invoice would be the same to put new controls (if needed), rectifier, antenna, installation, and testing on a older 2001-DC that would be reinstalled? Also, what voltage would the siren have to put out to reach peak pitch (manual specifies 705hz on the 2001-DC (SRN) as peak pitch but according to the data sheet for these sirens the pitch is specified as 750hz. I heard a DC yesterday in the 780hz range personally, I'm assuming the peak pitch differs based on the voltage going to the siren from the rectifier and higher the voltage, the higher the pitch? Would that cause damage to the motor on those older DC's in any way? I'm thinking that putting it at a higher pitch may be better because the sound would then be easier to distinguish from highway background noise; but at the end of the day it probably doesn't matter. Makes sense to me but just guessing.

What happened to Cincinnati's old Allertor?

Purring Cat wrote: ↑

Wed Oct 23, 2019 9:29 pm

What happened to Cincinnati's old Allertor?

I didn't know they had one? I know Batavia (Clermont county, a few miles from Cincinnati) has an Allertor that doesn't like to work, maybe they have it?

Phone Goat wrote: ↑

Thu Oct 24, 2019 5:54 pm

Purring Cat wrote: ↑

Wed Oct 23, 2019 9:29 pm

What happened to Cincinnati's old Allertor?

I didn't know they had one? I know Batavia (Clermont county, a few miles from Cincinnati) has an Allertor that doesn't like to work, maybe they have it?

There did used to be one in the Cincinnati suburb of Springdale, Ohio, but that one has been gone for years. As far as the operational status of the Batavia Allertor, I'm not sure. Awhile back Christian Bricking (4J25) and his friends went to see the Batavia Allertor test, but I think he told me it failed to work.

fire_freak_57 wrote: ↑

Sat May 04, 2019 11:58 pm

Well, I am about ready to both cry and have a heart attack right now (not literally of course, but my heart is racing understandably).

Friend of mine passed through Knox Township and saw this today.

What really makes me angry is we emailed the township trustee to let him know we were interested both before and after the siren's removal and were told they would be stored for us.

Thanks for the help everyone. Unless this picture isn't real or there is somehow another Allertor still in storage (there was four removed and I can only see 3 in this picture), this is probably the end of this topic for now.

I can't believe this guy destroyed the sirens completely even after our multiple attempts to get them both before and after their removal.

I can't believe cities do this. Most sirens they're putting up today sound like fire engine sirens. Since infancy I've always felt that tornado/civil defense sirens should be dual-tone. There's no mistaking the sound of an allertor or thunderbolt. Siren spotting in the 80s and early 90s was so much fun.

ABSOLUTELY!!

There used to be a Prototype of the Allertor in the 1950s called the Mobil Directo. Atlanta, Georgia and Evansville, Indiana Had Mobil Directos back in the Cold War as Air Raid Sirens for Nuclear Attacks.