Salter Path/Indian Beach FD T-Bolt

[Jeff]

Hi to all. I was out at salter path about two weeks ago and heard the tbolt at the salter path/indian beach FD go off a few times, but it was unlike anything i have heard before. There was no wind up, it sounded like a fog horn blast, steady and nonwavering that lasted about 20 seconds and then had a quick wind down lasting maybe 3 seconds that was almost like someone applying a siren brake on a "Q" It was the strangest thing? Any idea what was up with that? Thanks for the responses.

[SirenMadness]

I think that you have heard a pulse signal, a signal achieved by shutting both solenoids closed. So the T-bolt had a wind-up, which was not heard because the solenoids were shut. The wind-down happened to signify that the signal was over; it sounded short because the air to the chopper was cut off after those three seconds of the chopper winding down.
Did the T-bolt that you've explained have the "bow tie" just behind the horn?

[Brendan Ahern]

Thats one very likely explanation. It could have also been a malfunction. Maybe the timer cams are messed up. The chopper could have started before the blower, and both could have shut down at once.

[Jeff]

ni reply to the answer and question left by Peter, No I dont believe there was a "bow tie" on this siren. i think it was very similar to the one pictured in the upper left corner of the airraidsirens.com home page. thanks for the quick replies. I look forward to hearing everyone's input.

[SirenMadness]

Then it either must have been the blower shutting off or the excess-flow valve opening at these intervals. Strange, I've never heard of that happening. It must have been a pleasure, though!

EDIT: oops, I thought that Jeff meant the T-bolt at the top of this board.

[Trey]

ni reply to the answer and question left by Peter, No I dont believe there was a "bow tie" on this siren. i think it was very similar to the one pictured in the upper left corner of the airraidsirens.com home page. thanks for the quick replies. I look forward to hearing everyone's input.

The one in the corner of airraidsirens.com is a Thunderbolt 1003, which has the bow-tie.

[Jeff]

i thought the bowtie was located immediately behind the horn on a 1003

[matt boren]

If they were operating it manually from the stack of toggle switches in the rcm cab then you can easily control what kind of output you get, for example I will start with just the chopper only, then after it hits peak pitch then I'll hit the blower and that will throw a huge roar out only at peak pitch, then I'll kill the blower and next after the blower is completly quiet I'll kill the chopper, then as the chopper coasts down to the bottom of the wind down I'll then throw the blower on for an extremly loud low pitch boom, sort of like a sonic boom, so between working the chopper and blower switches you can come up with any kind of crazy pattern you want its that simple.

[q2bman]

Why have you not filmed that. That would be neat to see!!

Sonic T-Bolt Boom!! I like it.

[Jeff]

so i just looked back at a reply that was posted stating the tbolt on the home page was a 1003, and that it had the "bow tie". in looking back it sure is; the tbolt i was referencing looked like the one at the top of THIS forum board, which is different than the one on the homepage. my error. I just checked the homepage and saw that siren is a different one than the one on this page.... i just didnt pay that much attention to detail initially.