rdfox
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Re: From the files of: Oh my god this really happened

Thu Jul 25, 2013 12:55 am

Reedsiren1 wrote:
kagome122885 wrote:I'm guessing those sirens aren't even going to last 10 years. What a piece of junk...
Does anyone know how long Battle Creek has had theirs?
Not sure. I know that when I moved from my first house, in 1992, the nearest siren (Eldred Street water tower) sounded mechanical, and the way I remember it sounding is suspiciously similar to the tone of a 4/5-port Thunderbolt or Model 2T, but what I really remember is the windup being EXTREMELY quick, with a long, slow wind-down... I wonder if it might have been that I was growing up hearing a Hurricane and never even knew about it. (The site is now home to a rotating ATI on a pole, and two large water tanks instead of the tower-and-tank pair I remember.)

Ironically, I went up to the park there with friends fairly frequently, but I don't remember what the siren looked like; until relatively recently, I thought I was actually hearing the downtown Thunderbolt... three miles away. :roll: Ahh, the innocence of youth.

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Re: From the files of: Oh my god this really happened

Mon Aug 05, 2013 10:40 pm

Here's a recent video of the new Longmont ATIs operating in Yeow:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sEsJoHwBNk0

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Re: From the files of: Oh my god this really happened

Tue Aug 06, 2013 12:58 am

ACAPenetrator50 wrote:Here's a recent video of the new Longmont ATIs operating in Yeow:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sEsJoHwBNk0
That is pretty much the only plus side to an ATI; it will make your skin crawl hearing a bunch of them going off in that tone during a storm. Definitely makes me want to hit the ditch! :shock:
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Re: From the files of: Oh my god this really happened

Tue Oct 22, 2013 8:24 pm

murrfarms wrote:
ACAPenetrator50 wrote:Here's a recent video of the new Longmont ATIs operating in Yeow:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sEsJoHwBNk0
That is pretty much the only plus side to an ATI; it will make your skin crawl hearing a bunch of them going off in that tone during a storm. Definitely makes me want to hit the ditch! :shock:
This is what Sedgwick county should do with their ATIs... alongside of the smorgasbord of sirens that we have...

Let's see now... There's a Thunderbeam, a couple of straggling 2T22s; One in Goddard and one in Cheney, A handful of Thunderbolts left in Wichita, as well as a few Gen 2 2001-ACs, and a couple of -SRN*Bs. Not to mention the 17 or so ATIs and the two Whelen vortexes, as well as McConnell AFB's Modulators.

If only.... That would be some trippy stuff with a tornado on the way... :wtf:
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Re: From the files of: Oh my god this really happened

Sun Apr 10, 2016 4:48 pm

Hate to bump such an old thread, but I recently completed a map of their sirens; my curiosity of ATI's rotating and oddball omnis found in Whitehouse, TX and Tuscaloosa, AL got the best of me.

Map Link

They never really replaced these sirens, just the heads and maybe the "front panels" for the controllers. While investigating I was quite surprised to find that from the time the HPSS32Rs were on the poles to the time that the omnis were installed the installations remained identical for the most part. Even the flex conduit on them remained in the same place. Also you might be shocked to find that before the ATI HPSS32Rs were... WHELENS! They apparently had an older system of Whelen WPS-4004s, installed in the early 90's, and added onto that system a bit later on. During the process of replacing the old system they must of restructured the coverage or had some that were already taken out of service, because out of the ones I could find only 2 showed up in the not-so-important areas (downtown, parks, etc.). These were discovered when I took a look at the StreetView and dialed the time back to August of 2007 (take note of that year). This first one is an old style 4004 installed next to an HPSS32R. The ATI is actually a bit bigger. They are located at E 9th Ave. and Pace St.
Untitled50.png
Untitled50.png (481.08 KiB) Viewed 4718 times
StreetView Link
Google Maps Link


This one is on S Hover Rd. near the intersection of Nelson Rd. and sported what appears to be an ATI solar panel and possibly an ATI controller. I already cringe at the sight of a Whelen with a Federal UltraVoice, but if this thing had an ATI React controller driving it... :sick: The solar panel on it is the exact same one that's on it now and the same model as the ones on the rest of the ATIs in the system. Notice they reused the old pole for the HPSS32. I'm not too sure what came of the the Whelen, but chances are they replaced the head with an HPSS32R eventually though.
Untitled51.png
Untitled51.png (246.43 KiB) Viewed 4718 times
StreetView Link
Google Maps Link


I want to point out that this system initially went up in 2006 from the looks of it. Through Google Earth's Historical Imagery you can find some of the first of the ATI's being installed as early as the 29th of April that year. This one is behind the Longmont Reservoir.
Untitled53.png
StreetView Link
Google Maps Link

There are a few areas that were unfinished at the time of the StreetView in 2007. This one below shows a metal pole stub without the upper portion of the mast installed. It's located at 12182 Ute Hwy.
Untitled52.png
StreetView Link
Google Maps Link


So at the end of the day turns out that they could have had a functional system of Whelens. With a front panel upgrade and replacement of blown drivers these 4004s would have been just as loud and reliable as a brand new one rolling off of the assymbly line, but instead they unknowingly went with ATI and dug a hole. They completed the installation in 2007 and had issues the year after having them installed as uncommonsense mentioned before. This answers the question as to what they meant by "The new speakers emit warning tones at 3200 watts, twice as loud the old ones." They then turn around and replace the arrays on the poles without really messing with the installations overall six years later!
uncommonsense wrote:This is a tale of what you really might not want to do if your siren system breaks down.
So, I was browsing the internet and came across this photograph from Longmont, CO:
CAPTION: Jay Jahrman holds cables to help guide old tornado siren speakers as Dan McAmis (not pictured) lifts them with a crane near the intersection of Nelson Road and Hover Street on Tuesday. Jahrman and McAmis, employees of Kellem Electric LLC, have been replacing the speakers at all 17 tornado sirens in Longmont. The new speakers emit warning tones at 3200 watts, twice as loud the old ones.

Source: http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_20525 ... ado-sirens
...The rotating ATIs only came about during the last decade as far as we all know. So these sirens are probably no older than 10 years old.

In this thread, the OP even commented that the sirens looked new, and that was 2007! http://airraidsirens.com/forums/viewtop ... t=longmont

Of course, its seems by 2008, the sirens were not functioning well at all.

June 5, 2008: http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/lo ... t-for-some

Original thread (yes, I realize it degenerated and got locked): http://airraidsirens.com/forums/viewtop ... nt&start=0

And by last year, the system had essentially failed.
Eamon said the old system in Longmont had just become too expensive to keep in shape, with upkeep running about $30,000 a year.

"The maintenance costs on the old system, they're just too much," Eamon said. "We didn't want to put any more money into a used car."

Source: http://www.timescall.com/news/ci_20273985/newstip
Last edited by DJ2226 on Fri Apr 07, 2017 1:22 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: From the files of: Oh my god this really happened

Mon May 16, 2016 12:51 pm

rdfox wrote:Seems odd that I've not heard any horror stories about the rotating ATIs that Battle Creek, MI, has. I wonder how they manage to keep them working without trouble.

(The Battle Creek system isn't all-ATI; it's actually rather an interesting mix, with at least two SD-10s, three Thunderbolt 1000Ts--at least two of them 4/5-port--a Thunderbeam, two EOWS-12s, and some Model 3/5/7s out in Bedford Township, plus rotating ATIs in the areas that have experienced significant recent growth and, apparently, replacing two failed sirens in the older part of town. What's more, other than those two replacements, you can pretty well track the city's growth pattern by looking at the age of the sirens... evidently, the Calhoun County EMA doesn't believe in replacing perfectly good old sirens just to have new ones, so long as they still function.)
Where are the SD-10s Located? I know of the one on the Post plant, but where is the other one? Also, I am glad that they don't plan to replace their classic :TBolt:s and EOWS 612s. Also, where are the Tbolts? One is downtown, but where are the other two?
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Re: From the files of: Oh my god this really happened

Mon May 16, 2016 1:51 pm

vacuumcleaner wrote:
Where are the SD-10s Located? I know of the one on the Post plant, but where is the other one? Also, I am glad that they don't plan to replace their classic :TBolt:s and EOWS 612s. Also, where are the Tbolts? One is downtown, but where are the other two?
I believe the Post Plant SD-10 one is the only one in Battle Creek. At the very east end of Nettles Street is a Thunderbolt, and another one is off of Oakley Street at Urbandale Elementary School. One more thing, at Verona Elementary off of Pittman Avenue is where Thunderbeam stands.
In my opinion, I think there way too many 2001's in Indiana!


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Re: From the files of: Oh my god this really happened

Mon May 16, 2016 2:09 pm

vacuumcleaner wrote: Where are the SD-10s Located? I know of the one on the Post plant, but where is the other one? Also, I am glad that they don't plan to replace their classic :TBolt:s and EOWS 612s. Also, where are the Tbolts? One is downtown, but where are the other two?
One is atop the Post Foods plant, and the other used to be at the Verona School but was replaced by a Thunderbeam which now has a huge lightning rod attached to the pole, so the SD-10 that used to be there probably was taken out by lightning. Map: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1dwRZt ... sp=sharing
im scared

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Re: From the files of: Oh my god this really happened

Mon May 16, 2016 5:15 pm

lkreykes wrote:
vacuumcleaner wrote: Where are the SD-10s Located? I know of the one on the Post plant, but where is the other one? Also, I am glad that they don't plan to replace their classic :TBolt:s and EOWS 612s. Also, where are the Tbolts? One is downtown, but where are the other two?
One is atop the Post Foods plant, and the other used to be at the Verona School but was replaced by a Thunderbeam which now has a huge lightning rod attached to the pole, so the SD-10 that used to be there probably was taken out by lightning. Map: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1dwRZt ... sp=sharing
Another siren in the mix! Good to see a classic siren replaced by a classic siren, and not a 2001 or Whelen.
My other ride is a 1950 Chrysler-Bell Victory siren.

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Re: From the files of: Oh my god this really happened

Thu Oct 13, 2016 5:00 pm

Their system malfunctioned earlier this morning. Interesting enough it seems that they went off in alert instead of yeow.
http://kdvr.com/2016/10/13/tornado-sire ... -longmont/
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