Louisville, Kentucky 1000t's, 1000, 2001's, and xT22

[ver tum]

This past Tuesday, my grandfather and I went to Wilkerson Elementary School to record the 1000T there. I've been hearing it drop in pitch since February of 2008, and I wanted to see if I could figure out what's wrong with it. In doing this, I got what is in my opinion the best recording of a 1000T I've ever gotten. The problem with this siren could either be in the brushes, or the collector rings, but either way, the pitch jumps around, and it drops at the end before it winds down. The motor could also be overheating, but the chopper winds down normally, so I don't think it's the bearings.

A friend took another recorder to the Southern Acres neighborhood, where he rerecorded the Southern High School 1000. Other sirens can also be heard, including at least one xT22, some 2001's, and some 1000T's, including the 4/5 port one I recorded back in June, which is almost 5 miles away. You can also hear what sounds like an xT22 shutting down very early in the test.

I left my other recorder, and my grandpa's recorder at my grandparents' house, where I got two recordings, one out back, and one out front. I was hoping that the city had gotten around to changing the chopper level on the new PRP VFD #1 head, but they hadn't. You can tell a bit of difference in the two recordings, because the front of the house blocks the sound of some sirens, while the back blocks others.

Wilkerson Elementary School not so healthy 1000T from just 20 feet away:
http://www.fileden.com/files/2008/2/3/1 ... on%201.mp3

Southern High School Thunderbolt 1000 and other sirens from the Southern Acres neighborhood:
http://www.fileden.com/files/2008/2/3/1 ... -10-09.mp3

Thunderbolts and 2001's from out back at my grandparents' house:
http://www.fileden.com/files/2008/2/3/1 ... -10-09.mp3

Recording from out front at my grandparents' house:
http://www.fileden.com/files/2008/2/3/1 ... -10-09.mp3

I almost bought a camcorder a couple of weeks ago, but I didn't, and I wish I did because I would have loved to have filmed the birds sitting on top of the Wilkerson Thunderbolt, and flying away in all directions when it sounded.

[Jim Z]

I continue to be impressed at the quality of your recordings.

[ver tum]

Thanks, Jim. I was impressed at how well the Wilkerson Thunderbolt recording turned out. I didn't find out until I got home that afternoon, but from where the mic was, the Wilkerson Thunderbolt was 5 DB louder than the LG&E Thunderbolt was when I recorded it from 150 feet away back in June. I didn't think that a pole mounted Thunderbolt could be that loud from just 20 feet away. I thought that you had to get about 100 feet away from it to really hear it's volume. Unfortunately, I was in the car the whole time, so I didn't realize just how loud it was until I played the recording in Audacity. I'm amazed at how well the mic picked up the air hissing from the blower through the stand pipe to the chopper.