The Siren Board

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NwEC4dZT7GA
Here's a recording of the (rather low) Thunderbolt 1003 on top of the Aitkin, Minnesota town hall doing the hi-lo signal for the monthly 1:00 test. As with most 1003's, it has a stuck solenoid. A fun story behind this, I got my camera set up at around 12:55. I waited and waited until about 1:20 when I decided it probably wasn't going to go and so I start packing up. The literal moment I finish packing up, it winds up. I immediately get my stuff set up, all while trying to contain my excitement when I realized it was doing the Hi-lo signal. Unfortunately, while setting up, I didn't get the chance to get my earplugs back in and when the horn pointed in my direction, I got to experience the mighty power of a Thunderbolt from about 75 feet away with no protection whatsoever. Needless to say, I had a nice headache for the rest of the day. So that's the story of the missing wind up. Also, anyone know why it sounds a little high pitched? It was still very loud, but more in an earsplitting way than in a ground-shaking way like I was expecting. Either way, hearing my first Thunderbolt up close and in hi-lo signal at that was quite a fun experience.

Zarlog wrote: ↑

Sun Jul 08, 2018 5:44 am

Also, anyone know why it sounds a little high pitched? It was still very loud, but more in an earsplitting way than in a ground-shaking way like I was expecting.

That's because some bright spark decided to reverse the blower motor.

Wow, I remember seeing that when passing through years ago; had no idea it did high low!

Chicagosiren-hunters wrote: ↑

Mon Jul 09, 2018 2:27 am

Wow, I remember seeing that when passing through years ago; had no idea it did high low!

Really? That's cool, I thought I had been the only one to know about this siren. Either way, I was really surprised (and happy) when it did hi-lo. There's also a 1003 in Deerwood MN (about a 15 minute drive away from this) that does hi-lo, but it's lower pitched and the top solenoid is stuck instead of the bottom one like this. Aaron Nepstad has a recording of it. I had been planning on recording it like 2 years ago but never got around to it. There's a 1000/1000T in Brainerd (near Baxter which allegedly had a Hurricane MK1) that I hope to record sometime. It's mounted pretty high up, almost at P-50 height.