ACA P-15 Tornado Siren Test Milwaukee, WI 9/10/08

[amtrak3501]

does Milwaukee test year round? sweet video, btw.

[jdawg211able]

y do the other sirens gotta sound like silent hill

[tornadodylan]

it has the same wind up as the t-125 XP

[bulldozer950]

P-10s cant come in dau-tone

[RamFett]

@bulldozer950 First, I have no idea what "dau tone" is, you're in your own world on that one. Second, P-10's did come in dual tone. Third, this is a P-15.

[bulldozer950]

@RamFett Oops,Spelling Error.I was told P-10s are only Single.I know this is a P-15

[HyperFoxTails]

The Siren is in ALL CLEAR or NOON WHISTLE Mode, Not Alert mode used.. The only thing the long tone is good for is it alerts you to - its time for lunch!

[RamFett]

@HyperFoxTails That's fine, except that Milwaukee only uses this signal to warn of tornadoes. They do not sound the all clear or sound at noon except for testing

[kasm279]

@HyperFoxTails Erm, "All clear" isn't a signal anymore. Also, whats the difference?

[HyperFoxTails]

@kasm279 It is a BIG difference, a steady tone NEVER meant DANGER, or Tack Cover.. It meant ALL CLEAR, NOON TONE, Danger is over/or past, or a TEST! Besides a siren will ware out much faster if they keep using the wrong tone..

[kasm279]

@HyperFoxTails Oh? A three minute steady tone meant that nuclear attack was possible.

[ACAPenetrator50]

@HyperFoxTails Taken straight from Wikipedia; "In 1955, the Federal Civil Defense Administration again revised the warning signals, altering them to adapt to deal with concern over nuclear fallout. The new set of signals were the Alert Signal (unchanged) and the Take-Cover Signal (previously the Attack Signal). The All-Clear signal was deleted because leaving a shelter while fallout was present would be hazardous."

[the10101010]

nice vid 5 stars

also this is the one in ellen park

[SmashingStallis]

How loud is that right where you were standing?

[TspesVladD]

Schaumburg Illinois has three P-15s that I know of. I'm pretty sure they are all dual-toned. I know for sure two of them are. They are all grey like this one. Have you seen one of the videos I have of one of them? I'm sure you'll like it. )

[form109]

Nice...i Liked All the ACA Sirens...especially the Penetrator Series....i dont like the New ASC Tempest Series quite as much.

[TspesVladD]

Wow, that sound is intense. It even looks fierce while spinning. It really sounds great though.

[6V92TA]

Sounds like an Allertor 125

[RamFett]

That's essentially what it is, just with a different housing.

[TspesVladD]

I kind of like dual-toned p-15s that are grey. Even though the color doesn't make any difference, they just seem a little ibt unique because it seems like form youtube, the majority of the dual-toned P-15s are yellow, and one is red in Eden Prarie. Great sounding P-15.

[clowj69]

i love the sound of a good old fashan aca siren

[flippy941]

-.-

[TspesVladD]

How many P-15s are in milwaukee? Are there yellow ones? Do you know of any P-20s around Milwaukee?

[RamFett]

Off hand, I can only think of 4 P-10/15's around Milwaukee County. None of them are yellow, only the Hurricane and 2 of the P-50's. There used to be a yellow Allertor, and a couple of the defunct Model 2's left up from the old system still wear yellow paint. The Greenfiled Allertor I recorded last year was yellow, but has been painted pastel blue. The only P-20's I know of are in Menomonee Falls & Fond du Lac. I may try and record one of the Menomonee Falls sirens next year.

[TspesVladD]

Cool, are some of them single-toned, 8/12 ports? How many allertors are actually in the city of Milwaukee? Well anyway, P-15s are pretty common in Illinois, P-50s are very common, P-20s are sort of common. Allertors are really not seen that often. There's a single-toned one that I plan to get, hopefully this year. I have to locate it though. I really like allertors. If there's more around Milwaukee, why don't you tape some soon.

[RamFett]

To my knowledge, all the Penetrators are dual tone. 8/12 port allertors were rare, I don't know of any 8/12 P-10/15's and certainly wouldn't expect to find any. I don't know exactly how many Allertors we have, but there are probably around 10-15, including surrounding municipalities within Milwaukee County. Hopefully I'll be able to get more recordings this year.

[TspesVladD]

It seems like the single-toned P-15s are more common than the dual-toned ones. Well anyway, pretty soon I'll locate the single-toned allertor, and get it. That's a lot of allertors. Illinois really doesn't have that many. There are some though. Milwaukee has a lot of P-50s too. That has been said in some comments. P-50s I think are one of the best siren, along with the Tempest series. Do you know of any T-121s in your area?

[RamFett]

Elm Grove, WI (just west of where I live) has four T-121's. There are also a few of them to the North: a couple in West Bend and one in Slinger. I am not particularly interested in recording them. On a clear day I can hear Elm Grove's sirens very faintly from my house. Elm Grove also has a decommissioned Thunderbolt 1003, which years ago I could hear loud and clear from the same distance.

[TspesVladD]

Yeah, all of the Tempest series seem common nowadays. I like T-121s. They're basically an omnidirectional version of a T-128 only a little lower pitched I think. There;s one I'll record this year or next year. 2001 sirens though are like the most common siren in Illinois. I do like them, but the newer ones have this pitch problem. I like the older 2001s that don;t have that. Do you like some 2001 sirens? If you live in Illinois, you won't have trouble looking for onr to tape.

[RamFett]

Yeah, T-121's just don't excite me that much. As for 2001's, I guess some of the older ones were okay, like you said, but Federal Signal has no excuses for producing the crappy version we have to put up with today. It's simply not a superior warning device if they can't correct the pitch 7 increase range. The same goes for their eclipse & modulators. WI has plenty of 2001's all around the state, but none in Milwaukee (thank goodness) and with any luck, we never will. This is ASC country.

[TspesVladD]

Yeah, in Illinois like I said, there's a ton, but I've taped a few, i'm not sure if you've seen my videos of them, but they all sounded very good. One was an SRN, and the other one was an older 2001 DC. Credit goes to Murrfarms, and CooBalla for helping me out with the model. But I'll probably run into one of those new 2001 sirens. I like dual-toned modulators. Modulators are fairly common in Illinois. Chicago has many. But I think they are single-toned. Do you know of many?

[RamFett]

Nope, I've not a single one. There are generally very few electronic sirens around WI.

[TspesVladD]

Interesting, I know form youtube, that there are siratone 612s and siratone 1212s in Dane County. Federal 500 sirens are rare right? I've never seen one. The only one form youtube is the one on top of the Reedsburg FD. On the google image search, I saw a picture of one on a pole. it was an orange-yellow color just like the one on youtube.

[flippy941]

we were under a tornado warning a few days ago!! When i heard the siren (ACA Alertronic AL-4000) I was like WHAT THE F##k!? Its not test day! Then I was like Oh. (Looks at friend) O_O Run!! I called Mom and she said theres a warning. Being me I said OK. LOL I thought it was a winter storm warning! My friend said no its a tornado warning dipshit! Oh. Ok. (gets smacked O_o)

[liljay227]

NY has these sirens everywhere.

[TspesVladD]

It seems like it's rare to find a 9/12 port P-15 that's grey. It seems like all the other ones are yellow. Would you agree? I know that doesn't make a difference though.

[RamFett]

Yeah, that seems to be the case. Milwaukee County's are all gray. I've seen lots of gray Penetrators, but unfortunately can't determine what port ratio they are or what hp rating they have just by looking at them.

[neosho53059]

@RamFett  yea because milwaukee county is cheep

[RamFett]

Please explain to me what in the hell the color of a siren has to do with a county being cheap or not? Don't get me wrong, I work for Milwaukee County and they ARE cheap bastards, but by what logic are you drawing this connection?

[neosho53059]

just becasue they should make the sirens yellow not white i think it looks bad... and i live in Dodge County

[RamFett]

@neosho53059 I do prefer CD yellow, but Milwaukee's sirens are mostly gray. The only white one is the Allertor at General Mitchell international airport, and it was painted to match the building its mounted on. I believe municipalities now regard bright yellow sirens as eyesores, and color has very little to do with a municipality's willingness to spend money.

[rhett443]

on Tuesday i almost was able to get a P-15... but the fire department had donated it

[TspesVladD]

This is a really cool P-15. It makes good sound. That sound is quite scary.

[hootergirlsrhot]

that sounds exactly like an allertor 125

[RamFett]

It's actually a little higher in pitch. Same rotor, but higher hp motor turning it.

[Johnporter271]

The wind up is kind of startling. Very quick.

[keoghjacob]

Its on the inside,a Allertor 125.

[hellsmaw84]

personally, i like the Federal Signal sirens over whelen or aca

[RamFett]

Older Federal Signal products were great. Their new stuff sucks. As new sirens go, Whelen and ASC are producing superior products with greater effective range. Until Federal lowers their pitches, their sirens will continue to pale in comparison.

[hellsmaw84]

federal just needs to revamp thier thunderbolt series and have more than 2 tones. the T1003 will always be the best one they have ever made.

[RamFett]

I like thundebolts, but they are NEVER coming back.

[Johnporter271]

Are the older ones you are talking about are the SD-10s and the Thunderbolts, and are the ones you don't like the 2001s?

[RamFett]

Yep. Thunderbolts, SD-10's, 500 series, XT22's, STL;s, EOWS and Model X's, were all great products. As both a siren fan, and practical observer, their 2001's and Modulators that are so common don't stand up by comparison. Their biggest problem is unnecessarily high pitches. A model 5 or STL rotor in a rotational package would blow a 2001 away, but they're to lazy to produce a siren like that. ASC has the right idea with the lower pitches produced by their 8-port rotors

[Johnporter271]

I definately know what you mean. It seems like the federal 2001s are everywhere. I probably know about 50 that I have seen standing in person. I like them though. But you are right in terms of that some of the sirens that you listed above, you don't see many of them anymore.

[RamFett]

Yeah, Just to prove how much I like the old Federal Signal products, I'm buying a 3T22 next week.

[Johnporter271]

I didn't know you can buy one. How much do they cost.? ANd where are you going to put it?

[RamFett]

This one is used and will run me $600. I plan to keep it in my basement until I can fix it up and find a better place for it.

[Johnporter271]

Once you fix it up, are you going to put it in your backyard?

[RamFett]

Probably not. It'd have to be somewhere I can be certain of its relative safety. I'd really like to have it put back into service somewhere, but am not sure of the feasibility of that idea. For now it's being stored in pieces in my bedroom until I can begin stripping the old crappy paint.

[RamFett]

I have an ACA Howler and a Federal Signal 3T22A.

[KSE828]

Yeah...everybody want's battery backup nowadays. How sad.

[bait28]

i found a working one where i live

[loryr405]

idk if this is aa p-15 or p-10 cause its kinda in the middle of fast or slow windup

[RamFett]

It's a three phase P-15. A P-10 would not sound as high pitched or start up as quickly.

[crazywarriorman]

How many watts is a P-15?

[fireenginebuff]

That siren sounds sweet. I was visiting a city that is about 4 hours away from my hometown and I counted at least six P-15's. I will be going back next month and hopefully get a recording of one of them.

[856956sinewavetones]

1050hzsinewavetone's account had been suspended by a maniac preacher (Robert Tilton) over copyright issues. So now the same guy who's username was 1050hzsinewavetone is now under the username 856956sinewavetones.

now i have to re-upload ALL My videos including my siren videos and you can all thank a stupid televangalist named Robert Tilton for doing this!

[RamFett]

Neat. Can I also thank him for posting this useless information on my videos?

[bigbluecrane3]

is that a 9/12 port john? if it is then put a 10/12 port in it and it should sound like a 10/12 port allertor

[superjoe87]

Weird. In my town a complete look-alike of this siren is there but it is a single tone variant. Is the a single tone P-15?

[RamFett]

Absolutely. Originally, all of Milwaukee's ACA siren system was dual tone (only newer replacement sirens are single tone), so that's why this one is dual tone. However, single tone P-15's are far more common than ones like this.

[crissmind263]

Hey

In philadelphia Pennsylvania

there are tornado sirens and there's only about 2 or 3 tornado warnings per year and none of them touch down and the last one was in 2003 i think when i was on vacation in morey's piers,Wildwood,New Jersey, There was a Funnel cloud in front

of my hotel and 3 tornadoes where reported near the areathe funnel was almost a tornado when the funnel died out

[RamFett]

2 or 3 warnings is more than we usually get here in Milwaukee. I have lots of family in Central PA, and they've always said it's too mountainous and they never get tornadoes. But a few years ago, sure enough, a small one touched down in the town where most of my relatives live, doing minor damage to my Godfather's house and knocking down a bunch of trees. While they're rare in some places, in reality, no part of the country is completely exempt from tornadoes.

[cauberallies]

I live in Altoona, PA, which is in southwest central PA, and although we may only get maybe one small tornado every 10 or so years, we were under a tornado warning a few days ago, and I was caught right in the middle of it. It was the worst storm I have ever witnessed. We were driving, and we had to pull over because we couldn't even see the front of the car, we were getting hit with nickel sized hail sideways, and when we were stopped, the wind pushed the car about 5 feet to the right.

[Tr2u1ck]

those sirens scattered in philly are warning sirens for power and chemical plants. theres one of the plants that you can see off of 95 between exits 25 and 27, that has atleast 2 warning sirens both of which are whelen. they used to have a thunderbolt 1000t ontop of the brick building off to the side. if u go to the suburbs the same sirens are used by volly fire depts including mine that uses an sth-10

[cleowillismc]

i love tornado horns

[Antipwnsurmum]

Sirens, not horns. :) this one was from the Cold War, and back then would have been called a Civil Defense Siren. This particular one has a 15 horsepower motor on it, and the rotator is driven from that as well as the chopper. :)

[cici006]

i wish i lived in a place were

there are tornados

[RamFett]

We rarely get them. In fact, there's only ever been one recorded tornado that ever touched down in Milwaukee county. I'd consider it lucky to get a single tornado warning in the course of a year. There ware three warnings and about 8 siren activations (including tests) in 2008.

[videogamer24385]

Sounds like an SD-10!

[RamFett]

Same port ratio.

[hen7713]

I never herd a dual-tone P-15/RM-127 before.

[RamFett]

Apparently I've been hearing one for years. I questioned the existence of dual tone P-15's for quite a while, always thinking this one was a P-10. But, it's higher pitched and winds up faster than a 10 hp motor would. Now to see if single tone P-10's exist...

[carexpertandy]

Also see if a dual-tone P-20 exists.

[thecompanycar]

No, only single toned 9-port P-20s were made. The way the horns are designed on P-20s wouldn't really allow for a second set of horns.

[carexpertandy]

O I C.

[thecompanycar]

Okay so I'm checking out some old ACA literature I have and they have the P-10 listed as using a 15 horsepower motor. It also lists there being single and dual tones models available. So there's no way to tell what it is by looking at it and the model number isn't any indication of what horsepower rating the motor has.

[RamFett]

Hmm. Maybe the literature was wrong? Single and Dual tone versions make sense, but 10 and 15 hp versions of the same 10 hp model does not. If that's true, I wonder what else it is that determines the name. I'd still maintain that the hp is what makes each Penetrator a P-10/P-15/P-50.

[RamFett]

The direction of rotation has nothing to do with telling the two sirens apart. This is a P-15, which can be ascertained by how fast the motor comes up to operational speed and how high the pitch is, as opposed to the lower speed and pitch of a P-10. The P-15 and P-10 were made by Alerting Communicators of America (ACA). The 2001, on the other hand is made by Federal Signal Corporation. 2001's are of a totally different design, which can rotate either direction.

[1050HzSineWaveTone]

North Little Rock, AR has a A.C.A. P-15 siren. it's located in Burns Park.

[r0natello]

I've seen that siren on the way to Wild River Country on a few occasions. It always seems to be pointing towards the north...

[BigGermanBassoonist]

Well, judging from the video, it stops 1/4 of a clockwise turn every time they run it, and if you pass by it at the same time every year, it would make sense that it would always be pointing north, if circumstances allow.

[RamFett]

Circumstances don't allow, it's not that precise. I'm fairly certain that the EM officials control the siren tests manually, just pushing a button on and off, so the length of the tests is always different. Also, the tests that are performed vary. Some months they'll test in just the steady alert tone, like this one, other months will include a rising/falling attack mode test.

[BigGermanBassoonist]

Then I suppose it was coincidence.

Perhaps I overthought that one?

[RamFett]

Hey, at least you're thinking. That puts you ahead of most of the people on Youtube. : )

[superjoe87]

It looks and sounds just like the one in my town. (Black Earth, Wisconsin. Located 19 miles west of Madison on US Highway 14)

[videogamer24385]

Ya its next to some wear house near a siratone 1212

[soccerking1710]

Can you get a shot of the one on 76th and oklahoma? i live a few miles away from it..

[RamFett]

There's already a video of that siren. Archon2561 recorded it going off from directly underneath it. That one wouldn't be my first choice because it's surrounded by trees and hard to get a video of.

[RamFett]

For whatever reason, Milwaukee Emergency Management doesn't like to test in two back to back months anymore. About 5 years back, they used to test every month they had clear weather, and it would be a several minute test with attack and alert modes. Now they're mostly short alert tests.

[carexpertandy]

So a P-10 has a fatter nose cone than a P-15, right?

[RamFett]

In most cases. But this is the regular P-10 cone, with a 15hp motor. The motor is what makes it a P-15.

[carexpertandy]

Yeah, I know. I don't think Hamilton County has any 2001-130s. I've only seen DCs, SRNs, and SRNBs.

[RamFett]

It's a good possibility. If Milwaukee tests again (next test would likely be in November) that one is on my list. Even if I don't really care to hear it (just a big T-128 to me), I've been getting a lot of requests for that one.

[carexpertandy]

That's a nice P-10. You told me you were gonna film a P-50 with a cool ecko, but I guess you didn't. There used to be one of these on top of our old fire station, and it was yellow, so that P-10 had to removed do to the knocking down of the fire station in fall 2006, and was replaced with a damn T-128 in April 2007. I can tell you that the P-10 is sitting below the SD-10 sirenzrok filmed.

[RamFett]

Yeah, about that P-50, I'd have to go into kind of a shady part of town to record that one. I would at least want to have a friend come along, but that didn't work out for today. The P-10 is in a nice park only about a mile from my house, so that made it my choice.

[RamFett]

Aww, shucks. Thanks, guys! I hope Milwaukee gets in at least one more test this year before the winter off-season. Not sure what I'll record next.

[FBSCommunications]

I'm surprised they stop testing during the Winter. Newark OH tests our sirens weekly all year round

[RamFett]

I would think that after the Kenosha, WI tornado in January, Milwaukee Emergency Management would wisen up and realize that sirens need to be in a state or readiness year-round. And it sucks because there are usually only about 4 good test days during the warmer months.

[JustInn014]

Great work, RamFett. It turned out very nicely.

[CoolBalla15]

Awesome video of the P-10! Keep it up, John! :D

[Siren1000T1]

Great video John! That P-10 sounds healthy.