Calhan, Colorado Siren

[ricofojas2011]

are 550ats still made?.

[misterrailroadman]

There is a 4/5 port thunderbolt siren. How about a 4/5 port 550-at siren.

[acahurricane1275]

heres some locations of the 550 at's that were spotted

sugar city,co - 253 colorado street

manitou springs,co- 595 el paso blvd

calhan (obviously)

st louis,mo - used to have 1 or so

colorado springs,co -removed in 1989

newark,nj

[acahurricane1275]

this siren is so rare , how loud is it at 100ft

[TrueWolverine87]

@acahurricane1275 Federal 550AT: 127 dB @ 100 ft. (according to somebody on the air raid siren forums)

[TheJamesmario]

i wonder when i will find a video of this siren in attack mode

[misterrailroadman]

This siren is the best siren of all. It looks bigger then any other siren and the way that there is a high pitch side. and a low pitch side. That would be an attention getter.

[Branden2732]

federal signal 2001 siren on crack!!

[misterrailroadman]

@Branden2732 Why would you say the 2001 is on crack, lol?

[Branden2732]

ive seen gow big these things are up close!! there bigger than the federal rsh-10A

thunderbeam!!

[kat3krazy]

i live in calhan and i didnt know that the yellow thingy spun around and honked!

[prettygurl8D]

I don't have any sirens at my place. One time there was a tornado on the ground near. I think we should have some.

[STG44musikmeister]

We've got a Model 5 I believe, in Black Forest. Just drove to Fountain today and saw what looked to be Model 5 or 7 on a school. A now silent reminder of a time gone by.

[djscrizzle]

@STG44musikmeister It's a 5 from what I could tell, maybe a 5T. It used to be the fire siren for BFVFD, now a mile SE of their former location @ Black Forest & Hodgkin roads.

Wouldn't take much to get that 50-year old thing back in service either, seeing as it was left as-is.

[kd0duj]

very cool looking siren

[kat3krazy]

@kd0duj ikr? :)

[misterrailroadman]

@kd0duj I agree with you. Do you think it can beat any other siren?

[antiwhoknows]

I get to see this siren next week!

[SuperBeachgoer]

i never knew colo would need the sirens, i thought it was just out of the tornado alley

[Tabby266]

@SuperBeachgoer Tornados still occur outside of the alley.

[SuperBeachgoer]

@Tabby266 i knew that, but i didnt know they were as frequent in colorado

[iwnproductions]

do they still make these

[DjPyro2010]

No unfortunately, the 550at is one of the most rare civil defense sirens in the country, it is almost as rare as the square horned mk 1 hurricane (only one that still stands has been discovered)

[CJ19Productions]

There was one somewhere in WI that was torn down within the past year or so. (I think, but it was there.)

[CJ19Productions]

The MKI hurricane, that is.

[chicagolandhobby]

Never seen a dual horn rotating siren before.

[neosho53059]

24 goes to my brother n laws house

[amtrak3501]

WOW! It does sound like a P50. acts like one too the way it stops rotating when it winds down. awesome video and siren!

[VMFA115Starloric]

10.12

[Antipwnsurmum]

It's 8/12.

[VMFA115Starloric]

Really?

[Antipwnsurmum]

Listen to it then listen to a P-50. It's 8/12.

[Antipwnsurmum]

One side 8, one side 12.

[RubiksCuber4426]

8/12.

[foxxxy208]

i wasnt filming lol i think it was my friend

[dunzridah1450]

WOW I remember that, you are filming from out from of wolseys and ace hardware

[foxxxy208]

yea thy r frikkin loud

[germanchocolate1982]

I remember one of those things when I was a little kid. I grew up in Security Colorado but they took it down for some reason. I still here this one every once in a while from where I'm at in Widefield. That damn thing is loud!

[foxxxy208]

i lived there i wasnt even a block away from the siren idk what it was at first i thought it was the tv then my mom came running in get down stairs now i was like y she said its a tornado warning so i went out side to look and i saw nothin coz everyone was like get in here now lol

[iwnproductions]

sounds like a 3t22

[WAYNE1980AA]

funny siren, i have only heard of a 500at, but a 550? wow.

[hemihauler22]

A two headed siren. Nice!

[RockiesFan2222]

I live right next to a siren so when one goes off it scares the crap outa ya. the siren is litterally not even 10 feet away from my house

[Tommy3stars]

nice windown !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[littlenoah2006]

A very rare and unusual siren.

[dirtygirl145723]

man i never knew it was on taste buds! i was there yesterday.... that place is good : )

[HyperFoxTails]

To bad you couldn't get a little closer

[Siren1000T1]

The second time he recorded this, he actually stood almost underneath the siren but there was a little too much sound distort from that position.

[lildil39485]

never seen it before

[Siren1000T1]

Since we got a good video of a 550AT, now the only thing to do is take still pictures of the sirens.

[JustInn014]

Great video. That 550/AT sounds very good.

[SovietUoin]

sounds like a ACA P-10 and P-15 put to gether

[crazywarriorman]

You mean dual tone?

[materavo]

yeah

[09falcon]

do you know by chance if there is any warning system for falcon. cuz calhan is still pretty far away and i know of none for falcon.

[djscrizzle]

There are no outdoor warning sirens in Falcon. People residing there (and most of the county for that matter) have to rely on TV, Radio, or Internet for their warning. If you're outside, you wont know until its too late, sadly.

[09falcon]

thats what i though. it really sucks cuz im terrified of storms and i dont want to be one to find out when its too late..hopefully we have power when we need to be warned. lol.

[crazywarriorman]

Your town should be able to get a hold of a siren.

[09falcon]

prolly if we wrote the county commisioner who hasnt even paved the dirt road to our highschool..where 8 accidents have happened in the past year.

she doesnt care

[crazywarriorman]

Jeez.

[sizzlin321]

Try to accquire one

[dillonrockband]

thats like saying, "jump off your roof and see if you fly." these things are rare!

[HystoricalMicrobe]

You think every siren is a Whelen Vortex.

[csx2295]

I tell you one thing the Whelen Omni-Directional Sirens and the Vortex sirens sound the same the Vortex sirens rotate the Omni-Directional sirens don't rotate.

[Beauty4Aspies]

@djscrizzle Well, they should have a warning system 4 Falcon, don't u think?

[LNERMallard]

Sounds more like a P-50.

[crazywarriorman]

Sounds like a t-135

[WAYNE1980AA]

and i thought the 500at couldn't have an attack mode.

[djscrizzle]

Any siren can have an attack mode. Attack is simply the process of sending power to the siren motor for 8 seconds, and then cutting the power for six seconds, for a period of three minutes. This process is controlled by a timer unit, which can be setup to sound a siren for as long as one sets it up for.

[haloexpert96]

sounds a bit like a aca cyclone siren

[crazywarriorman]

Now that is awesome.

[csx2295]

it looks like an upside down SD10!

[TroySundt]

this is really cool. Its like an SD-10 tipped on its side, rotating... beautiful. It would be amazing to here it from like a mile or two away and get the 'hi-lo' effect...

[DigitalEagleInc]

Either this design gave birth to the SD*10 or the SD*10 gave birth to this design........rare siren

[videogamer24385]

the SD-10 is an omnidirectional version of the 550AT

[JustInn014]

No, the SD-10 is an upgraded Model 5T, really.

[zozey1231]

Sounds like a T-135 in slow hi/lo. LOL.

[csx2295]

The T-135 has a slower start up and longer wind down than the Federal Signal 550 AT the people from Federal Signal told me that they stopped making that siren years and years ago they did not say what year they stopped producing the 550 AT the 550 AT has been retired years ago after they stop producing the thunderbolt siren the 550 AT are very rare and hard to find anymore.

[weathermaniac1]

this is cool, it sounds like it's got a different chopper in each projector

[jz78817]

it does. one's 8 ports, the other 12.

[fireenginebuff]

Thats a great sound. First time I see a dual rotating head siren. Kind of sounds like a T-135 on the quick wind and steady sound.

[juterman]

one side sounds like a thunderbolt 1000

the other side sounds like a 2001.

[dillonrockband]

the wind down sounds awesome!

[biggulp2000]

your right

[biggulp2000]

looks like an SD-10 on it's side

[JRCollinsfan]

this is the only known federal 550 in existance

[dillonrockband]

WHOA.

[acahurricane1275]

@JRCollinsfan no Sugar city,colorado has a 550at

[robertgift]

Thank you so much DJ.

Glad to finally hear a 550AT.

Interesting to hear the notes A#4 and F5,

a perfect fifth, which together produce a resultant of A#3, an octave below the siren's low tone.

Calhan is buying a three-phase generator to power this three-phase siren?

Bravo on getting them to make it more useful and tested more than once a year.

[mariaD9]

what in the world i have never seain this siren but one thing that is so loud it could defon you

[UAL4ever]

all sirens can make you go deaf. trust me i would know from experience.

[Siren1000T1]

What is the name of that church right next to the siren? I been trying to find that on the MSN live maps but the birds eye view refuses to show.

[djscrizzle]

The address of the siren is 556 Colorado Avenue

Calhan, CO 80808. It is behind City Hall

[Siren1000T1]

Oh ok thanks.

[0verload]

never seen one of these before. cool looking though and sounds awsome!

[firebird34]

music to my ears

[DjPyro2010]

Super rare, I think the only rarer rotating siren would be the mkI hurricane

[1050HzSineWaveTone]

it sounds like a tempest 135!!!!

[gajda1984]

never knew fs sirens were found with this setting.  just like ACA allertors found that sound minor 3rds. i thought i knew every american siren i guess i was wrong.

[bigskyskywarn]

what a shockingly powerful wind-down!

[delanowtrs13]

it sound like a

p-50

[guylem]

this is one of my favorites besides the victory air raid siren.

[EvanToTheFutureDude]

I have never seen that siren before!

[magentarose2005]

You sure captured this and i am very proud of you for this, History is being lost every day and you getting this video is certainly a treasure. Living here in Calhan has been interesting, but i do feel safe knowing we still have this for our alert system. I know they are getting a generator back up for this and eventually a remote so when and if it needs to be set off it can be. Now you have to go into the Police station and flip a switch.

I still like the idea of solar power.

[kgroff00]

I contacted Federal Signal about this preticular siren and they told me they manufactured only 50 of these but it was a very short lived model that is why they are so rare.

[djscrizzle]

I had a feeling it was an extremely rare siren. in the comments, another user said that 30 or so were scattered around El Paso county mostly in Colorado Springs, and another one is still up in Manitou Springs, it is disconnected and no longer in service.

[PGMEagle]

Anyway 2 thumbs up :-)

[PGMEagle]

Sounds like a Cyclone and T-135

[kgroff00]

sounds like it to me, too, babe

[videogamer24385]

nice combo. imagine a whelen 3016 and a fs 2001! dba. DEAF at 100 ft.

[PGMEagle]

what the hell kind of siren is that haha

[hen7713]

it is a Federal 550 AT

[flatlandsparky]

is that on the north or south side of 24, ive been in calhan plenty of times and never seen it

[thrmoz456]

i say its a 2 sided federal 500

[videogamer24385]

looks like a double headed carters. COOL VIDEO! COOL SIREN!

[Heyde1979]

very interesting siren it has a great warning tone to it

[wesbizket2002]

this siren has the t135 rotor in it only is smaller

[Flamingopink86]

Oh, really? thanks i did not know that!

[Blue10AEMia]

No it is two single tone rotors, one has 8 ports the other has 12, giving the dual tone effect.

[cmarlow480]

whoa does that thing have 2 heads or is that just the back of it?

[djscrizzle]

dual-headed. High tone on one, low on the other.... Very penetrating siren tones.

[cmarlow480]

Interesting looks very old and cool!

by the way I didnt see both ALERT / ATTACK just alert it looks like ?

[djscrizzle]

i stated that it was used before, but its very likely someone just slammed the wrong button in a rush on 8/9/2004. once in a lifetime kind of occurances.

[cmarlow480]

basically its a 9:15 min alert lol.

[fmartinjr]

Damnnn!!dual heads?One is low and the other is high octive.This is to be treasured.The repower-up is ghostly!To the posting person,good f'ing job!Mama Mia!

[carexpertandy]

Also, this sounds just like an American Signal T-135. It's also weird that a Dual-horn siren rotates.

[carexpertandy]

Are these rare?

[djscrizzle]

Very. I personally know of just two: this one in Calhan and another located about 40 miles west in Manitou Springs, Colorado. Manitou doesn't test theirs though.

[mactrak60]

Hello, just thought I would give a little history of these 550's. I grew up in Colorado Springs and there were about 9 of these plus some other makes in town; El Paso county to be exact. They were installed in 1959 and tested on the 1'st Friday of each month at noon. In 1989 they were taken down as the county dismantled it's warning system.

Calhan and Manitou were the only area's to keep their sirens. As was said, these are rare as I have never seen them anywhere else in the country.

[djscrizzle]

Thanks for the history on these.

I'm originally from Nashville and until 2003, there weren't any sirens. As you might know, the city chose ATI HPSS32 sirens, which are about as bad quality as they come.

[carexpertandy]

Nashville doesn't just have ATIs. At Vanderbilt University, they have 2 2001s and a Modulator.

[thecompanycar]

Also, Trevecca Nazarene University just east of downtown Nashville has 2 ASC iForces on their campus.

[carexpertandy]

Wow, those iForces seem to be rare. To me, some look like Modulators and some look like some type of Whelen.

[csx2295]

that is what we have in Brownsville, Tennessee 2 2001-130's one old 3T22, EOWS-612 the other 4 sirens are Whelen Vortex sirens no ATI sirens in our siren system our sirens now are currently tested on the first Saturday of the month every month at 12 noon for 3 minutes.

[TheWeatherGuys]

They also have some Sentry 10V2T's. I have been there and only saw Sentry's. I guess I just didn't pay that much attention.

[Allertor125]

wow!!! never seen one like THIS!!!!

[Ironman3901]

That is one awesome sounding siren! Awesome video

[Flamingopink86]

I like it. My friend here thinks it sounds like a t-135.

[Coverdillem]

i think it does. do you?

[Flamingopink86]

yeah

[Coverdillem]

ok.

[Coverdillem]

do you though? or you have no clue what what this stuff is.

[Flamingopink86]

well if you would read my answer and check my favorites, you would find my answer. I DO know about sirens.

[RainJetSprinklers]

Robert Gift's dream come true!

[BellyJae]

WOW!!!! BEAUTIFUL!!!!!

I didn't even know these existed!!!! I've never heard or seen of them before! Awesome video!

[FGLK1702]

looks like it has the rotator of a t-bolt

[RainJetSprinklers]

Yes, I belive federal used this rotator model up into the 2001 series.

[play1210]

i dont hear the high - lo siren

[Audinos]

Each tone gets louder as it points toward the camera. One side has a twelve port rotor and the other side has eight.

[rickapril04]

nice video!

[kdksiren]

Awesome siren! Defintely a favorite. Thanks for putting this up on Youtube!

[USRoute66]

This is absolutely fantastic! I have always wanted to hear one of these sirens in action. I had a feeling that it projects a high and low tone from opposite ends. The Federal 500A/B came in both a high (12 port) and low (8 port) pitch models. This would only make sense economically to use both rotor/stator combinations in the 550AT.

[DigitalEagleInc]

wow nice video, looks kinda like an SD*10 on its side.

[r0natello]

I was expecting a 10/12 discrete rotor siren. Much to my (positive) surprise, it is an 8/12! It makes me wish that Federal produce some model 5's, 7's T-bolts, and SD-10's with the perfect 5th tones (8/12 or 4/6 for the T-bolt).

Excellent siren vid!!

[Siren1000T]

WOW! The first 550 siren video ever! Nice recording! :)

[FBHSswimmer2006]

this sounds almost like a ACA P-50/ASC T-135.

[CoolBalla15]

Awesome video!

[CaptainElevator42189]

I guess this uses an 8/12 rotor, since it sounds a lot like a dual headed T-135 siren, but is interesting to see this rotor on a Federal siren.

[bctrainers]

You can hear the two separate tones on each side too! Very cool.

[jayhawk29]

That video was awesome!

[Audinos]

Definitely siren video of the year!

[mrboy29]

Great video of what has to be the rarest siren in history!

[Antipwnsurmum]

If you really want to know, apparently Federal said they made about 50. What is rare is the original ACA Hurricane 130 - the square horned one - there are literally 5 or 6 left at a guess.