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From: RamFett
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  • whats a t-132?.

  • I'm rather impressed by the fast wind-up. Never heard a P-50/T-135 that could wind up that fast. The only other siren that winds up that quickly is the omnidirectional equivalent to this; the ACA Cyclone.

  • milwaukee used to be just saturated in T-5's when I was a kid...

  • What are those things flying in front of the siren? Wasps?

  • sopunds like the fs 550 AT

  • dude man i like the sound of that srien :D

  • Wi sucks. Mn xD

  • The pick-up is fast. Only thing I have to ask is can it be configured so that the rotator motor doesn't disengage the moment the chopper shuts off? I know it's not something that really matters, but it's something I'm curious about. From my own observations, seems the FS-2001 and the Allertor-125 are the only sirens that rotate even as they wind down.

  • Lok moveing back and forth in the wind. I bet would blow over in server thunder storm winds of 65 mph or higher.

  • @AnnabellDream1612 The siren was only moving because the wind was easily 30+mph here, so I doubt that would happen. it's been through several storms like that since I recorded this and it still stands. People just think that movement means the pole is loose in the ground, but that's the natural flexibility of the wood.

  • 1:05 the t-135 poops birds? O_O

  • Thamks for uploading. I just love the sound of this thing.

  • why did it suddenly stop 4 seconds into the video?

  • @gerbilPROJECT I don't know what you are referring to.

  • @RamFett well it isn't doing that anymore. i think it was my internet.

  • @gerbilPROJECT try refreshing your browser.

  • lol now i know its going at 3rpm

  • the sirens in my town:a p-50 on top of eastman, an air raid siren on top of the fire station, a(?) whelen at eastman(hasnt been confirmed yet), and a siren(model unknown at domtar. thats all the sireens (possibly) where i live. cya, mametchi1234

  • thats weird

  • @monkeymch99 Sure enough.

  • Is P-50 different than T-135AC?

  • i give this guy alot of credit. it seems like he goes to alot of sirens. P.S The closest siren to me is one block north in ellen park. it is an aca of some sort. probally a p-50

  • You ought to tape the model 2T. Not too many of them on youtube.

  • That siren was personally owned and is now gone.

  • @RamFett, I know the one on top of your friend's house is gone that you recorded, but on the siren archive, I saw either a model 2T, Model 2, Model 5ect. I can't identify which one is which, because they all look relatively the same to me. But when I saw one of those on the siren archive, I just assumed that that was the one you were talking about. I wasn't thinking about the the one on top of your friend's house. Are there many yellow allertors around milwaukee?

  • That would be a Model 2 from Milwaukee's old civil defense system. They haven't been active since the 1980's when the bulk of the current system was installed. From what I hear, there used to be LOTS of them, one being installed every few blocks. I know of three that are still up, but disconnected from power.

  • @RamFett, that's too bad about the Model 2s being inactive. So are the only sirens active in Milwaukee are P-50s, allertors, P-10s/15s, the ACA Hurricane, and the allertronic 6000?

  • As far as I know, yes. There's also a sterling siren at a cold storage facility to warn locally of ammonia leaks, but I don't know if it gets tested or has ever been activated.

  • @RamFett, Cool. Do you like RM-130s. I do. They're kind of rare. But they sounds similar to the T-128 only a little bit higher pitched. Have you seen my video of an RM-130, or a P-20?

  • As a kid, the closest siren to my house was a yellow Allertor, now gone because the school building it was mounted on got torn down in the late 1990's. The coverage gap it left still exists. Otherwise, several of the blue allertors were originally yellow, then got painted. The ones in Greenfield and Whitefish Bay are examples of this. Beyond that, I don't know of any other yellow Allertors in Milwaukee County.

  • whats up there now? anything?

  • Nothing, hence the coverage gap.

  • I went to the siren archieve for the first time, and saw a ton of Milwaukee sirens. It's amazinf how many P-50s you got. I saw many of them, a T-128, a P-15, and a couple of allertors for the city of Milwaukee.

  • The siren archive is badly in need of an update. It's only current as of a few years ago. For Milwaukee County, there are many sirens that are not yet listed on there, and at least one that is now gone. I can only imagine how many other sirens have been discovered/removed/replaced nationwide in that time.

  • Yeah, but I'm sure nearly all of the P-50s are still there. I saw this one too. But I didn't see the allertronic 6000, I don't think, but i also saw a nonrotating whelen. The Greenfield allertors are the ones that have been replaced. But I saw one of Greenfield's T-128s. Well, anyway, it was still interesting to see even if not all of them are still in service.

  • The only P-50 that is gone is the Wauwatosa one, now replaced with a T-135AC/DC. That siren was replaced in 2007 due to fire damage. The Alertronic in St. Francis is actually an AL 8000. There are no Whelens in or around Milwaukee. Remember, all active sirens within Milwaukee County are ASC/ACA products. In Greenfield, the Zablocki park and S. 108th Allertors are still there, the DPW yard Allertor was replaced with a T-128 and the I-94 T-128 replaced a P-10/15 that was destroyed by lightning.

  • Yeah, in total I saw many allertors, which were all either green, blue, or white. I saw a ton of P-50s, a couple of P-15s, a couple of T-128s, and the AL8000.

  • Fire damage? Did the siren start on fire or did something next to the siren start on fire?

  • it was roof-mounted on a recycling facility at the city dump. The building caught fire, and the controls inside were destroyed. I remember news footage showing the silhouette of the siren on the roof while flames burned through the roof farther behind it. Really spooky to see.

  • You ought to tape the allertronic 6000. Is that the kind that looks a lot like the whelen 3016? And since the P-50 is your most favorite siren, keep up the good works with taping those.

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  • It's strange that ASC sirens were LOUDER back then, but not as loud now.

  • How do you Mean?...the P-50/T-135 is 135 DB at 100 Ft...pretty Loud.

  • Okay, they are as loud now.

  • That is one great P-50. This was by the way, the third P-50 I've seen on youtube. This was also the firsts video, I've seen in yout account. I've always loved this video.

  • Not loud enough, I CAN'T HEAR IT"

  • Too bad.

  • really quick wind up...

  • That's because it's not underpowered like many others you'll hear.

  • This was a pretty short cyccle.

  • Yeah, I remember as a kid when test would be 5 or 6 minutes long with both alert and attack. I miss those days.

  • Yeah, but that P-15 that you taped last September went on for a decent cycle. It didn't go on forever, but I would say that was at least a couple of minutes. Well, anyway, the sirens I tape really don't seem to have a set time. Sometimes they go for 1 minute, 2 minutes, ect.

  • Though, I have thought about a way around the AC-only aspect of the T-135's. What about citywide generators? That should be more than adequate for powering even a single Tempest.

    BTW, if anyone's interested (I don't know if it's legal to mention it), I found the CD museum has two amazing downloadable audio clips of a T-135 (Alert and Attack).

  • Not practical.

    And yes, those are excellent audios of these amazing sirens.

  • Yeah, after thinking about it, that'd take an awful lot of cross-wiring, etc, to install generators; particularly if you don't want to upset the infrastructure.

  • I'm wondering. I know just about all the siren models out there. But a T-132 is one that I've never seen before. Please describe it. I would also like to get more familiar with federal model 2Ts.

  • T-132 is a sort of slang term for the T-135AC/DC. Supposedly it only produces 132 decibels, but for naming purposes ASC kept the name of it's 50hp dual tone predecessor. I don't call it that anymore, and I'm sorry for the confusion that this instance led to. The model 2T is a 4/5 port dual tone version of the Federal Signal model 2. That siren was privately owned and has since been removed, but will be replaced with a model 2 re-fitted with a 5/6 port thunderbolt rotor.

  • Thanks! I didn't realize that.

  • This is a very nice P-50.

  • This siren sounds really smoothe when It's pointing your way, and throughout the rest of the video.

  • I live in Wisconsin and born here to!

  • I take it that this has the 480v motor? Probably one of the fastest wind ups I have ever heard from a p50.

  • They all have dual voltage 9 lead motors. This one is just wired up to 480 and doesn't have the part winding start

  • i cant get over how big it is in person!

  • That's what she said.

  • HAHAHAHA best comment ever!

  • Oh, man. I live about a block from this particular siren in Milwaukee, and let me tell you, it can WAIL. There was one time during my summer break that I was sleeping when this thing went off. THAT was one gruesome wake up call.

  • the only time i have ever heard a real one of these and not a test was just this year, in 2009, a tornado warning and severe thunder storm/ tsunami watch was issued where i live (beach) and now every time i hear thunder i freak out because i was so scared

  • My school is literally right next to one of these. They test the sirens at 10:00 AM every first Tuesday of the month, and I can tell you, its really errie. On day, we had tornados going through our area, and I was practicing on the fields so I didn't know about it, and that thing went off. Pretty errie.

  • where do you live, what state?

  • You should listen to my other videos ot this model of siren. Far better quality than this one.

  • Nice they have this one running on 480 it sounds like.

  • This is one of the only P-50 I know that rotates clockwise. Normally, these kind go counter-clockwise. But I like the slow ending.

  • I think I've already explained it once previously in the comments, but the P-50 has two different motors. One of them powers the siren and the other powers the rotator. Depending on how the rotation motor is hooked up, it can turn either direction without affecting sound output or anything else.

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  • Correct.

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  • that is the second loudest siren in the world. it has a 50hp motor and the shroud is 7ft 9in in diameter!!!!

  • No, this is the Netherlands and prevents there (fortunately) no tornado, which sirens do not descend also because this only descends a safe country, here them for tests (this is the reactie for 2brothervideo)

  • Okay, 998136999. Until you've heard one of these sirens in person, please don't feel like you're qualified to compare it to whatever passes for sirens in your country. These are the second loudest sirens ever produced, and among the loudest currently active sirens in the world. Don't judge them from just one video, either. This was recorded with a low-quality camera in high winds. Of course it's not going to sound very clear.

  • These things carry really well and are 135dB at 100'. The ones in the Netherlands sound slightly wierd...

    Also at the range, ASC do say on their website that the T-135 has a 10 sq. mile coverage, which is effectively 1.8 miles at 70dB minimum.

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  • Yea, our sirens are better because the u.s.a. midwest to be exact recieves the most tornadoes than any other country, have u seen a tornado?

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  • I think we have those in Aurora, IL too.

  • asc said this siren has a 10 mi range. thats an attention getter.

  • Maybe a 10 sq. mile effective covearge range, but not a 10 mile radius. Although, with wind assistance in the right direction, I've been able to hear these from 5 miles away.

  • I just heard this in Milwaukee! I get freaked out by that sound... its so scary. I didn't realize they did it every second Wednesday of the month. I think I've only heard it a few times since I've been living here for a few years.

  • Yep, Milwaukee County usually tests if it's not cloudy, which works out to around 5 tests each year. For today's test, I went out to record a siren on the north side of town. I'll have the two videos I took up in a couple of hours.

  • Is this by the highway going into Ilinoise?

  • Negative. Those would be Kenosha's sirens of the same make and model. This one is on the West side of the city of Milwaukee.

  • I don't know why...but I loved hearing the sirens when I was little....weird...

  • Me too. It's not necessarily weird to enjoy sirens, they're fascinating machines.

  • this sends chills down my spine...last time i heard this was when i was living in indiana and there was a tornado warning late at night and i woke up to the sound of this...its scary when its dark and u cant see if there is a tornado near

  • Is this paticular ASC/ACA model still made anymore? i know the t-135-AC/DC is still made, but i want to know if the traditional T-135-AC only unit is still made, ASC doesn't advertise it anymore and i was looking on there site for it.

  • They don't really advertise it anymore, but American Signal supposedly still makes them upon special request.

  • Gawwd, i couldn't imagine gettin woke up by this monster at 2 am in the middle of a thunderstorm..especially with that spooky windup

  • Trust me u dont want to it happend b4 i live in millwaukee and they r very anoyying and loud!!!

  • They're supposed to be to alert you.

  • gah when my parents heard dis they ran to the basement

  • And it is turning clockwise just like some of our cities T128's. Go figure.

  • Nice siren!

  • now thats a siren !!!

  • is it just me or is the tornado siren pole shaking when its stopping? if wind like that can shake it think what a tornadoe can do to it!

  • If you read the description, there was a strong cold front pushing through when this siren went off for testing. The siren is very large 6+ feet in diameter, so it catches a lot of wind. Not to mention that the siren itself weighs more than 1.500 lbs.

  • oh sorry

  • Do you think Wisconsin will replace The T-135`s with different sirens like the one in Chicago maybe or better sirens not that i dislike the siren but i was just wondering.

  • Chicago has a system of Federal Signal 2001's, which are in my opinion, some of the crappiest sirens ever made. Unfortunately, they are also the most common. P-50's are still doing their job just fine and will not be replaced unless they cease to function properly. American Signal is based in Milwaukee, so any replacements will be their fine products, most likely T-135AC/DC's. So far, only one P-50 has been replaced, and that was because the building it was mounted on was gutted by a fire.

  • thank you for the information. Also i know what you mean when the siren is pointed at you. I learned it on January`s tornado at my school (John Bullen Middle School) A ASC T-135 is placed only 500 feet away from the school and went it was activated i couldn`t hear anything but the siren going through my ears. But hay those sirens gotta be loud that`s what they were meant for. thanks again

  • The Alertronic 6000 is in St Francis.

  • Haha yesterday me and my friends were walking down the street in front of the Mitchell Airport and the tornado sirens started up. Except it wasn't a drill, they actually thought there was a tornado coming. And we were still 2 miles from my house which really sucked xD Tornado sirens have always creeped me out. They sound weird.

  • Yep, you were probably hearing the ACA Allertor 125 on top of one of the Airport buildings. From what I saw on the news, it got pretty nasty down there for a little while. I was at home recording the sirens outside as soon as I heard there was a tornado warning issued.

  • An Allertor 125? Cool. I plan to do video of one in Dane County. I'm also going to do a video of a EOWS 1212 in my hometown of Black Earth, Wisconsin (Dane county). The Alletor 125 is on Emil St. in Madison. Stay tuned.

  • Allertors are the second most common siren in Milwaukee after P-50's. Those two siren models make up about 90% of the siren system here. The rest are T-128's, P-10's, and there's an Allertronic and a T-135AC/DC. The old siren system was Model 2's with Mobile Directos and non-rotating Allertors scattered in.

  • What are non rotating allertors?

  • Allertors that were produced before rotators were added to the design.

  • Are there still any allerotrs that don't rotate? Ones on the siren archive? Any allerotrs in Milwaukee County rotate?

  • No doubt these sirens are very reliable the case of a tornado. But these sirns are beginning to get ole. In the next ten years, Milwaukee could start replacing them with more T-135's and maybe even T-128's.

  • Yeah, I hope not.

  • Me neither

  • hhhmm that should be my ring tone or maybe my alarm clock.

  • Suprisingly, this T-135 is rotating clockwise. Most of them usually rotate counter-clockwise, right?

  • From the ones I've seen, yes. There's a separate motor that powers the rotation, so I suppose it could function properly either way.

  • Oh, I see. I didn't know that.

  • i live about 500 feet from this

  • Lucky!

  • oh man that's loud!!

  • A few more things. This T-135 is next to a cemetary. What is a T-132? I thought Milwakee was only supposed to have American Signal, no Model 2Ts.

  • "T-132" is a nickname for the new T-135 AC/DC, as it produces 132 decibels in actuality. Milwaukee's system is all ASC. My friend Joe's is not. The 2T is part of his siren collection, which he tests along with the County's scheduled tests.

  • P-50 meaning Penetrator 50?

  • Yep. "P" is for Penetrator, "50" is the hp rating on the siren motor. The same nomenclature applies to all the sirens in the Penetrator series. In the Tempest series (T-128, -135, etc.) "T" is for tempest, and the number refers to the theoretical sound output in decibels.

  • Also in the tempest series is the T-112 and T-121.

  • well its not like its going to hurt the performance right? lol I'm serous.

  • ummmm why is it rotating the wrong way?

  • It's just expressing itself. No, seriously, I don't know. Maybe the wiring's hooked up backwards.

  • I wish there was one of those near here. I would like to compare the difference in sound compared to the Cyclone. I bet this thing really out performes the Cyclone on distance that the sound carries! Really great video!

  • I wish we have one as well our emergency manager didn't want to buy one so that is why we have 2 2001's and four cheap Whelen 4003's since the Whelen 4003 are electronic they have their own issues April 2, 2006 one of the Whelen 4003 failed to sound when the power went off all over my hometown of Brownsville, Tennessee due to the tornado all 6 sirens went silent they say they should have battery backup power well they didn't.

  • I'm in West Bend.

  • Then I wouldn't know. There was the Wisconsin Statewide tornado drill last thursday, including siren activations. Maybe they encountered a malfunction and had to test the system again to make sure it was repaired. That's my best guess.

  • They have been testing them everyday at noon for about a minute here. I live just north of Milwaukee. Are they expecting a bad spring or something? I know that a few got struck by lightening and got replaced. The years before it was at noon on the last Thursday of every month. Is there a reason for all the testing???

  • What municipality? Outside Milwaukee county?

  • Tornado Siren Tests tomorrow.

  • From what I heard, they only did a short growl (winding up for about a second and shutting off right away). All I can say is that they'd better do a full test in May. I'm getting sick of this crap.

  • we used to have one of these but it got torn down by a bad storm now we have a sentry v20

  • There will be a Tornado Test on Thursday April 24th in Milwaukee and Wisconsin.

  • RamFett,

    You need to take more videos of P50s. These things are great! I would also love to see a good video of a T-135-AC/DC in action. Great camera by the way. Keep up the great work!

  • I have been planning on getting both sirens you mentioned, actually. The problem is that Milwaukee County hasn't tested the siren system in 6 months. The office of emergency management controls the sirens. They do not test in winter for some reason, and will cancel the test if it's cloudy. The next scheduled test is the second Wednesday in May. There's a yellow P-50 I plan to record for that one. And after that is a brand new T-135AC/DC. Glad you like my videos, be patient, there will be more!

  • They're probably worried about ice jamming the rotors in winter. Although, it would be fun to see a P-50 blow some snow out of the projector. :) I wonder if they'll test for the Wisconsin tornado drill on 4/24. Good luck on the yellow P-50...I'm assuming at Jackson Park. That will be cool.

  • That's definitely possible. There are a lot of Allertor 125's in the siren system, and they are prone to ice melting, collecting in the shroud and re-freezing around the rotor. So far, from what I've heard Milwaukee County won't likely be participating. They usually don't. I'll be out of town that week anyway. The P-50 I'm planning to record is the one at Greenfield Park in West Allis. Hopefully that one will be tested in May.

  • Why would a tornado siren test be cancelled just because it's cloudy? I always thought that tests would only be cancelled if it was raining on whatever day the test is being done.

  • Apparently, Milwaukee's Emergency Management thinks the general public is too stupid to tell the difference between slightly overcast skies and tornadic supercell thunderstorms. Might be true, but they're not too smart either.

    Example: On WI Tornado Awareness day, there's a scheduled test of the sirens for a mock tornado warning. Even when ALL of the surrounding counties' and municipalities' sirens are sounding for it, Milwaukee County won't activate the sirens because it's cloudy.

  • Well, I think that's some fucked up shit.

  • It honestly is. Maybe someone should go and make them realise that they are retarded?

  • Doesn't this siren contain a big fan? That is what makes all that sound.

  • This siren sounds oursome!

  • P-50 tend to be colored yellow more than t-135's but since they are basically the same thing it can be hard to tell.

  • Yep. I plan to record a yellow one this wednesday if the system gets tested. I prefer my sirens yellow.

  • what is the advantage of revolving sirens over omnidirectional ones?

  • Rotational sirens produce a louder, more concentrated beam of sound that travels farther, thus covering a greater area. The drawback, however, is that they must rotate to deliver the sound over a 360 degree coverage, so the siren's sound will fade in and out as the siren passes over the area. Where I live, we have P-50's like this one and other models of American Signal rotational sirens. During activations, I can hear several different sirens as their projectors rotate in my direction.

  • Omnidirectionals sirens in the other hand are simpler as they do not need a rotator mechanism and therefore they are easier to maintain, I suppose.

  • Yep.

  • Thatbeing said, we have a few omni-directional sirens as well as the unidirectional sirens within a 5 mile radius of where i live. When they test the siren system, I never hear the omni-directional sirens (SD-10's)...

  • What does the open end of that siren look like inside? Is it just a bunch of ports like the t-128? The the video makes it hard to tell.

  • You wouldn't see much. The barrel part of the projector's mostly empty. There's a mesh screen inside the ring that divides the "barrel" in half. Directly behind that is the intake tube which you can sort of make out in this video. It extends from the front of the chopper which is in the cone part at the back along with the motor.

    To get a better idea, do a google search for "civil defense museum". Click on "warning sirens", go to American Signal T-135, then click on "see the removal here".

  • I think we will be having one of those soon here in Milwaukee.

  • One of what?

  • Tornado Siren test.

  • Yes. Hopefully Milwaukee county Emergency Management will see fit to test at noon on the second wednesday in April. If not, they will have a mock tornado warning (with sirens) in late April for tornado awareness day (which I'll be out of town for, ufortunately). However, if it's even the slightest bit cloudy they'll be bastards and cancel the tests. Apparently, they don't think the average joe can tell the difference between overcast skies and tornadic supercell thunderstorms.

  • They usually have one in either April or May. But probably April.

  • They will be testing *weather permitting* on the second wednesday of each month at 12 noon for the rest of the year through December.

    At least that's historically what they've done. Personally I can't wait so I can record some more sirens.

  • Notice how it stops rotating right as it winds down at the end of the cycle. It should do that for attack, too. When it winded down in the middle of attack, did it keep rotating, or did it stop whenever it winded down?

  • I've never seen a P-50 sound attack in person. Some sirens are turned on and off to produce the attack signal, which would mean the rotation starts and stops with the siren motor. Same thing for sirens that use a belt or gear driven transmission from the main motor for rotation. This siren has a separate motor for rotation and I believe the siren motor and rotator are controlled separately, so this siren would most likely rotate continuously during the attack signal.