They were called - inter-tones, they were made because the circuitry had a " make-before-break" type of switch, it combined circuits on the board. It was like playing a synthesizer while going down the road... your partner concentrated in driving, you made the music to clear the way !!!
Right at :32 is that high pitched yelp used by Chicago PD in the movie "The Blues Brothers" Chicago chase scene. Though the movie cars mixed a duotone siren for theatrical effect; that high pitched yelp and wail.
Damn that head-end looks familiar: I was a police office in the 1970's and this unit was installed in our cars in Baltimore County, Maryland. Brings back memories :-)
The sound that make these old PA20a and "e" models so unique is the sound he finds in between the hi-lo and yelp starting at 1:43...
some of you may recognize it as very similar to what the old GE powercall sounds like with the other yelp it does..this is very close to that sound and I think it's what makes this a unique siren..none of the others will do it except for the federal PA200 if you gently hit the tones between settings like he is doing here..
Back in the early 80's my father was a local Fire Chief with this exact siren. And of course...he was producing those same sounds for the mid-positions between Wail & Yelp. He named one of them the "Screamer" whether this was just him or a known name I will never know
Back in the early 80's my father was a local Fire Chief with this exact siren. And of course...he was producing those same sounds for the mid-positions between Wail & Yelp. He named one of them the "Screamer" whether this was just him or a known name I will never know
@murthad02 This was what I heard when I busted my leg in a skateboard accident when I was growing up in San Francisco . The old 1973 model Dodge wagons the Department of Public Health EMS Division used had these high pitched sirens . I also had "road rash" abrasions nearly all over my body and it hurt ! The ambulance stewards that picked me up were cool !
On Emergency!, the Squad 51 rig did not actually have a siren installed. The shots showing the radio & siren were just stock footage. Funny that the Crown engine had one of these, but they always played an old mech. siren sound.
@IRIE1313 It seems to me that it has something to do with finding the "sweet spot" with the selector between settings and it affects the sound with the switch when it starts to engage the next sound..thats what I think is causing it to sound different at times..I do not understand why they don't go back to this classic sound because it commanded way more attention I recall back in those days than with the newage thin puny sound emergency signals today..I remember these as a child! VeryLoud !
@Dino0469 I miss these sirens. They are REAL sirens in my book. The newer sirens aren't loud enough & the tones don't command enough attention. The Code 3 sirens sound like one of those dog whistles.
@box15c22 I absolutely agree! It seems to me that if they are looking for tones to "clear traffic" then all they need to do is return to the "old" tones of yesterday..the new rumbler type tones just released using a subwoofer type speaker proves the deeper lower tones are more audible than the hi pitched toy-like sirens you get now..It's a no brainer! Today's auto's have a soundproof environment inside such as the lexus and common sense tells you a deeper tone will be more audible..y'all agree?
@box15c22 Also,current sirens are actually MORE powerful with 100/200watt output compared to the beloved PA20's 58watts but again it is the higher frequencies of current generation sirens which sound weaker-except for the phaser tones..my PA20 "E" seems as loud as a 100watt whelen and my PA200 with tones like the "E" sounds WAY louder than the whelen even though both the whelen and PA200 has the same power output..I think its due to the lower tones..early PA20's are even more lower and slower.
Those weird sounds between wail and yelp were known as "bomb drop" and "Calif Yelp". The whoop was called "riot". This was a great siren box and moved traffic!
We have this siren on a couple of our older rigs and I love it. On one of the trucks it literally sounds like a ghost going up and down the road, so that's pretty funny. But I think this is a good old siren and that some of the tones (like when you hold the selector between wail and yelp, yelp and hi-lo, etc) would sound pretty cool with a rumbler hooked up.
Hello PolizeiPaul, I don't know about chicago but I used to hear it a lot in the 60's and the 70's growing up in New York. All you have to do to get that tone fron it is put the selector switch between Wail & Yelp.
The BEEP,BEEP,BEEP, Yelp (0:34) instead of the standard that we are used to hearing was used on the Chicago police cars in The Blues Brothers movie but I was wondering did they actually use it in real life back then for Chicago police cars?
i was just watching the show online. sometimes when the engine and the squad got called out it looke like this siren on the dash. so i thought maybe it was some how wired to a mech siren
@GUYM3065 This siren was shown in the original Engine 51 (the Crown) but on the show, they played an old style mechanical siren every time the Crown responded.
@jao216 Actually, the rig used for Squad 51 didn't have a siren installed. They did show this model as being in a squad. Also, it sswas in the original Engine 51 - the Crown, although they never used it, they played an old mechanical siren.
I used to have great fun with these things back in the early 1980s and all through the 1970s until a Judge put a stop to it.And,also the Mobile Police Department.Iwas known as ''the Bay city Prankster''
This is the high-pitched version of the PA20A. It's a series 2E and I have one just like it. The 2E was in production throughout the 1970s and into the early 1980s.
Comment removed
timoulete76 1 week ago
the in between on the yelp sounds like a powercall plus aka 6 adam!
Wpd54 3 months ago
It looks like a North American Signal Master SI-M doesn't it a little!
HyperFoxTails 4 months ago
They were called - inter-tones, they were made because the circuitry had a " make-before-break" type of switch, it combined circuits on the board. It was like playing a synthesizer while going down the road... your partner concentrated in driving, you made the music to clear the way !!!
rpkofny 8 months ago
Last part was the best lol
CapitalNick 9 months ago
You need to get dog dog kitty kitty going on it
dbooks1883 10 months ago
Lol the hi lo reconfiguration sounds like pager tones..
oregonninetwentynine 11 months ago
Right at :32 is that high pitched yelp used by Chicago PD in the movie "The Blues Brothers" Chicago chase scene. Though the movie cars mixed a duotone siren for theatrical effect; that high pitched yelp and wail.
RacerXGTO 1 year ago
I think that it's weird that I have a newer PA15A with slightly different tones, but it has in-between tones that are exactly like this one. Weird.
doranduh 1 year ago
Damn that head-end looks familiar: I was a police office in the 1970's and this unit was installed in our cars in Baltimore County, Maryland. Brings back memories :-)
gordonjj 1 year ago
The sound that make these old PA20a and "e" models so unique is the sound he finds in between the hi-lo and yelp starting at 1:43...
some of you may recognize it as very similar to what the old GE powercall sounds like with the other yelp it does..this is very close to that sound and I think it's what makes this a unique siren..none of the others will do it except for the federal PA200 if you gently hit the tones between settings like he is doing here..
My PA20"e" sounds identical to this...
Dino0469 1 year ago
This has been flagged as spam show
Back in the early 80's my father was a local Fire Chief with this exact siren. And of course...he was producing those same sounds for the mid-positions between Wail & Yelp. He named one of them the "Screamer" whether this was just him or a known name I will never know
murthad02 1 year ago
Back in the early 80's my father was a local Fire Chief with this exact siren. And of course...he was producing those same sounds for the mid-positions between Wail & Yelp. He named one of them the "Screamer" whether this was just him or a known name I will never know
murthad02 1 year ago
@murthad02 This was what I heard when I busted my leg in a skateboard accident when I was growing up in San Francisco . The old 1973 model Dodge wagons the Department of Public Health EMS Division used had these high pitched sirens . I also had "road rash" abrasions nearly all over my body and it hurt ! The ambulance stewards that picked me up were cool !
Medic83301 1 year ago
@murthad02 Never heard it called that.
GUYM3065 1 year ago
On Emergency!, the Squad 51 rig did not actually have a siren installed. The shots showing the radio & siren were just stock footage. Funny that the Crown engine had one of these, but they always played an old mech. siren sound.
box15c22 1 year ago
I have a pa-20a but I cant get those "in between tones" Why is that???
IRIE1313 1 year ago
@IRIE1313 It seems to me that it has something to do with finding the "sweet spot" with the selector between settings and it affects the sound with the switch when it starts to engage the next sound..thats what I think is causing it to sound different at times..I do not understand why they don't go back to this classic sound because it commanded way more attention I recall back in those days than with the newage thin puny sound emergency signals today..I remember these as a child! VeryLoud !
Dino0469 1 year ago
@Dino0469 I miss these sirens. They are REAL sirens in my book. The newer sirens aren't loud enough & the tones don't command enough attention. The Code 3 sirens sound like one of those dog whistles.
box15c22 1 year ago
@box15c22 I absolutely agree! It seems to me that if they are looking for tones to "clear traffic" then all they need to do is return to the "old" tones of yesterday..the new rumbler type tones just released using a subwoofer type speaker proves the deeper lower tones are more audible than the hi pitched toy-like sirens you get now..It's a no brainer! Today's auto's have a soundproof environment inside such as the lexus and common sense tells you a deeper tone will be more audible..y'all agree?
Dino0469 1 year ago
@box15c22 Also,current sirens are actually MORE powerful with 100/200watt output compared to the beloved PA20's 58watts but again it is the higher frequencies of current generation sirens which sound weaker-except for the phaser tones..my PA20 "E" seems as loud as a 100watt whelen and my PA200 with tones like the "E" sounds WAY louder than the whelen even though both the whelen and PA200 has the same power output..I think its due to the lower tones..early PA20's are even more lower and slower.
Dino0469 1 year ago
Federal should make the siren tone between 32secs and 37sec a standard tone for their new models.
Elegance469 1 year ago 2
That would be cool
michellmull 1 year ago
the chicago tone!!! at 0:40
RailsandRoads 1 year ago
Those weird sounds between wail and yelp were known as "bomb drop" and "Calif Yelp". The whoop was called "riot". This was a great siren box and moved traffic!
PCFF37 2 years ago 2
@ PCFF37
North American Signal Company actually has a siren tone called 'Riot'. It's a Hi-Lo mixed with a similar whoop.
wrailfan 1 year ago
It has the Mad Max sound
barmtrail 2 years ago
its a tetris
mp095 2 years ago
It was like that when I got it.
GUYM3065 2 years ago
How did you modify the Hi-Lo to produce an "Alert" tone instead?
PolskaRezystans 2 years ago
Hey i was wondering if anyone could help me find a website or something that i could find the wiring and connectors for a PA-20A?
ThomasColesberry 3 years ago
i have lots of connectors and could even show you how to wire it with out one
chevyslave666 3 years ago
i saw this video and had to try it with my pa-20. loved it. the siren tone played at 40secs is exactly like the siren tone in Madmax
chevyslave666 3 years ago
Really!! That sound awesome! Sure i would love the help
ThomasColesberry 3 years ago
We have this siren on a couple of our older rigs and I love it. On one of the trucks it literally sounds like a ghost going up and down the road, so that's pretty funny. But I think this is a good old siren and that some of the tones (like when you hold the selector between wail and yelp, yelp and hi-lo, etc) would sound pretty cool with a rumbler hooked up.
money9033 3 years ago
Hello PolizeiPaul, I don't know about chicago but I used to hear it a lot in the 60's and the 70's growing up in New York. All you have to do to get that tone fron it is put the selector switch between Wail & Yelp.
GUYM3065 3 years ago
The BEEP,BEEP,BEEP, Yelp (0:34) instead of the standard that we are used to hearing was used on the Chicago police cars in The Blues Brothers movie but I was wondering did they actually use it in real life back then for Chicago police cars?
PolizeiPaul 3 years ago
this siren was used on emergency! in squad 51. and i think it was in the engine too
jao216 3 years ago
It is the same one from Squad 51 but not the same as the one from Enging 51. Engine 51 had a Federal Signal Q Mechanical siren.
GUYM3065 3 years ago
i was just watching the show online. sometimes when the engine and the squad got called out it looke like this siren on the dash. so i thought maybe it was some how wired to a mech siren
jao216 3 years ago
@GUYM3065 the Crown Engine 51 had one, but a mechinacal siren was played, the LaFrance Engine 51 had a Federal Q
farmtruck551 1 year ago
@GUYM3065 Also used in the Blues Brothers Movie!
HyperFoxTails 10 months ago
@GUYM3065 This siren was shown in the original Engine 51 (the Crown) but on the show, they played an old style mechanical siren every time the Crown responded.
box15c22 4 months ago
@jao216 Actually, the rig used for Squad 51 didn't have a siren installed. They did show this model as being in a squad. Also, it sswas in the original Engine 51 - the Crown, although they never used it, they played an old mechanical siren.
box15c22 1 year ago
I miss this siren on our old squad/rescue. Especially the little 'drop' tone when you started on a wail.
nmcarpenter 3 years ago 2
Yes that drop was so a federal signature
fmartinjr 3 years ago 2
I used to have great fun with these things back in the early 1980s and all through the 1970s until a Judge put a stop to it.And,also the Mobile Police Department.Iwas known as ''the Bay city Prankster''
CASKETCRANK 3 years ago
the wail souns like pa200
pearldrumsarecool 3 years ago
r u going to have anymore pa 29a
candlelightdinn1 3 years ago
make that a 20a
candlelightdinn1 3 years ago
THIS SIREN HAS BEEN SOLD, THANK YOU !
GUYM3065 3 years ago
oh, and will you include a speaker and/or a wiring harness?
doranduh 3 years ago
ok, I'll tell you when I have the money.
=D
doranduh 3 years ago
This is the high-pitched version of the PA20A. It's a series 2E and I have one just like it. The 2E was in production throughout the 1970s and into the early 1980s.
nmtoc 3 years ago
I'm interested, but I need to work up 100 bucks first xD. This would go perfectly with my aerodynic.
doranduh 3 years ago
how much?
CombatSaint789 3 years ago
$100
b719 3 years ago