Civil Defense Sirens (air raid/tornado siren)

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CDailey

CDailey

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Alabama
Anyone else absolutely love these things? They demand respect and fear at the same time. Something so small creating such a noise that can be heard from a 1-5 mile radius. Since my recent move to Alabama, I've been subjected to these sirens three times for monthly tornado warning tests. It's amazing to me how something so small can create a sound so loud, it wakes me up from inside my apartment 2 miles away. Does anyone have a particular favorite siren sound? I've heard a ton online, and my favorite by far is the Thunderbolt 1000. Fortunately, that's the model my city has installed here.

Here's what my cities sirens sound like (not my video)

 
I guess I'd never really thought about it but that is a pretty cool video. The sound his highly directionalized to help it carry that far. Does it sound constant to you 2 miles away or does it pitch up and down and go in and out of volume?
 
My father's business used to be located directly across the street from a volunteer fire company. Several times a week I'd hear that big 'ol siren go off, and it was LOUD. The cool thing was, after then turned off the motor, the flywheel would keep spinning for 3 or 4 minutes - that's how fast it was spinning. The loud sound would die off in 15 seconds, but it would continue to moan audibly, dropping in pitch, for a long tome after that.
 
Danoff
I guess I'd never really thought about it but that is a pretty cool video. The sound his highly directionalized to help it carry that far. Does it sound constant to you 2 miles away or does it pitch up and down and go in and out of volume?
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The pitch changes since the giant horn rotates. Inside my apartment, it sounds like someone is vacuuming above you, moving back and forth across the entire length of the floor. The first time I heard it, I honestly thought that someone was using some sort of industrial vacuum at 9am. Then when I heard it power down I knew what the sound actually was.

Next month, I'm going to set my alarm on my phone so I can go outside and record it.
 
Houston still has these old ww2 ones, just "frankensteined" w/ other stuff(think it's got a thunderbolt flywheel.)
 
Having spent a majority of my childhood in Oklahoma I'm very familiar with those tornado sirens. Always put a lump in my throat and a sinking feeling in my stomach each time they went off. Never knew if it was a test, or a funnel coming to rip your **** into shreads. I'd always go outside to listen to them when I heard one start to go off. Fun stuff.
 
I remember from childhood, when I was living what could be called a suburbia, they had some utterly loud air-raid sirens. I remember that it was impossible to speak while they were on, and they would last a few minutes every time. Kinda logic, considering there was a military surveilance base hidden inside a mountain, not very far away from where I lived then, and this was during/right after the cold war.
 
First time I ever heard one of these was in college, during an actual tornado.

I was actually asleep, taking a midday nap, when it woke me up. I recognized it as an air raid siren immediately and as I hadn't heard it used for a tornado before I started to really freak out a bit. When the hall director came by and said it was a tornado I immediately calmed down and said, "That's it?"
 
I always loved the air raid siren, I wish i could hear it in person again. The last time i heard it was back in 2002 when my old school did it to commemerate 9/11
 
On the first Monday of September each year the INCO refinery about a mile or 2 away sounds its "Oh 🤬, it's gonna blow!" siren.

Wouldn't have a clue what type how or how you would describe it, but it's always nice to know when a whole load of Hydrogen is about to go boom.
 
Funny thing is...i grew up in Maryland (and currently live here). Maybe once a month, a siren would go off as a test. Now that i read this thread, i realize i haven't heard one of those sirens for years....can't remember the last time i did.
 
Oh wow, that sound sends a chill up my spine, and I have no idea why. I was born after the cold war and have never experienced a tornado. The only place I've ever heard one being tested is at a friends house, and then it's just a prison testing it's escaped prisoner alarm. Funny how it's recognised as a universal 'oh...balls' sound.
 
I have always loved the sound of sirens 'spooling up', we have sirens here because of the RAF Base but I haven't heard them for a while, they used to scare the hell out of me when they used to test them when I was younger.
 
Ive never heard that kind of air raid siren that you posted (was at school so i couldn't see the video before). I somehow cant find the version that my old town had.

This is an interesting air raid siren
 
Ah, the Chrysler Air Raid Siren. The largest and loudest civil defense siren ever built. The entire thing weigh something close to 6,000lbs and could put out 138dB. :eek:
 
I've always been curious about sirens in general. Low, bass tones travel much farther than high-pitched tones, so why the heck are most sirens, especially emergency vehicle sirens, high pitched? Seems to me that if they made it a booming bass sound you could hear the cop car coming from a mile away, instead of just when it appears from around the semi in front of you as the cop races the other direction.
 
I figured out that its the T-128 that my town had. Maybe an older version, considering it didn't look like that, and our town wasn't exactly the biggest or richest.

 
Keef
I've always been curious about sirens in general. Low, bass tones travel much farther than high-pitched tones, so why the heck are most sirens, especially emergency vehicle sirens, high pitched? Seems to me that if they made it a booming bass sound you could hear the cop car coming from a mile away, instead of just when it appears from around the semi in front of you as the cop races the other direction.
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They may travel farther, but they don't get your attention like the shrill of a siren.
 
Long-wavelength sounds travel a long distance and around/through lots of objects, but they're extremely hard to localize. If a cop car had a huge low-freq siren, it would sound like it was coming at you from all directions, so you wouldn't know where to look.

That Hemi-powered siren is teh badassness.
 
Ah, I forgot that sources of low tones are difficult to find. Knowing the direction the fire truck or ambulance is coming from is just as important as knowing he's coming at all.

I think the tornado sirens in my area need to be louder. I can hear 4 from my house, but it's hilly around my house, so they're all pretty quiet. The two in my town, each on top one of our two firehouses, are within 2 miles from my house, with the nearest one less than a half-mile. If I have the stereo or TV on and the windows closed all I hear is a distant whistle.

EDIT: I've never seen one like this and it sounds awesome. It doesn't start until 1:30 into the video.





The way the second one starts sounds like something from Looney Tunes. It talks too! W00t!
 
Diablo'
Ive never heard that kind of air raid siren that you posted (was at school so i couldn't see the video before). I somehow cant find the version that my old town had.

This is an interesting air raid siren
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Definitely the winner of the "What can you Hemi" contest.


Our local Volunteer Fire Department has an air raid siren (as well as pagers) to summon the firefighters. I hear it quite often.
 

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