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Posted: 6/30/2012 12:34:02 PM EDT
I am crazy for cold war era CD sirens.  

While I don't currently own any sirens I really want to get a Federal Signal Thunderbolt and restore it.  I really have no idea why I want one, or even what I would do with it.  But for about 3 years now I have been lusting after one.  Sadly where I live CD sirens are few and far between so they come up for sale very infrequently.  I have attempted to buy several sirens on E-Bay but no luck yet.

There is at least one board that is dedicated to these sirens but it is overrun with teen siren enthusiasts and they just rub me the wrong way.  I can't say why, maybe because I am an old fart?  I don't know.  But I just can't seem to get into that particular siren board.

So come clean ARFcom, who else likes old rusty unneeded cold war derelict sirens?

Link Posted: 6/30/2012 12:41:28 PM EDT
[#1]
Link Posted: 6/30/2012 12:49:42 PM EDT
[#2]
I lit up an old thunderbolt on top of the local masonic temple one time. Was working on an A/C unit and decided to check out the old thunderbolt. Still had power and had three manual switches: rotation, chopper and blower. I rotated the horn so it pointed at the ghetto and fired off the chopper. It was loud but when I lit off the air compressor it coughed a cloud of rust and really started to wail...



It was awesome..
Link Posted: 6/30/2012 12:53:46 PM EDT
[#3]
You want one of the ones with a chrysler hemi engine, don't you?  
Link Posted: 6/30/2012 12:56:10 PM EDT
[#4]
you  obviously have not dated my last girlfriend...

you would have no interest in a loud wailing siren
Link Posted: 6/30/2012 12:57:17 PM EDT
[#5]



Quoted:


I am crazy for cold war era CD sirens.  



While I don't currently own any sirens I really want to get a Federal Signal Thunderbolt and restore it.  I really have no idea why I want one, or even what I would do with it.  But for about 3 years now I have been lusting after one.  Sadly where I live CD sirens are few and far between so they come up for sale very infrequently.  I have attempted to buy several sirens on E-Bay but no luck yet.



There is at least one board that is dedicated to these sirens but it is overrun with teen siren enthusiasts and they just rub me the wrong way.  I can't say why, maybe because I am an old fart?  I don't know.  But I just can't seem to get into that particular siren board.



So come clean ARFcom, who else likes old rusty unneeded cold war derelict sirens?






Let your kids know it's time to get back home?




It would be cool to have one though. Where's the thread where someone hooked one up inside someone's house to come on when they returned home. This after turning all their furniture upside down?



 
Link Posted: 7/3/2012 4:29:46 PM EDT
[#6]
Is there any difference between the old "CD" sirens and just typical fire house or weather sirens (specific CD markings/decals?) In the area I live in, I'd say maybe 5-7 years ago many of the sirens were either replaced or taken out of service. A town close to where I grew up used to have sirens strategically set up at different points. They were also of different configurations. Some had a 360 degree circular array of horns, others were omni-directional (round cylinders with chinese hat like things on top) and some were rotating horns. All were probably from the 40's, 50's and maybe the 60's. Some of these old sirens were just taken down and not replaced, others were replaced with a PA/siren type rotating horn. I have no idea what happened to all of the old sirens, either they were junked or somebody took them home.
Link Posted: 7/3/2012 4:32:10 PM EDT
[#7]
There are still a number of mounted air raid sirens around the San Fernando Valley. I went to college there and would spend time between classes just driving around looking for them

ETA: This was only 4 or 5 years ago so I bet they are still around. I hope the city just forgets about them and never removes them
Link Posted: 7/3/2012 4:33:57 PM EDT
[#8]
Quoted:

Quoted:
I am crazy for cold war era CD sirens.  

While I don't currently own any sirens I really want to get a Federal Signal Thunderbolt and restore it.  I really have no idea why I want one, or even what I would do with it.  But for about 3 years now I have been lusting after one.  Sadly where I live CD sirens are few and far between so they come up for sale very infrequently.  I have attempted to buy several sirens on E-Bay but no luck yet.

There is at least one board that is dedicated to these sirens but it is overrun with teen siren enthusiasts and they just rub me the wrong way.  I can't say why, maybe because I am an old fart?  I don't know.  But I just can't seem to get into that particular siren board.

So come clean ARFcom, who else likes old rusty unneeded cold war derelict sirens?


Let your kids know it's time to get back home?


It would be cool to have one though. Where's the thread where someone hooked one up inside someone's house to come on when they returned home. This after turning all their furniture upside down?

 


Link Posted: 7/3/2012 4:37:59 PM EDT
[#9]
Link Posted: 7/3/2012 4:48:22 PM EDT
[#10]
Cool as shit.  Trying to find video of one on a bar roof somewhere on east coast.
Link Posted: 7/3/2012 4:51:16 PM EDT
[#11]
There was one directly across the street from my Grandparents house in NewBedford MA. It was loud as hell and signaled start of work, lunch and time to get off. Thinking back it is kind of surreal to think that we actually had Air raid sirens in our city.
Link Posted: 7/3/2012 4:53:49 PM EDT
[#12]
My favorite video...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rGUrM19BnJ8

wife telling me to get fucked for playing over house audio system.
Link Posted: 7/3/2012 4:58:03 PM EDT
[#13]
If you like that kind of stuff like I do, here is a site for you to check out..



http://www.civildefensemuseum.com/


 
Link Posted: 7/3/2012 5:06:05 PM EDT
[#14]
There is no reason for me to want a Carter or Gents siren, yet I do anyway.



Posted Via AR15.Com Mobile
Link Posted: 7/3/2012 5:07:14 PM EDT
[#15]
Quoted:
You want one of the ones with a chrysler hemi engine, don't you?  


Beat me to it...

I guess I'm weird because I know exactly what a Thunderbolt looks like though I've never worked with any of that sort of stuff.

I think someone needs to take one of the hemi  powered units to Knob Creek or such...
Link Posted: 7/3/2012 5:11:51 PM EDT
[#16]
Quoted:
Yes, I'd love to own one.

I grew up in a town with a siren on top of the fire station.  That siren blew every day at 7 am, noon, 1 pm, and 5 pm every day for decades.  It was deafening if standing by the building.  I've heard it over 10 miles out of town on a cold still morning.







Ahhh memories
Link Posted: 7/3/2012 5:13:03 PM EDT
[#17]


Ha! Thats the koolest thing i've seen all month. With Dig Daddy no less.

ETA: Years ago when we were kids we saw a large brush fire. We ran to the fire hall, they had the switches mounted in a box outside, you turned on the siren from there to alert the volunteer fire dept. to come to the station. That sucker was LOUUUUD!! One of the firemen even gave us an Indian hand pumper to go squirt the small fires sprouting up while they put out the big one.
Naturally we squirted them too as any 12yr old boys would do in the 70's. They had bigger stuff though and won the water fight.
Link Posted: 7/3/2012 5:14:24 PM EDT
[#18]
About twenty years ago I had a guy offer me an old, maybe ww1 hand cranked brass siren on a wooden tripod.  Goddamn thing was gorgeous and it was cheap as I recall, but I didn't have the money.  
Link Posted: 7/3/2012 5:17:07 PM EDT
[#19]
My town has 2 or 3 of these set up around town for the fire dept.

One was set up at the local DPW, where my father used to work.

Good lord they are loud.
Link Posted: 7/3/2012 5:44:26 PM EDT
[#20]


That video was awesome!



While I can't deny that I would love one of the original Hemi powered sirens they are just too darn big for me!


But a Federal Thunderbolt is on my wishlist and is still loud enough to be heard for miles.  And again, I can't put my finger on my fascination with these things but they just really intrigue me.

Check out a Thunderbolt in action!  Not my vid I am sorry to say.  This just reminds me so much of when I was a kid and everyone felt that nuclear war was a given and we were just waiting for it to happen.  I can remember the weekly siren tests in my town and how much they scared the shit out of me.  That siren from when I was a kid sounded a lot like this.



Link Posted: 7/3/2012 5:48:56 PM EDT
[#21]
Quoted:
I lit up an old thunderbolt on top of the local masonic temple one time. Was working on an A/C unit and decided to check out the old thunderbolt. Still had power and had three manual switches: rotation, chopper and blower. I rotated the horn so it pointed at the ghetto and fired off the chopper. It was loud but when I lit off the air compressor it coughed a cloud of rust and really started to wail...

It was awesome..


Nice.
Link Posted: 7/3/2012 5:56:07 PM EDT
[#22]



Quoted:


My town has 2 or 3 of these set up around town for the fire dept.



One was set up at the local DPW, where my father used to work.



Good lord they are loud.


Yea...and why in hell didn't we hear them Friday night?  



 
Link Posted: 7/3/2012 6:07:02 PM EDT
[#23]
I've always wanted one of those old hand crank air raid sirens.
Link Posted: 7/3/2012 6:08:12 PM EDT
[#24]
In San Francisco ( may fuck be upon it) every Tuesday or Wednesday I think, at noon they test all the sirens across the city. Its pretty haunting to hear them all start up a little out of sequence, run for a minute and then slowly wind down out of sequence. It takes a minute or so for them to wind down. Its actually what I love about air raid sirens.
Link Posted: 7/3/2012 6:13:15 PM EDT
[#25]
Quoted:
In San Francisco ( may fuck be upon it) every Tuesday or Wednesday I think, at noon they test all the sirens across the city. Its pretty haunting to hear them all start up a little out of sequence, run for a minute and then slowly wind down out of sequence. It takes a minute or so for them to wind down. Its actually what I love about air raid sirens.


Amen brother!  The wind down always makes me think of the end of the world.  Damn, I sound like some weird emo kid or something.  But I do love that sound.

Link Posted: 7/3/2012 6:15:43 PM EDT
[#26]



Quoted:



Check out a Thunderbolt in action!  Not my vid I am sorry to say.  This just reminds me so much of when I was a kid and everyone felt that nuclear war was a given and we were just waiting for it to happen.  I can remember the weekly siren tests in my town and how much they scared the shit out of me.  That siren from when I was a kid sounded a lot like this.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oYeql9xE19k





I had one like that in the alley behind my house as a kid.



 
Link Posted: 7/3/2012 6:28:55 PM EDT
[#27]



Quoted:







That video was awesome!
While I can't deny that I would love one of the original Hemi powered sirens they are just too darn big for me!





But a Federal Thunderbolt is on my wishlist and is still loud enough to be heard for miles.  And again, I can't put my finger on my fascination with these things but they just really intrigue me.



Check out a Thunderbolt in action!  Not my vid I am sorry to say.  This just reminds me so much of when I was a kid and everyone felt that nuclear war was a given and we were just waiting for it to happen.  I can remember the weekly siren tests in my town and how much they scared the shit out of me.  That siren from when I was a kid sounded a lot like this.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oYeql9xE19k





Oh yeah.  They still put the hair up on the back of the neck.  And make me go



 
Link Posted: 7/3/2012 6:45:53 PM EDT
[#28]
I grew up in Los Angeles during the cold war. On the last Friday of the month at precisely 10:30 am they would go off. It was no big deal because it was Friday...

Fast forward to a weekend in Avalon on Catalina Island. My wife and I were strolling and sure enough the air raid siren went off. It wasn't 10:30 am on Friday. For a couple of minutes, we truly thought this was it; we were going to die on an island that wasn't home. Then a little kid looked at us and said, "There's a fire. They're calling all the firemen." We'd never ever heard of using an air raid siren for anything else.
Link Posted: 7/3/2012 7:35:59 PM EDT
[#29]
Quoted:

Quoted:
My town has 2 or 3 of these set up around town for the fire dept.

One was set up at the local DPW, where my father used to work.

Good lord they are loud.

Yea...and why in hell didn't we hear them Friday night?  
 


I emigrated to Virginia kind sir.

Im from NY
Link Posted: 7/3/2012 7:56:06 PM EDT
[#30]



Quoted:


I grew up in Los Angeles during the cold war. ............





We'd never ever heard of using an air raid siren for anything else.


I grew up in Dayton Ohio. They were there for the big one and tornado warnings. It was eerie as hell hearing them wail at night during severe thunderstorms.



 
Link Posted: 7/4/2012 2:59:47 AM EDT
[#31]
Quoted:
I've always wanted one of those old hand crank air raid sirens.


LIke this? http://www.keepshooting.com/hand-operated-warning-siren.html

The larger one is sold out.
Link Posted: 7/4/2012 3:14:42 AM EDT
[#32]



Quoted:





Quoted:

I grew up in Los Angeles during the cold war. ............





We'd never ever heard of using an air raid siren for anything else.


I grew up in Dayton Ohio. They were there for the big one and tornado warnings. It was eerie as hell hearing them wail at night during severe thunderstorms.

 

I live south of Dayton and there's many sirens around here for tornadoes. However, the sirens mus  not be what they once were. Despite the fact there's one just down the road, you only hear it if you're outside or if your windows are open.


Some good it does.







 
Link Posted: 7/4/2012 3:19:14 AM EDT
[#33]
I never knew such a thing existed!








 
Link Posted: 7/4/2012 3:37:31 AM EDT
[#34]



Quoted:



Quoted:

I've always wanted one of those old hand crank air raid sirens.




LIke this? http://www.keepshooting.com/hand-operated-warning-siren.html



The larger one is sold out.


I have one of these & wish I had grabbed the larger one.





 
Link Posted: 7/4/2012 1:16:27 PM EDT
[#35]
Quoted:
Quoted:
I've always wanted one of those old hand crank air raid sirens.


LIke this? http://www.keepshooting.com/hand-operated-warning-siren.html

The larger one is sold out.


Want
Link Posted: 7/4/2012 4:41:06 PM EDT
[#36]
Quoted:
Yes, I'd love to own one.

I grew up in a town with a siren on top of the fire station.  That siren blew every day at 7 am, noon, 1 pm, and 5 pm every day for decades.  It was deafening if standing by the building.  I've heard it over 10 miles out of town on a cold still morning.


I fucking hate those things because I grew up around the block from one.  Every Wednesday at noon.
Link Posted: 7/4/2012 7:58:31 PM EDT
[#37]
Quoted:
Quoted:
Yes, I'd love to own one.

I grew up in a town with a siren on top of the fire station.  That siren blew every day at 7 am, noon, 1 pm, and 5 pm every day for decades.  It was deafening if standing by the building.  I've heard it over 10 miles out of town on a cold still morning.


I fucking hate those things because I grew up around the block from one.  Every Wednesday at noon.


They used to blow curfew at 2100 hrs when I was a kid.
Link Posted: 7/4/2012 8:05:22 PM EDT
[#38]
I have 11. Well, the agency does, but I have the DTMF start and stop sequence stored in my radio. Most are Sentry Siren brand.
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