It's not radio, however it is a form of communication

FLRAILMAN · #1 (**permalink**) 10-11-2009, 01:38 PM

Hey Phil, remember this? To all you Long Island Volleys out there who miss LIFA. Make sure your PC speakers are on.

The Gamewell Diaphone Site - Warning With Distinction

Ahhhh, I love the sound of diaphones in the morning.

FLRAILMAN

EJM · #2 (**permalink**) 10-11-2009, 01:51 PM

Morristown, NJ FD had two (2) horns like that. The town's people called it the cow.

FLRAILMAN · #3 (**permalink**) 10-11-2009, 02:08 PM

Farmingdale Long Island VFD has one they call the "Bullfrog" from what I learned, the deeper sounding diaphones use brass pistons, the higher sounding horns use aluminum pistons if that means anything to you.
I remember growing up on Long Island & hearing them in different towns, very cool sounding except if you are right in front of a firehouse when they go off.

FLRAILMAN

DaveNF2G · #4 (**permalink**) 10-12-2009, 09:40 AM

The Saint Paul Blvd FD in Irondequoit, Monroe County, has one of those. I never knew what it was called and it was the only horn like it that I ever heard.

thecop · #5 (**permalink**) 10-12-2009, 09:50 AM

Walk past the Northport Fire Department at noon...with someone who is proficient at CPR!!! I swear that thing is going to kill me some day. I have seen babies start screaming and older citizens miss a step when that blast is sent.
It really is not funny. Unlike a siren that starts out at a lower volume, sort of a warning to let you know it's going to get louder, the blast is immediate and unbelievably loud.

fineshot1 · #6 (**permalink**) 10-12-2009, 10:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by FLRAILMAN

Hey Phil, remember this? To all you Long Island Volleys out there who miss LIFA. Make sure your PC speakers are on.

The Gamewell Diaphone Site - Warning With Distinction

Ahhhh, I love the sound of diaphones in the morning.

FLRAILMAN

Thanks for posting that - it does bring back old memories

Chauffeur6 · #7 (**permalink**) 10-12-2009, 10:56 AM

Make sure you watch the video of Haverstraw's Diaphones. They've got one hell of an air compressor system feeding them, the last blast is as strong as the first even after a few rounds. They are easily heard across the river in Westchester.

http://www.gamewelldiaphone.com/soun...w_Diaphone.wmv

FLRAILMAN · #8 (**permalink**) 10-12-2009, 12:06 PM

I remember on the LIFA website one of the members was on the roof of the Glen Cove firehouse in Nassau County taking videos of their 3 diaphones & 2 diaphragm horns when the dispatcher activated them for the noon test, he took a full blast from all 5 horns right in the face at about 15 feet, the camcorder actually vibrated while he was filming them, it looked like a special effects image when they kicked on, after reeling for a few seconds & just as he said "HOLY S__T he got hit with a second blast, any of you Long Island vollies who were members of LIFA back then most assuradly remember that video clip. It truly was the most popular Diaphone video clip in the video gallery, they actually started a thread on just that one clip, it was priceless.

FLRAILMAN

eng5 · #9 (**permalink**) 10-12-2009, 12:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by thecop

immediate and unbelievably loud.

Eggertsville Hose in suburban Buffalo. They had a FedSig Model 2 that ran while the horn sounded. Ouch.

FLRAILMAN · #10 (**permalink**) 10-12-2009, 12:15 PM

Most of the towns in Long Island used the combination of one or more diaphones & a Federal model 5 siren, I think it was coolest combination ever, the very first time I ever heard that, it sent chills down my spine. The sound byte in the video clip on the Diaphone website of the Larksper California diaphone was used in the movie "Invasion of the body snatchers"

FLRAILMAN

fineshot1 · #11 (**permalink**) 10-12-2009, 12:56 PM

That web site is pretty cool - I just downloaded a diaphone ring tone to my cell phone and pc.

FLRAILMAN · #12 (**permalink**) 10-12-2009, 02:42 PM

Just to familiarize those of you who never heard of a diaphone horn, here is some background info.

Diaphone - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Horn & Whistle Articles

FLRAILMAN

Sonic1131 · #13 (**permalink**) 10-13-2009, 11:20 PM

I like it ! Sent some ringtones to my cell phone. Thanks for posting.

W2SJW · #14 (**permalink**) 10-14-2009, 06:30 PM

Bound Brook, NJ still has those, they sound just like the one on the main site page! Somerville Borough still has the Gamewell boxes on the utility poles that cause the system to activate automatically.

Bound Brook took them down in my teens. WAY too many false-alarms in the mid-80's...

Ahh, my childhood years...

radioman2001 · #15 (**permalink**) 11-03-2009, 03:08 PM

My old department in Hawthorne, N.Y. had 4 trumpets located under a coupala (sp ?). Where I lived, less than a mile from the station, and depending on the wind direction, you can either not hear them at all or be blown out of bed at 3am. Whenever work had to be done on the roof or surrounding area, they had to be shut off for fear of actually hurting someone, like blowing out someones ear drums. Another note is they actually have to be tuned to make their distinctive sound. That in itself takes some courage, since you have to be up at the horn while it is going off to tune it. The air compressor in the back room of the kitchen area was huge, about the size you would see in a gas station garage. I don't know if the still use a Gamewell box to activate them, but when an alarm was received a relay would trip the manual pull on the box for 3-3-3-3 delay 3-3-3-3. When I was young they were Gamewell boxes located throughout the town, but that was shut down in the late 60's, with the exception of 2 boxes on the outside of the Fire Station itself.