Tornado Sirens

[russellv2]

This may vary from county to county, but how are the tornado sirens triggered?

I heard over the weekend (during all that incredibly rocky weather in Genesee County and elsewhere) some of the weather spotters talking about the sirens not going off and that Central Dispatch would have to check and then re-tone them. Later in the day during another tornado warning I did a scan of some possible frquencies (central dispatch north and south, OEM, fire, etc.), but never heard anything.

Does anyone know in general what agencies put out the tones, and more specifically in Genesee County how the sirens are triggered.

Thanks.


Also, this should go in the "interesting things heard on the scanner forum" too, but it's too irresistable in my mind not to put here for Michigan folk:
Heard on the Genesee County Skywarn Channel (during condition green)--
Mobile station: "Holy crap! That's an interesting sight. There's water shooting out of the manhole cover about 3 feet into the air on Fenton Road."
Other station: "Caution! You may get wet!"
Mobile: "No kidding!"

 

[KB8UYC]

Well it depends.......the area that is covered by the washtenaw county sheriff's department gets toned out by the Emergency Management. Saline, Milan, Chelsea have their own sirens. I know this because the other night on P.S. Call our EMD requested milan and saline to trigger their sirens, but for where I am in Superior Twp, the local OEM triggers the sirens. Remembers this though, your local OEM plays a very very vital role when severe weather approaches.

 

[Thunderbolt]

In Genesee County, they use both the fire dispatch frequencies and the local Emergency Management frequency. Around seven years ago they were talking about moving all of the tone alerting and siren activation over to the E.M. freq., which is 153.7850 MHz.

There are several means that outdoor warning sirens can be activated by:

1. Direct local control

2. Remote activation, via fiber optic lines.

3. Telephone line control from a central point.

4. Radio control using a two-tone sequential format.

5. Radio control using a DTMF string

6. Radio control using FSK packet.

7. Satellite Control.

The most common of the above methods would be the two-tone sequential format and telephone line control. However, some towns and villages with only one siren may elect to use direct local control.


73's

Ron

 

[marcp90]

On May 1 when Brighton Fire Department tested there Tornado Siren, I heard a sound like when dialing speed dial on a telephone. It also sounded like the sound on Flint Police that makes a sort of dialing tone after the unit transmits.

 

[russellv2]

Cool. And thanks Ron. Although I scanned the county fire and emergency management frequencies and didn't hear anything even when they retoned them.
Is it a continuous tone or series of tones or just a split second? Maybe I just missed it?

 

[jjr0062]

Oakland county sirens are toned out on 155.265
by either the EOC or NWS White Lake (backup)

 

[Thunderbolt]

I understand the warning sirens in Oakland County use 154.980 MHz., the old Sheriff LEIN channel for siren site weather information and collection. Has anyone heard any type of digital transmissions on this frequency?

73's

Ron

 

[jjr0062]

I can check into this. I know the sirens are tripped on 155.265. I have a old HT600 setup to receive these tones.
Ive set them off myself in the past. Have to get on apcor console
and ask Community EMS to standby when the tones go out. It a two tone patern. The tones also set off the radio monitors in the county schools
and county offices.

Ive heard the data on the other freq. Thought it was the monitors setup
at key drain inlets to monitor flooding.

More to follow
Jim
kc8fmx

 

[mikey60]

As far back as I can remember, they've been on 155.265. All of the weather announcements over the weekend were on that frequency as well. I have the 154.98 in my scanner and have yet to hear anything on it.

Mike

 

[drmodem]

Does anyone know how the sirens are activated in Macomb County and what the frequency is?

 

[Thunderbolt]

I have heard Macomb County activate their sirens on 154.355 MHz.


73's

Ron

 

[bill71]

Rogers, AR. uses Civil Defense frequency, with two-tone remote.

 

[brianb]

re

In lapeer county Central Dispach will tone over the Fire channel. When they do this there must be (i am assuming) an encoded signal that when the firehouse recieve picks up the signal triggers the alarms to begin. I am only assuming that..... but i do know (because i've worked with the officers at the dispatch building) that when they tone in that case the alarms go off

 

[Thunderbolt]

Re: re

In lapeer county Central Dispach will tone over the Fire channel. When they do this there must be (i am assuming) an encoded signal that when the firehouse recieve picks up the signal triggers the alarms to begin. I am only assuming that..... but i do know (because i've worked with the officers at the dispatch building) that when they tone in that case the alarms go off

Yes, the tones activate a special radio receiver that is tied in with the siren timer and motor control. Usually, the smaller areas in Michigan will have a common set of tones that will activate all the sirens for the 3-5 minutes steady signal, which is used to alert the public for a tornado warning. Then each FD has a separate set of tones for each siren that can be used for the local fire signal.


73's

Ron

 

[smartboy06]

Does anyone know what frequency Wayne COunty uses?

 

[Thunderbolt]

Does anyone know what frequency Wayne COunty uses?

Depends where you are located in Wayne County, but 154.370 MHz., is the most commonly used in western part of the county. You will here Wayne-Westland use a fast DTMF string, and then Canton, and Plymouth use two-tone sequential. Sometimes, Wayne will test their sirens at 12 noon.

73's

Ron

 

[smartboy06]

Thanks...I live in Romulus so that should be what I need. I'll check it out on the 4th.

 

[Thunderbolt]

Thanks...I live in Romulus so that should be what I need. I'll check it out on the 4th.

Did you hear all the tones between 12 noon and 1300 hours last Saturday, on 154.370 MHz?

 

[smartboy06]

Actually no I didn't because I didnt have my scanner turned on. My grandpa's leukemia came back so I had to go see him.

 

[russellv2]

For anyone interested... I was able to confirm the answer to my question from a LONG while back during an ARES training session the other night. The tornado sirens for Genesee County are triggered off of the County Fire Frequencies. The south county frequency is the primary but they can use north county as a backup if something should fail.