Identifying siren sounds

[W5lz]

Is there a way to tell any difference between a police siren and a Fire siren?

Not really. It depends on which siren or brand of siren. There may be local standards but not a universal one.

 

[kb7gjy]

Thanks, everyone answered my questions to what I thought was a correct answer. Too bad they don't have sirens with Terminator voice option saying "GET OUT OF THE WAY!"

There might have been an Security Police Airman on a base responding to a DV one day and someone would not yield...
That Airman might have grabbed the mike to the PA and could have said "get the F out of the way"
Then that vehicle might have yielded in a spectacular fashion of driving right off the road.

After the call was cleared, that airman might have had a constructive critique with the subject being emergency response and use of the PA near base housing and was put on "Halls and Walls" for a week....

Cough Cough, this all might have happened in the mid 90s cough cough.

 

[MStep]

The workhorse of the FDNY fleet in years gone by was the very famous "Federal 28". I believe that there are still some being used by the FDNY fleet. A fully mechanical siren--- my friend had one installed in his van and a separate battery and alternator just to run the thing. In a car or van sized vehicle, you could actually feel the pull either to the left or right, depending on how the siren was mounted. The Federal Q series attempts to emulate the 28, but as has been mentioned, the "trained" ear can tell the difference. You can find some of the 28's on Ebay.

 

[GlobalNorth]

Emergency services in Europe have changed to our familiar siren sounds as it was pointed out that the hi/lo horns only hit two frequencies and hence might not be as effective. I heard that the nitwit mayor of New York City decided that the hi/lo horns were "less aggravating" and some of them have been installed on FDNY apparatus.

NYC has a lot of foreign born residents. To them, the Hi-Lo siren is the traditional sound of a siren outside of NA. The mayor decided to adopt that sound as a measure of inclusivity and to "improve" EMS response times.

 

[WB9YBM]

NYC has a lot of foreign born residents. To them, the Hi-Lo siren is the traditional sound of a siren outside of NA. The mayor decided to adopt that sound as a measure of inclusivity and to "improve" EMS response times.

If NYC is anything like Chicago, I think the best way to improve response times is to convince people to get out of the way when they hear sirens and see blinky lights coming their way

 

[bobw927]

VHF is Better