🚀 go-pugleaf

Ralph Forsythe KC0CSO asked:
With all of the discussion recently (in this list and elsewhere) about the
Spencer tornado and how the sirens would not function due to a prior power
outage, I have to wonder why power backup is not installed on these sirens.
 It would seem logical that power may be disrupted during a severe weather
event, tornadic or not, whether it be from lightning, precip, or winds.
Given this, plus the *known* dependency of some towns on the sirens for
warning of a tornado approaching, it would seem reasonable as a life-saving
measure to install some form of power backup on the sirens.  UPS (battery
backup) technology is very cheap now, and even generators with some form of
automatic startup could be used.  Maybe I'm missing the bigger picture
here, but this just doesn't seem like it would be that hard to do.
-----
There's a couple of problems here.  First, most of the sirens in existance are
 old - 60's & 70's vintage - and were purchased with Federal money.  The primary
 use of the sirens  was to warn of impending nuclear attack; using them for
 tornado or other warnings has been secondary (in the Federal mind).  The Feds
 no longer feel the attack threat, and therefore money for siren purchase,
 maintenance, repair, upgrade, etc, has gone away.  Any upgrades now have to be
 funded locally.

Secondly, these old sirens are mechanical in nature.  The stereotypical siren, a
 Federal Signal "Thunderbolt", has a blower, chopper motor, etc.  These are
 generally powered at 480 volts, as opposed to 120 volt house current.  It's
 certainly possible to put a power generator on them, but it takes more than
 just your average consumer grade equipment.  See #1 above for the problem here.

Those jurisdictions which are fortunate enough to have newer sirens have an
 easier time of this.  The three sirens I've purchased in the '90s all are
 actually powered by batteries, which then are kept charged by commercial power.
  Commercial power goes out - no problem, the sirens don't run directly from it
 anyway.  The difference here is that today's sirens are electronic - simply an
 array of amplifiers and speakers.  They have no motors, etc.

FYI:  Today's equivalent of the old Thunderbolt runs about $20,000.


Gayland Kitch  KC5MMU   <gkitch@ci.moore.ok.us>
Director of Emergency Management & Communications
The City of Moore, Oklahoma
<http://www.ci.moore.ok.us/emermgt>

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