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Dual Sirens
Does anyone have dual sirens on their apparatus? If so, how's that working out. Annoying, louder, better coverage. I'm not real sure how it works? One on the front and one on the back? Any information helps.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Calvin Peck on
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DUAL OR SINGLE SYSTEM?? NOT TO MANY PEOPLE SEEM TO CARE. WE HAVE THE DUAL SYSTEM ON SOME OF THE RIGS BUILDINGS ON BOTH SIDES OF MAIN, THE SOUND BOUNCES OF THE WALLS!
THEY ( OTHER DRIVER ) DO NOT SEEM TO HEAR IT.
THEY DON'T SEEM TO CARE UNTIL IT IS THERE HOME OR FAMILY, THEN WHEN THAT HAPPENS WE CAN'T DRIVE/MOVE OR MAKE THINGS HAPPEN FAST ENOUGH.
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Permalink Reply by Mick Shelley on
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In my old department we had a studder horn ( air fed ) it was louder then any siren i ever heard, it could almost wke up the dead, when you heard it, you cleared the way.
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Permalink Reply by Jason Brooks on
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We dual sirens on all ambulances. This is mainly in case one goes out, and has happened, we have a back up.
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Permalink Reply by John on
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My humble opinion after 15 years:
We have dual sirens on our engine's , and some on the ambulances I work part time on. I think it would be hard to accurately determine if a person's "move to the right and stop" response was due to the extra siren or not given all the other factors you'd have to consider. IE: radio levels, cell phone or not, texting or not, hearing ability, or general awareness level. You can do testing, but it still comes down to unmeasurable things.
That being said, I'm a firm believer that the more noise when clearing intersections, the better. My simple reason? It can't hurt, and it might actually help. The biggest problem I've seen/heard is the overuse of sirens in general. Sure, the sound of a "Q" is kind of sexy and enjoyable, but way too many companies never let off the Q the entire trip to the scene. That renders it ineffective from a civilian standpoint.
When the Q is held on, it stays at a high pitch and doesn't waver. The studies I have seen seem to indicate that the best chance for siren recognition is changing pitches and speed. Holding the Q down to the floor does not accomplish this.
The second biggest problem with the Q being used the entire time (or using a dual siren the whole response) is communication. Have you ever listened to the radio and heard a company answer up "Engine 2 resp...QQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQ copy radio?" If you're missing radio communications, and they're missing yours, then the siren is being ineffective. Now you say, just use headsets in the cab. Fine and dandy if your department has extra money sitting around to put into the bid price or to retrofit your old equipment. However, if you roll up the windows while responding and don't lay on every siren the entire route, then it is possible to speak in only a slightly increased voice volume.
Hopefully this helps, if not sorry. The point is not so much what kind of siren as it is when should the siren be activated.
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Permalink Reply by Chuck Gunter on
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We have two sirens on most of our trucks. 1 is the famous Q the other is just the basic electric siren box. Nothing is louder than a Q in my opinion but we also have head sets for every seat in each peice of equipment.
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Permalink Reply by Cody W. Nelson on
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The EMS service I work for uses dual sirens and also the sub-dB siren. The two regular sirens you can hear almost a mile away and you feel the sub-dB siren about a block away. Their theory is if they can hear us from a ways off, they will start looking sooner. My fire department has started putting 400 watt ques on the engines. UNREAL LOUD!
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Permalink Reply by Jason on
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We have the dual siren box Here in volusia county. it is loud but the 2 sirens tend to blend together and you can't tell them apart anymore. And always Nothing beats a Federal Q.
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Permalink Reply by Joe Smith on
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I think a lot of the guys/gals here haven't actually seen the dual siren set up as I understand it. On our rescue we have a whelen set up that has two separate speakers, but a single control unit with dual drivers. When we flip on the siren in 'single mode' it sounds like a single siren (through 2 speakers). When we put it on 'dual mode' it sounds like two vehicles going down the road at the same time... either 2 firetrucks on wail, or two firetrucks on yelp, etc, etc. The tones will not synchronize up though, it just makes a whole lot of noise. If we were to run a mva with the IC (who has the same setup) it would sound like 4 trucks coming down the road at the same time!
It seems to work a little bit better than a single head siren, just because it runs through the tones more often! Negative is it can scare bad drivers into doing stupid stuff!
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Permalink Reply by Jake Fireman on
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Is that like "Duelin Sirens"?
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Permalink Reply by John Rulli Jr. on
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We use a Q2B and electric siren. Works well
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Permalink Reply by Padre Pete on
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Same set up as Jim and same results. Would like to try Mickey's studder horn. I know they're effective when I'm on the receiving end.
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