Take shelter announcement at Tinker

[soonerfaithful]

When did they start doing the take shelter announcement over the PA system from Tinker?
I heard that last night and don't remember ever hearing it before.

[woodyrr]

What you likely heard was an announcement over the electronic outdoor warning siren system.

Tinker replaced their electromechanical sirens with electronic sirens several years ago. They are tested at noon on Wednesday for a fairly long period of time. Only recently, however have I heard them use the voice capability of the sirens. After one of the tests, they made an announcement of some type. I am about a mile from the nearest siren and was unable to discern what was said.

Last night, the sirens ware activated for the better part of an hour, but I was unable to hear an announcement.

What you might also hear is that at 7:30 AM, they use the warning sirens to play "Reveille" followed my a military march that is familiar, but that I cannot name. At 4:30 PM they play "Retreat" followed by the National Anthem. I have never heard "Taps", however.

Modulator from Federal Warning Systems

http://www.federalwarningsystems.com...do_warning.mp3

[soonerfaithful]

They play taps at 10:00pm.
I'm in the original mile in a house owned by my family since 63. All the other things I knew and have heard. Yet that was the first time I've ever heard the voice.
My daughter was in her room and said she was hearing a man's voice outside. I went out and sure enough it was the pa system.
Maybe I've just never been home since they started using it. Or I never paid attention to it. I was just surprised to hear it.
The "voice" says a tornado warning has been issued for the Tinker area. Seek shelter immediately.
Leave it to the people at Tinker to come up with new ways to warn the area.

[bombermwc]

The OKC/MWC systems that got updated after May 3rd have this too...but they've yet to utilize it. I'm glad someone is! OKC's system was sold to them to be multi-zonal so we don't have sirens in Piedmont going off for a tornado in Little Axe, but you've seen how quickly they moved to get that set up. The company that makes the sirens has had a whole big story about the system on their site for years because it was such a large purchase...which makes me wonder why they are dragging their feet so much.

[woodyrr]

It is true that Oklahoma City's system is voice capable, unfortunately however, Midwest City opted for the less expensive "Vortex" model siren from Whelen instead of the WPS 4000 series that Oklahoma City has.

Directional electronic sirens repeat the voice announcement four times with the horn indexed sequentially to the four points on the compass. Whereas the Vortex is electronic and could reproduce anything within its range including voice, the rotator used on the Vortex lacks the ability to be indexed and the electronics required to do so are not included.

The directional Oklahoma City sirens always return facing a predetermined direction (The one at 89th and Sooner rests facing West) while the Vortexes stop rotating, or more accurately oscillating, when the siren is deactivated and can rest pointed in any direction.

It is a shame that Oklahoma City spent so much money on a state of the art warning system and uses only a tiny fraction of the capability that they paid for.

Whelen Engineering Company Inc. - Mass Notification Rotating Sirens

[PennyQuilts]

You can't understand the voices, anyway. All we need is a siren in a tornado.

[Okiezmom]

I heard the voice announcement Monday evening, but couldn't understand much of what it said. It could be a good thing if some fine-tuning is done.

[bombermwc]

Well we all know a tornado sirent is simply meant to let those outside know they need to take shelter. So do we really need a voice? Probably not. But having that function could help in some unforeseen event that might make it more important to have a voice....say, an "all clear".

Now when you talk about OKC, you have to remember that they have more than 1 type of siren too. The more rural areas have the the older style rotating sirens while the urban areas have the omnidirectional ones. Here's the map of the project from the company that did the install. Sorry, I had it backwards before, not the manufacturer, the service company.

Spotlight-Oklahoma City

There are some areas that don't make sense to me. 240/Sooner only has a tonal siren while air depot/240 (which now has a whole lot of nothing at it), has a voice one. They're both omnidirectional....but different guts.

It's funny, you can listen to the different sounds and some voice samples on that site. I think if I heard anything but the normal woooooooooo, I'd be confused.

[Lauri101]

I heard the voice also - it was a bit Scy-Fy channel-ish at first until I realized where it was coming from.

I guess I've lived in Oklahoma too long - when sirens go off I have to go outside and see if I can see the funnel!

[PennyQuilts]

I heard the voice also - it was a bit Scy-Fy channel-ish at first until I realized where it was coming from.

I guess I've lived in Oklahoma too long - when sirens go off I have to go outside and see if I can see the funnel!

I thought that was why they played them. Did I misunderstand?

[decepticobra]

now all they need is a system to warn us on that dreadful day when armeggeddon strikes.

[John]

The voice ones could be very useful in an amber/silver alert situation...

[woodyrr]

When it is storming, everyone has a pretty good idea that the siren means that a Tornado Warning has ben issued. The voice capability would have come in handy during the wildfire that started in Midwest City and burned a good chunk of Choctaw last year. The National Weather Service activated the weather radios at the request of Midwest City Emergency Management, but it would also have been helpful for those outside and in the path of the rapidly moving fire to have had a voice announcement.

The safetycom map that bombermwc linked to confused me as it described the rotating sirens in Oklahoma City as tone only Vortex models. I consulted on another forum, and found out that the Oklahoma City directional sirens are, in fact Vortexes, but that they are programmed to return to a consistent "home" position after being activated. Therefore, the only voice capable sirens in Oklahoma City are the omnidirectional WPS 2900 series sirens located in the urban areas.

Whelen Engineering Company Inc. - Mass Notification Omni Directional

My first encounter with electronic sirens was in Plano, Texas. Plano has a system of large directional Whelen sirens and where I was located was about a quarter of a mile from the nearest unit. While I never heard them used in an actual emergency, I heard several tests. The voice announcements, repeated four times, were quite understandable inside the house even when the speaker was pointed away.

I found a video on YouTube of one of the early Whelens (like Plano has) in operation, except that the Plano sirens didn't broadcast the DTMF tones that were "telling" the siren to turn and stop.

YouTube - Solar Powered Tornado Siren with Voice

[bombermwc]

Hey decepticobra....if you check out the site i listed above, some of the warnings really sound like they could be used for that LOL

[Stephune]

"What you might also hear is that at 7:30 AM, they use the warning sirens to play "Reveille" followed my a military march that is familiar, but that I cannot name. At 4:30 PM they play "Retreat" followed by the National Anthem. I have never heard "Taps", however."

Also, on certain Saturdays (I do believe) they use the sirens and spout out "exercise" for around 20 minutes. Freaked me out at first. I moved about 1/4 of a mile away from base after just reading 1984

[Lauri101]

I just make sure I have heavy-duty foil handy - always