Air-Raid-Siren required

[TechWi]

Hi,

 

Does anyone know where can I find an Air-Raid- Siren for hire or buy in Scotland?

 

Thanks for any suggestions,

A

[Ynot]

Build one from timber using Google images for thedesign, then use SFX for the audio.

[pritch]

+1 for Ynot's answer. Air raid sirens aren't going to be the nicest things to use indoors, and also they can take a little while before they've fully spun down, and completely stopped making noise.

[paulears]

They also take considerable effort to get going, and you need to put them on proper stand, making them unwieldy. Even the small ones are VERY loud. I concure with the others. Make a prop. If it helps, a commercial sized mincer looks very similar to a hand cranked siren, and with a bit of 'dressing' is very easy to turn into a siren.

[Ynot]

We used to have one at the theatre and as paul says - VERY heavy VERY cumbersome and a VERY long time to die down once you get up to the required pitch/wail. Not at all suitable for actual theatre use.

[dbuckley]

We've got one on top of our town hall.

 

When it goes off, the whole place shakes with motor vibration.

 

Very unpleasent close up them sirens.

[TechWi]

Thanks guys :huh:

[Gerry]

David,

How often do you get air raids in New Zealand? :huh: B-)

Cheers

Gerry

[paulears]

I was installing a radio link for a RSL radio station on a tall building, got given the keys to the little room on the roof, and left to my own devices. After putting the aerials up and doing most of the install, I couldn't get any power from the sockets. There was quite a bit of rather rusty electrical switchgear up there - quite a few on, some off - but deciding that as it was old, there wasn't much sense fiddling too much, if somewhere else, cables had been hacked out. That was until I saw a button marked TEST. Curiosity got the better of me, and I pressed it. This was a bad move as the Air Raid/Flood Warning siren burst into life on the roof outside. Frantic searching led to the conclusion there was not an off switch. I knew the flood warnings system was run from the Police station, so I had to phone and explain. After a few minutes it wound down. My God, they are loud!

[bruce]

We used to have (and for all I know we may still have) one on the roof of the town hall in the town where I grew up. Until relatively recently - I'd guess early 80s - it was used regularly, and tested at 7pm every Monday night.

 

This, of course, was in the days before mobile phones and pagers; it was used to summon the retained fire service.

 

I stayed near the fire station - occasionally the firemaster would let some of the local kids press the "red button" at 7pm, and the siren would start up on the town hall, half a mile away, to start the "fire practice".

[GridGirl]

That was until I saw a button marked TEST. Curiosity got the better of me, and I pressed it. This was a bad move as the Air Raid/Flood Warning siren burst into life on the roof outside. Frantic searching led to the conclusion there was not an off switch. I knew the flood warnings system was run from the Police station, so I had to phone and explain. After a few minutes it wound down. My God, they are loud!

 

Fantastic. Bet you were popular! I would have pressed the button as well....

 

We have a holiday house in a little town called Akaroa (on Banks Peninsula, east coast of the South Island - it's where the French landed and attempted (and failed) to colonise NZ from!) and it has a volunteer fire brigade which is still summoned by the old air-raid style siren. There are two in the township, one not far from our place, and they make a hell of a noise; I've never been up on the hill near it when it goes off, and I don't want to be! I suspect that the siren David is referring to is probably the same as the Akaroa one, and for the same purpose.

[kerry davies]

Another vote for anything but a real siren.

The Royal Observer Corps has/had underground bunkers all over the UK, often with sirens, and setting one off overlooking Brecon was pretty unsettling, could be heard from about ten miles away and rendered my colleague deaf for an hour or more. Even underground with fingers in ears it is something I vividly remember wanting to avoid in future.

[Jivemaster]

Search google images for air raid siren there are hundreds! Look at the pics, rebuild one as a prop, get a sound effect on disc.

 

The noise level these produce is totally unacceptable in modern workplaces. They also take about half a minute to build up to speed and half a minute to wind down again - Hardly cue friendly!

[KevinE]

Absolutely, impractical unless you want to alert the whole neighbourhood.

 

An old aero factory 3 miles away (used as a pottery factory since the 1960's) used their old WW2 siren to signal shifts on and off. It was a very eery sound to hear as a child in the 70's (a twin rotor type just like the one at the end of the Dads Army credits) and was very loud even 3 miles when we were in the school playground.

 

Many were kept in working order for nuclear attack, they were usually driven by roadside switchgear (like a green GPO junction box) and in the 80's were triggered from police stations etc by telephony. (there's a website for this somewhere, I dont have details!)

[Paul TC]

there's a website for this somewhere, I dont have details!)

This one ?