This is the most logical design for a rotating siren that I've seen. The two heads mean that the sound doesn't fade in and out like most rotating models, making it difficult to distinguish alert from attack, and the slow undulation of the low and high pitches make the sound more recognizable against various types of background noise.
This is absolutely fantastic! I have always wanted to hear one of these sirens in action. I had a feeling that it projects a high and low tone from opposite ends. The Federal 500A/B came in both a high (12 port) and low (8 port) pitch models. This would only make sense economically to use both rotor/stator combinations in the 550AT.
We've got a Model 5 I believe, in Black Forest. Just drove to Fountain today and saw what looked to be Model 5 or 7 on a school. A now silent reminder of a time gone by.
Any siren can have an attack mode. Attack is simply the process of sending power to the siren motor for 8 seconds, and then cutting the power for six seconds, for a period of three minutes. This process is controlled by a timer unit, which can be setup to sound a siren for as long as one sets it up for.
I had a feeling it was an extremely rare siren. in the comments, another user said that 30 or so were scattered around El Paso county mostly in Colorado Springs, and another one is still up in Manitou Springs, it is disconnected and no longer in service.
I remember one of those things when I was a little kid. I grew up in Security Colorado but they took it down for some reason. I still here this one every once in a while from where I'm at in Widefield. That damn thing is loud!
I contacted Federal Signal about this preticular siren and they told me they manufactured only 50 of these but it was a very short lived model that is why they are so rare.
I was expecting a 10/12 discrete rotor siren. Much to my (positive) surprise, it is an 8/12! It makes me wish that Federal produce some model 5's, 7's T-bolts, and SD-10's with the perfect 5th tones (8/12 or 4/6 for the T-bolt). Excellent siren vid!!
Thank you so much DJ. Glad to finally hear a 550AT. Interesting to hear the notes A#4 and F5, a perfect fifth, which together produce a resultant of A#3, an octave below the siren's low tone. Calhan is buying a three-phase generator to power this three-phase siren? Bravo on getting them to make it more useful and tested more than once a year.
This siren is the best siren of all. It looks bigger then any other siren and the way that there is a high pitch side. and a low pitch side. That would be an attention getter.
Really interesting design, two sides but still rotates. And because it’s dual toned means that one side is higher pitched from the other! That’s super neat! Too bad there’s hardly any other sirens like this one.
There are no outdoor warning sirens in Falcon. People residing there (and most of the county for that matter) have to rely on TV, Radio, or Internet for their warning. If you're outside, you wont know until its too late, sadly.
There are only 4 still standing including this one Correction: 7 still standing 1. This one 2. Another one somewhere in Colorado 3. At a fire station in Nevada 4. At a fire station also in Nevada 5. One on top of a community center in Nevada 6. At a high school in New York 7. At a park in New York I don’t know all of the locations but 2 are in Yonkers NY, this one in Calhan CO, another I believe is in Sugar City CO, and the other 3 are in Reno/Sparks NV
No unfortunately, the 550at is one of the most rare civil defense sirens in the country, it is almost as rare as the square horned mk 1 hurricane (only one that still stands has been discovered)
i stated that it was used before, but its very likely someone just slammed the wrong button in a rush on 8/9/2004. once in a lifetime kind of occurances.
heres some locations of the 550 at's that were spotted sugar city,co - 253 colorado street manitou springs,co- 595 el paso blvd calhan (obviously) st louis,mo - used to have 1 or so colorado springs,co -removed in 1989 newark,nj
Very. I personally know of just two: this one in Calhan and another located about 40 miles west in Manitou Springs, Colorado. Manitou doesn't test theirs though.
Thanks for the history on these. I'm originally from Nashville and until 2003, there weren't any sirens. As you might know, the city chose ATI HPSS32 sirens, which are about as bad quality as they come.
never knew fs sirens were found with this setting. just like ACA allertors found that sound minor 3rds. i thought i knew every american siren i guess i was wrong.
@STG44musikmeister It's a 5 from what I could tell, maybe a 5T. It used to be the fire siren for BFVFD, now a mile SE of their former location @ Black Forest & Hodgkin roads. Wouldn't take much to get that 50-year old thing back in service either, seeing as it was left as-is.
Just under 60 miles, practically due south east. You can get there via Interstate 25 and exit in Castle Rock to CO-86, to Kiowa (Elbert Road) to US24, once to the hwy, go "east" to Peyton, Calhan. Siren's at 556 Colorado Ave, behind Town Hall.
Only a handful of 550AT's were produced in the late 1950's by then Federal Electric Corp. because the units were very expensive to build and purchase . Federal civil defense grants would only help pay up to a certain amount . It was up to the municipalities to pick up the rest .
You can hear the two separate tones on each side too! Very cool.
This is the most logical design for a rotating siren that I've seen. The two heads mean that the sound doesn't fade in and out like most rotating models, making it difficult to distinguish alert from attack, and the slow undulation of the low and high pitches make the sound more recognizable against various types of background noise.
Right
This is absolutely fantastic! I have always wanted to hear one of these sirens in action. I had a feeling that it projects a high and low tone from opposite ends. The Federal 500A/B came in both a high (12 port) and low (8 port) pitch models. This would only make sense economically to use both rotor/stator combinations in the 550AT.
WOW! It does sound like a P50. acts like one too the way it stops rotating when it winds down. awesome video and siren!
when you go to roblox play the first game on the top and alert the cyclone it sounds like it
@@The-ultimate-Tornado-Channel Yes
I say hi to old me
dual-headed. High tone on one, low on the other.... Very penetrating siren tones.
BPM Productions of Colorado it sounds like a rare p50
We've got a Model 5 I believe, in Black Forest. Just drove to Fountain today and saw what looked to be Model 5 or 7 on a school. A now silent reminder of a time gone by.
Any siren can have an attack mode. Attack is simply the process of sending power to the siren motor for 8 seconds, and then cutting the power for six seconds, for a period of three minutes. This process is controlled by a timer unit, which can be setup to sound a siren for as long as one sets it up for.
I had a feeling it was an extremely rare siren. in the comments, another user said that 30 or so were scattered around El Paso county mostly in Colorado Springs, and another one is still up in Manitou Springs, it is disconnected and no longer in service.
Super rare, I think the only rarer rotating siren would be the mkI hurricane
I remember one of those things when I was a little kid. I grew up in Security Colorado but they took it down for some reason. I still here this one every once in a while from where I'm at in Widefield. That damn thing is loud!
looks like an SD-10 on it's side
I contacted Federal Signal about this preticular siren and they told me they manufactured only 50 of these but it was a very short lived model that is why they are so rare.
I was expecting a 10/12 discrete rotor siren. Much to my (positive) surprise, it is an 8/12! It makes me wish that Federal produce some model 5's, 7's T-bolts, and SD-10's with the perfect 5th tones (8/12 or 4/6 for the T-bolt).
Excellent siren vid!!
That has a nice P-50 sounding feel to it.
Because it's 8/12 like a p50
Thank you so much DJ.
Glad to finally hear a 550AT.
Interesting to hear the notes A#4 and F5,
a perfect fifth, which together produce a resultant of A#3, an octave below the siren's low tone.
Calhan is buying a three-phase generator to power this three-phase siren?
Bravo on getting them to make it more useful and tested more than once a year.
0:21 if you look hit looks like a SD-10 horizontally
Since we got a good video of a 550AT, now the only thing to do is take still pictures of the sirens.
This siren is the best siren of all. It looks bigger then any other siren and the way that there is a high pitch side. and a low pitch side. That would be an attention getter.
It is still here in 2023. I have a video of it.
Really interesting design, two sides but still rotates. And because it’s dual toned means that one side is higher pitched from the other! That’s super neat! Too bad there’s hardly any other sirens like this one.
Your town should be able to get a hold of a siren.
There are no outdoor warning sirens in Falcon. People residing there (and most of the county for that matter) have to rely on TV, Radio, or Internet for their warning. If you're outside, you wont know until its too late, sadly.
WOW!!!! BEAUTIFUL!!!!!
I didn't even know these existed!!!! I've never heard or seen of them before! Awesome video!
Each tone gets louder as it points toward the camera. One side has a twelve port rotor and the other side has eight.
15 years ago?!?! Good god
There are only 4 still standing including this one
Correction: 7 still standing
1. This one
2. Another one somewhere in Colorado
3. At a fire station in Nevada
4. At a fire station also in Nevada
5. One on top of a community center in Nevada
6. At a high school in New York
7. At a park in New York
I don’t know all of the locations but 2 are in Yonkers NY, this one in Calhan CO, another I believe is in Sugar City CO, and the other 3 are in Reno/Sparks NV
Also, Trevecca Nazarene University just east of downtown Nashville has 2 ASC iForces on their campus.
Nashville doesn't just have ATIs. At Vanderbilt University, they have 2 2001s and a Modulator.
thats like saying, "jump off your roof and see if you fly." these things are rare!
we have some 500T sirens in Los Angeles and Los Angeles County but mostly SD-10's
Have you heard of a 2001?
It ain't pretty. But it's in Chino.
Never seen a dual horn rotating siren before.
I bet this beast is pretty damn loud in person.
The second time he recorded this, he actually stood almost underneath the siren but there was a little too much sound distort from that position.
what a shockingly powerful wind-down!
They also have some Sentry 10V2T's. I have been there and only saw Sentry's. I guess I just didn't pay that much attention.
Also, this sounds just like an American Signal T-135. It's also weird that a Dual-horn siren rotates.
Awesome siren! Defintely a favorite. Thanks for putting this up on UA-cam!
Yes, I belive federal used this rotator model up into the 2001 series.
Sweet Hyundai Elantra
Yes, I like that car, because it IS my car.
No unfortunately, the 550at is one of the most rare civil defense sirens in the country, it is almost as rare as the square horned mk 1 hurricane (only one that still stands has been discovered)
Thats a great sound. First time I see a dual rotating head siren. Kind of sounds like a T-135 on the quick wind and steady sound.
Well, there is the dual headed HOR Super-Sired which is older than this so Federal Signal might have gotten the idea from HOR.
There was one somewhere in WI that was torn down within the past year or so. (I think, but it was there.)
This actually sounds like the p50s twin
What is the name of that church right next to the siren? I been trying to find that on the MSN live maps but the birds eye view refuses to show.
i stated that it was used before, but its very likely someone just slammed the wrong button in a rush on 8/9/2004. once in a lifetime kind of occurances.
heres some locations of the 550 at's that were spotted
sugar city,co - 253 colorado street
manitou springs,co- 595 el paso blvd
calhan (obviously)
st louis,mo - used to have 1 or so
colorado springs,co -removed in 1989
newark,nj
Very. I personally know of just two: this one in Calhan and another located about 40 miles west in Manitou Springs, Colorado. Manitou doesn't test theirs though.
The address of the siren is 556 Colorado Avenue
Calhan, CO 80808. It is behind City Hall
Thanks for the history on these.
I'm originally from Nashville and until 2003, there weren't any sirens. As you might know, the city chose ATI HPSS32 sirens, which are about as bad quality as they come.
the SD-10 is an omnidirectional version of the 550AT
Matt kinda, the high and low chopper for the SD-10 is one piece, this one is two different choppers with a motor in the middle.
Sounds like the soundmaster 125 siren rotating mechanism works uses worm gear
Soundmaster 125 has 2 horns that rotate in opposite directions in each horn in order to rotate it uses worm gear inside the fiberglass housing
No it is two single tone rotors, one has 8 ports the other has 12, giving the dual tone effect.
Jeb if you find any of these, will you refurb them and put them back into service
looks like it has the rotator of a t-bolt
the time is adjustable the siren i live by is 10 on 5 off
the wind down sounds awesome!
This vid was released 7 days before my Birthday. :P
I LOVE that sound!!
It's 8/12 port like P-50's and Cyclones.
Thus would be freaky going off at 1:50 am
and i thought the 500at couldn't have an attack mode.
music to my ears
never knew fs sirens were found with this setting. just like ACA allertors found that sound minor 3rds. i thought i knew every american siren i guess i was wrong.
looks like a double headed carters. COOL VIDEO! COOL SIREN!
The last one in the world
@STG44musikmeister It's a 5 from what I could tell, maybe a 5T. It used to be the fire siren for BFVFD, now a mile SE of their former location @ Black Forest & Hodgkin roads.
Wouldn't take much to get that 50-year old thing back in service either, seeing as it was left as-is.
Definitely siren video of the year!
It sounds like a KLAXON CS8 just without the coded shutters.
You are crazy if you think that.
No I am not crazy at all.
It doesn’t sound like one. Not at all.
Not even close
@kd0duj I agree with you. Do you think it can beat any other siren?
Sounds like a Cyclone and T-135
i wonder when i will find a video of this siren in attack mode
this sounds almost like a ACA P-50/ASC T-135.
nice combo. imagine a whelen 3016 and a fs 2001! dba. DEAF at 100 ft.
very interesting siren it has a great warning tone to it
Awesome
@djscrizzle Well, they should have a warning system 4 Falcon, don't u think?
There is a 4/5 port thunderbolt siren. How about a 4/5 port 550-at siren.
Wow, those iForces seem to be rare. To me, some look like Modulators and some look like some type of Whelen.
Aka the early version of the ACA P-50
funny siren, i have only heard of a 500at, but a 550? wow.
ive seen gow big these things are up close!! there bigger than the federal rsh-10A
thunderbeam!!
@JRCollinsfan no Sugar city,colorado has a 550at
You think every siren is a Whelen Vortex.
How far is Calhan from Denver? Next time I go out there I have to take a drive there to see this in person
Just under 60 miles, practically due south east. You can get there via Interstate 25 and exit in Castle Rock to CO-86, to Kiowa (Elbert Road) to US24, once to the hwy, go "east" to Peyton, Calhan. Siren's at 556 Colorado Ave, behind Town Hall.
never seen one of these before. cool looking though and sounds awsome!
very cool looking siren
no the siren was discontinued and the 500AT replaced them
this siren is so rare , how loud is it at 100ft
are 550ats still made?.
Only a handful of 550AT's were produced in the late 1950's by then Federal Electric Corp. because the units were very expensive to build and purchase . Federal civil defense grants would only help pay up to a certain amount . It was up to the municipalities to pick up the rest .
They are actually called 500-DHTT.
(DHTT = Dual Horn Two Tone)
sounds like a ACA P-10 and P-15 put to gether
Does anyone know where the siren is located exactly in Callahan
The MKI hurricane, that is.
is it still there?
i dont hear the high - lo siren
To be honest, this sounds like a P50.
so is that 127db for the 12 port or the 8 port side, or is it for both sides?
Geeeee, i live in Illinois, i could take US Route 24 to Calhan to see that dude! If its still there.
Why does aca and acs always make their sirens sounds like that!!??
it's the twin of the p50 siren
your right