I last saw the San Dimas Thunderbolt 2000 in October of 2009. I didn't have my good camera with me at the time (only my phone) though but I did open up the blower cover again to take a look. It had an "A" type blower with the large diameter spoked pulley and a 2 cylinder horizontal engine ...

Many of the Whelens in the SONGS community alert system located throughout San Clemente are landline activated. This siren, labeled "SC-10" in the system is one example even though it is solar powered and located on top of a hill away from other infrastructure. You can see a pole with tele...

Did a 20 second blast with the flashlight-siren I have a (batteries were weak though) then lit some leftover from July 4 fireworks in a garbage can in my backyard.

Wonder what KX250rider is up to. It's both the last Friday of the month (noon test) and New Years eve (midnight)

I've read that 1003 Tbolts can do the same tones as the EOWS, but have only heard Alert, Attack, and Hi/Lo. The others, I've only heard as synthesized - would love to hear a Tbolt do the others! The System 7000 series (The 7026 which uses the 1003's head) came with a controller that did all 6 prima...

Judging by the height of nearby objects (cars, the sign next to the off-ramp) it looks like the box is only about 9 feet off the ground. Reachable by two guys on top of each other; likely at night when there is less traffic (and whatever is going by on the freeway is usually going too fast to notice...

My family and I are heading up to Leo Carrillo state beach/campground tomorrow afternoon for a camping trip.

Part of our trip will involve a drive up PCH starting from where the 10 freeway ends in Santa Monica and through Malibu. I'm wondering if there are any particular sirens along the way.

There was a Whelen located about 100 feet behind me from where I took that picture. I asked some guys in a van from the power plant who were observing the Whelen if the Thunderbolt was still used but they had no idea.

is my rotator motor three phase or single phase? It's likely that the rotator is also 3 phase if the blower motor is 3 phase as well. I didn't see a start capacitor in your picture but to make sure, you'll either have to look on the nameplate or see how the wires are connected inside the motor. I w...

Here are today's pictures. First is the message signs along the freeways in the area announcing the test . They got it right this year and had the signs closest to the Capistrano, Dana Pt, and San Clemente areas displaying the test message. Last year, all the signs going as far north as Mission Viej...

It's only four siren sites in the city of San Clemente ( SC 05, 06, 07, and 08 ) that do the voice alert. Dana Pt and San Juan Capastraino were not listed to do the voice test according to what I read. Anyway, I picked SC-07 which was located down by the pier. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-HGhfV7...