Re: Today's funny two-way radio story (March 09). The Siren - PA Speaker War
Today's very funny story was told to me by a friend after my seeing the evidence in a shop. A service call to fix the Siren on a Public Safety Vehicle with reported problematic volume level. Most radio type service people have a test method or routine to find the failed speaker, pa amplifier, broken wire or blown fuse. Lots of output voltage to the vehicle front mounted speaker, the type of which are sometimes problematic from weather/water damage. Off to the front bumper... Can't seem to get the speaker cone off... normally a tight but not a frozen screw-on fit. Out come the serious tools to break the speaker cone free. So... after a lot of work the cone comes off and there's a permanent thread locking glue on the cone threads. Hummm...? Wait! there's foam and a rubber plug inside the cone..? Someone wanted to reduce the speaker output level and lock it in place? Care to guess what's going on..? Well Sailors... A bit of detective work to figure out the owner of the vehicle has/had a habit of testing his full volume PA & Siren functions very early every morning, while pulling out of his house/drive way. One of his nearby neighbors didn't appreciate the everyday wake up call and finally did the foam/rubber plug muffle trick and mounting thread lock to the bumper mounted siren speaker cone. Life goes on... Epilog: I/we do use the rubber plug and foam trick to reduce PA - Siren Volume levels while testing equipment. Helps on hearing and annoyance levels. Your results will probably vary... cheers, s.
