Wednesday, January 7, 2009

Siren Check






This morning, the first Wednesday of the month, I went to Sherman to perform my bit of volunteer work or community service. The City of Sherman has 19 emergency sirens to be used in case of a tornado. Like most cities, the sirens are tested regularly to ensure they are in working order. Sherman doesn’t have the manpower to assign city employees to monitor all sirens at the same time, so the Amateur Radio Operators (hams), of which I am one, volunteer their time for this function. It gives us something to do as most of us are retired.

Today was the first time in several months we have actually taken part in the test. The city has some software that allows them to do a simulated test. I think it essentially checks the circuits to see if they are functional. That was the way it was done last month. They don’t test unless the weather is anything but bright and clear. The theory being that people might think a tornado was bearing down if there are clouds or rain present. It sounds silly, but some folks are pretty edgy where bad storms are concerned.

I arrived at my siren, No. 5, at 0815. After a quick check to make sure my radio was working OK, I settled down with the morning paper to wait until the volunteers are checked into the net at 0840. Drat, I forgot my pen! I had to work the crossword puzzle in my head. It’s a bit more challenging that way, but the puzzle isn’t all that difficult. At 0840, the Net Control operator down in the basement of the police station at the Emergency Operations Center called the roster and I checked in. My call sign is N5COP. He calls the siren a Si-reen.

At 0900, the sirens all over town were activated. The sirens are mounted on utility poles at a height of about 60 feet. They rotate as they wail and run for about a minute. I can also hear another siren that’s located a couple of miles away. Net Control called each of us and we made our report—either it works or it doesn’t. All reported that their sirens were working. By 0903 we were through for the month. With that, I was off to the donut shop to meet with some of my ham buddies.

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