Uploaded December 2019 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
My take of today's Marion County fiasco. Went to this awesome rare Fedelcode, complete with the Fedelcode logo. A few things happened today that was certainly unexpected. First, La Rue isn't on the county system and only does noon blasts, much to my disappointment; at least now I know that this one is on a timer. Still glad I got something, considering what happened in the county today (explained below).
The second was that Marion County's entire test today was a fiasco. After the pre-test announcement, only one string of Whelen DTMF went out. This string is what activates the 4004s in Marion City and Marion Township. Those sirens did the test like they were supposed to. Following this set of DTMF, there should be two more DTMF strings that activate the Vortexes in the rest of the county. This DTMF string never came through until after I had turned off the scanner. The Vortexes that did activate strangely only went for about ten seconds, instead of the usual minute.
The two tone set that activates the mechanical sirens was also late, and went out about five minutes after the tones for the Whelens in Marion City/Twp went out. (DTMF for the Vortexes came after the two-tone, around 12:10). Normally, there are three sets of two tone that activate all the mechanical sirens for three minutes. Today, only one set of two tone came through and cancelled about a minute later; meaning that the few sirens that do activate on that string only went for one minute. The rest of the sirens failed, as the county did not tone them out. Very weird test day for sure. I'm just glad the siren I was at was independent of the county so I at least got something.
Several of the Vortexes were broken and the county has been negligent to fix them. A friend of mine who was at the Vortex in Kirkpatrick got a failure, as that siren was broken, and dispatch responded by stating "oh yeah we knew about that one being broken, it will be fixed 'eventually.'" Who knows how long that will be.
Another friend of mine was at Pleasant Twp.'s Model 5, which also failed the test.
Anyways, all things considered, I'm very glad I got something! Enjoy!
Marion County tests on the Last Saturday of every Month at noon, and tests are not dependent on weather. No, they usually do not have problems like this; the dispatcher on duty just never activated all the sirens (the ones that actually work, that is).
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Camera(s) Used: Panasonic HC-V380K (video), Canon PowerShot SX50HS (Intro Photos)
© Copyright 2019 by firefreak57 studios. Do not copy any content on this channel without permission. All rights reserved.
My take of today's Marion County fiasco. Went to this awesome rare Fedelcode, complete with the Fedelcode logo. A few things happened today that was certainly unexpected. First, La Rue isn't on the county system and only does noon blasts, much to my disappointment; at least now I know that this one is on a timer. Still glad I got something, considering what happened in the county today (explained below).
The second was that Marion County's entire test today was a fiasco. After the pre-test announcement, only one string of Whelen DTMF went out. This string is what activates the 4004s in Marion City and Marion Township. Those sirens did the test like they were supposed to. Following this set of DTMF, there should be two more DTMF strings that activate the Vortexes in the rest of the county. This DTMF string never came through until after I had turned off the scanner. The Vortexes that did activate strangely only went for about ten seconds, instead of the usual minute.
The two tone set that activates the mechanical sirens was also late, and went out about five minutes after the tones for the Whelens in Marion City/Twp went out. (DTMF for the Vortexes came after the two-tone, around 12:10). Normally, there are three sets of two tone that activate all the mechanical sirens for three minutes. Today, only one set of two tone came through and cancelled about a minute later; meaning that the few sirens that do activate on that string only went for one minute. The rest of the sirens failed, as the county did not tone them out. Very weird test day for sure. I'm just glad the siren I was at was independent of the county so I at least got something.
Several of the Vortexes were broken and the county has been negligent to fix them. A friend of mine who was at the Vortex in Kirkpatrick got a failure, as that siren was broken, and dispatch responded by stating "oh yeah we knew about that one being broken, it will be fixed 'eventually.'" Who knows how long that will be.
Another friend of mine was at Pleasant Twp.'s Model 5, which also failed the test.
Anyways, all things considered, I'm very glad I got something! Enjoy!
Marion County tests on the Last Saturday of every Month at noon, and tests are not dependent on weather. No, they usually do not have problems like this; the dispatcher on duty just never activated all the sirens (the ones that actually work, that is).
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Camera(s) Used: Panasonic HC-V380K (video), Canon PowerShot SX50HS (Intro Photos)
© Copyright 2019 by firefreak57 studios. Do not copy any content on this channel without permission. All rights reserved.
