This is an electrically powered air raid siren from WW2, nicknamed the Moaning Minnie. They were sited on top of tall buildings and could be heard up to 25 miles away.
My parents and grandparents were used to hearing these sirens during the Blitz. A high proportion of the rooftop sirens remained in place for 50 years after the end of the war, and I understand that most were in working order. Simple, but effective technology.
However it was decided they were no longer useful and almost all were removed by the turn of the Millennium.
Yesterday we had the trial of a National Alarm signal, to be sent to everyone's phone at 3pm.
That was the theory.
My phone made a noise at 3.02 and again ten minutes later. Bob's was silent throughout. Steph and Gary in Manchester had nothing on their personal phones, but both work phones got the message. A friend told me her mobile alerted her, but her husband's did not make a sound. [We are aware of the fact that mobile reception is very poor in Norfolk.]
The World Snooker Championship was disrupted, and Welsh speakers had an unintelligible message on their phones. People on the 3 network didn't get a message at all.
It all seems a bit of a fiasco if you ask me. Perhaps we should have kept the Moaning Minnies.
Were you alarmed? Or undisturbed?
One village primary school I taught at in the 2000s had a hand cranked siren in the library area. I did give the handle a surreptitious go, but only for a second as it started to make a noise almost immediately.
ReplyDeleteBoth our phones sounded the test alarm at about 3pm. I knew it was coming but still jumped a mile.
I'm smiling at the thought of you trying out the siren in the library (it must have been very tempting for the children)
DeleteUndisturbed here as I'm with Three, quite amusing tho as hubby spent ages moaning at me, he turned his phone alerts off and wanted me to do the same. My refusal annoyed him.
ReplyDeleteI wonder what percentage of the population use Three - that's a lot of people who missed it!
DeleteNot a squeak out of the phone down here - reception is a bit hit and miss even though I have an up to date phone. I can remember hearing the moaning Minnie’s. Growing up in the 1950s they used to test them periodically after lots of publicity so the population knew it was actually a test.
ReplyDeleteYes I remember a couple of tests when I was a child.
DeleteI'm on EE and heard nothing. My phone is quite elderly but is Smart. CBC had it once and our friend Nath had it twice. We heard it in the theatre multiple times! It seems silly they took the MM's away- were they doing any harm? Kx
ReplyDeleteI'd quite forgotten you'd be in the theatre. Apparently the London stage production of Frozen added an extra line to the script yesterday, and one character "accidentally" set something alight, so all the cast could shout "you will set off the fire alarms" just as phones in the audience starting buzzing. Very clever, I thought.
DeleteTornado siren tests are what we get here, once a month. They are both actual sirens snd over cell phone, plus radio and tv. The test is partly to make people aware, and partly to make sure it works. Hopefully the system failures there will get sorted out.
ReplyDeleteAs long as people know it's a test and not a genuine emergency, that is a good thing
DeleteNot a sound here in Dorset but again, never a good signal. Like most things these days probably directed at urban/city areas and as usual, rural communities uncared for. Sandra
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely, having lived in both Dorset and Norfolk I'm increasingly conscious of the "forgotten" rural communities
DeleteI hope the trial test helped the authorities to figure out how to get the alarm sent out to everyone. I get emergency notifications on my cell phone if there is a threat of wild fires or floods and child abductions, etc. What I'd like to receive is an earthquake warning, but, they don't have that figured out, yet.
ReplyDeleteI can understand why an earthquake alert would be helpful for your area, Bless
DeleteAlert message came through at 2.59pm, no sound, 4g.
ReplyDeleteIs there a time difference in Scotland, which meant you heard it before 3pm !?!
DeleteI remember siren tests in the fifties. I agree yesterday was a bit of a fiasco but better to have a fiasco when it doesn't really matter than when it is really important.
ReplyDeleteIf the fiasco helps them to do better next time, then that will be good
DeleteCame through loud and clear on my I phone but not on my husbands slightly older Samsung smartphone - all sounds a bit spasmodic doesn't it?
ReplyDeleteAlison in Wales x
The older phones do seem less reliable
DeleteWe were sitting quietly, and to be honest, starting to doze, when my phone scared the living daylights out of us both! At exactly 3 p.m.!
ReplyDeleteSo sorry your siesta was ruined. I regarded the 3 pm alarm as a signal to make tea (a very British response I think)
DeleteI had only to glance at the title and I could "hear" the siren that I used to hear as a preschooler in England. People here in Canada get "amber alerts" on their cell phones and we hear them if we have the radio on (we don't use mobiles). They can come any time of day and night and are used mostly to alert us that a child is missing or a convict has escaped from prison. It is not a pleasant sound, rather like a giant donkey braying.
ReplyDeleteI hope that the missing children do not encounter the escaped convicts
DeleteWe were in a restaurant yesterday when the alert went. It was so funny as it started on some phones at 2.59 and continued on others to 3.05. Lots of giggles, but I felt left out as mine didn't go off. My family promised that they would let me know if ever there was an emergency.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you have a caring family!
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