New York City EMS PA170 Siren History and Demo

Hey its Zach from 718motorpool and today were going to be talking about this Federal signal PA170 Siren. Federal introduced the PA170 in 1973 and it was discontinued sometime in the mid 1980s. Unfortunately there really is not a lot of information about these sirens around since they really we rent as popular as the other sirens federal had out. Internally speaking these sirens were similar them as well. However this siren would continually cycle the wail tone when you were using the manual button. What set the PA170 apart is the fact that it had switch panel that was designed with the same form factor and aesthetic as the siren, which was a new concept for the time.
This siren is believed to have come from New York City EMS which was the first modern Iteration of EMS in New York City. Established in 1969 by the Health and Hospitals Corporation as a third service EMS agency, New York City EMS modernized and organized prehospital care in the city throughout the 70s and 80s. Part of the rapid modernization was moving away from Step van based ambulances to modular ambulances which allowed more of a focus on patient care. The PA170 Siren was adapted around 1976 on the second generation modular ambulance which were in service until the early 80s when the agency moved to code 3 lights and sirens
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[@AlexanderM-h3b]

From the Advent of electronic sirens my favorite is the manual wind down I think it is the most effective and the FDNY used it exclusively

[@shawnramsey8264]

Old school was the best

[@tjinytjiny6615]

That was not the tones out of NYC EMS AMBULANCES in the 70s. There was no wail, just hi lo and a yelp.

[@The718Motorpool]

From what a very reliable source from New York City EMS told me these were in the buses from 76 to 79

[@tjinytjiny6615]

@@The718Motorpool Grew up in NYC. I heard ambulance sirens 24/7. NYC EMS went from the breadbox type ambulances which had mechanical sirens, to the very few bread boxes with electronic sirens. Then they went to type 1 ambulances, which they stayed with. The siren you displayed couldn’t have been in widespread use. I never heard it. EMS in the 70s got very little funding, very few new ambulances. The next widespread siren from the mechanical ones were the 2 tone hi-lo/yelp ones that became the standard before they went to a code 3 siren. I also worked for them for a year.

[@zahplay4keeps2395]

this siren got real old it dont work anymore

[@The718Motorpool]

I think if I had it running a few minutes and let it get warm. It would’ve worked a lot better.

[@AlexanderM-h3b]

Yeah these aren't electronic drivers for the sound these are old vacuum tube drivers