Pics of some of my Whistles

D

Don Luis

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Dec 26, 2002
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There have been some threads about Whistles and I thought I should post pictures of some of mine.

On the left Acme pealess whistles, on the right Fox pealess whistles. The two bottom whistles are the much discussed Acme Tornado 2000 and the Fox 40 Classic. On the left second from top small and flat is the Acme 636 SOLAS approved popular rescue whistle:

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Acme pea whistles, top left is the European style or "Italian Police" model, below it two of the famous Thunderer 60.5 with and without mouthguard, below it the "Titanic" Model and at the bottom a larger Thunderer "Traffic Police" style.

On the right, the red one is the inexpensive and popular 660, below it the polycarbonate 560, and below it some larger military and traffic polycarbonate models.

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Some other assorted whistles, on the left the famous Storm pea whistle that works under water, then six Acme tubulars "English Bobby" style, then the older Acme SOLAS approved two tone whistle and finally a couple of simple two cavity styles.

4v1ljt


Luis
 
Quite a collection you have Luis. :cool:
All things considered, which would you choose if you could only have one?

Paul
 
Don Luis said:
There have been some threads about Whistles and I thought I should post pictures of some of mine.
Click to expand...
Thanks Luis that helps a lot.

Here's my very meager selection:
Whistles.jpg


The Fox 40 Classic and the full-size Storm are what I'd consider very loud - or at least much louder than one would expect from a whistle.

They are uncomfortable/too loud for me if blown in a confined enviroment - like in a small bathroom

The ACR WW-3 USCG/SOLAS spec'd whistle that I recently got some of - I would consider average loud - an explanation - it's the level I would expect for a good whistle - so perhaps nothing special - but then it probably is loud enough for most purposes - I'm making that assumption since it meets USCG and SOLAS requirements.

I like the Fox 40 Classic since it is very loud for its size - I don't have any problems blowing it loud (the ACR WW-3 takes about the same effort).

The Storm is a too big for me (looks huge) - but I like the pea sound - varying tone, "trilling"(?).

I think I'd like to try a Pea design like the Acme Thunderer 660 (small bright colored), or an Acme Thunderer 560 - if it is noticably louder - but I wish it was available in bright colors.

But definitely want to try the the Acme Tornado T2000 - which I saw a vendor claiming to be the loudest whistle in independent testing, and I think you said was 125db.

--
Vincent

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If I could only have one it would likely be the Acme 560 pea whistle, loud enough to referee World Cup Soccer or NFL Football, tough polycarbonate that will not stick to your mouth in cold weather like metal can, pea whistle "talks" well by varying tone and volume, needs little breath to sound but can be blown hard and loud:

The 660 is an excellent whistle for the price, not as loud as the 560 and injected plastic is not as strong as polycarbonate but still good and inexpensive, available in many colors.

Luis

The Acme 560:

4v4co1
 
Don Luis said:
If I could only have one it would likely be the Acme 560 pea whistle, loud enough to referee World Cup Soccer or NFL Football, tough polycarbonate that will not stick to your mouth in cold weather like metal can, pea whistle "talks" well by varying tone and volume, needs little breath to sound but can be blown hard and loud:

The 660 is an excellent whistle for the price, not as loud as the 560 and injected plastic is not as strong as polycarbonate but still good and inexpensive, available in many colors.
Click to expand...
I guess I'm going to have to get both :eek: -
along with the Tornado T2000....
and perhaps a Tornado 636 (SOLAS)

I like the way pea whistles sound especially the way referees can make them talk or shout -
I think one can vary/control the volume/loudness better?

How does the Thunderer 560 compare to the Tornado T2000, and say the Fox 40 Classic - in terms of loudness?

Thanks for the encouragement.

--
Vincent

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My Acme sounds louder than my Fox 40....How's that for scientific evidence. :p
Seriously, the Acme does seem to be louder and is easier to blow. I'm sure Luis can be much more helpful.

Paul
 
It's a Thunderer, not sure which one. I've had it forever. Sorry I can't be more help.

Paul
 
Can you give me an idea of how much these different models run?

Where can I find them? Sporting goods stores?

Thanks.
 
Sorry It's been a busy week and I've been away for a while.

The most popular Acme for refereeing is the brass 60.5, which I belive is the succesor of the now called Titanic also brass, the 560 is the polycarbonate version, to my ear these three are for practical purposes the same in volume and tone, the smaller "Italian Police model" with a higher pitch is said to stand out better over a croud.

As often happens things are not so simple, a high pitch whistle may stand over a crowd but a lower pitch may "carry" better and in some conditions be heard farther away, the varying pitch obtained from a pea or from the proper combination of frequencies as in two and three cavity pealess also helps, so it is not just volume, sirens from police, firefighters, ambulances, etc. use a varying pitch, marine fog horns are lower pitch and can be heard far away.

So what do you want a whistle for ?, I EDC a flattened (filed down) Acme 2000, it is my choice for an "emergency" whistle, to my ears it sounds as loud as the Fox 40 and a bit louder than the Acme Thunderers and other Acme Tornados, I don't measure decibels, I also like the Acme 636 because it is so small and flat, the Acme 660 is what I give to kids to take in camping and school trips and even in a crowded mall, it is cheap and easy to blow.

And yes, I'll take the Acme 560 as my favorite "all around".

There are many places to buy whistles, sport shops, camping shops, marine shops, army surplus, etc. there are shops specialized in refereeing and in training dogs. I remember there used to be a shop around here specializing in Soccer refereeing, they had a whole bunch of diferent whistles hanging from a display on the wall and you could go and try them, I don't think they ever worried to wash them but I couldn't resist and did try them all.

There are lots of clones, mostly copies of the Acme 60.5 or 660, I've seen good ones from Mexico, USA and Asia but I've never seen one better than the originals and have seen many bad ones, I have also seen copies of the Fox 40, these are surely ilegal ripoffs and much lower in quality.

I have tried some other European (Italian and German) referee whistles, good but not better than Acme or Fox, I can go on... USA made dog training whistles, Brazilian samba whistles, toy whistles, flat rescue whistles, referee whistles with rotating paddles (as in a river boat) in place of a pea, wood "train sound" whistles, I have several standard issue pea and tubular from Mexican Army and Police and rescue groups, a couple of Bosun pipes, etc.

I have also seen a couple of the Fox 40 pea NHL model, including one that was gold plated, but have not found one for sale to add to my collection, this one is very good, lower in pitch than the Acme 60.5 and has some tooth like things to prevent overblowing (though I should say that I have never been able to overblow an Acme).

Luis
 
Don Luis said:
I EDC a flattened (filed down) Acme 2000, it is my choice for an "emergency" whistle, to my ears it sounds as loud as the Fox 40 and a bit louder than the Acme Thunderers and other Acme Tornados, I don't measure decibels, I also like the Acme 636 because it is so small and flat, the Acme 660 is what I give to kids to take in camping and school trips and even in a crowded mall, it is cheap and easy to blow.
And yes, I'll take the Acme 560 as my favorite "all around".
Click to expand...

Thank you Luis for the very comprehensive and helpful answer - much appreciated.

I don't have any equipment to measure dbs either and can only rely on my ears - but that doesn't tell me how well the whistle sound will carry in terms of distance or attracting attention.

I can only (naively?) put my trust in USCG and SOLAS requirements - since these are meant for "survival" and hopefully take distance and attention attraction as their primary goals - despite the fact they might not the "best" or "loudest".

As a stupid example - being loud enough to cause my ears to ring when I blow the whistle is NOT an advantage if the sound doesn't carry or attract attention..... (of course by being loud - it probably does both - but how effective/efficient is it, when compared to another whistle that might not sound as loud close by - but carries and attracts attention?)

My current investigation/wish/obtain list -
still runs Acme Tornado T2000, Thunderer 560 & 660

Any others you (or anyone else) would suggest I should investigate?

Thanks.

BTW- when I did Froogle.com searches for whistles I did notice a lot of the suppliers were dog training.......

--
Vincent

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I don't think you will find better than Acme or Fox 40.
I also have a Seron Mfg. P-38 that I found in a surplus store. It's quite loud and slightly lower pitched (at least to my ear) than my Acme or Fox 40.

Paul
 
PWork said:
I also have a Seron Mfg. P-38 that I found in a surplus store. It's quite loud and slightly lower pitched (at least to my ear) than my Acme or Fox 40.
Click to expand...
While doing a search on Fox 40 whistles I cam across the Fox 40 Pearl Whistle which is claimed to be lower pitched:
http://www.fox40whistle.com/products/productdetail.php?id=7
QUOTE:
Inspired by the world-famous Fox 40 Classic, the Fox 40 Pearl is a patented 2-chamber pealess whistle with a lower tone 90 decibel pitch. Its potent blast rises well above man-made and environmental noise.
UNQUOTE

I'm not sure about the significant of the word "Pearl" - I don't think it's a general term for lower pitched whistles since my search on pearl whistles only showed the Fox 40 Pearl.

A couple of observations on the ACR WW-3 USCG/SOLAS compliant whistles -

There were some that I found did not produce the lower pitched frequency as easily as the others in my batch.

At first I thought it was just the plastic flashings, but cleaning those up with a nice sharp blade (of course :) ) and making sure the narrow whistle slots were clear with the tweezers from a SAK - all this still only gave variable results - those whistles continued to seem harder to produce the lower pitched tone - relative to the higher pitch channel/chamber.

I wondered if any debris was still blocking the slots so I rinsed the whistle with some running tap water.....

and surprise - each and every one of them started to behave like the best of the batch - ie: I could easily produce both tones easily and loudly......

I just tried those again - after they've fully dried - they just don't seem quite as good as last night when wet - so I rinsed them again - and again they were easier to blow and sounded both pitches louder.....

hmmm.... I wonder what is going on - do these USCG/SOLAS spec'd whistles really need to be wet/in water to perform?

Or are these just faulty?

Another thing about these ACR WW-3 is that they lack a bite ridge - the mouth-piece is just flat - which makes holding the whistle hands-free in the mouth harder - like when I'm cycling - I tend to have to bite harder to hold it.

--
Vincent

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I have the Pearl, it's the second from top on the right in the first picture on my first post, to me it seems much like the Acme Cyclone which is the green whistle third from left in the first picture. These are two chamber whistles with a somewhat lower tone, the idea is that in an indoor match without a noisy crowd, such as a basketball game without many spectators, or when coaching rather than refereeing, you do not need too much volume or such a high pitch, there is an Acme Tornado model for that too, it's the orange one just below the Cyclone in my first picture, in the Thunderers or any pea whistle you simply use a larger model, such as those sometimes called "Traffic Police" models.

I have often found that some of the chambers in a multichamber whistle do not give a sound by themselves, yet they do help when all chambers are blown together, what happens is that their frequency is not audible to our ears but it helps create the proper sound wave when combined with the frequencies in the other chambers, you may notice than when blown the multichamber whistles often give a "thrill" sound, this is because the diferent frequencies of the chambers interact causing sort of ups and downs in the resulting sound wave.

I hope this is more or less clear.

Luis
 
Don Luis said:
I have often found that some of the chambers in a multichamber whistle do not give a sound by themselves, yet they do help when all chambers are blown together, what happens is that their frequency is not audible to our ears but it helps create the proper sound wave when combined with the frequencies in the other chambers, you may notice than when blown the multichamber whistles often give a "thrill" sound, this is because the diferent frequencies of the chambers interact causing sort of ups and downs in the resulting sound wave.
Click to expand...
That was pretty clear, and thank you for the explanation.

Since I have more than one of the ACR WW-3 USCG/SOLAS whistles I can compare (unfortunately? :o )

Normally I don't just try to blow a single channel - but just normally as a regular whistle - the ones I think are "good" seem to produce a dual tone that seems lower pitched than the more "difficult" ones.

Obviously when attempting to clean up those more "difficult" ones I have blown just a single channel to test/compare. The lower pitched channel is easily sounded on the "good" ones - and more difficult on the "difficult" ones :p - until they are wet - at which time they are just as easy on that single channel or blown normally - and when wet on both channels they sound the "same" as the "good" ones......
whereas when they were new and dry - they sounded higher pitched and I could not hear the lower pitch as much - which I believe is the pitch that's suppose to carry distance?

If all of these behaved like the "good" ones then I would rate them pretty highly - I don't like the variance and the fact some needed to be wet to work as well.

--
Vincent

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Vincent,that is interesting and there probably is something wrong indeed, I believe the lower pitched channels should sound when blown individualy, it is the higher pitched ones that sometimes are in the inaudible range, I have to agree with Paul and believe that you wont find better than Acme or Fox.

As an interesting comment, maybe a bit off topic, you can make pealess whistles "warble" somewhat like a pea if you roll your tongue as we do with the Spanish letter "R", it's being done in the Navy for centuries, ask any Boatswain.

Luis
 
Rhys MacArthur said:
Why would you be riding a bike with a whistle in your mouth? I am stumped!
Click to expand...
It's quite common in cities for cyclists to blow whistles to get attention in traffic - since most pedal bikes do not have horns - bike bells are pretty ineffective (in terms of sound), and also require a hand that may be needed to operate the brake in an emergency ....

I had to use it just the other day when a vehicle pulled out of a parking lot without seeing me at all - even though I was looking directly at them, and I was wearing a bright fluorescent yellow/green safety vest.

A lot of motorists are just not aware of cyclists -
a collision with a car might do very little damage to the car,
but could cause serious injury or may even prove fatal for the cyclist.......

Hence the whistle.........
cheap, effective and very simple to use without hands.....

--
Vincent

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