signal horns

Do you prefer multiple horns over singles for their sound. Do you prefer having horn(s) making minimally-required sound or something louder/

I prefer the sound of multiple horns, and those four-times louder than required to double their range. Find minimal-sounding horns don't catch many peoples' attention. .... Air horns are "sweet."

I dream to have a rail locomotive horn, the ones that can dry your hair or dry your clothes when shouting 5 or more trumpets but, while not impossible, the setup would not be realistic tor my boat.

L

Go to the Kahlenberg website and you can hear their horns. Here is a link to one of them. Click “Hear It”.
https://www.kahlenberg.com/model-t-0a-complete-kit.html

I have a Kahlenberg S-0A single horn. It's loud and gets everyone's attention, which is what it's supposed to do. Can't say as I find multiple horns melodious. I prefer quite boats to noisy ones (not enough to own a sailboat).

I would like to have a whistle for my boat as a friendly greeting, but they require a substantial amount of air volume.

Ted

I find the people I need them for the most, ignore them the most.

Single air horn. I have had several electric horns both single and dual trumpets but the longevity and reliability of electric horns IMO is poor.

markpierce said:

I prefer the sound of multiple horns, and those four-times louder than required to double their range.

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Me too!

I prefer multi-tone and loud enough that it's not readily ignored. I'd love to do air horns at some point, but that's a definite cost investment and running the air line to replace the current horn wiring would be a pain without ripping down my cabin headliner.

My original (1986 vintage) electric trumpet horns are starting to die (1 trumpet has gotten weak, chrome is failing, etc.), so I'm putting together a 3 tone set to replace them. The existing circuit has plenty of headroom to run 3x 4 amp horn trumpets, so plenty of power available to make it a bit louder and more distinctive than most.

Unfortunately, the new set will be a little higher pitched, as nobody makes electric trumpets as big or long as my old ones (old ones are 21 and 18" long, 5" mouth, new ones are 18.5, 16.5 and 13.5 inches long with a 4 inch mouth on the big ones, 3.5 on the small one).

I have the multiple train horns on mine, and am going to add more. The down side is it takes awhile to pump up the air tank when first turned on (about 5-7 minutes). They use so much air, you must have a tank. I use an old propane tank for mine. Have another set I am going to install on the other side of the bridge just for entertainment. That one has a smaller tank, but bigger pump. These ones came with the boat. To me, they are a silly investment if I had to actually go buy a set. But pretty damned cool.

As another note, I do occasionally lust after that (very expensive) set of triple Kahlenbergs that HopCar linked to.

I have a set from an 18 wheeler. Most of the horns are behind the F.B. facade with just the final three or four inches of the trumpet exposed. A small air compressor and tank complete the setup.

Very loud. I rarely sound off at the marina. It is so loud it really startles people but for bridges and showing off at inlets it is great.

pete

Pete Meisinger said:

I have a set from an 18 wheeler. Most of the horns are behind the F.B. facade with just the final three or four inches of the trumpet exposed. A small air compressor and tank complete the setup.

Very loud. I rarely sound off at the marina. It is so loud it really startles people but for bridges and showing off at inlets it is great.

pete

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If you want to reduce the volume, put an air pressure regulator between the air tank and the horn valve. Reducing the air pressure reduces the volume.

Ted

rslifkin said:

As another note, I do occasionally lust after that (very expensive) set of triple Kahlenbergs that HopCar linked to.

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I replaced my Grover air horns last year as the old ones (13 years old) Were very corroded and the tank leaked. I bought some of grover's more expensive horns but they have many models at lower cost too! My 6071s & a 1291 install kit were $710.00 (Installed)

Caution: If you value your existing marina slip, don't blow these when leaving!

https://airhornsbygrover.com/product/6071/

I have dual air horns on Beachcomber. They're loud enough to get someone's attention but not obnoxiously loud.

I just installed Fiamm air horns. A significant improvement on what I have. The installation instructions are non-existent! I still haven’t been able to get a Fogmate automatic controller for it. I phoned and they didn’t return my call. I will wait until the border opens up.

Jim

Got tired of replacing whimpy-sounding electric horns once a year when the saltwater/air got to them.

Bought a single trumpet air horn, with the most plastic parts possible, on Amazon for a whopping $35. I actually bought two ----- to have one as a spare.

I can't believe how loud it is compared to my last 12V ongaro electric horn was. I think the length of the trumpet matters a bunch.....

Mounted the little compressor in the helm console - it is a bit loud when running, but so is the horn at that time, so no matter!!

I'll update (if I remember) how long it lasts.........

Full project writeup here: Air Horn Install

Coot's air compressor and partial view of air tank:

Installed my new horns today. Definitely louder than the old ones, although a bit higher pitched (as expected unfortunately). It's a very sharp, distinct sound, so I think it'll be plenty to get someone's attention. It's definitely louder then the requirements for my size boat, but I'm sure it's still noticeably quieter than Mark's horns. They do look a hair small compared to the old ones, but the 3rd horn sits on top nicely, so it looks good enough. And they're stainless rather than chrome, so easier to keep them shiny.

A good source for big truck orbtrain style horns is

www.iowa80.com/‎
‎

I love the harmonics of a multi-tone horn, and I want to be well heard; but on the other hand I don't want to sound (nor do I want another boat to sound) like "something else." For example, if I'm on the Columbia River or Lake Pepin, and I hear a train horn, I'm not going to worry because there are rail lines right alongside the waterway so it's normal to hear train horns and they are trains. If it's foggy and your boat horn is a "train" horn...?

Or say I have a conversation with a very large vessel and then I hear "his" horn but it's making a different signal than we just discussed (but it's someone in a runabout who decided to get a big-ship horn)...?

Granted, it's my responsibility to keep track of everyone, and I'm not saying smaller boats need to have wimpy/tiny horns just to match, but why make things needlessly confusing.

So I am changing my stock tiny, wimpy horn to something a bit larger (Ongaro premium dual electric trumpets), but would never get, say, a train horn (neither would I run with their signature triangle of three white headlights, because even though I would surely be seen it would be needlessly confusing to other boaters).

Train horns (Chimes) someone said. Here is what I installed on our boat 46115 HD:

https://www.airhornsoftexas.com/collections/train-air-horns?gclid=CO7Pmsvu-M8CFUqUfgod63wC_g

Frosty said:

So I am changing my stock tiny, wimpy horn to something a bit larger (Ongaro premium dual electric trumpets)

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As a note, those Ongaro horns are what I used for the lower pair in my set. The top one is the single premium shorty horn. It now crosses my mind that I could probably have done a quad set with the dual shorty horns on top, but I didn't want to go crazy when I was first figuring it out.

Thanks for your comment on the Ongaros. I had decided on them, but had not purchased yet so still open to info. I'll be going duals either way, but the mounting system on the shorty pair looks like it would be easier to fit than the longer ones*. As I remember it they don't have both tones to listen to on their site, but only one or the other.

I don't know if you can tell since it's a pair vs a single but how much different do the shortys sound than the longer ones?

*I'll be hanging them "upside down" from an overhead mount and the brackets on the longer ones can't just be moved 180º, I checked. Thus if the longer ones are mounted from above the drain hole would be on top. But the shorty mount looks like it can be flipped over.

The shorty horns are a bit higher pitched than the longer ones. They list the fundamental frequency as 321hz for the big duals, 355hz for the small duals. For the singles (which are just the shorter trumpet of each dual set), it's 388hz for the big one, 410hz for the small one. They also have smaller trumpet bells, so they'll look a bit smaller. The shorties can definitely be rotated in the mount.

I took advantage of them being higher pitched to add a 3rd, higher tone to the big dual set. And one day I may get a set of the small duals if I find them on sale and see how they'd sound as a quad set with the big duals.

On my AT34 with one horn, I added 2 more horns powered by a separate 12 vt Harbor Freight compressor with a small tank. Sounds almost like a Hatt. Give that famous, "one long and continuous" sound, people know I around. LOL
Now, if I could find a little separate "toot toot" horn to use around the marina.

Here is a link to an air train horn. $165.00

https://www.iowa80.com/pd/chrome-train-horn/06758/

Our last boat had an electric horn that sounded like an Oldsmobile. It was underwhelming rarely got people's attention. It might as well have made a sad trombone sound.

The new boat came with dual trumpet air horns that will scare the bejesus out of you. I love it!

Blue Sky came with a Kahlenberg single air horn, model S-OA I believe. We replaced the compressor about four years ago but other than that, it has been trouble free. The original system was probably 20 or so years old.
It is loud! And a reasonably nice sound I suppose, although a multitone would probably be better.
However, the compressor, which is mounted in the faux stack right behind the wheelhouse, is very loud, and runs for a minute or so after every horn blast.

And blasting it is a nightly affair these days. I'm not sure where the idea originated, but we in the marina have taken up blasting our horns every evening at 7:00 in support of our hard working health heroes. We have all varieties of horns, including a conch, making a lot of noise!

Getting ones attention is one thing, them understanding your meaning, intentions, etc is another.


I find a whistle signal rarely works for what I want it to...they still cut you off, come close aboard, refuse to give way, etc....


I have a loud, meeting requirement horn...but not more.

psneeld said:

Getting ones attention is one thing, them understanding your meaning, intentions, etc is another.


I find a whistle signal rarely works for what I want it to...they still cut you off, come close aboard, refuse to give way, etc....


I have a loud, meeting requirement horn...but not more.

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Yup understanding is very important!!!
the importance of the whistle decreased significantly with the advent of the VHF radio, especially on the Great Lakes.