Loudoun Communications, Inc.

**Products** | Radio equipment

Outdoor warning sirens

**Loudoun Communications, Incorporated** is a dealer and installer of radios and related equipment based out of Douglasville, GA, and is the manufacturer of the ES series of emergency warning sirens, first entering the siren business in the mid-to-late 1990s with the ES-1000. The design of Loudoun Communications' sirens has remained practically unchanged since then but have proved to be quite effective despite their rather simple design.

## History

Loudoun Communications originated in Loudoun County, Virginia in 1975. In 1978 the founders, Gary, Norene and Ed Poorman, relocated to Douglasville, Georgia, a suburb of Atlanta, where the business was re-established. Loudoun Communications was a home-based business until 1984 when the company opened a shop on Factory Shoals Rd. in Austell, Georgia. Since then, Loudoun Communications has sold a wide number of products and services, including two-way radio, communication consoles, and the main focus of this article, outdoor warning sirens.

## Products

The ES series began sometime in the 1990's, with the introduction of the ES-1000, consisting of 4 Atlas CJ46 fibreglass paging horns powered by 125W high power speaker drivers. It was quickly superseded in the early 2000's with the ES-2000, which featured an entirely new set of Atlas DR-72 horns and an octagonal housing for the drivers and pushed the driver wattage up to 150W. Though as basic as it could get, this design change proved to be better and stuck around with the introduction of the extremely similar ES-4000, with the largest (or only) changes being a more abrupt windup and a lower pitch. Around midway during the production of the ES-4000, a newer, voice capable control box was introduced, with a larger enclosure. Interestingly, Loudoun's pre-recorded voice messages are made by Whelen. Loudoun has released 4 emergency warning sirens, these being the:

### Stationary Electronic Sirens

#### ES-5000DC

The latest and only siren being currently produced by Loudoun, the ES-5000DC is largely identical to the 4000 and 2000. The most notable way to tell the 5000 apart from its predecessors is the mount at the bottom of the octagonal driver housing. Interestingly, the 5000DC has been around since 2013, however it is likely only now that they have been released to consumers. The largest improvement from its predecessors is that the siren runs entirely on DC power, as the previous models used AC powered amplifiers with the controller itself running on DC.

#### ES-2000 and ES-4000

The ES-2000 and ES-4000 are the 2nd and 3rd sirens produced by Loudoun. The two are an improvement from the ES-1000 with the addition of Atlas DR-72 horns and an octagonal housing for the drivers, with the driver wattage being increased to 150W. In good working order, they are described to be extremely quiet, though their sound travels extremely far. The ES-2000 and 4000 are visually identical, making differentiating the two models extremely difficult without hearing them. The only way to distinguish the two is by sound; the ES-2000 has a softer windup compared to the ES-4000. The ES-4000 is also known to be lower pitched and is far more common compared to the 2000. Some units also have the model name on the control box. The two models were discontinued in 2013, upon the release of the ES-5000DC.

#### ES-1000

The ES-1000 is the unofficial name given to Loudoun's first siren, consisting of 4 Atlas CJ46 fiberglass paging horns powered by 125W high power speaker drivers, equipped with a Loudoun controller capable of doing Loudoun's standard Up/Down and Steady tones. The ES-1000 is often confused with the Whelen WS-1004. The most notable ways to tell them apart is that the horn mounts on the ES-1000 are configured vertically, unlike the Whelen WS-1004's. The ES-1000 also lacks the small, rounded cover protecting the drivers. Most obvious, the ES-1000 and the Whelen WS-1004 use different tone cards and controllers that sound far different. Examples of ES-1000s have only been found in the U.S. state of Georgia.

## References

1. ↑ Commonly referred to as the "Master Blaster", although this name was apparently only used for the ES-1000 and the name simply stuck within the community.