I feel that too many real warnings may be mistaken as tests. I fell like one easy way to fix this would be to standardize siren test times. I know that many areas already test on the first Wednesday of the month at noon, but many do not, including mine. I think that we should settle on an official test time for all sirens that test so that we can keep the confusion to a minimum.
I know the sirens in my county have a different tone than a real emergency because it would confuse the public otherwise, Calendar • Monthly Lahar Siren Test the schedule for what in Puyallup looks like for example and [https://www.piercecountywa.gov/5888/Outdoor-Warning-System](What it’s like how the county has it set up.)
This is a good idea in theory, but there are some problems.
One problem is that you couldn’t use this with mechanical sirens, which are still extremely common. In my area, they only use mechanical sirens. They just installed some new FS 2001-130’s last year.
The second problem is that, if you use a different tone for testing, people won’t be used to the tone that is used in a real emergency and some will not react as expected.
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1st Wednesday of the month at noon
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