On Fri, 28 Jul 95 08:00:02 CDT Frank E. Terhaar-Yonkers said:
>I put air horns in my 86 Van after I got hit cause a bozo couldn't
>hear me.  Put a relay in place of current horn, mount air horn where
>convienent.
>Wire air horn compressor direct from battery via the relay. Voila, much noise.
>Cost about $35 at the FLAPS, JCW should be cheaper.  Get one of those
>"diesel train" setups, would be amusing.

a bit of counterpoint here:
i put some air horns on my old 1971 bus (waaaaaaaay back when) and was quite
unsatisfied with them ... the compressor took several looooong seconds to
build up any pressure to make the horns sound, so it was NOT like you hit
the button and BAWAAAAAAAAAAAH came out. :(

so i've been looking for a suitable substitute over the years ... the only
thing i've found is a $300 gizmo-system that includes an air tank and a
regulated compressor: when the tank gets lower than a certain psi, the
compressor cuts on (electrical) and pumps it back up. the mind boggles with
the possibilities!!! :)  the air tank could be used to pump up tires, air
mattresses, etc., not to mention rigging a bleed valve to your brakes so
that it sounded like a big truck's air brakes. ;)

however, this has not yet seemed financially practical (notice the "yet"!) ...
and an idea that has been kicking around in the back of my festering brain
has been:

electronic horns.

there exist "sound chips" that can be circuited to produce almost any sound
you can want, from "laser blasts" to "bomb drop", etc. and with a suitable
small amplifier (oh, say 20 watts??) and external speaker (like those on
the sirens of ambulances, able to weather the weather), you should be able
to create the sound of freight trains crashing into fog horns on top of
ocean liners. with a bit of 18-wheeler thrown in. :)

now, in my experimentation, i did determine this: TWO horns are better.
and you want them to be of different sounds/pitch/frequencies. this is what
Porsche and Mercedes do. in fact, Porsche has some really NEAT horns, but
they are rather expensive. :(  i think they are for the buses that ply the
twisty roads of the Alps, and are sounded before each blind curve ... to let
the opposing traffic know that something very large and dangerous is coming
round the bend. :)

i played around on the piano and found some notes that are jarring and quite
annoying when played together. now, if only i knew enough electronics to get
this stuff built and working. ;)

just thinking out loud again. :)
joel