On a visit with my older son to Port Townsend, Wash., a few days ago, I spotted this odd tower: That's my father and my older boy in the photo, looking at this stack of wireless gear at Fort Worden, a state park and former garrison of democracy. We spotted another one near the water in downtown PT, as the town is known to locals. Any ideas? Post in comments.
Update: Turns out it's a tsunami warning siren with a dish that links it to an activation system. Although Port Townsend is far east of the Pacific Ocean, it's part of a strait that, were a tsunami to hit the Pacific, would likely inundate parts of the town.
I don't think it's wireless gear, I think it's a siren or other Public Address type of device. Cherry Grove out on Fire Island has a similar looking contraption, but only 4 or 5 dishes. Very charmingly, it sounds bells for the noon whistle.
Looks like a storm siren pole. The dish is probably a point to multipoint connection for the storm siren that can be used to signal to the pole to turn on/off.
Just my guess.
Looks like a tornado siren tower to me.
It's the siren portion of a tsunami warning system.
Tsunami warning sirens, I believe. The towers appeared about the time of the local news stories about the sirens being (1) too loud and (2) too faint. This is Port Townsend, after all--nothing is just right.
Tsunami warning is the current public safety fad in WA (and large grants are available for the sirens and escape route signage).
Yes, we have lots of those type of tornado/storm warning towers in the Atlanta area.
On a different note, it's been a while since being in Port Townsend. Make sure you visit the vintage car shop 1 block west of main street.
I've seen similar type sirens in Montgomery and Chester Counties in Pennsylvania near the Limerick Nuclear Power Plant. Seems these are for any type of emergency, not just tsunamis.