Sydney's 'terror alert' loud speakers (pics) - expert opinion please

Just wanted to quickly create a thread for people who may have some kind of technical knowledge so that we can get some answers about the strange 'attenna' sticking out of the top of the 'terror alert' megaphone speaker system installed throughout Sydney streets.

Those two weird prongs jotting out of the top, they look very odd. What would they be used for?

Anyway let me know what you all think.

FYI: The loud speakers themselves are made by Bosch - you can make out the logo (its upside down) on the speaker cone.










[edit: resized images]
Mod Note: Image Size – Please Review This Link.

[edit on 4-9-2007 by 12m8keall2c]

Good on you for getting those photos. The antennas are probably replacments for ground wires, which could be cut. Could you show a zoomed-out pic, to see how it's all mounted and such?

I really want to get up to Sydney for this weekend, but it's a $60 train ride and Ive got nowhere to stay. I wanna get up there to take some pics of the protests, because it's gonna get violent, no matter what they say. The protesters have distributed booklets modeled off the 'Anarchists Cookbook', with info on how to do all this violent-protest related stuff. It's going to get ugly, and I'm stuck in Melbourne polishing my lenses.

I read in a newspaper that police confiscated a camera-phone off a HOMELESS person. Oh yeah, that's not taking it to extremes.
If any Melbournians are driving up to Sydney before this weekend, give us a yell will ya?

heya mate,

i tried to get a pic of the wiring but it is all on the inside kind of thing so it made it way too hard to get a pic of. was very hard to get pics without looking like a bit of a freak anyway. but it didnt seem to sinister. i can try again or check for something if you want...

so ground wire replacements huh - but why the odd look? i mean technology just HAS to be more advacned than needing two big fat antennas to simply receive some kind of emergency recording??? weird

anyway that booklet that was released on the news which discussed how to do a violent protest - i had to laugh when i saw that. Seemed like the same trick they played when they find the 'terrorist handbooks' - coz of course terrorists publish handbooks in their spare time nowadays

Anyway i think it was a bit of a 'plant' to get the public to turn their noses up at the protesters.

But yeah if you've been following the situation in Montebello, Quebec with the agent provocateurs trying to start trouble at the SPP protest then i do think something will happen in Sydney. i'll be there to take pics and post em on here tho if there s anything suspicious that goes down...

think i'll be there on Saturday at this stage....

urgh! do you have microsoft office picture? You can resize your images using the edit button and then post them back up? Perhaps a mod will resize them for you?

All eyes are finally on Sydney. The APEC Summit is a big event and professionals/academics have said 'hold it somewhere else' because Sydney would not cope with an emergency. And yet, what do the NSW and Fed Govt do? They cancel surgery for the entire week!

article here

I find this hilarious, the only reason Sydney is the host of the summit is due to the only city in Aust that can provide 5 star hotels.

Isn't it funny that Parliament have granted a public holiday to coincide with the summit? They have also made sure that Public Servants are paid for the allocated time off...not so with other employees under differing awards. Crap, crap.... and more crap.

Bush touched down in AU today...lucky Sydney people. Major distruptions to traffic. You know that whenever Bush is nearby, your network coverage won't work? The majority of Sydney residents trying to use their phones to call home or child care agents to say that they are going to be late because of the Bush delays won't be able to get through... no network coverage.

And when I was listening to the Parliamentary Debates regarding this very issue, ABC went off line for several minutes.
You see, Members of Parliament mouthing off on live air is a bit of a worry.
Cut the transmission!!!

Anyway, as for the protests, Police are in the process of taking the democratic right to court to prevent the Saturday protest. pfft...

dude i just post the link straight from photobucket.... at least they're clear huh

yeah we totally screwed if something happens in Sydney, i just dont know how anything would work. But i gotta say, i dont see anything other than some police v protesters battles going on.

With all the money spent on security and the disruption to everyday life, i doubt they would have anything occur - by the way, i dont believe a 'terrorist' group would pull anything off. Any major attacks that occur can be pointed squarely at puppet masters behind the worlds major governments...

but anyway, some important guy (sorry cant recall who) said that these law changes that have been passed for APEC will be invalid after 12 September UNLESS something major happens between now and then..... well lets hope it doesnt coz if it does then its martial law time and i dont want no part of it!

I would guess that those are RF antenna so they don’t have to run wires to the system and can control it using a radio frequency. Most likely just a cost cutting measure as it eliminates the cost of running miles of expensive copper wiring which has to be constantly replaced.

Originally posted by watch_the_rocks
because it's gonna get violent, no matter what they say. The protesters have distributed booklets modeled off the 'Anarchists Cookbook', with info on how to do all this violent-protest related stuff. It's going to get ugly, and I'm stuck in Melbourne polishing my lenses.

Do you think that these protests are professionally orchestrated? By that I mean organized to show dissent or to sow dissent. I find your comment alarming in light of the news that Tasmania is becoming a popular place to buy land for the elite. If anything does happen in the northern hemisphere, then Tasmania is the perfect place.

ECM helicopter to follow President Bush

They're taking security very seriously, but fair enough. The Summit is a prime opportunity for someone to make a violent statement.

I know pretty much nothing about antennas and such, but short and stubby ones would most likely be for short-range, high-data-load carrying signals, i.e. UHF. Verbal radio communication doesn't need UHF, so I'm guessing the stubbiness of the antennas is related to the power they put out and receive. The more powerful, the harder it is to jam.
And damn, if you found the microphone to the hundreds of speakers scattered throughout Sydney and in the main compound, couldn't you have some fun . . .