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The Sterling Beeps — Brooklynian

The Sterling Beeps

che
che
edited November -1 in Prospect Heights
Do any of you Sterling-around-Underhill/Washington-types go to sleep listening to the beeps? The two sets of really loud beeps, repeated about every 30 seconds and not on the same cycle, have been beeping me lulu for MONTHS, like since last Spring.

It sounds like the low-battery alarm for a smoke or CO-detector. At first I thought it was the building next to me. But I quickly realized you can hear it up and down the street, especially when things quiet down at night, and now I can't figure out the source. They sound like they might be coming from different places.

Anyone know which building it's coming from? Or how to stop it before it kills again?
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Comments

  • homeowner
    homeowner
    You have them too? I hear it on Park between Nostrand and New York. At first I thought it was an errant smoke detector battery, but its been going on forever.
  • jjb
    jjb
    I hear that in my backyard at night, too! It's been going on since at least late spring/early summer 2006 (when I moved to current address). I also thought it was somebody's smoke detector at first, but at this point, I have no idea. How weird that you can hear the same thing over at Park and Nostrand, homeowner. I hope somebody on here knows what's up and solves the mystery for us.
  • ev965
    ev965
    Me too! Around Pacific and Brooklyn ... it comes and goes ... what is it?!? --E.
  • doublediamond
    doublediamond
    This can't be. I hear this too and I'm near Sterling/Butler.
  • lilbangladesh
    lilbangladesh
    So no one has any idea? I'm getting bothered in Crown Heights with this.
  • homeowner
    homeowner
    There are three theories in my house:

    1) Smoke alarm battery (mine)
    2) Plot by nefarious gov't agency to drive him crazy (better half)
    3) Test by aliens (boys)
  • stacey
    stacey
    Some hard-wired alarm systems and motion sensor lights have backup batteries maybe these beeps are letting you know they need to be changed or since so many different people are hearing it maybe its an indication that the timers have to be adjusted because of DST.
  • che
    che
    stacey wrote: or since so many different people are hearing it maybe its an indication that the timers have to be adjusted because of DST.
    Right, but the thing is, I've been following them continuously since the Spring. And while the beeps themselves almost certainly have some banal cause, how they've managed to keep going for months is trickier.

    I mean, are there multiple people who (a) are deaf, (b) have no visitors, (c) have alarm systems with low batteries but which are charged enough to go on for 6 months or more (or hard-wired systems perhaps), (d) own -really loud- alarms?
  • lucille
    lucille
    Wow, I hear the same kind of noise and I'm nowhere near any of the rest of you and none of you are all that close to one another. I thought it was a smoke detector in my building for the longest. I've determined that it comes from farther off. I'm lucky, I guess, because I've grown so used to it that I don't notice it anymore!
  • gardengirl
    gardengirl
    Yep, I've got it too, over on Bergen near Kingston... Been driving me crazy!
  • ev965
    ev965
    You're very close to me, gardengirl. I've been hearing it for months ... then it stops (or I stop hearing it, anyhow) ... then it starts again. Could be one of those revenge chirping devices? http://www.engadget.com/2005/07/11/the-mind-molester/ But why? --E.
  • alafairnadia
    alafairnadia
    I thought there was a thread about this a year or two ago -- isn't it a bird?
  • alafairnadia
    alafairnadia
    here's one of the posts I found using google but I'm pretty sure there was another post where someone said it was some kind of insect/bird.

    http://brooklynian.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=1709
  • alafairnadia
    alafairnadia
    oh, and then this post.

    why can't I find the post I remember??

    http://brooklynian.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=3618&highlight=&sid=a32a9e10033430b36d2c26e552aad427
  • armchair_warrior
    armchair_warrior
    you guys sure you aren't hearing cicadas?
  • che
    che
    armchair_warrior wrote: you guys sure you aren't hearing cicadas?
    Oh do I wish it were cicadas. Nope.

    Is this the thread you're referring to? http://brooklynian.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=35626
  • joncane
    joncane
    armchair_warrior wrote: you guys sure you aren't hearing cicadas?
    definitely not cicadas or birds. Exactly the same sound every time. Exactly every 61 seconds.
  • jeffrey
    jeffrey
    What does it sound like, exactly?

    Please record and upload [and make link here to] your rendition of it on YouTube, for our collective amusement and edification.

    Any takers? (I wish...)
  • alafairnadia
    alafairnadia
    jeffrey wrote: What does it sound like, exactly?

    Please record and upload [and make link here to] your rendition of it on YouTube, for our collective amusement and edification.

    Any takers? (I wish...)
    I totally second this request. I've been listening and not hearing whatever it is. and I'm on washington btwn sterling & st. johns so I should be hearing this pervasive beep.
  • homeowner
    homeowner
    I can't tape because I can't really identify where its coming from. Inside the house its audible, but it sounds like its inside a neighboring house. Outside is slightly louder but still isn't blaring.

    As to what it sounds like, if you've ever had a smoke detector where the battery is going it sounds just like that. One beep every 30-40 seconds.
  • joncane
    joncane
    alafairnadia wrote: been listening and not hearing whatever it is. and I'm on washington btwn sterling & st. johns so I should be hearing this pervasive beep.
    If you're on Washington, i doubt that you'd hear it. I'm on the middle of the block b/w underhill and washington, and while it's loud and clear with my window open, i don't think the sound would carry that far. come to the middle of the block and wait no more than 61 seconds and you'll hear it. My latest suspect is the Corcoran renovation. i can't imagine the beeps coming from inside an occupied home for too long before its inhabitants did something.
  • che
    che
    I think I'm going to start offering a Beep Walking Tour.

    And yep, the (uninhabited for 3 years and counting, half-sold, and currently under a Do Not Occupy order due to having not sealed the basement during construction and consequent flooding) 377 Sterling is my current suspect, too.
  • lucille
    lucille
    but how does that explain the beeping that gardengirl and I hear in our totally other neck of the woods?
  • gardengirl
    gardengirl
    I can't find the thread again, but I read somewhere else on the board that someone in the area went on a crusade with 9 volt batteries and fixed a bunch of dying smoke alarms s/he found in other apartments nearby...maybe it really is that? Though i think ev965's suggestion of The Mind Molester is hilarious. I called 311 to ask them about it and, pretty unsurprisingly, they acted like I was a little crazy: "um, no, we don't have any reports of repetitive beeps, and that would be out of our jurisdiction anyhow..." I did try to record it, by the way, but my recorder wasn't good enough to pick them up.
  • armchair_warrior
    armchair_warrior
    i haven't heard the beeps yet :/. i hope you guys find the source would be interesting to find out what it is. hehe could be one of those mimicking birds.
  • mable
    mable
    hi there,
    here is a re post of my adventures with the beeps

    i live on st johns near underhill, and my building was plagued! for months with these beeps. the super did nothing, so i borrowed a ladder, and bought some 9Volts and changed out about 6 beeping smoke detectors! i even had to knock on some neighbors doors, who apparently just accepted the beep in their hallway, and seemed shocked that i was wanting to do something about it. and i also found a beep coming from the building next door, and got that fixed. but still
    there is one beep coming from my alleyway. likely echoing from behind a building on sterling or st johns, and maybe the same beep that everyone else is hearing.
    if anyone has luck tracking it down, id be up for a recon-sneak attack mission... i have extra 9volts"

    there is still one that im hearing in between st johnns and sterling.
    im going to investigate this weekend, and see if i can put a stop to it.
    if its a bird im going to get a bb gun. i cant stand it anymore...
    if its a home thats un inhabited, im leaving a note, or breaking in with batteries in hand.
    viva la silencio!
  • amit
    amit
    CHE, it's most definitely 377 Sterling. We've been there for a few open houses and the beeps are jolting from inside. From the parlor level apartment I believe.

    So know anymore about the supposed flooding in the basement during construction? My girlfriend and I are considering the garden/basement apartment and haven't seen any indication of water let alone flooding. Nothing like a stigmatized building on a block...
  • liftandcut
    liftandcut
    How come I don't hear any beeps? I WANNA HEAR BEEPS, DAMMIT!
  • jeffrey
    jeffrey
    Well, if you really must...
  • liftandcut
    liftandcut
    Thanks!
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