What's with the foghorns? I feel like I live next to a dock. Around Town, posted by Enjoy Silence, a member of the Jordan Middle School community, on Jan 17, 2011 at 2:17 am
Been going on all Sunday morning to Monday morning so far.
Posted by Nostalgia, a resident of Another Palo Alto neighborhood, on Jan 17, 2011 at 8:34 am
I grew up and lived near the sea before moving here, I find the sound comforting and nostalgic, but I can understand how it can be annoying if you are very close.
Don't worry, when the fog goes away, the planes will start flying again and the noise will be back to normal.
Posted by Palo Parent, a resident of the Greenmeadow neighborhood, on Jan 17, 2011 at 8:54 am
So where exactly are these foghorns and who are they warning about fog? I thought these were for shipping lanes and such. In this era of GPS positioning, aren't foghorns somewhat obsolete?
Posted by fogCity, a resident of the Old Palo Alto neighborhood, on Jan 17, 2011 at 10:10 am
When single, I used to live close to the Lands End, located on The Richmond District of San Francisco, foghorns is normal there. Now I am here in PA for the kids School, but I will come back to the city some day to walk to the grocery store and take public transportation again, and hear the distant foghorn by the Golden Gate Bridge.
Posted by Crescent Park Dad, a resident of the Crescent Park neighborhood, on Jan 17, 2011 at 12:29 pm
Fog horns are required and maintained by the Coast Guard. The fog horns have been out on the bay since the technology was first distributed. There are shipping channels on the bay and you also have the bridges. GPS is only one method of navigation - and is not required. You also have navigational beacons (red or green buoys) and fog horns. These are redundant systems that help guard against grounding and or collisions with obstructions.
Posted by Crescent Park Dad, a resident of the Crescent Park neighborhood, on Jan 17, 2011 at 3:17 pm
I was born in The City and lived there until moving to Menlo Park when I was 5. Then I lived up there again for a couple of years in the Presidio Terrace --- loved hearing the fog horns.
The GG Bridge has the best one I've ever heard. Now and then KFOG will bring out a recording of the horn as part of the station ID.
Regardless of romantic memories of SF...the fog horns are an important part of maritime safety. There are many boat pilots (especially small craft) out on the bay before the sun comes up (think fishermen). These guys do not have GPS or radar systems. The nav-beacons and the fog horns are essential safety measures.
Besides - how many times a year do we have the fog horns going off?
Posted by VoxPop, a resident of the Old Palo Alto neighborhood, on Jan 17, 2011 at 3:37 pm
I grew up in SF near the Presidio, we heard many foghorns -- Mile Rock, GG Bridge, and many more -- and we also heard the sunrise and sunset cannons. Imagine the comments those would provoke in present-day Palo Alto.
Posted by JA3+, a resident of the Crescent Park neighborhood, on Jan 18, 2011 at 10:40 am
While I love the sound of the fog horn, and while I heard the Golden Gate's fog horn when I, long ago, lived in the Marina District in the City, I think it is wise and logical to require any and all maritime craft to possess, use, and maintain a GPS device suitable for navigation. This requirement just, to me, seems wise. The cost is relatively small and the devices are quite accurate and precise.
Posted by Anon., a resident of the Crescent Park neighborhood, on Jan 18, 2011 at 12:53 pm
[Portion removed by Palo Alto Online staff.]
Studies have shown that noticeable loud noises like this keep people away and interfere with their sleep, memory and concentration. It's a high price to pay so you jokers can enjoy some sound that you feel sentimental about.
I like the sound of fireworks too, but that does not mean I want to be kept awake all night by it.
But seriously, can anyone tell us where the foghorn we are hearing is located, exactly, and who is it supposed to serve?
Posted by Crescent Park Dad, a resident of the Crescent Park neighborhood, on Jan 18, 2011 at 6:06 pm
Anon. - I would wager that the foghorns have been around long before you lived here. It's part of living near a large body of water that is navigated by vessels as small as 10' up to tugs with barges. Just like the trains that run up and down the Peninsula (including the freights in the middle of night) and/or the 101 freeway "background" noise that floats around Crescent Park.
The foghorns serve any and all maritime traffic.
Here are some of the foghorn locations in the southern portion of the SF Bay:
Between Candlestick Point and Sierra Point
Adjacent SFO
(These two mark a dredged channel that runs between the two horn sites)
Just south of the Oakland Airport
San Mateo Bridge (multiple)
Entrance to the Redwood City Harbor
Dumbarton Bridge
BTW - every bridge on the bay has at least one foghorn.
I could be wrong - but I would expect that one of the purposes of the Dumbarton Bridge foghorn is *stop* ship traffic from going any further south. After the bridge the channel becomes too shallow for ship traffic (e.g. barges and light freighters - typically bound for the RC Harbor or waiting for a turn/permission to enter the harbor.
All of these horns are on automatic settings maintained by the US Coast Guard.
Even with today's technology and the assumed low-cost of maritime-grade navigation instruments - the foghorns serve as one of the safety nets for ship/boat pilots. If a ship's electrics fail or their nav-sys fail, they still have nav-beacons (lights) and foghorns as instruments to keep them safe and away from obstructions, reefs or other navigational hazards.
The reality is that we may have 6-10 days/nights per year where the foghorn pops on. Compared to the daily deluge of noise from the 101 and Caltrain, and that the foghorns actually serve a valuable function in keeping sailors, freight and vessels safe seems to be a decent trade-off.
Do you get upset every time Stanford scores a touchdown? You can hear their train "whistle" loud and clear in Crescent Park.
Frankly Shoreline is by far a greater noise nuisance than the foghorns.
Posted by sure beats a dog's bark, a resident of the Midtown neighborhood, on Jan 18, 2011 at 8:12 pm
The foghorns are temporary and remind me of living near the water and beach - a good and peaceful memory. They are a gentle sound.
As far as interrupting sleep, my neighbor's dog does wakes me up nightly and before dawn when they let him out to go and he barks a few times. I wonder if the foghorn whiners could take care of that year-round sound.
Posted by Wake Up Call, a resident of the Duveneck/St. Francis neighborhood, on Jan 18, 2011 at 8:20 pm
Yes, the foghorns woke me up too. It's true, it's sometimes hard to go back to sleep. But there are ways. It doesn't seem to make much sense to complain about noise at night. Ever lived where the roosters crow at the break of dawn? Ever heard the animal noises the wilds? Ever lived near an airport? Ever lived in an apartment where someone plays a TV at top volume at 2:30 AM or a couple is screaming at each other at midnight?
Maybe you complainers should try some of the techniques people have used for thousands of years to get back to sleep and deal with things as they are.
Posted by Planes are much worse, a resident of the Adobe-Meadows neighborhood, on Jan 18, 2011 at 10:05 pm
I find it astounding that people complain about fog horns at night but don't notice airplane noise. Airplane noise is much worse but you don't notice it. Maybe because you grew up with it? Until I moved to the US I lived in a place where airports actually closed at night. I have lived in the US for 30 years and I still can't get used to airplanes roaring overhead at the wee hours. The fog horns? No problem (although I did not grow up with them either by the way).
Posted by I hate foghorns, a resident of the Duveneck/St. Francis neighborhood, on Jan 18, 2011 at 10:51 pm
Stop complaining about people complaining! Foghorns are ridiculously annoying. Especially for people who don't get enough sleep in the first place. I agree that foghorns are obsolete. If you don't get a gps you should run into a rock. Evolution. Get with it!
Posted by Anne, a resident of the Downtown North neighborhood, on Jan 19, 2011 at 8:42 am
Try living near the train: you adapt. The level of whining really surprises me. Grow up, and realize that for all of our sophisticated technology goes down, which it will do every now and then, we end up needing candles, foghorns and other 'outdated' items.
We live near the Bay. The Bay gets foggy. Hence foghorns. No fog, no horns.
Posted by Another Resident, a resident of the Duveneck/St. Francis neighborhood, on Jan 19, 2011 at 1:52 pm
I hate to say this, I hate foghorns, but it's not all about you. Foghorns were made to save the lives of people who weren't in their comfy beds on a foggy night. It may be that people who created a device to make that penetrating noise thought that grown-ups could learn to deal with a bit of far-away noise for the safety of others.
Speaking of evoution, is whining a survival trait?
Posted by double paned, a resident of the Crescent Park neighborhood, on Jan 3, 2012 at 2:02 pm
I have double paned windows, silicon earplugs and a fan running, and I STILL hear the foghorns which never used to happen over the last seven years I've been sleeping in the same room. Sadly, it wakes me up and keeps me up. I am wondering if the volume is a little louder than it used to be. There was a short period in 2009 when Caltrains were blowing the whistles more often and for longer and then went back to less often and long.
Posted by James, a resident of the Green Acres neighborhood, on Jan 5, 2012 at 11:15 pm
Fog horns are redundant and the Coastguard is slowly phasing them out. The Republic of Ireland acknowledged that technology had rendered them obsolete and stopped using them in Jan.2011.
All lighthouses are now electronic, and thats a shame! The Sensors they use are pathetic; they don't detect fog, they detect air particles and moisture which activates a siren. The sirens are sounding about ninety % of the time regardless of fog. Old fashioned lighthouse keepers did an infinitely better job. The Golden Gate Bridge has manually activated sirens. They tested electronic sirens and discovered they're completely useless pieces of trash and rejected them. All boats now carry GPS or Radar.
Posted by Commercial Mariner, a resident of the Green Acres neighborhood, on Jan 26, 2012 at 8:11 am
GPS is only ONE tool for navigation and is NOT required by law.
Fog horns have been used for hundreds of years in various forms. They are part of the many tools that aid navigation. Those tools include buoys, beacons, lights, horns, dayboards, ranges, charts, electronic navigation systems etc. These are redundant systems that increase safety to the mariner and help prevent grounding and or collisions with obstructions.
Foghorns were made to save lives. When electronic means to navigation fail, it's nice to hear a fog horn and know where safe water is.
Solution: Get good double paned windows. If this doesn't help one can always relocate to a quieter location.
Posted by James, a resident of the Green Acres neighborhood, on May 27, 2012 at 9:43 pm
Lighthouses genuinely help sailors but electronic fog sirens are only audible to those on land. A boat would need to turn it's engine off to hear one. Who knows why the coastguard the coastguard recognizes them as "obsolete" yet keeps on using them! Is there a "sweetheart contract" going on with the manufacturers of these devices?
If you're as tired [literally!] of these things as I am, then go ahead and sign this petition to our President. Web Link
Posted by retired merchant marine, a resident of Stanford, on Aug 14, 2012 at 10:37 am
"Electronic fog signals are only audible to those on land."...
Intersting comment, and, I would have to say the author has spent zero time at sea. San Francsico is one city in which fog plays a critical role in safe navigation. The arguement that a vessel would need to turn off its engine in order to hear a fog signal is competely invalid and must be based on a severe lack of sea time. Stand on the bridge wing of the largest container ship entering port or on the deck of a fishing vessel and I assure the engines do not muffle any fog signal.
If you simply want more sleep then say so, that's understandable, but don't attempt to comment on a topic for which you have little knowledge.
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