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DP Acoustic Analysis: Can anyone recommend the "best" book?


Tom Neal

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DP Acoustic Analysis: Can anyone recommend the "best" book?

My research indicates that the company that did the DP analysis produced a device that has been used very effectively by the US military (e.g. in Iraq and Afghanistan) to detect the location of sniper fire. This equipment utilizes the identical mathematical process that was used to determine the location of shooters in DP.

If anyone has information contrary to the above, please LMK.

Due to the above, I'm convinced that the analysis process was valid. However, the law of "GIGO" (Garbage In Garbage Out) prevails.

At one time I used to know how the Acoustic Analysis team determined the location of the stuck microphone that allowed the gunshots in DP to be recorded on the police dictabelt recorder. If the location of the stuck mike was incorrect, then the entire study was invalidated - If I recall correctly.

Can anyone recommend the "best" book to explain how the location of the stuck mike was determined, and answers the "validity" question?

Thanks,

Tom

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My research indicates that the company that did the DP analysis produced a device that has been used very effectively by the US military (e.g. in Iraq and Afghanistan) to detect the location of sniper fire. This equipment utilizes the identical mathematical process that was used to determine the location of shooters in DP.

Are you referring to the study done for the HSCA, or the one that was supposed to be done a few years ago by a company in California? As I recall, the national archives were supposed to send the dictabelt to the California company. But I have seen no references at all to this study. Did it never happen?

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My research indicates that the company that did the DP analysis produced a device that has been used very effectively by the US military (e.g. in Iraq and Afghanistan) to detect the location of sniper fire. This equipment utilizes the identical mathematical process that was used to determine the location of shooters in DP.

Are you referring to the study done for the HSCA, or the one that was supposed to be done a few years ago by a company in California? As I recall, the national archives were supposed to send the dictabelt to the California company. But I have seen no references at all to this study. Did it never happen?

Hello Ron,

I'm referring to the HSCA study.

I too wonder what is happening with the dictabelt. It seems we should have heard something by now.

Tom

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Tom / Ron:

The study due to be done by a company in California to which you referred in posts #3 and #5 above was, I assume, the dictabelt restoration project which was due to be carried out by Carl Haber of the Physics Division at the Lawrence Berkeley Lab in California back in 2008-2009? That project was commissioned by NARA, and was intended to make a non-invasive, non-contact copy of the extant dictabelts by means of optical scanning - the objective being to create a useful, good-quality copy of the key belt which would be comparable or better than the existing tape copies. It should be emphasised, however, that the purpose of this work was to produce the best-quality digital copy of the belts only, and not to carry out any analytical work on the belts.

However, as of November 2009, the necessary paperwork to authorise funding to do the work had not been completed by NARA, and as far I am aware, no future work on the project was ever carried out after that date.

Chris.

Edited by Chris Scally
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Here's an interesting discussion of that topic.

Thank you, Greg, this is an interesting discussion.

Do you have a current opinion regarding the validity of the acoustic evidence? I'm still researching, and am on the fence...

Tom

You're welcome, Tom.

Considering the source (who brought it to the attention of the HSCA), it is dubious, IMO. It appears to be another example of the intentional misinterpretation of conflicting evidence that is designed to perpetuate a state of uncertainty rather than a state of clarity. I posted the following on my website:

====================================================

The "acoustics proof" is yet one more example of how diametrically opposed conclusions have been drawn from the same evidence in this case. Gary Mack was responsible for bringing the dicta belt recording to the attention of the HSCA. Why are we surprised that it was a straw man?

The Warren Report, which allegedly relied heavily on the Zapruder Film, concluded there was only one gunman, LHO who fired from one location, the TSBD, ergo no conspiracy was in play as far as multiple shooters are concerned. They presumably did not have access to or were unaware of the acoustic evidence. [i am ignoring, for the moment, the idiocy of the remainder of their poorly investigated report.]

Here's the gambit:

The HSCA, which allegedly relied heavily on the Zapruder Film, would also have concluded there was only one gunman, LHO who fired from one location, the TSBD, ergo no conspiracy was in play as far as multiple shooters are concerned until they gained access to the acoustic evidence due to the effort of Gary Mack.

The Zapruder film has been used by both sides (lone gunman and conspiracy) to support mutually exclusive conclusions. The evidence that it [the Z-film] has been tampered is so compelling as to render it inadmissible. Therefore it cancels itself out.

So by offering an alternate source of proof (the acoustics evidence) to the HSCA, Mack appeared to tip the scale in favor of conspiracy. However, if that evidence was known to be unreliable, due to planned flaws in methodology, one can create a false dichotomy.

That false dichotomy looks like this: "The HSCA found that there was only one shooter, LHO, who fired all shots from the 6th floor of the TSBD. However, once introduced, the acoustics evidence alone caused them to change that conclusion. But now that the acoustics evidence has been shown to be flawed, the conclusion reached [by the HSCA] must also be flawed. Therefore, the Warren Report's [original] conclusion must be correct despite its own deficiencies."

Remember, Gary Mack is also the person who "spotted" the alleged presence of "Badgeman" in the Moorman polaroid. As I first pointed out to Jack White in 1998: "Why is it that with some enhancement we can allegedly make out a figure concealed in shadows, surrounded by foliage, hiding behind a fence, visible only from the chest up, whose position just happens to correspond to the source of the acoustic evidence...yet...we cannot sufficiently enhance that same polaroid to reveal the presence of Abraham Zapruder and Marilyn Sitzman who were allegedly standing in plain view, on top of a pedestal, in full sunlight?"

======================================================

Edited by Greg Burnham
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Hi Greg

Your post #9 triggered a memory of a heated discussion I read on one of the competing JFK forums not long ago (aaj?) concerning Mr. Mack. Seems someone took the time to add up his museum salary & estimated what he pocketed from the several TV specials pushing the LN case Mack participated in & concluded Gary Mack had joined the millionaire's club. That was compared to the chump change Lee Oswald carried on him when arrested. The conclusion was that Mack had fared far better post-assassination than did Mr. Oswald.

Both have been accused over time of being instruments of the 'dark side'.

BM

Edited by Brad Milch
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Tom / Ron:

The study due to be done by a company in California to which you referred in posts #3 and #5 above was, I assume, the dictabelt restoration project which was due to be carried out by Carl Haber of the Physics Division at the Lawrence Berkeley Lab in California back in 2008-2009? That project was commissioned by NARA, and was intended to make a non-invasive, non-contact copy of the extant dictabelts by means of optical scanning - the objective being to create a useful, good-quality copy of the key belt which would be comparable or better than the existing tape copies. It should be emphasised, however, that the purpose of this work was to produce the best-quality digital copy of the belts only, and not to carry out any analytical work on the belts.

However, as of November 2009, the necessary paperwork to authorise funding to do the work had not been completed by NARA, and as far I am aware, no future work on the project was ever carried out after that date.

Chris.

Chris,

Thanks for the info. I suspected at the time that NARA (i.e. the U.S. government) had no real interest in such a project, or was told by the government to stop having such interest. I mean, Oswald did it, and that's that.

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Here's an interesting discussion of that topic.

Thank you, Greg, this is an interesting discussion.

Do you have a current opinion regarding the validity of the acoustic evidence? I'm still researching, and am on the fence...

Tom

Hello Greg,

Thank you for your thoughts, and I see I should be visiting you site more often!

Gary Mack was responsible for bringing the dicta belt recording to the attention of the HSCA. Why are we surprised that it was a straw man?

The dictabelt, like "badgeman" (as you also mention) absolutely could have been planned as straw men from their inception; or Mack et al MAY have produced them sincerely - at that time. Question: What's better than creating one more LN? Answer: Converting a former highly visible CT into a spokesman for the LNers. Mack was a known CT who could be bought off, and he was. Score a propaganda victory for the LNers.

The only reason I bring up the alternative of Mack starting out as a sincere CT rather than a LN "in sheep's clothing" is that I see Mack in the Judas role. To me, this is much worse than the alternative of a masquerade as a CT. He traded his soul for a better job, and more money. He is reveling in his current role as the television "face" of the LNers; unmasking the shameful CTs who seek to deceive the public. I say, SHAME ON YOU "Gary Mack."

Initially, the conspirators goal was to convince the public that "LHO Acting Alone" was the ONLY possibility. The WC Report was presented, and that goal was quickly beyond hope of retrieval due to the obvious flaws in the investigation, the evaluation/acceptance of evidence and in the reports conclusion. There is simply too much evidence of conspiracy that will not go away. They then realized that at best there would always be strong justifiable doubts in the public mind.

Their fallback goal was, as you say, to prevent any conclusive evidence of conspiracy. Because they could not produce enough evidence to counter the contrary claims, then they would produce/manufacture evidence that would garner strong attention, and then, as you say, be knocked down as planned, when the time was right. The public has been properly "programmed" to expect that any evidence for conspiracy will be "shown" to be false. An adequate number of straw men have fallen to balance the case for conspiracy, and the media has deemed the case unsolvable.

Despite the sincere belief in conspiracy by the majority, the public also believes the truth will never be officially recognized, so they accept defeat, and wonder why anyone still cares...

Tom

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Tom / Ron:

The study due to be done by a company in California to which you referred in posts #3 and #5 above was, I assume, the dictabelt restoration project which was due to be carried out by Carl Haber of the Physics Division at the Lawrence Berkeley Lab in California back in 2008-2009? That project was commissioned by NARA, and was intended to make a non-invasive, non-contact copy of the extant dictabelts by means of optical scanning - the objective being to create a useful, good-quality copy of the key belt which would be comparable or better than the existing tape copies. It should be emphasised, however, that the purpose of this work was to produce the best-quality digital copy of the belts only, and not to carry out any analytical work on the belts.

However, as of November 2009, the necessary paperwork to authorise funding to do the work had not been completed by NARA, and as far I am aware, no future work on the project was ever carried out after that date.

Chris.

Thanks for the info, Chris.

Sadly, that's about what I had expected to hear.

Gee, I wonder why someone has prevented NARA from performing the job it was created to do - preserving records.

Tom

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Greg:

In post #9 above, you wrote: "The HSCA ... would also have concluded there was only one gunman ... until they gained access to the acoustic evidence due to the effort of Gary Mack."

If the HSCA had not been told about the acoustics evidence (which was brought to the their attention at the Critics Conference on September 17, 1977 by Mary Ferrell, if I remember correctly), what would have been said about Mary Ferrell and/or Gary Mack? They knowingly buried evidence of conspiracy?

You also said: "So by offering an alternate source of proof (the acoustics evidence) to the HSCA, Mack appeared to tip the scale in favor of conspiracy. However, if that evidence was known to be unreliable, due to planned flaws in methodology, one can create a false dichotomy."

Is this a suggestion that he knew the acoustics evidence was "unreliable" when he first wrote about it in Penn Jones' newsletter on August 22, 1977?

Chris.

Edited by Chris Scally
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Tom /Ron:

I honestly believe that the Haber/Berkeley project never got the required funding for purely financial/cost-justification reasons. At the time (2008-2009), I seem to recall that there were major cutbacks at NARA in terms of both staff and funds. I should add that there are good "preservation copies" of the belts available from NARA (Larry Sabato certainly had copies of these in 2013, when writing his book "The Kennedy Half Century"), but they are tape copies - this project was intended to create a digital copy of the crucial belt, in particular, which would outlast the tapes.

Chris.

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