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Post by ka9q on Aug 11, 2009 10:25:12 GMT -4
I was getting pretty bored (as I'm sure all of you are) with the complaints about daytime pictures not showing stars, so I was delighted to come across two new (to me) claims by the conspiracy theorists. Naturally, they're "explained" in Youtube videos: www.youtube.com/watch?v=v1c6ktHYO-I claims that the astronauts' voices were much too calm and unstressed during Saturn V launches. I think it goes without saying that the perpetrator of this one hasn't studied the acceleration vs time curves or listened carefully to the recordings during later first stage flight. Funnily enough, there's rarely more than a few clipped acknowledgments of abort mode changes. And there's this little gem: www.youtube.com/watch?v=PMax7EGyQSQ&feature=relatedthat claims Quindar tones were to control a secret video editing system so that NASA could HIDE THE TRUTH! Exactly what is being hidden in this way is a little...unclear. The notion that this guy wasted hours tallying up random correlations between Quindar tones and various events on the screen is giving me the giggles. But I know it probably shouldn't; isn't this exactly the kind of delusion (seeing patterns in random noise) that's a hallmark of schizophrenia? Remember "A Beautiful Mind" and the secret newspaper messages? |
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Post by Jason Thompson on Aug 11, 2009 10:55:32 GMT -4
Iclaims that the astronauts' voices were much too calm and unstressed during Saturn V launches. What? Trained professional test pilots weren't screaming hysterically during a rocket launch that was a lot smoother than each of their previous launch experiences aboard a modified ICBM? Well that proves it then...  |
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Post by laurel on Aug 11, 2009 12:12:58 GMT -4
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Post by gillianren on Aug 11, 2009 13:16:52 GMT -4
But I know it probably shouldn't; isn't this exactly the kind of delusion (seeing patterns in random noise) that's a hallmark of schizophrenia? Remember "A Beautiful Mind" and the secret newspaper messages? It's a matter of degree. Most people, if exposed to randomness, will try to affix an order to it. The human mind seeks out patterns naturally. However, sometimes it becomes obvious that a person's seeing things a little beyond that. |
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Post by ka9q on Aug 11, 2009 16:10:11 GMT -4
Capt. Sully was too calm on the radio? I love it!
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Post by ka9q on Aug 11, 2009 17:35:48 GMT -4
One of the conspiracy theorists actually noticed something I had missed. During the Apollo 15 EVAs (at least the first one), whenever the LCRU is in PM mode and on the omni antenna so the astronauts can drive, you don't hear any Quindar tones on Joe Allen's transmissions. He also sounds much clearer, as though his voice was picked up before filtering and Quindar tone injection. But when the astronauts align the dish and switch back to FM, Joe's Quindar tones and audio filtering return.
He thinks this confirms his theory that the Quindar tones were for editing the video for some nefarious purpose. Utterly loony, but he did notice that the tones were missing and that's interesting.
The question is why the *uplink* configuration had to change when the downlink did. Doesn't the uplink generally operate in PM with normal voice on a FM subcarrier? They have a backup voice mode that puts the voice on the main PM carrier, and perhaps they switched to that mode during traverses for extra link margin.
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Post by seemoe on Aug 12, 2009 0:43:12 GMT -4
so, he claims that the tone is made whenever an astronaut leaves or exits the frame?. i gotta give it to him, he has quite an imagination
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Post by ka9q on Aug 12, 2009 1:45:48 GMT -4
I got an answer back from Bill Wood, lead USB engineer at Goldstone during Apollo. He says the recordings were most likely made at the earth station, where notch filters remove the Quindar tones before uplink transmission (so the astronauts never heard them). If the recordings were made ahead of the notch filters, then they'd be on the tape. If made after, they'd be gone. I couldn't hear any evidence of tones on some recordings made in PM1/WB mode, but I do hear them very weakly on some others, having obviously been notched out incompletely. So Bill is right.
And the hoaxhead's claim that the tones must have something to do with nefarious video editing because they weren't present when the TV camera was off is based on a premise itself shown to be faulty. The tones were always present even if they got notched out before recording.
That was fun.
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Post by dwight on Aug 12, 2009 4:31:26 GMT -4
Oh yes I made the mistake of explaining the fault-ridden quindar theory on YT. Apparently I was close minded because I didn't believe that quindars were sinister tools of satan. Apparently there is video editing that is so complex it still has no modern day equivalent. At least the ex-tracking folk all had a good laugh. It always amazes me how no matter how idiotic the theory, the usual gang there wholehartedly support it. I have yet to hear an hbers say, "guys, I think that theory is a croc!"
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Post by dragonblaster on Aug 12, 2009 4:45:26 GMT -4
I'm reminded of Andy Green (one of the Royal Air Force's finest, although not a test pilot) driving the Thrust SSC jet car in the Al-Jafr desert in Jordan.
He was doing 540 mph and accelerating when a rear suspension bracket went "twang" and flew apart. About all he said was something like "Oh dear, that's not right... popping the chute. Aborting run." He sounded more bored than anything else.
On the other hand it might have been a little less panicky than I remember it.
And then, what about Wally Schirra's immortal "We're just sitting here breathing," on Gemini VI after the unexpected engine shutdown; Dave Scott's "I've gotta cage my eyeballs" during Gemini VII's little unplanned jaunt; Pete Conrad's methodical list of all the caution & warning lights when Apollo XII was struck by lightning: "I got three fuel cell lights, an AC bus light, a fuel cell disconnect, AC bus overload 1 and 2, Main Bus A and B out..." or the ultimate, "Houston, we've had a problem."
Geez, what total wusses.
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Post by laurel on Aug 12, 2009 11:56:45 GMT -4
I can't seem to watch that first video, apparently it's not available in Canada due to copyright restrictions. Which Saturn V launches did they use audio from?
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Post by ka9q on Aug 13, 2009 3:20:37 GMT -4
And then, what about Wally Schirra's immortal "We're just sitting here breathing," on Gemini VI So we shouldn't be surprised that the routine calls sound that way too. Still I have to say that Armstrong does almost sound bored during his launch calls: "Roll's complete and the pitch is programmed...*yawn*..." On the other hand, he'd probably said those exact same phrases several thousand times before during launch simulations. I'll notice many crewmembers, especially Pete Contrad after Apollo 12, saying things like "Usually, when X happens I do Y, but this time Z..." when event X has happened for real exactly once in his life. Obviously Conrad was perfectly aware of this, but he spent so much time in training that, on another and perhaps more important level, the actual flight was just another routine simulation. |
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Post by ka9q on Aug 13, 2009 3:30:00 GMT -4
What? Trained professional test pilots weren't screaming hysterically during a rocket launch that was a lot smoother than each of their previous launch experiences aboard a modified ICBM? Well that proves it then... To be fair to the guy, I think he was talking at least in part about their voices not being modulated involuntarily by launcher vibration and static G-forces. I think he watched too many movies like "The Right Stuff" and "Top Gun", which like to depict pilots under intense G forces grunting out single syllables with every ounce of strength. Being rather ignorant of the real world, he naively expects someone riding a Saturn V to sound that way through the entire launch. After all, if it's impressive to us watching on the outside, it must be at the limits of human endurance on the inside. I don't think he believed me when I said that during much of second and third stage flight they actually weighed less than while waiting on the ground. It was also rather apparent that he didn't realize the Saturn V and Shuttle are different vehicles with very different acceleration and vibration vs time profiles. |
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