Recent content by Paul Colby

Magnetic field lines are closed loops. The field generated (and the corresponding forces resulting) depend on the path reluctance of these loops. It’s similar to circuit resistance and current flow. Magnetic materials are typically low reluctance, good flux conductors. Any air gap in the path...

Well, being serious about doing science and being interested in learning how things work by doing them really aren’t the same. I had serious doubts I could even detect the thermal noise from a 50 ohm terminator let alone a 10% change in said noise with the equipment on hand. So, this is an...

Before I get out a hacksaws and take multiple trips to the hardware store building an antenna, I thought I would first see if my Sdrplay RSPdx is even capable of detecting the small temperature changes needed to make observations of the 21cm hydrogen line. The radio has a LNA built in making...

Here’s a reference to some SDR evaluations. https://www.klofas.com/blog/2020/satnogs-station-and-minicircuits-lna-modifications/Evaluation_of_SDR_Boards-1.0.pdf They look at noise figures. I post this because the SDRs evaluated preform much better than I was expecting at 21cm. I also happen to...

I'd prefer to have some assurances that any bumps measured actually came in through the antenna feed and not some random interference or drift introduced by moving things like antennas and cables about. This paper definitely used 2 LNAs and a bandpass filter. LNAs can significantly reduce the...

Thanks. This will get a good read. Nice antenna design. I've dusted off my coaxial switch box which allows me to pragmatically switch between antenna and a 50ohm load. This should make differencing quite a bit easier. This should help reduce the effects of receiver drift. I also have boatloads...

There are much simpler tests I would definitely recommend first. Trying 0 buckets would top my list. These SDRs have a wealth of artifacts, noise sources, gain drift and other limitations that need to be understood first. They could well find this peak shows up anyway. It's quite typical that...

So, the plot shown in post #55 shows a peak. How many dB above the background is it? I ask because RTL dongles have pretty high noise figures. In this link https://www.idc-online.com/technical_references/pdfs/electronic_engineering/Noise_Figure_Measurements_of_RTL_SDR_Dongles.pdf The author...

Isn’t it reasonable to say mathematics, in it’s beginning, began by fitting nature? People built logical systems around things about the world they observed?

Ah, it’s Mellin transform, which I haven’t heard of either. But a quick read of the Wiki page suggests contour integration to me. Where are the poles of ##\Gamma(s)^2## in the complex ##s##-plane?

My masters thesis involved Mei scattering. We were interested in quantifying the effects of multiple scattering on measurements of binary phase transitions in fluid mixtures. People used laser light to measure these systems which could become quite turbid. Anyway, cloud particles range from 5 to...

It’s your turn to feed the alien.

Rutherford measured the differential cross section. Its main feature, what most alphas did, is described by coulomb scattering, which had (has) a well understood model prediction. The coulomb cross section is strongly peaked at small scattering angles and falls off for higher angles. The smaller...

If you’ve an advanced degree from a university, perhaps contacting them? Also, journals have review processes. Some may even waive publication costs. However, if the paper is not of interest to an active community, you’re likely out of luck. One quick check of this will be the papers you’ve...

Even for a single particle, the Schrodinger equation describes many different possible situations. The hydrogen atom has a unique ground state, however, the Schrodinger equation allows for a ground state hydrogen atoms in any state with any velocity. Typically one is interested in atoms at rest...