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God is a mathematician

162px-Dirac_4
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Dirac

Dr. Yoichiro Nambu says in his lecture, “The Legacies of Yukawa and Tomonaga”, 2006, that there are three distinct types of theoretical physicists, each type being represented by Heisenberg, Einstein, and Dirac, respectively. He says that: Heisenberg’s is heuristic, bottom-up, and inductive. Einstein’s is axiomatic, top-down, and deductive. Dirac’s is abstract, revolutionary, and esthetic.

Here are some of the famous remarks by Dirac.

“The Relation between Mathematics and Physics”, 1939.

What makes the theory of relativity so acceptable to physicists in spite of its going against the principle of simplicity is its great mathematical beauty. This is a quality which cannot be defined, any more than beauty in art can be defined, but which people who study mathematics usually have no difficulty in appreciating. The theory of relativity introduced mathematical beauty to an unprecedented extent into the description of Nature.

We now see that we have to change the principle of simplicity into a principle of mathematical beauty. The research worker, in his efforts to express the fundamental laws of Nature in mathematical form, should strive mainly for mathematical beauty. He should still take simplicity into consideration in a subordinate way to beauty. (For example Einstein, in choosing a law of gravitation, took the simplest one compatible with his space-time continuum, and was successful.). It often happens that the requirements of simplicity and of beauty are the same, but where they clash the latter must take precedence.

“The Evolution of the Physicist’s Picture of Nature”, 1963.

One could perhaps describe the situation by saying that God is a mathematician of a very high order, and He used very advanced mathematics in constructing the universe. Our feeble attempts at mathematics enable us to understand a bit of the universe, and as we proceed to develop higher and higher mathematics we can hope to understand the universe better.

It is always a great wonder to me that the nature is something not only comprehensible but describable in terms of mathematics.

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VirtualBox and Ubuntu 13.10

Vbox4

I have six or seven PCs, both new and old, to run UNIX-like OS’s, so I am relatively conservative and using Ubuntu 12.04 LTS on all of my PCs. (Yes, I’m a BSD freak and really hate Linux, to tell you the truth.)

Since Ubuntu 14.04 LTS is coming soon, I thought I might make some try with 13.10 using VirtualBox.

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N8A

N8A

I usually do not try to call DX pedition stations. Perhaps this is my first time.

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Dellinger Effect

John Howard Dellinger (1886-1962)
http://siarchives.si.edu/collections/siris_arc_296547

Dellinger effect, a fadeout of short-wave radios caused by solar flares, is first reported by J. H. Dellinger in 1935, as sudden disturbances of the ionosphere.

Dellinger2

The figure is from his paper, “The Role of the Ionosphere in Radio Wave Propagation”, AIEE Transactions, 1939, Vol. 58.
http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?tp=&arnumber=6431636

Interestingly enough, at that time the layers E and F, the latter becomes F1 and F2 in the daytime, were well known, but not the D layer. In his another paper, “Sudden Disturbances of the Ionosphere”, Proc. of the IRE, October 1937, he writes:

It may, therefore, be concluded that these sudden disturbances involve a sudden great increase of ionization in some region through which radio waves pass on the way to being reflected by a higher region. Since the fade-out occurs in radio waves reflected by the E as well as the higher layers, the absorbing medium must be below the E layer…
This low layer may perhaps be called the D layer, but not enough is yet known about it to be sure that this designation is appropriate.

He also says in the same paper that:

The effect was discovered in 1935, and found to occur simultaneously everywhere throughout the illuminated half of the globe but not in the night half…
The radio and magnetic effects are of maximum intensity in that region of the earth where the sun’s radiation is perpendicular. Many of the occurrences are simultaneous with great eruptions on the sun. Such eruptions emit vast quantities of ultraviolet light. These radiations are sometimes of such frequencies as to cause intense ionization of part of the ionosphere below the E layer.

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CQ WW DX Contest

CW WW DX Contest (CW) will be held this weekend, and I am wondering if I should give it a try. Adif to Cabrillo Log conversion should be a trivial work using AWK.

<BAND:3>17M <CALL:5>FK8CE <CONT:2>OC <CQZ:2>32 <DXCC:3>162 <FREQ:9>18.076000 <ITUZ:2>56 <MODE:2>CW <OPERATOR:6>JH1OOD <PFX:3>FK8 <QSO_DATE:8:D>20130901 <TIME_ON:6>063500 <QTH:13>New Caledonia <RST_RCVD:3>599 <RST_SENT:3>599 <TIME_OFF:6>063510 <TX_PWR:1>2 <APP_LOGGER32_QSO_NUMBER:1>1 <EOR>
QSO: 18076 CW 2013-09-01 0635 JH1OOD         599 00     FK8CE         599 00     0

CQWWCWworld
http://www.cqww.com/stats.htm

This graph shows the number of log entries each year worldwide. I did not expect to see such a big growth, so it was somewhat surprising to me.

CQWWCWjapan

Another graph for Japan, showing the same growth. Is this to be appreciated?

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So many counties

County
http://nationalatlas.gov/mapmaker

In the United States, there are 3,007 counties and 137 county equivalents for a total of 3,144 counties and county equivalents.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/County_(United_States)

Note: See the different colors in Arizona. Arizona and Hawaii use standard time throughout the year. However: The Navajo Nation observes DST throughout its entire territory, including the portion that lies in Arizona. But the Hopi Nation, which is entirely surrounded by the Navajo Nation, does not observe DST.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_in_the_United_States#Daylight_saving_time

CaCounty
http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/maps/stout06.gif

Maybe, just getting all counties in CA is a good starting point.

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How it works?

RigExpert

The above figure is from “AA-30/AA-54 Analyzers, How it works?”
http://www.rigexpert.com/index?s=aa54&f=inside

The bridge circuit is the same as the one shown in my previous post:
Directional Bridge (November 5, 2013).

Instead of down-converting the signals to be A/D connverted, I am simply using an oscilloscope to directly observe the amplitude and the phase of the signals.

Dipole40m12

The red (CH1) and yellow (CH2) traces correspond to the signals obtained from the bridge, and the green trace to CH1 – CH2.