Practice Exam

E2A11

1. What type of antenna can be used to minimize the effects of spin modulation and Faraday rotation?

• A. A circularly polarized antenna
• B. A log-periodic dipole array
• C. An isotropic antenna
• D. A linearly polarized antenna

E8B01

2. What is the modulation index of an FM signal?

• A. The modulating signal frequency divided by the bandwidth of the transmitted signal
• B. The bandwidth of the transmitted signal divided by the modulating signal frequency
• C. The ratio of modulating signal amplitude to frequency deviation
• D. The ratio of frequency deviation to modulating signal frequency

E7A01

3. Which circuit is bistable?

• A. An AND gate
• B. An OR gate
• C. A bipolar amplifier
• D. A flip-flop

E7E08

4. What are the principal frequencies that appear at the output of a mixer?

• A. Two and four times the input frequency
• B. 1.414 and 0.707 times the input frequency
• C. The two input frequencies along with their sum and difference frequencies
• D. The square root of the product of input frequencies

E7D11

5. What is the purpose of an inverter connected to a solar panel output?

• A. Prevent discharge when panel is not illuminated
• B. Reduce AC ripple on the output
• C. Maintain voltage with varying illumination levels
• D. Convert the panel's output from DC to AC

E7H09

6. What type of frequency synthesizer circuit uses a phase accumulator, lookup table, digital-to-analog converter, and a low-pass anti-alias filter?

• A. A direct digital synthesizer
• B. A direct conversion synthesizer
• C. A hybrid synthesizer
• D. A phase-locked loop synthesizer

E5B06

7. What is susceptance?

• A. The ratio of magnetic field to electric field
• B. The magnetic impedance of a circuit
• C. The imaginary part of admittance
• D. A measure of the efficiency of a transformer

E6E12

8. Why are DIP through-hole package ICs not typically used at UHF and higher frequencies?

• A. Excessive lead length
• B. Epoxy coating is conductive above 300 MHz
• C. Unsuitable for combining analog and digital signals
• D. Excessive dielectric loss

E9B03

9. What is the front-to-side ratio of the antenna radiation pattern shown in Figure E9-1?

• A. 12 dB
• B. 24 dB
• C. 18 dB
• D. 14 dB

E4D08

10. What causes intermodulation in an electronic circuit?

• A. Nonlinear circuits or devices
• B. Positive feedback
• C. Lack of neutralization
• D. Negative feedback

E3B08

11. How does the maximum range of ground-wave propagation change when the signal frequency is increased?

• A. It decreases
• B. It stays the same
• C. It increases
• D. It peaks at roughly 8 MHz

E1E05

12. What must the VE team do with the application form if the examinee does not pass the exam?

• A. Destroy the application form
• B. Send the application form to the FCC and inform the FCC of the grade
• C. Maintain the application form with the VEC's records
• D. Return the application document to the examinee

E9D12

13. What is the purpose of making a Yagi's parasitic elements either longer or shorter than resonance?

• A. Control of phase shift
• B. Wind torque cancellation
• C. Minimize losses
• D. Mechanical balance

E4A03

14. Which of the following test instruments is used to display spurious signals and/or intermodulation distortion products generated by an SSB transmitter?

• A. Logic analyzer
• B. Network analyzer
• C. Differential resolver
• D. Spectrum analyzer

E6A12

15. What is the purpose of connecting Zener diodes between a MOSFET gate and its source or drain?

• A. To keep the gate voltage within specifications and prevent the device from overheating
• B. To protect the substrate from excessive voltages
• C. To provide a voltage reference for the correct amount of reverse-bias gate voltage
• D. To protect the gate from static damage

E6B09

16. What is a common use for point-contact diodes?

• A. As a high-voltage rectifier
• B. As a constant voltage source
• C. As a constant current source
• D. As an RF detector

E1B02

17. Which of the following is an acceptable bandwidth for digital voice or slow-scan TV transmissions made on the HF amateur bands?

• A. 20 kHz
• B. 10 kHz
• C. 3 kHz
• D. 15 kHz

E6D02

18. What is the equivalent circuit of a quartz crystal?

• A. Series RLC, where C is the parallel combination of resonance capacitance of the crystal and electrode and stray capacitance
• B. Parallel RLC, where C is the series combination of resonance capacitance of the crystal and electrode and stray capacitance
• C. Parallel RLC, where C is the parallel combination of resonance capacitance of the crystal and electrode and stray capacitance
• D. Series RLC in parallel with a shunt C representing electrode and stray capacitance

E7B09

19. What is characteristic of an emitter follower (or common collector) amplifier?

• A. Input and output signals in-phase
• B. Acts as an OR circuit if one input is grounded
• C. Low input impedance and phase inversion from input to output
• D. Differential inputs and single output

E1F09

20. Which of the following cannot be transmitted over an amateur radio mesh network?

• A. Messages encoded to obscure their meaning
• B. Email
• C. Third party traffic
• D. All these choices are correct

E9C11

21. How is the far-field elevation pattern of a vertically polarized antenna affected by being mounted over seawater versus soil?

• A. Separate elevation lobes will combine into a single lobe
• B. Radiation at low angles increases
• C. Additional lobes appear at higher elevation angles
• D. Radiation at low angles decreases

E4B07

22. What do the subscripts of S parameters represent?

• A. The relative time between measurements
• B. Relative quality of the data
• C. Frequency order of the measurements
• D. The port or ports at which measurements are made

E1D01

23. What is the definition of telemetry?

• A. One-way transmission that initiates, modifies, or terminates the functions of a device at a distance
• B. Two-way transmissions in excess of 1000 feet
• C. One-way transmission of measurements at a distance from the measuring instrument
• D. Two-way transmissions of data

E9E06

24. Which of these transmission line impedances would be suitable for constructing a quarter-wave Q-section for matching a 100-ohm feed point impedance to a 50-ohm transmission line?

• A. 50 ohms
• B. 62 ohms
• C. 75 ohms
• D. 90 ohms

E5C07

25. Where is the impedance of a pure resistance plotted on rectangular coordinates?

• A. On the horizontal axis
• B. On the vertical axis
• C. On a line through the origin, slanted at 45 degrees
• D. On a horizontal line, offset vertically above the horizontal axis

E2E04

26. Which of the following is characteristic of the FST4 mode?

• A. All these choices are correct
• B. Four-tone Gaussian frequency shift keying
• C. Seven different tone spacings
• D. Variable transmit/receive periods

E1C09

27. What is the highest modulation index permitted at the highest modulation frequency for angle modulation below 29.0 MHz?

• A. 0.5
• B. 1.0
• C. 2.0
• D. 3.0

E2B10

28. What aspect of an analog slow-scan television signal encodes the brightness of the picture?

• A. Tone frequency
• B. Tone amplitude
• C. Sync frequency
• D. Sync amplitude

E9G01

29. Which of the following can be calculated using a Smith chart?

• A. Antenna radiation pattern
• B. Radiation resistance
• C. Radio propagation
• D. Impedance along transmission lines

E6F10

30. What is the most common material used in power-generating photovoltaic cells?

• A. Indium arsenide
• B. Cadmium sulfide
• C. Silicon
• D. Selenium

E9H07

31. What is the function of a Beverage antenna's termination resistor?

• A. Absorb signals from the reverse direction
• B. Eliminate harmonic reception
• C. Decrease SWR bandwidth
• D. Increase the front-to-side ratio

E8A10

32. What is the purpose of a low-pass filter used at the output of a digital-to-analog converter?

• A. All these choices are correct
• B. Lower the input bandwidth to increase the effective resolution
• C. Remove spurious sampling artifacts from the output signal
• D. Improve accuracy by removing out-of-sequence codes from the input

E9F05

33. What is microstrip?

• A. Miniature coax used for low power applications
• B. Precision printed circuit conductors above a ground plane that provide constant impedance interconnects at microwave frequencies
• C. Special shielding material designed for microwave frequencies
• D. Short lengths of coax mounted on printed circuit boards to minimize time delay between microwave circuits

E2C04

34. Which of the following frequencies can be used for amateur radio mesh networks?

• A. HF frequencies where digital communications are permitted
• B. The 60-meter band channel centered on 5373 kHz
• C. Frequencies shared with various unlicensed wireless data services
• D. Cable TV channels 41-43

E7F06

35. What is the minimum number of bits required to sample a signal with a range of 1 volt at a resolution of 1 millivolt?

• A. 10 bits
• B. 4 bits
• C. 8 bits
• D. 6 bits

E3C07

36. Which of the following indicates the greatest solar flare intensity?

• A. Class M
• B. Class Z
• C. Class A
• D. Class X

E5A13

37. What is an effect of increasing Q in a series resonant circuit?

• A. Fewer components are needed for the same performance
• B. Internal voltages increase
• C. Phase shift can become uncontrolled
• D. Parasitic effects are minimized

E6C05

38. Which of the following digital logic families has the lowest power consumption?

• A. Schottky TTL
• B. NMOS
• C. CMOS
• D. ECL

E8D10

39. What are some of the differences between the Baudot digital code and ASCII?

• A. Baudot uses 6 data bits per character, ASCII uses 7 or 8; Baudot has no letters/figures shift code, ASCII uses 2 letters/figures shift codes
• B. Baudot uses 5 data bits per character, ASCII uses 7 or 8; Baudot uses 2 characters as letters/figures shift codes, ASCII has no letters/figures shift code
• C. Baudot uses 4 data bits per character, ASCII uses 7 or 8; Baudot uses 1 character as a letters/figures shift code, ASCII has no letters/figures code
• D. Baudot uses 7 data bits per character, ASCII uses 8; Baudot has no letters/figures shift code, ASCII uses 2 letters/figures shift codes

E7G03

40. What is the typical input impedance of an op-amp?

• A. 10,000 ohms
• B. 100 ohms
• C. Very low
• D. Very high

E5D08

41. What is the primary cause of loss in film capacitors at RF?

• A. Skin effect
• B. Dielectric loss
• C. Inductance
• D. Self-discharge

E3A13

42. Which of these emission modes is best for auroral propagation?

• A. CW
• B. FM
• C. RTTY
• D. SSB

E1A11

43. What licensing is required when operating an amateur station aboard a US-registered vessel in international waters?

• A. Only General class or higher amateur licenses
• B. Any FCC-issued amateur license
• C. An unrestricted Radiotelephone Operator Permit
• D. Any amateur license with an FCC Marine or Aircraft endorsement

E8C05

44. What is the approximate bandwidth of a 13-WPM International Morse Code transmission?

• A. 52 Hz
• B. 104 Hz
• C. 26 Hz
• D. 13 Hz

E4C07

45. What does the MDS of a receiver represent?

• A. The maximum detectable spectrum
• B. The minimum discernible signal
• C. The modulation distortion specification
• D. The meter display sensitivity

E2D09

46. What type of modulation is used by JT65?

• A. QAM
• B. PSK
• C. RTTY
• D. Multitone AFSK

E7C02

47. What is the frequency response of a T-network with series capacitors and a shunt inductor?

• A. Low-pass
• B. Notch
• C. High-pass
• D. Band-pass

E0A11

48. To what should lanyards be attached while climbing?

• A. Antenna mast
• B. Guy brackets
• C. Tower rungs
• D. Tower legs

E9A01

49. What is an isotropic radiator?

• A. A spacecraft antenna used to direct signals toward Earth
• B. A hypothetical, lossless antenna having equal radiation intensity in all directions used as a reference for antenna gain
• C. An omnidirectional, horizontally polarized, precisely calibrated antenna used to make field measurements of antenna gain
• D. A calibrated, unidirectional antenna used to make precise antenna gain measurements

E4E14

50. What is the purpose of a single point ground panel?

• A. Eliminate air gaps between protected and non-protected circuits
• B. Ensure all lightning protectors activate at the same time
• C. Prevent common-mode transients in multi-wire systems
• D. Remove AC power in case of a short-circuit