Practice Exam

E2C07

1. What is the Cabrillo format?

• A. A method of exchanging information during a contest QSO
• B. A digital protocol specifically designed for rapid contest exchanges
• C. The most common set of contest rules
• D. A standard for submission of electronic contest logs

E4B10

2. Which of the following methods measures intermodulation distortion in an SSB transmitter?

• A. Modulate the transmitter using two AF signals having non-harmonically related frequencies and observe the RF output with a spectrum analyzer
• B. Modulate the transmitter using two AF signals having harmonically related frequencies and observe the RF output with a peak reading wattmeter
• C. Modulate the transmitter using two RF signals having harmonically related frequencies and observe the RF output with a logic analyzer
• D. Modulate the transmitter using two RF signals having non-harmonically related frequencies and observe the RF output with a spectrum analyzer

E8B10

3. What is frequency division multiplexing (FDM)?

• A. The transmitted signal is divided into packets of information
• B. Two or more information streams are merged into a digital combiner, which then pulse position modulates the transmitter
• C. Dividing the transmitted signal into separate frequency bands that each carry a different data stream
• D. The transmitted signal jumps from band to band at a predetermined rate

E6E06

4. What characteristics of MMICs make them a popular choice for VHF through microwave circuits?

• A. The ability to retrieve information from a single signal, even in the presence of other strong signals
• B. Extremely high Q factor and high stability over a wide temperature range
• C. Controlled gain, low noise figure, and constant input and output impedance over the specified frequency range
• D. Nearly infinite gain, very high input impedance, and very low output impedance

E8A05

5. What is the benefit of making voltage measurements with a true-RMS calculating meter?

• A. RMS is measured for both sinusoidal and non-sinusoidal signals
• B. The signal's RMS noise factor is also calculated
• C. The calculated RMS value can be converted directly into phasor form
• D. An inverse Fourier transform can be used

E2B04

6. How is color information sent in analog SSTV?

• A. Color lines are sent sequentially
• B. Color is amplitude modulated on the frequency modulated intensity signal
• C. Color information is sent on a 2.8 kHz subcarrier
• D. Color is sent in a color burst at the end of each line

E3A07

7. Atmospheric ducts capable of propagating microwave signals often form over what geographic feature?

• A. Mountain ranges
• B. Stratocumulus clouds
• C. Large bodies of water
• D. Nimbus clouds

E9H06

8. What indicates the correct value of terminating resistance for a Beverage antenna?

• A. Minimum low-angle front-to-back ratio at the design frequency
• B. Maximum feed point DC resistance at the center of the desired frequency range
• C. Maximum DC current in the terminating resistor
• D. Minimum variation in SWR over the desired frequency range

E8D01

9. Why are received spread spectrum signals resistant to interference?

• A. Built-in error correction codes minimize interference
• B. Signals not using the spread spectrum algorithm are suppressed in the receiver
• C. If the receiver detects interference, it will signal the transmitter to change frequencies
• D. The high power used by a spread spectrum transmitter keeps its signal from being easily overpowered

E4E04

10. How can conducted noise from an automobile battery charging system be suppressed?

• A. By installing a high-pass filter in series with the radio's power lead and a low-pass filter in parallel with the antenna feed line
• B. By installing ferrite chokes on the charging system leads
• C. By installing filter capacitors in series with the alternator leads
• D. By installing a noise suppression resistor and a blocking capacitor at the battery

E9C06

11. What is the effect of adding a terminating resistor to a rhombic or long-wire antenna?

• A. It reflects the standing waves on the antenna elements back to the transmitter
• B. It changes the radiation pattern from bidirectional to unidirectional
• C. It changes the radiation pattern from horizontal to vertical polarization
• D. It decreases the ground loss

E4D09

12. What is the purpose of the preselector in a communications receiver?

• A. To allow selection of the optimum RF amplifier device
• B. To provide broadband attenuation before the first RF stage to prevent intermodulation
• C. To store frequencies that are often used
• D. To increase the rejection of signals outside the band being received

E1A11

13. 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. Any amateur license with an FCC Marine or Aircraft endorsement
• D. An unrestricted Radiotelephone Operator Permit

E7H08

14. Which of the following components can be used to reduce thermal drift in crystal oscillators?

• A. NP0 capacitors
• B. Wirewound resistors
• C. Non-inductive resistors
• D. Toroidal inductors

E7B08

15. Why are switching amplifiers more efficient than linear amplifiers?

• A. Switching amplifiers operate at higher voltages
• B. Switching amplifiers use push-pull circuits
• C. Linear amplifiers have high gain resulting in higher harmonic content
• D. The switching device is at saturation or cutoff most of the time

E6A05

16. How does DC input impedance at the gate of a field-effect transistor (FET) compare with that of a bipolar transistor?

• A. They are both high impedance
• B. An FET has higher input impedance
• C. They are both low impedance
• D. An FET has lower input impedance

E3B08

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

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

E3C08

18. Which of the following is the space-weather term for an extreme geomagnetic storm?

• A. G5
• B. M9
• C. B9
• D. X5

E7A05

19. Which of the following circuits continuously alternates between two states without an external clock signal?

• A. T flip-flop
• B. Monostable multivibrator
• C. Astable multivibrator
• D. J-K flip-flop

E2D06

20. Which of the following is a method for establishing EME contacts?

• A. Time-synchronous transmissions alternating between stations
• B. Judging optimum transmission times by monitoring beacons reflected from the moon
• C. Storing and forwarding digital messages
• D. High-speed CW identification to avoid fading

E5B01

21. What is the term for the time required for the capacitor in an RC circuit to be charged to 63.2% of the applied voltage or to discharge to 36.8% of its initial voltage?

• A. One exponential period
• B. A time factor of one
• C. An exponential rate of one
• D. One time constant

E4C03

22. What is the term for the suppression in an FM receiver of one signal by another stronger signal on the same frequency?

• A. Capture effect
• B. Desensitization
• C. Cross-modulation interference
• D. Frequency discrimination

E1D03

23. What is a space telecommand station?

• A. An amateur station that transmits communications to initiate, modify, or terminate functions of a space station
• B. An amateur station that receives telemetry from a satellite or balloon more than 50 kilometers above the surface of the Earth
• C. An amateur station located on the surface of the Earth for communication with other Earth stations by means of Earth satellites
• D. An amateur station located in a satellite or a balloon more than 50 kilometers above the surface of the Earth

E2E12

24. How do ALE stations establish contact?

• A. ALE constantly scans a list of frequencies, activating the radio when the designated call sign is received
• B. ALE radios monitor an internet site for the frequency they are being paged on
• C. ALE radios activate when they hear their signal echoed by back scatter
• D. ALE radios send a constant tone code to establish a frequency for future use

E1B05

25. What is the National Radio Quiet Zone?

• A. An area surrounding the National Radio Astronomy Observatory
• B. An area surrounding the FCC monitoring station in Laurel, Maryland
• C. An area in New Mexico surrounding the White Sands Test Area
• D. An area in Florida surrounding Cape Canaveral

E6F01

26. What absorbs the energy from light falling on a photovoltaic cell?

• A. Protons
• B. Photons
• C. Electrons
• D. Holes

E6C02

27. What happens when the level of a comparator's input signal crosses the threshold voltage?

• A. The reference level appears at the output
• B. The feedback loop becomes unstable
• C. The IC input can be damaged
• D. The comparator changes its output state

E0A01

28. What is the primary function of an external earth connection or ground rod?

• A. Lightning charge dissipation
• B. Reduce RF current flow between pieces of equipment
• C. Prevent static build up on power lines
• D. Protect breaker panel from power surges

E7E08

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

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

E9B06

30. What is the elevation angle of peak response in the antenna radiation pattern shown in Figure E9-2?

• A. 25 degrees
• B. 45 degrees
• C. 75 degrees
• D. 7.5 degrees

E1F09

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

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

E6D01

32. What is piezoelectricity?

• A. A characteristic of materials that generate a voltage when stressed and that flex when a voltage is applied
• B. The ability of materials to generate electromagnetic waves of a certain frequency when voltage is applied
• C. The ability of materials to generate voltage when an electromagnetic wave of a certain frequency is applied
• D. A characteristic of materials that have an index of refraction which depends on the polarization of the electromagnetic wave passing through it

E7G05

33. How can unwanted ringing and audio instability be prevented in an op-amp audio filter?

• A. Increase both gain and Q
• B. Restrict Q but increase gain
• C. Restrict both gain and Q
• D. Restrict gain but increase Q

E6B02

34. Which characteristic of a Schottky diode makes it a better choice than a silicon junction diode for use as a power supply rectifier?

• A. More constant reverse avalanche voltage
• B. Longer carrier retention time
• C. Lower forward voltage drop
• D. Much higher reverse voltage breakdown

E7F01

35. What is meant by "direct sampling" in software defined radios?

• A. I and Q signals are generated by digital processing without the use of RF amplification
• B. Incoming RF is digitized by an analog-to-digital converter without being mixed with a local oscillator signal
• C. A switching mixer is used to generate I and Q signals directly from the RF input
• D. Software is converted from source code to object code during operation of the receiver

E2A04

36. What is meant by the "mode" of an amateur radio satellite?

• A. Whether the satellite is in a polar or equatorial orbit
• B. The satellite's orientation with respect to the Earth
• C. Whether the satellite is in a low earth or geostationary orbit
• D. The satellite's uplink and downlink frequency bands

E9D07

37. What is an advantage of top loading an electrically short HF vertical antenna?

• A. Greater structural strength
• B. Improved radiation efficiency
• C. Lower Q
• D. Higher losses

E1C06

38. Which of the following is required in order to operate in accordance with CEPT rules in foreign countries where permitted?

• A. You must append "/CEPT" to your call sign
• B. You must identify in the official language of the country in which you are operating
• C. The US embassy must approve of your operation
• D. You must have a copy of FCC Public Notice DA 16-1048

E4A02

39. Which of the following parameters does a spectrum analyzer display on the vertical and horizontal axes?

• A. Signal amplitude and frequency
• B. SWR and time
• C. Signal amplitude and time
• D. SWR and frequency

E5D06

40. What parasitic characteristic creates an inductor's self-resonance?

• A. Inter-turn capacitance
• B. Coupling
• C. Skin effect
• D. Dielectric loss

E5A03

41. What is the magnitude of the impedance of a series RLC circuit at resonance?

• A. Approximately equal to capacitive reactance
• B. Approximately equal to inductive reactance
• C. High, compared to the circuit resistance
• D. Approximately equal to circuit resistance

E5C12

42. Which point on Figure E5-1 best represents the impedance of a series circuit consisting of a 300-ohm resistor and a 19-picofarad capacitor at 21.200 MHz?

• A. Point 8
• B. Point 3
• C. Point 1
• D. Point 7

E7C04

43. How does an impedance-matching circuit transform a complex impedance to a resistive impedance?

• A. It introduces negative resistance to cancel the resistive part of impedance
• B. It introduces transconductance to cancel the reactive part of impedance
• C. Reactive currents are dissipated in matched resistances
• D. It cancels the reactive part of the impedance and changes the resistive part to the desired value

E9E09

44. Which of the following is used to shunt feed a grounded tower at its base?

• A. Gamma match
• B. All these choices are correct
• C. Beta or hairpin match
• D. Double-bazooka match

E7D07

45. What is the purpose of C2 in the circuit shown in Figure E7-2?

• A. It is a brute force filter for the output
• B. To provide fixed DC bias for Q1
• C. To prevent self-oscillation
• D. It bypasses rectifier output ripple around D1

E1E02

46. Who is tasked by Part 97 with maintaining the pools of questions for all US amateur license examinations?

• A. The VEs
• B. The FCC
• C. The ARRL
• D. The VECs

E8C13

47. What is described by the constellation diagram of a QAM or QPSK signal?

• A. The number of bits used for error correction in the protocol
• B. How many carriers may be present at the same time
• C. The possible phase and amplitude states for each symbol
• D. Frequency response of the signal stream

E9F12

48. What impedance does a 1/4-wavelength transmission line present to an RF generator when the line is open at the far end?

• A. Very low impedance
• B. Very high impedance
• C. The same as the input impedance to the generator
• D. The same as the characteristic impedance of the line

E9A05

49. What does the term "ground gain" mean?

• A. The gain of the antenna with respect to a dipole at ground level
• B. An increase in signal strength from ground reflections in the environment of the antenna
• C. The change in signal strength caused by grounding the antenna
• D. To force net gain to 0 dB by grounding part of the antenna

E9G08

50. How is a Smith chart normalized?

• A. Reassign the resistance axis with reactance values
• B. Reassign the reactance axis with resistance values
• C. Reassign the prime center's impedance value
• D. Reassign the prime center to the reactance axis