Practice Exam

E1C02

1. Which of the following types of communications may be transmitted to amateur stations in foreign countries?

• A. Business-related messages for non-profit organizations
• B. All these choices are correct
• C. Communications incidental to the purpose of the amateur service and remarks of a personal nature
• D. Messages intended for users of the maritime satellite service

E9G07

2. On the Smith chart shown in Figure E9-3, what is the only straight line shown?

• A. The reactance axis
• B. The voltage axis
• C. The resistance axis
• D. The current axis

E9A10

3. Which of the following improves the efficiency of a ground-mounted quarter-wave vertical antenna?

• A. Shortening the radiating element
• B. All these choices are correct
• C. Installing a radial system
• D. Isolating the coax shield from ground

E2C09

4. What type of equipment is commonly used to implement an amateur radio mesh network?

• A. A wireless router running custom firmware
• B. A 440 MHz transceiver with a 9600 baud modem
• C. A 2 meter VHF transceiver with a 1200 baud modem
• D. An optical cable connection between the USB ports of 2 separate computers

E5D03

5. What is microstrip?

• A. Short lengths of coax mounted on printed circuit boards to minimize time delay between microwave circuits
• B. Lightweight transmission line made of common zip cord
• C. Miniature coax used for low power applications
• D. Precision printed circuit conductors above a ground plane that provide constant impedance interconnects at microwave frequencies

E6B04

6. What type of semiconductor device is designed for use as a voltage-controlled capacitor?

• A. Tunnel diode
• B. Silicon-controlled rectifier
• C. Zener diode
• D. Varactor diode

E7A07

7. What logical operation does a NAND gate perform?

• A. It produces logic 0 at its output only when all inputs are logic 1
• B. It produces logic 1 at its output only when all inputs are logic 1
• C. It produces logic 0 at its output if some but not all inputs are logic 1
• D. It produces logic 0 at its output only when all inputs are logic 0

E8B02

8. How does the modulation index of a phase-modulated emission vary with RF carrier frequency?

• A. It varies with the square root of the RF carrier frequency
• B. It does not depend on the RF carrier frequency
• C. It increases as the RF carrier frequency increases
• D. It decreases as the RF carrier frequency increases

E7E10

9. How does a diode envelope detector function?

• A. By mixing signals with noise in the transition region of the diode
• B. By rectification and filtering of RF signals
• C. By sensing the change of reactance in the diode with respect to frequency
• D. By breakdown of the Zener voltage

E5A10

10. How is the Q of an RLC series resonant circuit calculated?

• A. Reactance of either the inductance or capacitance divided by the resistance
• B. Resistance divided by the reactance of either the inductance or capacitance
• C. Reactance of the inductance multiplied by the reactance of the capacitance
• D. Reactance of either the inductance or capacitance multiplied by the resistance

E7F14

11. Which of the following would allow a digital signal processing filter to create a sharper filter response?

• A. More taps
• B. Double-precision math routines
• C. Complex phasor representations
• D. Higher data rate

E6E08

12. How is power supplied to the most common type of MMIC?

• A. MMICs require no operating bias
• B. Through a resistor and/or RF choke connected to the amplifier output lead
• C. Through a capacitor and RF choke connected to the amplifier input lead
• D. Directly to the bias voltage (VCC IN) lead

E4C06

13. A CW receiver with the AGC off has an equivalent input noise power density of -174 dBm/Hz. What would be the level of an unmodulated carrier input to this receiver that would yield an audio output SNR of 0 dB in a 400 Hz noise bandwidth?

• A. -148 dBm
• B. -174 dBm
• C. -164 dBm
• D. -155 dBm

E1D09

14. Which UHF amateur bands have frequencies authorized for space stations?

• A. 70 cm and 13 cm
• B. 33 cm and 13 cm
• C. 70 cm only
• D. 70 cm and 33 cm

E7D10

15. What is the primary reason that a high-frequency switching type high-voltage power supply can be both less expensive and lighter in weight than a conventional power supply?

• A. It uses a diode bridge rectifier for increased output
• B. The high frequency inverter design uses much smaller transformers and filter components for an equivalent power output
• C. The inverter design does not require any output filtering
• D. It uses a large power factor compensation capacitor to recover power from the unused portion of the AC cycle

E6A02

16. Which of the following semiconductor materials contains excess free electrons?

• A. Insulated gate
• B. Bipolar
• C. P-type
• D. N-type

E2E02

17. What do the letters FEC mean as they relate to digital operation?

• A. Final Error Correction
• B. Forward Error Correction
• C. First Error Correction
• D. Fatal Error Correction

E4B02

18. What is the significance of voltmeter sensitivity expressed in ohms per volt?

• A. When used as an ohmmeter, the reading in ohms divided by the ohms per volt rating will determine the voltage applied to the circuit
• B. The full scale reading of the voltmeter multiplied by its ohms per volt rating will indicate the input impedance of the voltmeter
• C. When used as a galvanometer, the reading in volts multiplied by the ohms per volt rating will determine the power drawn by the device under test
• D. When used as an ammeter, the full scale reading in amps divided by ohms per volt rating will determine the size of shunt needed

E2D08

19. What type of packet frame is used to transmit APRS beacon data?

• A. Disconnect
• B. Connect
• C. Acknowledgement
• D. Unnumbered Information

E0A07

20. How may dangerous levels of carbon monoxide from an emergency generator be detected?

• A. By the yellowish appearance of the gas
• B. Any ordinary smoke detector can be used
• C. Only with a carbon monoxide detector
• D. By the odor

E5B05

21. What happens to the magnitude of a pure reactance when it is converted to a susceptance?

• A. It is shifted by 90 degrees
• B. It is unchanged
• C. It becomes the reciprocal
• D. The sign is reversed

E4E03

22. Which of the following signals might a receiver noise blanker be able to remove from desired signals?

• A. Signals that have a sharply peaked frequency distribution
• B. Signals that appear at one IF but not another
• C. Signals that appear across a wide bandwidth
• D. Signals that are constant at all IF levels

E4D11

23. Why are odd-order intermodulation products, created within a receiver, of particular interest compared to other products?

• A. Odd-order products are an indication of poor image rejection
• B. Odd-order products of two signals in the band of interest are also likely to be within the band
• C. Odd-order intermodulation produces three products for every input signal within the band of interest
• D. Odd-order products overload the IF filters

E1B03

24. Within what distance must an amateur station protect an FCC monitoring facility from harmful interference?

• A. 10 miles
• B. 30 miles
• C. 3 miles
• D. 1 mile

E1F03

25. Under what circumstances may a dealer sell an external RF power amplifier capable of operation below 144 MHz if it has not been granted FCC certification?

• A. The equipment dealer assembled it from a kit
• B. It was purchased in used condition from an amateur operator and is sold to another amateur operator for use at that operator's station
• C. It was imported from a manufacturer in another country and was certificated by that country's government
• D. It was imported from a manufacturer in a country that does not require certification of RF power amplifiers

E7H13

26. Which of the following is a technique for providing highly accurate and stable oscillators needed for microwave transmission and reception?

• A. Use a rubidium stabilized reference oscillator
• B. All these choices are correct
• C. Use a GPS signal reference
• D. Use a temperature-controlled high Q dielectric resonator

E6F11

27. What is the approximate open-circuit voltage produced by a fully illuminated silicon photovoltaic cell?

• A. 12 V
• B. 1.5 V
• C. 0.5 V
• D. 0.1 V

E9C06

28. What is the effect of adding a terminating resistor to a rhombic antenna?

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

E3A06

29. What might help to restore contact when DX signals become too weak to copy across an entire HF band a few hours after sunset?

• A. Wait 24 hours before attempting another communication on the band
• B. Switch to a higher frequency HF band
• C. Wait 90 minutes or so for the signal degradation to pass
• D. Switch to a lower frequency HF band

E9H04

30. What is an advantage of placing a grounded electrostatic shield around a small loop direction-finding antenna?

• A. It increases signal strength by providing a better match to the feed line
• B. It adds capacitive loading, increasing the bandwidth of the antenna
• C. It eliminates unbalanced capacitive coupling to the surroundings, improving the nulls
• D. It eliminates tracking errors caused by strong out-of-band signals

E9D09

31. What is the function of a loading coil used as part of an HF mobile antenna?

• A. To increase the SWR bandwidth
• B. To lower the Q
• C. To cancel capacitive reactance
• D. To lower the losses

E1A02

32. When using a transceiver that displays the carrier frequency of phone signals, which of the following displayed frequencies represents the lowest frequency at which a properly adjusted LSB emission will be totally within the band?

• A. The exact lower band edge
• B. 1 kHz above the lower band edge
• C. 300 Hz above the lower band edge
• D. 3 kHz above the lower band edge

E7C02

33. Which of the following is a property of a T-network with series capacitors and a parallel shunt inductor?

• A. It is a notch filter
• B. It is a high-pass filter
• C. It is a band-pass filter
• D. It is a low-pass filter

E8C03

34. Why should phase-shifting of a PSK signal be done at the zero crossing of the RF signal?

• A. To simplify modulation
• B. To minimize bandwidth
• C. All these choices are correct
• D. To improve carrier suppression

E6D07

35. What is current in the primary winding of a transformer called if no load is attached to the secondary?

• A. Excitation current
• B. Direct current
• C. Magnetizing current
• D. Stabilizing current

E9B07

36. How does the total amount of radiation emitted by a directional gain antenna compare with the total amount of radiation emitted from a theoretical isotropic antenna, assuming each is driven by the same amount of power?

• A. The total amount of radiation from the directional antenna is increased by the gain of the antenna
• B. The radiation from the isotropic antenna is 2.15 dB stronger than that from the directional antenna
• C. The total amount of radiation from the directional antenna is stronger by its front-to-back ratio
• D. They are the same

E5C05

37. What is the name of the diagram used to show the phase relationship between impedances at a given frequency?

• A. Far field diagram
• B. Phasor diagram
• C. Near field diagram
• D. Venn diagram

E9F01

38. What is the velocity factor of a transmission line?

• A. The velocity of the wave in the transmission line multiplied by the velocity of light in a vacuum
• B. The index of shielding for coaxial cable
• C. The velocity of the wave in the transmission line divided by the velocity of light in a vacuum
• D. The ratio of the characteristic impedance of the line to the terminating impedance

E8D07

39. What is a common cause of overmodulation of AFSK signals?

• A. Ground loops
• B. Excessive numbers of retries
• C. Excessive transmit audio levels
• D. Bit errors in the modem

E3B07

40. What happens to linearly polarized radio waves that split into ordinary and extraordinary waves in the ionosphere?

• A. They become elliptically polarized
• B. They become depolarized
• C. They are bent toward the magnetic poles
• D. They become phase locked

E8A08

41. Why would a direct or flash conversion analog-to-digital converter be useful for a software defined radio?

• A. Immunity to out-of-sequence coding reduces spurious responses
• B. Very low power consumption decreases frequency drift
• C. All these choices are correct
• D. Very high speed allows digitizing high frequencies

E9E02

42. What is the name of an antenna matching system that matches an unbalanced feed line to an antenna by feeding the driven element both at the center of the element and at a fraction of a wavelength to one side of center?

• A. The gamma match
• B. The epsilon match
• C. The stub match
• D. The delta match

E7G02

43. What is ringing in a filter?

• A. A reduction in high frequency response
• B. Partial cancellation of the signal over a range of frequencies
• C. Undesired oscillations added to the desired signal
• D. An echo caused by a long time delay

E3C10

44. What does the 304A solar parameter measure?

• A. The solar wind velocity at 304 degrees from the solar equator, correlated to solar activity
• B. The ratio of x-ray flux to radio flux, correlated to sunspot number
• C. UV emissions at 304 angstroms, correlated to the solar flux index
• D. The solar emission at 304 GHz, correlated to x-ray flare levels

E6C08

45. In Figure E6-3, what is the schematic symbol for a NAND gate?

• A. 2
• B. 1
• C. 4
• D. 3

E2A10

46. What type of satellite appears to stay in one position in the sky?

• A. Geostationary
• B. LEO
• C. Geomagnetic
• D. HEO

E7B01

47. For what portion of the signal cycle does each active element in a push-pull Class AB amplifier conduct?

• A. More than 180 degrees but less than 360 degrees
• B. The entire cycle
• C. Exactly 180 degrees
• D. Less than 180 degrees

E2B07

48. What is the name of the signal component that carries color information in NTSC video?

• A. Chroma
• B. Spectral intensity
• C. Hue
• D. Luminance

E4A04

49. How is the compensation of an oscilloscope probe typically adjusted?

• A. A high frequency sine wave is displayed and the probe is adjusted for maximum amplitude
• B. A square wave is displayed and the probe is adjusted until the horizontal portions of the displayed wave are as nearly flat as possible
• C. A frequency standard is displayed and the probe is adjusted until the deflection time is accurate
• D. A DC voltage standard is displayed and the probe is adjusted until the displayed voltage is accurate

E1E07

50. What should a VE do if a candidate fails to comply with the examiner's instructions during an amateur operator license examination?

• A. Warn the candidate that continued failure to comply will result in termination of the examination
• B. Immediately terminate everyone's examination and close the session
• C. Immediately terminate the candidate's examination
• D. Allow the candidate to complete the examination, but invalidate the results