Practice Exam

E8A03

1. Which of the following describes a signal in the time domain?

• A. Frequency at different times
• B. Amplitude at different times
• C. Power at intervals of phase
• D. Discrete impulses in time order

E5A08

2. What is the phase relationship between the current through and the voltage across a series resonant circuit at resonance?

• A. The current leads the voltage by 90 degrees
• B. The voltage and current are in phase
• C. The voltage and current are 180 degrees out of phase
• D. The voltage leads the current by 90 degrees

E3B10

3. What is the effect of chordal-hop propagation?

• A. Signals travel faster along ionospheric chords
• B. Atmospheric noise is reduced in the direction of chordal-hop propagation
• C. The signal experiences less loss compared to multi-hop propagation, which uses Earth as a reflector
• D. The MUF for chordal-hop propagation is much lower than for normal skip propagation

E9H05

4. What challenge is presented by a small wire-loop antenna for direction finding?

• A. It has a bidirectional null pattern
• B. All these choices are correct
• C. It is practical for use only on VHF and higher bands
• D. It does not have a clearly defined null

E6D12

5. What causes inductor saturation?

• A. Operation at excessive magnetic flux
• B. Selecting a core with low permeability
• C. Operation at too high a frequency
• D. Selecting a core with excessive permittivity

E8B10

6. What is frequency division multiplexing (FDM)?

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

E5D08

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

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

E5B04

8. What is the time constant of a circuit having two 220-microfarad capacitors and two 1-megohm resistors, all in parallel?

• A. 440 seconds
• B. 55 seconds
• C. 110 seconds
• D. 220 seconds

E6F01

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

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

E7A07

10. What logical operation does a NAND gate perform?

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

E1C03

11. How long must an operator wait after filing a notification with the Utilities Technology Council (UTC) before operating on the 2200-meter or 630-meter band?

• A. Operators may not operate until a test signal has been transmitted in coordination with the local power company
• B. Operators may operate after 30 days, providing they have not been told that their station is within 1 kilometer of PLC systems using those frequencies
• C. Operations may commence immediately, and may continue unless interference is reported by the UTC
• D. Operators must not operate until approval is received

E7C06

12. What are the characteristics of an elliptical filter?

• A. Extremely sharp cutoff with one or more notches in the stop band
• B. Gradual passband rolloff with minimal stop-band ripple
• C. Gradual passband rolloff with extreme stop-band ripple
• D. Extremely flat response over its pass band with gradually rounded stop-band corners

E9C03

13. What type of radiation pattern is created by two 1/4-wavelength vertical antennas spaced 1/2- wavelength apart and fed in phase?

• A. A figure-eight end-fire along the axis of the array
• B. Omni-directional
• C. A figure-eight broadside to the axis of the array
• D. Cardioid

E2B08

14. What technique allows commercial analog TV receivers to be used for fast-scan TV operations on the 70- centimeter band?

• A. Transmitting on the abandoned TV channel 2
• B. Using converted satellite TV dishes
• C. Using USB and demodulating the signal with a computer sound card
• D. Transmitting on channels shared with cable TV

E6C03

15. What is tri-state logic?

• A. Logic devices with 0, 1, and high-impedance output states
• B. A counter with eight states
• C. Logic devices that utilize ternary math
• D. Logic with three output impedances which can be selected to better match the load impedance

E2A04

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

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

E2C04

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

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

E9F06

18. What is the approximate physical length of an air-insulated, parallel conductor transmission line that is electrically 1/2 wavelength long at 14.10 MHz?

• A. 7.0 meters
• B. 8.5 meters
• C. 10.6 meters
• D. 13.3 meters

E6A12

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

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

E1B01

20. Which of the following constitutes a spurious emission?

• A. Any transmitted signal that unintentionally interferes with another licensed radio station and whose levels exceed 40 dB below the fundamental power level
• B. An emission outside the signal's necessary bandwidth that can be reduced or eliminated without affecting the information transmitted
• C. A signal transmitted to prevent its detection by any station other than the intended recipient
• D. An amateur station transmission made without the proper call sign identification

E7B01

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

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

E7H08

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

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

E7E08

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

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

E1D03

24. What is a space telecommand station?

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

E9E02

25. What antenna matching system matches coaxial cable to an antenna by connecting the shield to the center of the antenna and the conductor a fraction of a wavelength to one side?

• A. Gamma match
• B. Delta match
• C. Stub match
• D. T-match

E1A06

26. What is the required transmit frequency of a CW signal for channelized 60 meter operation?

• A. At the center frequency of the channel
• B. At the highest frequency of the channel
• C. On any frequency where the signal's sidebands are within the channel
• D. At the lowest frequency of the channel

E7D12

27. What is the dropout voltage of a linear voltage regulator?

• A. Minimum input-to-output voltage required to maintain regulation
• B. Maximum that the output voltage may decrease at rated load
• C. Maximum output voltage drop when the input voltage is varied over its specified range
• D. Minimum input voltage for rated power dissipation

E0A01

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

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

E3A05

29. How are the component fields of an electromagnetic wave oriented?

• A. They are parallel
• B. They are at right angles
• C. They are 90 degrees out of phase
• D. They are tangential

E9D05

30. Approximately how long is a Yagi's driven element?

• A. 1005 divided by frequency in MHz
• B. 234 divided by frequency in MHz
• C. 1/4 wavelength
• D. 1/2 wavelength

E3C09

31. What type of data is reported by amateur radio propagation reporting networks?

• A. Solar flux
• B. Magnetic declination
• C. Electric field intensity
• D. Digital-mode and CW signals

E1E01

32. For which types of out-of-pocket expenses do the Part 97 rules state that VEs and VECs may be reimbursed?

• A. No expenses are authorized for reimbursement
• B. Providing amateur operator license examination preparation training materials
• C. Preparing, processing, administering, and coordinating an examination for an amateur radio operator license
• D. Teaching an amateur operator license examination preparation course

E4D10

33. What does a third-order intercept level of 40 dBm mean with respect to receiver performance?

• A. The receiver can tolerate signals up to 40 dB above the noise floor without producing third-order intermodulation products
• B. A pair of 40 dBm input signals will theoretically generate a third-order intermodulation product that has the same output amplitude as either of the input signals
• C. Signals less than 40 dBm will not generate audible third-order intermodulation products
• D. A pair of 1 mW input signals will produce a third-order intermodulation product that is 40 dB stronger than the input signal

E9A04

34. Which of the following factors affect the feed point impedance of an antenna?

• A. The input power level
• B. The settings of an antenna tuner at the transmitter
• C. Transmission line length
• D. Antenna height

E7G07

35. What voltage gain can be expected from the circuit in Figure E7-3 when R1 is 10 ohms and RF is 470 ohms?

• A. 0.21
• B. 47
• C. 24
• D. 4700

E4B04

36. Which S parameter represents input port return loss or reflection coefficient (equivalent to VSWR)?

• A. S21
• B. S11
• C. S12
• D. S22

E2D02

37. What information replaces signal-to-noise ratio when using the FT8 or FT4 modes in a VHF contest?

• A. Serial number
• B. RST report
• C. State abbreviation
• D. Grid square

E4A03

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

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

E8D01

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

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

E2E05

40. Which of these digital modes does not support keyboard-to-keyboard operation?

• A. MFSK16
• B. PSK31
• C. WSPR
• D. RTTY

E8C04

41. What technique minimizes the bandwidth of a PSK31 signal?

• A. Use of sinusoidal data pulses
• B. Zero-sum character encoding
• C. Use of linear data pulses
• D. Reed-Solomon character encoding

E1F03

42. 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. It was manufactured and certificated in a country which has a reciprocal certification agreement with the FCC
• B. Gain is less than 23 dB when driven by power of 10 watts or less
• C. The amplifier is constructed or modified by an amateur radio operator for use at an amateur station
• D. The equipment dealer assembled it from a kit

E9G09

43. What third family of circles is often added to a Smith chart during the process of designing impedance matching networks?

• A. Transmission line length circles
• B. Constant-SWR circles
• C. Radiation-pattern circles
• D. Coaxial-length circles

E7F08

44. What is the function of decimation?

• A. Converting data to binary-coded decimal form
• B. Reducing the effective sample rate by removing samples
• C. Attenuating the signal
• D. Removing unnecessary significant digits

E4C13

45. What is reciprocal mixing?

• A. Two out-of-band signals mixing to generate an in-band spurious signal
• B. Two digital signals combining from alternate time slots
• C. Local oscillator phase noise mixing with adjacent strong signals to create interference to desired signals
• D. In-phase signals cancelling in a mixer resulting in loss of receiver sensitivity

E5C09

46. When using rectangular coordinates to graph the impedance of a circuit, what do the axes represent?

• A. The X axis represents the resistive component, and the Y axis represents the reactive component
• B. The X axis represents the magnitude, and the Y axis represents the phase angle
• C. The X axis represents the reactive component, and the Y axis represents the resistive component
• D. The X axis represents the phase angle, and the Y axis represents the magnitude

E6E03

47. Which of the following materials supports the highest frequency of operation when used in MMICs?

• A. Silicon
• B. Silicon dioxide
• C. Gallium nitride
• D. Silicon nitride

E6B01

48. What is the most useful characteristic of a Zener diode?

• A. A negative resistance region
• B. An internal capacitance that varies with the applied voltage
• C. A constant current drop under conditions of varying voltage
• D. A constant voltage drop under conditions of varying current

E9B02

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

• A. 36 dB
• B. 14 dB
• C. 18 dB
• D. 24 dB

E4E11

50. What could be the cause of local AM broadcast band signals combining to generate spurious signals on the MF or HF bands?

• A. Nearby corroded metal connections are mixing and reradiating the broadcast signals
• B. You are receiving skywave signals from a distant station
• C. One or more of the broadcast stations is transmitting an over-modulated signal
• D. Your station receiver IF amplifier stage is overloaded