Practice Exam

E2C11

1. How should you generally identify your station when attempting to contact a DX station during a contest or in a pileup?

• A. Send your full call sign and grid square
• B. Send your full call sign once or twice
• C. Send the call sign of the DX station three times, the words "this is," then your call sign three times
• D. Send only the last two letters of your call sign until you make contact

E6F05

2. Which of the following describes an optical shaft encoder?

• A. An optical computing device in which light is coupled between devices by fiber optics
• B. A device that detects rotation by interrupting a light source with a patterned wheel
• C. A device that measures the strength of a beam of light using analog-to-digital conversion
• D. A device for generating RTTY signals by means of a rotating light source

E3C03

3. Which of the following signal paths is most likely to experience high levels of absorption when the A-index or K-index is elevated?

• A. Transequatorial
• B. NVIS
• C. Sporadic-E
• D. Through the auroral oval

E1B08

4. What limitations may the FCC place on an amateur station if its signal causes interference to domestic broadcast reception, assuming that the receivers involved are of good engineering design?

• A. The amateur station must avoid transmitting during certain hours on frequencies that cause the interference
• B. The amateur station must cease operation
• C. The amateur station must cease operation on all frequencies above 30 MHz
• D. The amateur station must cease operation on all frequencies below 30 MHz

E6E07

5. What type of transmission line is often used for connections to MMICs?

• A. Microstrip
• B. Circular waveguide
• C. Miniature coax
• D. Parallel wire

E6A12

6. 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 protect the gate from static damage
• C. To protect the substrate from excessive voltages
• D. To keep the gate voltage within specifications and prevent the device from overheating

E1C07

7. What notifications must be given before transmitting on the 630- or 2200-meter bands?

• A. A special endorsement must be requested from the FCC
• B. An environmental impact statement must be filed with the Department of the Interior
• C. Operators must inform the Utilities Technology Council (UTC) of their call sign and coordinates of the station
• D. Operators must inform the FAA of their intent to operate, giving their call sign and distance to the nearest runway

E7E07

8. What is meant by the term "baseband" in radio communications?

• A. The unmodulated bandwidth of the transmitted signal
• B. The lowest frequency band that the transmitter or receiver covers
• C. The basic oscillator frequency in an FM transmitter that is multiplied to increase the deviation and carrier frequency
• D. The frequency range occupied by a message signal prior to modulation

E4D09

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

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

E7C11

10. Which of the following measures a filter's ability to reject signals in adjacent channels?

• A. Phase response
• B. Passband ripple
• C. Shape factor
• D. Noise factor

E6D02

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

• A. Parallel RLC, where C is the series combination of resonance capacitance of the crystal and electrode and stray capacitance
• B. Parallel RLC, where C is the parallel combination of resonance capacitance of the crystal and electrode and stray capacitance
• C. Series 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

E2A03

12. How is an upload signal processed by an inverting linear transponder?

• A. The signal is detected and remodulated on the reverse sideband
• B. The signal is passed through a nonlinear filter
• C. The signal is reduced to I and Q components, and the Q component is filtered out
• D. The signal is mixed with a local oscillator signal and the difference product is transmitted

E4A04

13. How is compensation of an oscilloscope probe performed?

• 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 DC voltage standard is displayed, and the probe is adjusted until the displayed voltage is accurate
• D. A frequency standard is displayed, and the probe is adjusted until the deflection time is accurate

E1E06

14. Who is responsible for the proper conduct and necessary supervision during an amateur operator license examination session?

• A. Only the VE session manager
• B. The designated monitoring VE
• C. The VEC coordinating the session
• D. Each administering VE

E4B02

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

• A. The reading in ohms divided by the ohms per volt rating will determine the voltage applied to the circuit
• B. The full scale reading in amps divided by ohms per volt rating will determine the size of shunt needed
• C. The reading in volts multiplied by the ohms per volt rating will determine the power drawn by the device under test
• D. The full scale reading of the voltmeter multiplied by its ohms per volt rating is the input impedance of the voltmeter

E9C07

16. What is the approximate feed point impedance at the center of a two-wire half-wave folded dipole antenna?

• A. 72 ohms
• B. 450 ohms
• C. 300 ohms
• D. 50 ohms

E9E01

17. Which matching system for Yagi antennas requires the driven element to be insulated from the boom?

• A. T-match
• B. Shunt-fed
• C. Gamma
• D. Beta or hairpin

E7H09

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

E8A05

19. 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

E8C15

20. What technique do individual nodes use to form a mesh network?

• A. Acting as store-and-forward digipeaters
• B. Forward error correction and Viterbi codes
• C. Custom code plugs for the local trunking systems
• D. Discovery and link establishment protocols

E5C01

21. Which of the following represents pure capacitive reactance of 100 ohms in rectangular notation?

• A. 100 + j0
• B. 100 - j0
• C. 0 - j100
• D. 0 + j100

E5A04

22. What is the magnitude of the impedance of a parallel RLC circuit at resonance?

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

E2E13

23. Which of these digital modes has the highest data throughput under clear communication conditions?

• A. FT8
• B. 170 Hz shift, 45 baud RTTY
• C. PACTOR IV
• D. MFSK16

E0A01

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

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

E9A02

25. What is the effective radiated power (ERP) of a repeater station with 150 watts transmitter power output, 2 dB feed line loss, 2.2 dB duplexer loss, and 7 dBd antenna gain?

• A. 286 watts
• B. 78.7 watts
• C. 469 watts
• D. 420 watts

E1A11

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

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

E9D06

27. What happens to SWR bandwidth when one or more loading coils are used to resonate an electrically short antenna?

• A. It is unchanged if the loading coil is located at the feed point
• B. It is unchanged if the loading coil is located at a voltage maximum point
• C. It is increased
• D. It is decreased

E2D09

28. What type of modulation is used by JT65?

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

E9F08

29. Which of the following is a significant difference between foam dielectric coaxial cable and solid dielectric coaxial cable, assuming all other parameters are the same?

• A. All these choices are correct
• B. Foam dielectric coaxial cable has lower safe maximum operating voltage
• C. Foam dielectric coaxial cable has higher velocity factor
• D. Foam dielectric coaxial cable has lower loss per unit of length

E9H02

30. Which is generally true for 160- and 80-meter receiving antennas?

• A. Atmospheric noise is so high that directivity is much more important than losses
• B. Low loss coax transmission line is essential for good performance
• C. They must be erected at least 1/2 wavelength above the ground to attain good directivity
• D. All these choices are correct

E7D06

31. What is the purpose of Q1 in the circuit shown in Figure E7-2?

• A. It provides a constant load for the voltage source
• B. It provides negative feedback to improve regulation
• C. It provides regulation by switching or "chopping" the input DC voltage
• D. It controls the current to keep the output voltage constant

E6B10

32. In Figure E6-2, which is the schematic symbol for a Schottky diode?

• A. 6
• B. 2
• C. 1
• D. 3

E4C12

33. How does a narrow-band roofing filter affect receiver performance?

• A. It improves sensitivity by reducing front-end noise
• B. It improves blocking dynamic range by attenuating strong signals near the receive frequency
• C. It improves intelligibility by using low Q circuitry to reduce ringing
• D. All these choices are correct

E1D10

34. Which amateur stations are eligible to be telecommand stations of space stations, subject to the privileges of the class of operator license held by the control operator of the station?

• A. Any amateur station approved by AMSAT
• B. Any amateur station so designated by the ITU
• C. All these choices are correct
• D. Any amateur station so designated by the space station licensee

E7B11

35. In Figure E7-1, what is the purpose of R3?

• A. Emitter bypass
• B. Fixed bias
• C. Self bias
• D. Output load resistor

E9G10

36. What do the arcs on a Smith chart represent?

• A. Points with constant resistance
• B. Points with constant reactance
• C. SWR
• D. Frequency

E8B06

37. What is the deviation ratio of an FM phone signal having a maximum frequency swing of plus or minus 7.5 kHz if the highest modulation frequency is 3.5 kHz?

• A. 47
• B. 0.47
• C. 2.14
• D. 0.214

E3B05

38. Which of the following paths is most likely to support long-distance propagation on 160 meters?

• A. A path entirely in darkness
• B. A direct north-south path
• C. Paths at high latitudes
• D. A path entirely in sunlight

E1F08

39. Which of the following types of amateur station communications are prohibited?

• A. Communications that have religious content
• B. Communications that have political content, except as allowed by the Fairness Doctrine
• C. Communications transmitted for hire or material compensation, except as otherwise provided in the rules
• D. Communications in a language other than English

E7F13

40. What is the function of taps in a digital signal processing filter?

• A. Provide incremental signal delays for filter algorithms
• B. Provide access for debugging software
• C. Select the point at which baseband signals are generated
• D. To reduce excess signal pressure levels

E8D07

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

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

E3A03

42. When scheduling EME contacts, which of these conditions will generally result in the least path loss?

• A. When the Moon is full
• B. When the Moon is at apogee
• C. When the MUF is above 30 MHz
• D. When the Moon is at perigee

E7G05

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

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

E9B07

44. What is the difference in radiated power between a lossless antenna with gain and an isotropic radiator driven by the same power?

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

E7A04

45. How many flip-flops are required to divide a signal frequency by 16?

• A. 6
• B. 4
• C. 16
• D. 8

E5D07

46. What combines to create the self-resonance of a component?

• A. The component's nominal and parasitic reactance
• B. The component's inductance and capacitance
• C. The component's electrical length and impedance
• D. The component's resistance and reactance

E4E10

47. Which of the following can create intermittent loud roaring or buzzing AC line interference?

• A. All these choices are correct
• B. Arcing contacts in a thermostatically controlled device
• C. A malfunctioning illuminated advertising display
• D. A defective doorbell or doorbell transformer inside a nearby residence

E2B01

48. In digital television, what does a coding rate of 3/4 mean?

• A. Data compression reduces data rate by 3/4
• B. 25% of the data sent is forward error correction data
• C. Three, four-bit words are used to transmit each pixel
• D. 1/4 of the time interval is used as a guard interval

E6C10

49. In Figure E6-3, which is the schematic symbol for a NOR gate?

• A. 2
• B. 3
• C. 1
• D. 4

E5B09

50. What is the relationship between the AC current through a capacitor and the voltage across a capacitor?

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