Practice Exam

E9F07

1. How does parallel conductor transmission line compare to coaxial cable with a plastic dielectric?

• A. Smaller reflection coefficient
• B. Lower loss
• C. Lower velocity factor
• D. Higher SWR

E7F01

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

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

E1A04

3. May an Extra class operator answer the CQ of a station on 3.601 MHz LSB phone?

• A. Yes, the displayed frequency is within the 75-meter phone band segment
• B. Yes, the entire signal will be inside the SSB allocation for Extra class operators
• C. No, the sideband components will extend beyond the edge of the phone band segment
• D. No, US stations are not permitted to use phone emissions below 3.610 MHz

E2A02

4. Which of the following is characteristic of an inverting linear transponder?

• A. Signal position in the band is reversed
• B. Upper sideband on the uplink becomes lower sideband on the downlink, and vice versa
• C. Doppler shift is reduced because the uplink and downlink shifts are in opposite directions
• D. All these choices are correct

E1B09

5. Which amateur stations may be operated under RACES rules?

• A. Only stations meeting the FCC Part 97 technical standards for operation during an emergency
• B. Only those club stations licensed to Amateur Extra class operators
• C. Any FCC-licensed amateur station except a Technician class
• D. Any FCC-licensed amateur station certified by the responsible civil defense organization for the area served

E1E06

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

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

E6C01

7. What is the function of hysteresis in a comparator?

• A. To increase the sensitivity
• B. To allow the comparator to be used with AC input signals
• C. To cause the output to continually change states
• D. To prevent input noise from causing unstable output signals

E2B11

8. What is the function of the vertical interval signaling (VIS) code sent as part of an SSTV transmission?

• A. To provide vertical synchronization
• B. To identify the call sign of the station transmitting
• C. To lock the color burst oscillator in color SSTV images
• D. To identify the SSTV mode being used

E5B01

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

E9C06

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

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

E5A01

11. What can cause the voltage across reactances in a series RLC circuit to be higher than the voltage applied to the entire circuit?

• A. Resonance
• B. Capacitance
• C. Resistance
• D. Low quality factor (Q)

E6E02

12. Which of the following device packages is a through-hole type?

• A. SOT
• B. BGA
• C. DIP
• D. PLCC

E7B03

13. What circuit is required at the output of an RF switching amplifier?

• A. A high-pass filter to compensate for low gain at low frequencies
• B. A matched load resistor to prevent damage by switching transients
• C. A temperature compensating load resistor to improve linearity
• D. A filter to remove harmonic content

E8C07

14. What is the bandwidth of a 4,800-Hz frequency shift, 9,600-baud ASCII FM transmission?

• A. 9.6 kHz
• B. 4.8 kHz
• C. 5.76 kHz
• D. 15.36 kHz

E9H07

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

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

E2E01

16. Which of the following types of modulation is used for data emissions below 30 MHz?

• A. FSK
• B. Spread spectrum
• C. DTMF tones modulating an FM signal
• D. Pulse modulation

E9G09

17. 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. Coaxial-length circles
• D. Radiation-pattern circles

E3C02

18. What is indicated by a rising A-index or K-index?

• A. Higher levels of solar UV radiation
• B. An increase in the critical frequency
• C. Decreasing disturbance of the geomagnetic field
• D. Increasing disturbance of the geomagnetic field

E4D13

19. What is the received signal level with a transmit power of 10 W (+40 dBm), a transmit antenna gain of 6 dBi, a receive antenna gain of 3 dBi, and a path loss of 100 dB?

• A. -51 dBm
• B. -54 dBm
• C. -60 dBm
• D. -57 dBm

E6F02

20. What happens to photoconductive material when light shines on it?

• A. Resistance decreases
• B. Reflectivity decreases
• C. Resistance increases
• D. Reflectivity increases

E4A11

21. Which of the following can be measured with an antenna analyzer?

• A. Resonant frequency of a tuned circuit
• B. Velocity factor
• C. All these choices are correct
• D. Cable length

E1C04

22. What is an IARP?

• A. The internal amateur radio practices policy of the FCC
• B. An indication of increased antenna reflected power
• C. A permit that allows US amateurs to operate in certain countries of the Americas
• D. A forecast of intermittent aurora radio propagation

E9A10

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

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

E4C12

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

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

E5C02

25. How are impedances described in polar coordinates?

• A. By magnitude and phase angle
• B. By real and imaginary parts
• C. By X and R values
• D. By Y and G values

E5D08

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

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

E8D02

27. What spread spectrum communications technique uses a high-speed binary bit stream to shift the phase of an RF carrier?

• A. Phase compandored spread spectrum
• B. Frequency hopping
• C. Binary phase-shift keying
• D. Direct sequence

E2C04

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

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

E6A01

29. In what application is gallium arsenide used as a semiconductor material?

• A. In high-current rectifier circuits
• B. In very low-frequency RF circuits
• C. In high-power audio circuits
• D. In microwave circuits

E6B05

30. What characteristic of a PIN diode makes it useful as an RF switch?

• A. Reverse bias controls its forward voltage drop
• B. Low junction capacitance
• C. Ability to dissipate large amounts of power
• D. Extremely high reverse breakdown voltage

E8A10

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

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

E3B11

32. At what time of day is sporadic-E propagation most likely to occur?

• A. Between sunrise and sunset
• B. Between midnight and sunrise
• C. Between sunset and midnight
• D. Between sunset and sunrise

E9D07

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

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

E3A10

34. What determines the speed of electromagnetic waves through a medium?

• A. Birefringence
• B. Evanescence
• C. Resistance and reactance
• D. The index of refraction

E4B10

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

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

E6D03

36. Which of the following is an aspect of the piezoelectric effect?

• A. Mechanical deformation of material due to the application of a voltage
• B. Mechanical deformation of material due to the application of a magnetic field
• C. Increased conductivity in the presence of light
• D. Generation of electrical energy in the presence of light

E8B08

37. What describes orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM)?

• A. A frequency modulation technique that uses non-harmonically related frequencies
• B. A digital mode for narrow-band, slow-speed transmissions
• C. A bandwidth compression technique using Fourier transforms
• D. A digital modulation technique using subcarriers at frequencies chosen to avoid intersymbol interference

E7E06

38. Why is de-emphasis used in FM communications receivers?

• A. For compatibility with transmitters using phase modulation
• B. To reduce impulse noise reception
• C. For higher efficiency
• D. To remove third-order distortion products

E1D12

39. Which of the following amateur stations may transmit one-way communications?

• A. A local repeater or linked repeater station
• B. A space station, beacon station, or telecommand station
• C. All these choices are correct
• D. A message forwarding station or automatically controlled digital station

E9E11

40. What is the purpose of using multiple driven elements connected through phasing lines?

• A. To control the antenna's radiation pattern
• B. To allow single-band antennas to operate on other bands
• C. To create a low-angle radiation pattern
• D. To prevent harmonic radiation from the transmitter

E7A09

41. What logical operation is performed by a two-input exclusive NOR gate?

• A. It produces a 1 at its output only if all inputs are 1
• B. It produces a 0 at its output only if all inputs are 0
• C. It produces a 1 at its output if one and only one input is 1
• D. It produces a 0 at its output if one and only one of its inputs is 1

E1F11

42. Which of the following best describes one of the standards that must be met by an external RF power amplifier if it is to qualify for a grant of FCC certification?

• A. It must have received an Underwriters Laboratory certification for electrical safety as well as having met IEEE standard 14.101(B)
• B. It must produce full legal output when driven by not more than 5 watts of mean RF input power
• C. It must satisfy the FCC's spurious emission standards when operated at the lesser of 1500 watts or its full output power
• D. It must exhibit a gain of less than 23 dB when driven by 10 watts or less

E7G02

43. What is the frequency response of the circuit in E7-3 if a capacitor is added across the feedback resistor?

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

E7D02

44. How does a switchmode voltage regulator work?

• A. By varying the conductivity of a pass element
• B. By alternating the output between positive and negative voltages
• C. By varying the duty cycle of pulses input to a filter
• D. By switching between two Zener diode reference voltages

E9B07

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

E7H03

46. What is a phase-locked loop?

• A. An electronic circuit also known as a monostable multivibrator
• B. An electronic circuit consisting of a precision push-pull amplifier with a differential phase input
• C. An electronic servo loop consisting of a phase detector, a low-pass filter, a voltage-controlled oscillator, and a stable reference oscillator
• D. An electronic servo loop consisting of a ratio detector, reactance modulator, and voltage-controlled oscillator

E2D01

47. Which of the following digital modes is designed for meteor scatter communications?

• A. APRS
• B. MSK144
• C. WSPR
• D. Hellschreiber

E4E03

48. Which of the following types of noise are removed by a noise blanker?

• A. Impulse noise
• B. Hum and buzz
• C. Broadband white noise
• D. All these choices are correct

E7C02

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

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

E0A12

50. Where should a shock-absorbing lanyard be attached to a tower when working above ground?

• A. Even with the climber's waist
• B. To the belt of the fall-arrest harness
• C. Above the climber's head level
• D. To the next lowest set of guys