Practice Exam

E2B02

1. How many horizontal lines make up a fast-scan (NTSC) television frame?

• A. 30
• B. 60
• C. 525
• D. 1080

E1C09

2. Which of these frequencies are available for an automatically controlled repeater operating below 30 MHz?

• A. 18.110 - 18.168 MHz
• B. 10.100 - 10.150 MHz
• C. 24.940 - 24.990 MHz
• D. 29.500 - 29.700 MHz

E6A04

3. What is the name given to an impurity atom that adds holes to a semiconductor crystal structure?

• A. Donor impurity
• B. Insulator impurity
• C. N-type impurity
• D. Acceptor impurity

E9H07

4. Why is it advisable to use an RF attenuator on a receiver being used for direction finding?

• A. It compensates for the effects of an isotropic antenna, thereby improving directivity
• B. It reduces loss of received signals caused by antenna pattern nulls, thereby increasing sensitivity
• C. It narrows the bandwidth of the received signal to improve signal to noise ratio
• D. It prevents receiver overload which could make it difficult to determine peaks or nulls

E9G09

5. What third family of circles is often added to a Smith chart during the process of solving problems?

• A. Radiation-pattern circles
• B. Coaxial-length circles
• C. Standing-wave ratio circles
• D. Antenna-length circles

E9E12

6. What is the primary purpose of a phasing line when used with an antenna having multiple driven elements?

• A. It makes sure the antenna has a low-angle radiation pattern
• B. It prevents reflected power from traveling back down the feed line and causing harmonic radiation from the transmitter
• C. It ensures that each driven element operates in concert with the others to create the desired antenna pattern
• D. It allows single-band antennas to operate on other bands

E1D05

7. What class of licensee is authorized to be the control operator of a space station?

• A. All classes
• B. Only Amateur Extra Class
• C. Only General, Advanced or Amateur Extra Class
• D. All except Technician Class

E9A15

8. What is meant by the radiation resistance of an antenna?

• A. The resistance in the atmosphere that an antenna must overcome to be able to radiate a signal
• B. The combined losses of the antenna elements and feed line
• C. The value of a resistance that would dissipate the same amount of power as that radiated from an antenna
• D. The specific impedance of the antenna

E1A08

9. If a station in a message forwarding system inadvertently forwards a message that is in violation of FCC rules, who is primarily accountable for the rules violation?

• A. The control operator of the packet bulletin board station
• B. The control operators of all the stations in the system
• C. The control operators of all the stations in the system not authenticating the source from which they accept communications
• D. The control operator of the originating station

E7B02

10. What is a Class D amplifier?

• A. A type of amplifier that uses switching technology to achieve high efficiency
• B. An amplifier using drift-mode FETs for high efficiency
• C. A low power amplifier using a differential amplifier for improved linearity
• D. A frequency doubling amplifier

E1F07

11. When may an amateur station send a message to a business?

• A. When neither the amateur nor his or her employer has a pecuniary interest in the communications
• B. When transmitting international third-party communications
• C. When the total money involved does not exceed $25
• D. When the control operator is employed by the FCC or another government agency

E8A07

12. What determines the PEP-to-average power ratio of a single-sideband phone signal?

• A. The frequency of the modulating signal
• B. The characteristics of the modulating signal
• C. The degree of carrier suppression
• D. The amplifier gain

E4C15

13. What is the primary source of noise that can be heard from an HF receiver with an antenna connected?

• A. Induction motor noise
• B. Atmospheric noise
• C. Detector noise
• D. Receiver front-end noise

E4A02

14. Which of the following parameters would a spectrum analyzer display on the horizontal axis?

• A. Time
• B. SWR
• C. Q
• D. Frequency

E6C12

15. What is BiCMOS logic?

• A. An integrated circuit logic family using both bipolar and CMOS transistors
• B. An FET logic family based on bimetallic semiconductors
• C. A logic device with two CMOS circuits per package
• D. A logic family based on bismuth CMOS devices

E5D12

16. How many watts are consumed in a circuit having a power factor of 0.2 if the input is 100-V AC at 4 amperes?

• A. 2000 watts
• B. 400 watts
• C. 50 watts
• D. 80 watts

E7E14

17. What is meant by direct conversion when referring to a software defined receiver?

• A. Incoming RF is converted to the IF frequency by rectification to generate the control voltage for a voltage controlled oscillator
• B. Software is generated in machine language, avoiding the need for compilers
• C. Incoming RF is mixed to "baseband" for analog-to-digital conversion and subsequent processing
• D. Software is converted from source code to object code during operation of the receiver

E3C10

18. How does the performance of a horizontally polarized antenna mounted on the side of a hill compare with the same antenna mounted on flat ground?

• A. The horizontal beam width decreases in the downhill direction
• B. The main lobe takeoff angle increases in the downhill direction
• C. The horizontal beam width increases in the uphill direction
• D. The main lobe takeoff angle decreases in the downhill direction

E7A12

19. What is the name for logic which represents a logic "0" as a high voltage?

• A. Assertive Logic
• B. Reverse Logic
• C. Negative logic
• D. Positive Logic

E2D09

20. Under clear communications conditions, which of these digital communications modes has the fastest data throughput?

• A. 300-baud packet
• B. PSK31
• C. 170-Hz shift, 45 baud RTTY
• D. AMTOR

E8D02

21. What is the relationship between the peak-to-peak voltage and the peak voltage amplitude of a symmetrical waveform?

• A. 0.707:1
• B. 2:1
• C. 4:1
• D. 1.414:1

E8B06

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

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

E4E04

23. How can conducted and radiated noise caused by an automobile alternator be suppressed?

• A. By installing filter capacitors in series with the DC power lead and by installing a blocking capacitor in the field lead
• B. By connecting the radio's power leads directly to the battery and by installing coaxial capacitors in line with the alternator leads
• C. By installing a noise suppression resistor and a blocking capacitor in both leads
• D. By installing a high-pass filter in series with the radio's power lead and a low-pass filter in parallel with the field lead

E9F07

24. How does ladder line compare to small-diameter coaxial cable such as RG-58 at 50 MHz?

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

E6D08

25. What is one important reason for using powdered-iron toroids rather than ferrite toroids in an inductor?

• A. Powdered-iron toroids generally require fewer turns to produce a given inductance value
• B. Powdered-iron toroids generally maintain their characteristics at higher currents
• C. Powdered-iron toroids have higher power handling capacity
• D. Powdered-iron toroids generally have greater initial permeability

E4B12

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

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

E5B08

27. What is the phase angle between the voltage across and the current through a series RLC circuit if XC is 100 ohms, R is 100 ohms, and XL is 75 ohms?

• A. 76 degrees with the voltage leading the current
• B. 14 degrees with the voltage lagging the current
• C. 76 degrees with the voltage lagging the current
• D. 14 degrees with the voltage leading the current

E4D14

28. Which of the following is a way to reduce the likelihood of receiver desensitization?

• A. Increase the receiver front end gain
• B. Raise the receiver IF frequency
• C. Decrease the RF bandwidth of the receiver
• D. Switch from fast AGC to slow AGC

E1E14

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

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

E6E06

30. What characteristics of the MMIC make it a popular choice for VHF through microwave circuits?

• A. Plate current that is controlled by a control grid
• B. The ability to retrieve information from a single signal even in the presence of other strong signals.
• C. Nearly infinite gain, very high input impedance, and very low output impedance
• D. Controlled gain, low noise figure, and constant input and output impedance over the specified frequency range

E2E10

31. Which of these digital communications modes has the narrowest bandwidth?

• A. MFSK16
• B. 170-Hz shift, 45 baud RTTY
• C. PSK31
• D. 300-baud packet

E5A04

32. What is the magnitude of the impedance of a circuit with a resistor, an inductor and a capacitor all in parallel, at resonance?

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

E8C12

33. What is the advantage of including a parity bit with an ASCII character stream?

• A. Some types of errors can be detected
• B. The signal can overpower interfering signals
• C. Faster transmission rate
• D. Foreign language characters can be sent

E2A02

34. What is the direction of a descending pass for an amateur satellite?

• A. From west to east
• B. From east to west
• C. From south to north
• D. From north to south

E3A06

35. What frequency range would you normally tune to find EME signals in the 2 meter band?

• A. 145.000 - 145.100 MHz
• B. 144.100 - 144.300 MHz
• C. 144.000 - 144.100 MHz
• D. 144.000 - 144.001 MHz

E7C02

36. A T-network with series capacitors and a parallel shunt inductor has which of the following properties?

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

E7F07

37. What determines the accuracy of a frequency counter?

• A. The accuracy of the time base
• B. The speed of the logic devices used
• C. Accuracy of the AC input frequency to the power supply
• D. Proper balancing of the mixer diodes

E7G05

38. How can unwanted ringing and audio instability be prevented in a multi-section op-amp RC audio filter circuit?

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

E6B06

39. Which of the following is a common use of a hot-carrier diode?

• A. As a constant voltage reference in a power supply
• B. As balanced mixers in FM generation
• C. As a variable capacitance in an automatic frequency control circuit
• D. As a VHF / UHF mixer or detector

E3B10

40. What is the cause of gray-line propagation?

• A. At mid afternoon, the Sun heats the ionosphere decreasing radio wave refraction and the MUF
• B. At twilight, D-layer absorption drops while E-layer and F-layer propagation remain strong
• C. At midday, the Sun being directly overhead superheats the ionosphere causing increased refraction of radio waves
• D. In darkness, solar absorption drops greatly while atmospheric ionization remains steady

E1B12

41. What is the highest modulation index permitted at the highest modulation frequency for angle modulation?

• A. 3.0
• B. 2.0
• C. 1.0
• D. .5

E5C13

42. What coordinate system is often used to display the resistive, inductive, and/or capacitive reactance components of an impedance?

• A. Rectangular coordinates
• B. Faraday grid
• C. Maidenhead grid
• D. Elliptical coordinates

E7H07

43. What is a magnetron oscillator?

• A. An oscillator in which the output is fed back to the input by the magnetic field of a transformer
• B. A UHF or microwave oscillator consisting of a diode vacuum tube with a specially shaped anode, surrounded by an external magnet
• C. A reference standard oscillator in which the oscillations are synchronized by magnetic coupling to a rubidium gas tube
• D. A crystal oscillator in which variable frequency is obtained by placing the crystal in a strong magnetic field

E9D12

44. What is one advantage of using a trapped antenna?

• A. It may be used for multiband operation
• B. It has high directivity in the higher-frequency bands
• C. It has high gain
• D. It minimizes harmonic radiation

E6F04

45. What is the photovoltaic effect?

• A. The conversion of light to electrical energy
• B. The tendency of a battery to discharge when used outside
• C. The conversion of voltage to current when exposed to light
• D. The conversion of electrical energy to mechanical energy

E2C09

46. How does the spread-spectrum technique of frequency hopping work?

• A. If interference is detected by the receiver it will signal the transmitter to wait until the frequency is clear
• B. A pseudo-random binary bit stream is used to shift the phase of an RF carrier very rapidly in a particular sequence
• C. The frequency of the transmitted signal is changed very rapidly according to a particular sequence also used by the receiving station
• D. If interference is detected by the receiver it will signal the transmitter to change frequencies

E9C01

47. What is the radiation pattern of two 1/4-wavelength vertical antennas spaced 1/2-wavelength apart and fed 180 degrees out of phase?

• A. A cardioid
• B. A figure-8 broadside to the axis of the array
• C. Omnidirectional
• D. A figure-8 oriented along the axis of the array

E9B13

48. What does the abbreviation NEC stand for when applied to antenna modeling programs?

• A. Numeric Electrical Computation
• B. Next Element Comparison
• C. National Electrical Code
• D. Numerical Electromagnetics Code

E7D14

49. What is one purpose of a "bleeder" resistor in a conventional (unregulated) power supply?

• A. To cut down on waste heat generated by the power supply
• B. To improve output voltage regulation
• C. To boost the amount of output current
• D. To balance the low-voltage filament windings

E0A05

50. What is one of the potential hazards of using microwaves in the amateur radio bands?

• A. The high gain antennas commonly used can result in high exposure levels
• B. Microwaves are ionizing radiation
• C. The extremely high frequency energy can damage the joints of antenna structures
• D. Microwaves often travel long distances by ionospheric reflection