Practice Exam

E4E14

1. What is the purpose of a single point ground panel?

• A. Prevent common-mode transients in multi-wire systems
• B. Eliminate air gaps between protected and non-protected circuits
• C. Remove AC power in case of a short-circuit
• D. Ensure all lightning protectors activate at the same time

E1A10

2. If an amateur station is installed aboard a ship or aircraft, what condition must be met before the station is operated?

• A. Its operation must be approved by the master of the ship or the pilot in command of the aircraft
• B. The amateur station must operate only in specific segments of the amateur service HF and VHF bands
• C. The amateur station operator must agree not to transmit when the main radio of the ship or aircraft is in use
• D. The amateur station must have a power supply that is completely independent of the main ship or aircraft power supply

E7B03

3. 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

E2B12

4. What signals SSTV receiving software to begin a new picture line?

• A. Elapsed time
• B. Specific tone amplitudes
• C. A two-tone signal
• D. Specific tone frequencies

E5C04

5. What type of Y-axis scale is most often used for graphs of circuit frequency response?

• A. Logarithmic
• B. Linear
• C. Scatter
• D. Random

E4A07

6. Which of the following is an advantage of using an antenna analyzer compared to an SWR bridge?

• A. Antenna analyzers compute SWR and impedance automatically
• B. Antenna analyzers automatically tune your antenna for resonance
• C. Antenna analyzers display a time-varying representation of the modulation envelope
• D. All these choices are correct

E0A06

7. Why are there separate electric (E) and magnetic (H) MPE limits at frequencies below 300 MHz?

• A. Ground reflections and scattering cause the field strength to vary with location
• B. E field and H field radiation intensity peaks can occur at different locations
• C. All these choices are correct
• D. The body reacts to electromagnetic radiation from both the E and H fields

E4B07

8. What do the subscripts of S parameters represent?

• A. The port or ports at which measurements are made
• B. The relative time between measurements
• C. Frequency order of the measurements
• D. Relative quality of the data

E5A03

9. What is the magnitude of the impedance of a series RLC circuit at resonance?

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

E5D06

10. What parasitic characteristic creates an inductor's self-resonance?

• A. Inter-turn capacitance
• B. Skin effect
• C. Coupling
• D. Dielectric loss

E9B02

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

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

E9G05

12. Which of the following is a common use for a Smith chart?

• A. Determine the loss/100 feet of a transmission line, given the velocity factor and conductor materials
• B. Determine the gain of an antenna given the physical and electrical parameters
• C. Determine the length and position of an impedance matching stub
• D. Determine the impedance of a transmission line, given the physical dimensions

E9E04

13. What is the purpose of the series capacitor in a gamma match?

• A. To cancel unwanted inductive reactance
• B. To transform the antenna impedance to a higher value
• C. To provide a rejection notch that prevents the radiation of harmonics
• D. To provide DC isolation between the feed line and the antenna

E9F08

14. 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 higher velocity factor
• C. Foam dielectric coaxial cable has lower loss per unit of length
• D. Foam dielectric coaxial cable has lower safe maximum operating voltage

E3C05

15. What orientation of Bz (B sub z) increases the likelihood that charged particles from the Sun will cause disturbed conditions?

• A. Eastward
• B. Southward
• C. Westward
• D. Northward

E1F02

16. What privileges are authorized in the US to persons holding an amateur service license granted by the government of Canada?

• A. None, they must obtain a US license
• B. Full privileges of the General class license on the 80-, 40-, 20-, 15-, and 10-meter bands
• C. Full privileges, up to and including those of the Amateur Extra class license, on the 80-, 40-, 20-, 15-, and 10-meter bands
• D. The operating terms and conditions of the Canadian amateur service license, not to exceed US Amateur Extra class license privileges

E7A10

17. What is a truth table?

• A. A table of logic symbols that indicate the logic states of an op-amp
• B. A diagram showing logic states when the digital gate output is true
• C. A list of inputs and corresponding outputs for a digital device
• D. A list of inputs and corresponding outputs for an op-amp

E8B05

18. What is the deviation ratio of an FM phone signal having a maximum frequency swing of plus or minus 5 kHz if the highest modulation frequency is 3 kHz?

• A. 0.6
• B. 1.67
• C. 0.167
• D. 6

E1B01

19. Which of the following constitutes a spurious emission?

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

E1E04

20. What is required to be accredited as a Volunteer Examiner?

• A. Each General, Advanced and Amateur Extra class operator is automatically accredited as a VE when the license is granted
• B. The amateur operator applying must pass a VE examination administered by the FCC Enforcement Bureau
• C. The prospective VE must obtain accreditation from the FCC
• D. A VEC must confirm that the VE applicant meets FCC requirements to serve as an examiner

E1C04

21. What is an IARP?

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

E2D04

22. What technology is used for real-time tracking of balloons carrying amateur radio transmitters?

• A. PACTOR III
• B. FT8
• C. APRS
• D. Bandwidth compressed LORAN

E9C11

23. How is the far-field elevation pattern of a vertically polarized antenna affected by being mounted over seawater versus soil?

• A. Additional lobes appear at higher elevation angles
• B. Radiation at low angles increases
• C. Separate elevation lobes will combine into a single lobe
• D. Radiation at low angles decreases

E3B06

24. On which of the following amateur bands is long-path propagation most frequent?

• A. 160 meters and 80 meters
• B. 40 meters and 20 meters
• C. 10 meters and 6 meters
• D. 6 meters and 2 meters

E7G04

25. What is meant by the term "op-amp input offset voltage"?

• A. The differential input voltage needed to bring the open loop output voltage to zero
• B. The potential between the amplifier input terminals of the op-amp in an open loop condition
• C. The output voltage of the op-amp minus its input voltage
• D. The difference between the output voltage of the op-amp and the input voltage required in the immediately following stage

E1D11

26. Which amateur stations are eligible to operate as Earth stations?

• A. Only those of General, Advanced or Amateur Extra class operators
• B. Only those of Amateur Extra class operators
• C. Any amateur station, subject to the privileges of the class of operator license held by the control operator
• D. Any amateur licensee who has successfully completed the AMSAT space communications course

E5B05

27. What is the effect on the magnitude of pure reactance when it is converted to susceptance?

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

E6F06

28. Which of these materials is most commonly used to create photoconductive devices?

• A. All these choices are correct
• B. Crystalline semiconductor
• C. Argon
• D. Polyphenol acetate

E2A06

29. What are Keplerian elements?

• A. High-emission heater filaments used in magnetron tubes
• B. Parameters that define the orbit of a satellite
• C. Encrypting codes used for spread spectrum modulation
• D. Phase reversing elements in a Yagi antenna

E7D15

30. What is the purpose of a step-start circuit in a high-voltage power supply?

• A. To allow the filter capacitors to charge gradually
• B. To prevent arcing across the input power switch or relay contacts
• C. To provide a dual-voltage output for reduced power applications
• D. To compensate for variations of the incoming line voltage

E6B01

31. 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

E9A03

32. What term describing total radiated power takes into account all gains and losses?

• A. Power factor
• B. Effective radiated power
• C. Half-power bandwidth
• D. Apparent power

E8A11

33. Which of the following is a measure of the quality of an analog-to-digital converter?

• A. Total harmonic distortion
• B. Power factor
• C. Reciprocal mixing
• D. Peak envelope power

E6A05

34. How does DC input impedance at the gate of a field-effect transistor (FET) compare with that of a bipolar transistor?

• A. They are both low impedance
• B. They are both high impedance
• C. An FET has lower input impedance
• D. An FET has higher input impedance

E3A01

35. What is the approximate maximum separation measured along the surface of the Earth between two stations communicating by EME?

• A. 2,000 miles, if the moon is at perigee
• B. 2,000 miles, if the moon is at apogee
• C. 5,000 miles, if the moon is at perigee
• D. 12,000 miles, if the moon is "visible" by both stations

E7C02

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

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

E7F11

37. What sets the minimum detectable signal level for a direct-sampling software defined receiver in the absence of atmospheric or thermal noise?

• A. Missing codes and jitter
• B. Data storage transfer rate
• C. Sample clock phase noise
• D. Reference voltage level and sample width in bits

E8C15

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

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

E2E13

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

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

E8D05

40. What is the most common method of reducing key clicks?

• A. Insert low-pass filters at the transmitter output
• B. Reduce keying waveform rise and fall times
• C. Increase keying waveform rise and fall times
• D. Insert high-pass filters at the transmitter output

E2C12

41. What indicates the delay between a control operator action and the corresponding change in the transmitted signal?

• A. Jitter
• B. Anti-VOX
• C. Latency
• D. Hang time

E6C01

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

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

E4C04

43. What is the noise figure of a receiver?

• A. The ratio in dB of the noise generated in the receiver to atmospheric noise
• B. The ratio of atmospheric noise to phase noise
• C. The ratio in dB of the noise generated by the receiver to the theoretical minimum noise
• D. The ratio of the noise bandwidth in hertz to the theoretical bandwidth of a resistive network

E9D10

44. How does radiation resistance of a base-fed whip antenna change below its resonant frequency?

• A. Radiation resistance becomes imaginary
• B. Radiation resistance does not depend on frequency
• C. Radiation resistance decreases
• D. Radiation resistance increases

E6D03

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

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

E7H11

46. What are the major spectral impurity components of direct digital synthesizers?

• A. Spurious signals at discrete frequencies
• B. Harmonics of the local oscillator
• C. Broadband noise
• D. Digital conversion noise

E6E11

47. What is a characteristic of DIP packaging used for integrated circuits?

• A. Two rows of connecting pins on opposite sides of package (dual in-line package)
• B. Extremely high resistance between pins (doubly insulated package)
• C. Extremely low stray capacitance (dielectrically isolated package)
• D. Two chips in each package (dual in package)

E9H03

48. What is receiving directivity factor (RDF)?

• A. Relative directivity compared to isotropic
• B. Forward gain compared to the gain in the reverse direction
• C. Relative directivity compared to a dipole
• D. Peak antenna gain compared to average gain over the hemisphere around and above the antenna

E4D13

49. 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. -60 dBm
• C. -57 dBm
• D. -54 dBm

E7E11

50. Which type of detector is used for demodulating SSB signals?

• A. Discriminator
• B. Phase detector
• C. Phase comparator
• D. Product detector