Practice Exam

E1F09

1. Which of the following cannot be transmitted over an amateur radio mesh network?

• A. Messages encoded to obscure their meaning
• B. Third party traffic
• C. All these choices are correct
• D. Email

E1E04

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

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

E7D13

3. Which of the following calculates power dissipated by a series linear voltage regulator?

• A. Input voltage divided by output current
• B. Output voltage multiplied by output current
• C. Input voltage multiplied by input current
• D. Voltage difference from input to output multiplied by output current

E5B04

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

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

E8C06

5. What is the bandwidth of an FT8 signal?

• A. 2.4 kHz
• B. 10 Hz
• C. 50 Hz
• D. 600 Hz

E1B08

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

E8D01

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

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

E6B02

8. Which characteristic of a Schottky diode makes it a better choice than a silicon junction diode for use as a power supply rectifier?

• A. Longer carrier retention time
• B. More constant reverse avalanche voltage
• C. Lower forward voltage drop
• D. Much higher reverse voltage breakdown

E7C06

9. What are the characteristics of an elliptical filter?

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

E9F07

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

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

E3C10

11. What does the 304A solar parameter measure?

• A. UV emissions at 304 angstroms, correlated to the solar flux index
• B. The solar wind velocity at an angle of 304 degrees from the solar equator, correlated to geomagnetic storms
• C. The ratio of X-ray flux to radio flux, correlated to sunspot number
• D. The solar emission at 304 GHz, correlated to X-ray flare levels

E7F05

12. How frequently must an analog signal be sampled to be accurately reproduced?

• A. At least twice the rate of the highest frequency component of the signal
• B. At four times the rate of the highest frequency component of the signal
• C. At least half the rate of the highest frequency component of the signal
• D. At the same rate as the highest frequency component of the signal

E7G01

13. What is the typical output impedance of an op-amp?

• A. 10,000 ohms
• B. Very high
• C. 100 ohms
• D. Very low

E8B02

14. How does the modulation index of a phase-modulated emission vary with RF carrier frequency?

• A. It increases as the RF carrier frequency increases
• B. It varies with the square root of the RF carrier frequency
• C. It does not depend on the RF carrier frequency
• D. It decreases as the RF carrier frequency increases

E6A01

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

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

E9C01

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

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

E2D11

17. How do APRS stations relay data?

• A. By C4FM repeaters
• B. By packet ACK/NAK relay
• C. By DMR repeaters
• D. By packet digipeaters

E7B03

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

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

E3A04

19. In what direction does an electromagnetic wave travel?

• A. It travels parallel to the electric and magnetic fields
• B. It depends on the phase angle of the electric field
• C. It travels at a right angle to the electric and magnetic fields
• D. It depends on the phase angle of the magnetic field

E5A12

20. What is the half-power bandwidth of a resonant circuit that has a resonant frequency of 3.7 MHz and a Q of 118?

• A. 218.3 kHz
• B. 31.4 kHz
• C. 15.7 kHz
• D. 436.6 kHz

E9G10

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

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

E6E06

22. What characteristics of MMICs make them a popular choice for VHF through microwave circuits?

• A. Nearly infinite gain, very high input impedance, and very low output impedance
• B. Extremely high Q factor and high stability over a wide temperature range
• C. Controlled gain, low noise figure, and constant input and output impedance over the specified frequency range
• D. The ability to retrieve information from a single signal, even in the presence of other strong signals

E4B09

23. Which of the following can be measured by a two-port vector network analyzer?

• A. Pulse rise time
• B. Filter frequency response
• C. Forward power
• D. Phase noise

E4D04

24. Which of the following is used to reduce or eliminate intermodulation interference in a repeater caused by a nearby transmitter?

• A. A properly terminated circulator at the output of the repeater's transmitter
• B. A band-pass filter in the feed line between the transmitter and receiver
• C. Utilizing a Class C final amplifier
• D. Utilizing a Class D final amplifier

E2C01

25. What indicator is required to be used by US-licensed operators when operating a station via remote control and the remote transmitter is located in the US?

• A. / followed by the USPS two-letter abbreviation for the state in which the remote station is located
• B. /R# where # is the district of the remote station
• C. / followed by the ARRL Section of the remote station
• D. No additional indicator is required

E0A01

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

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

E2A06

27. What are Keplerian elements?

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

E1D03

28. What is a space telecommand station?

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

E6F11

29. What is the approximate open-circuit voltage produced by a fully illuminated silicon photovoltaic cell?

• A. 0.7 volts
• B. 1.1 volts
• C. 1.5 volts
• D. 0.5 volts

E4A08

30. Which of the following is used to measure SWR?

• A. All these choices are correct
• B. Directional wattmeter
• C. Antenna analyzer
• D. Vector network analyzer

E6C01

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

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

E9A05

32. What does the term "ground gain" mean?

• A. The gain of the antenna with respect to a dipole at ground level
• B. An increase in signal strength from ground reflections in the environment of the antenna
• C. The change in signal strength caused by grounding the antenna
• D. To force net gain to 0 dB by grounding part of the antenna

E7H09

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

E9D04

34. Why should antenna loading coils have a high ratio of reactance to resistance?

• A. To swamp out harmonics
• B. To lower the radiation angle
• C. To minimize the Q
• D. To maximize efficiency

E1C12

35. In what portion of the 630-meter band are phone emissions permitted?

• A. None
• B. Only the bottom 3 kHz
• C. Only the top 3 kHz
• D. The entire band

E1A01

36. Why is it not legal to transmit a 3 kHz bandwidth USB signal with a carrier frequency of 14.348 MHz?

• A. The lower 1 kHz of the signal is outside the 20-meter band
• B. USB is not used on 20-meter phone
• C. The upper 1 kHz of the signal is outside the 20-meter band
• D. 14.348 MHz is outside the 20-meter band

E3B09

37. At what time of year is sporadic-E propagation most likely to occur?

• A. Around the solstices, especially the winter solstice
• B. Around the equinoxes, especially the spring equinox
• C. Around the equinoxes, especially the fall equinox
• D. Around the solstices, especially the summer solstice

E2E02

38. Which of the following synchronizes WSJT-X digital mode transmit/receive timing?

• A. Alignment of frequency shifts
• B. Sync-field transmission
• C. Synchronization of computer clocks
• D. Sync-pulse timing

E9B11

39. What is a disadvantage of decreasing the number of wire segments in an antenna model below 10 segments per half-wavelength?

• A. The computed feed point impedance may be incorrect
• B. The antenna will become mechanically unstable
• C. The resulting design will favor radiation of harmonic energy
• D. Ground conductivity will not be accurately modeled

E6D09

40. What devices are commonly used as VHF and UHF parasitic suppressors at the input and output terminals of a transistor HF amplifier?

• A. Steel-core toroids
• B. Butterworth filters
• C. Electrolytic capacitors
• D. Ferrite beads

E8A08

41. Why are direct or flash conversion analog-to-digital converters used for a software defined radio?

• A. Very high speed allows digitizing high frequencies
• B. Very low power consumption decreases frequency drift
• C. All these choices are correct
• D. Immunity to out-of-sequence coding reduces spurious responses

E4E14

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

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

E7E02

43. What is the function of a reactance modulator?

• A. Produce AM signals by varying an inductance
• B. Produce PM or FM signals by varying a resistance
• C. Produce AM signals by varying a resistance
• D. Produce PM or FM signals by varying a capacitance

E4C06

44. How much does increasing a receiver's bandwidth from 50 Hz to 1,000 Hz increase the receiver's noise floor?

• A. 5 dB
• B. 3 dB
• C. 13 dB
• D. 10 dB

E5C03

45. Which of the following represents a pure inductive reactance in polar coordinates?

• A. A positive 90 degree phase angle
• B. A positive 45 degree phase angle
• C. A negative 45 degree phase angle
• D. A negative 90 degree phase angle

E2B04

46. How is color information sent in analog SSTV?

• A. Color information is sent on a 2.8 kHz subcarrier
• B. Color is amplitude modulated on the frequency modulated intensity signal
• C. Color lines are sent sequentially
• D. Color is sent in a color burst at the end of each line

E7A03

47. Which of the following can divide the frequency of a pulse train by 2?

• A. A multiplexer
• B. An XOR gate
• C. A flip-flop
• D. An OR gate

E9H01

48. When constructing a Beverage antenna, which of the following factors should be included in the design to achieve good performance at the desired frequency?

• A. It should be configured as a four-sided loop
• B. It should be at least one wavelength long
• C. It must be mounted more than 1 wavelength above ground
• D. Its overall length must not exceed 1/4 wavelength

E9E03

49. What matching system uses a short length of transmission line connected in parallel with the feed line at or near the feed point?

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

E5D01

50. What is the result of conductor skin effect?

• A. Resistance increases as frequency increases because RF current flows closer to the surface
• B. Resistance increases as temperature increases because of the change in thermal coefficient
• C. Resistance decreases as temperature increases because of the change in thermal coefficient
• D. Resistance decreases as frequency increases because electron mobility increases