Practice Exam

G0A09

1. What type of instrument can be used to accurately measure an RF field strength?

• A. An SWR meter with a peak-reading function
• B. A receiver with digital signal processing (DSP) noise reduction
• C. A calibrated field strength meter with a calibrated antenna
• D. An oscilloscope with a high-stability crystal marker generator

G0B11

2. Which of the following is required for lightning protection ground rods?

• A. Lightning grounds must be connected to all ungrounded wiring
• B. They must be bonded to all buried water and gas lines
• C. They must be bonded together with all other grounds
• D. Bends in ground wires must be made as close as possible to a right angle

G2E15

3. Which of the following is a common location for FT8?

• A. Anywhere in the CW portion of the band
• B. Approximately 14.110 MHz to 14.113 MHz
• C. Anywhere in the voice portion of the band
• D. Approximately 14.074 MHz to 14.077 MHz

G3A03

4. Approximately how long does it take the increased ultraviolet and X-ray radiation from a solar flare to affect radio propagation on Earth?

• A. 28 days
• B. 1 to 2 hours
• C. 8 minutes
• D. 20 to 40 hours

G1E12

5. When may third-party messages be transmitted via remote control?

• A. Only when the message is intended for third parties in areas where licensing is controlled by the FCC
• B. Under any circumstances in which third party messages are permitted by FCC rules
• C. Only when the message is intended for licensed radio amateurs
• D. Under no circumstances except for emergencies

G9A01

6. Which of the following factors determine the characteristic impedance of a parallel conductor feed line?

• A. The distance between the centers of the conductors and the radius of the conductors
• B. The radius of the conductors and the frequency of the signal
• C. The frequency of the signal and the length of the line
• D. The distance between the centers of the conductors and the length of the line

G9D09

7. What is the primary use of a Beverage antenna?

• A. Portable direction finding at higher HF frequencies
• B. Directional transmitting for low HF bands
• C. Portable direction finding at lower HF frequencies
• D. Directional receiving for MF and low HF bands

G7C05

8. Which of the following is characteristic of a direct digital synthesizer (DDS)?

• A. Relatively high-power output
• B. Extremely narrow tuning range
• C. Variable output frequency with the stability of a crystal oscillator
• D. Pure sine wave output

G5C06

9. What is the voltage output of a transformer with a 500-turn primary and a 1500-turn secondary when 120 VAC is applied to the primary?

• A. 360 volts
• B. 40 volts
• C. 120 volts
• D. 25.5 volts

G4C02

10. Which of the following could be a cause of interference covering a wide range of frequencies?

• A. Not using a balun or line isolator to feed balanced antennas
• B. Arcing at a poor electrical connection
• C. Using a balun to feed an unbalanced antenna
• D. Lack of rectification of the transmitter's signal in power conductors

G5A11

11. What letter is used to represent reactance?

• A. Y
• B. X
• C. B
• D. Z

G1C02

12. What is the maximum transmitter power an amateur station may use on the 12-meter band?

• A. 200 watts PEP output
• B. 1500 watts PEP output
• C. An effective radiated power equivalent to 100 watts from a half-wave dipole
• D. 50 watts PEP output

G1B04

13. Which of the following transmissions is permitted for all amateur stations?

• A. Occasional retransmission of weather and propagation forecast information from US government stations
• B. Unidentified transmissions of less than 10 seconds duration for test purposes only
• C. Automatic retransmission of other amateur signals by any amateur station
• D. Encrypted messages, if not intended to facilitate a criminal act

G2B02

14. What is the first thing you should do if you are communicating with another amateur station and hear a station in distress break in?

• A. Inform your local emergency coordinator
• B. Immediately decrease power to avoid interfering with the station in distress
• C. Acknowledge the station in distress and determine what assistance may be needed
• D. Immediately cease all transmissions

G4E04

15. Why should DC power for a 100-watt HF transceiver not be supplied by a vehicle's auxiliary power socket?

• A. The socket is not wired with an RF-shielded power cable
• B. The socket's wiring may be inadequate for the current drawn by the transceiver
• C. Drawing more than 50 watts from this socket could cause the engine to overheat
• D. The DC polarity of the socket is reversed from the polarity of modern HF transceivers

G9C09

16. In free space, how does the gain of two three-element, horizontally polarized Yagi antennas spaced vertically 1/2 wavelength apart typically compare to the gain of a single three-element Yagi?

• A. Approximately 3 dB higher
• B. Approximately 9 dB higher
• C. Approximately 1.5 dB higher
• D. Approximately 6 dB higher

G3C09

17. What type of propagation allows signals to be heard in the transmitting station's skip zone?

• A. Scatter
• B. Chordal hop
• C. Faraday rotation
• D. Short-path

G1D06

18. Until an upgrade to General class is shown in the FCC database, when must a Technician licensee identify with "AG" after their call sign?

• A. Whenever they operate using Technician frequency privileges
• B. A special identifier is not required if their General class license application has been filed with the FCC
• C. Whenever they operate using General class frequency privileges
• D. Whenever they operate on any amateur frequency

G8A14

19. What is link margin?

• A. Transmit power minus receiver sensitivity
• B. Receiver sensitivity plus 3 dB
• C. The difference between received power level and minimum required signal level at the input to the receiver
• D. The opposite of fade margin

G8C11

20. How are the two separate frequencies of a Frequency Shift Keyed (FSK) signal identified?

• A. Mark and space
• B. High and low
• C. On and off
• D. Dot and dash

G2C06

21. What does the term "zero beat" mean in CW operation?

• A. Matching the transmit frequency to the frequency of a received signal
• B. Matching the speed of the transmitting station
• C. Operating split to avoid interference on frequency
• D. Sending without error

G2A10

22. Which of the following statements is true of VOX operation versus PTT operation?

• A. It provides more power output
• B. The received signal is more natural sounding
• C. It allows "hands free" operation
• D. It occupies less bandwidth

G6B03

23. Which of the following is an advantage of CMOS integrated circuits compared to TTL integrated circuits?

• A. Low power consumption
• B. Better suited for RF amplification
• C. Better suited for power supply regulation
• D. High power handling capability

G4A11

24. Why should the ALC system be inactive when transmitting AFSK data signals?

• A. When using digital modes, too much ALC activity can cause the transmitter to overheat
• B. All these choices are correct
• C. The ALC action distorts the signal
• D. ALC will invert the modulation of the AFSK mode

G3B11

25. What happens to HF propagation when the LUF exceeds the MUF?

• A. Double-hop propagation along the path is more common
• B. Propagation via ordinary skywave communications is not possible over that path
• C. Propagation over the path on all HF frequencies is enhanced
• D. HF communications over the path are enhanced

G7A03

26. Which type of rectifier circuit uses two diodes and a center-tapped transformer?

• A. Half-wave
• B. Full-wave
• C. Synchronous
• D. Full-wave bridge

G2D11

27. Why are signal reports typically exchanged at the beginning of an HF contact?

• A. To be sure the contact will count for award programs
• B. To allow each station to operate according to conditions
• C. To follow standard radiogram structure
• D. To allow each station to calibrate their frequency display

G5B04

28. How many watts of electrical power are consumed by a 12 VDC light bulb that draws 0.2 amperes?

• A. 60 watts
• B. 2.4 watts
• C. 6 watts
• D. 24 watts

G7B05

29. How many states does a 3-bit binary counter have?

• A. 6
• B. 3
• C. 8
• D. 16

G9B10

30. What is the approximate length for a 1/2 wave dipole antenna cut for 14.250 MHz?

• A. 24 feet
• B. 8 feet
• C. 16 feet
• D. 33 feet

G4B07

31. What signals are used to conduct a two-tone test?

• A. Two audio frequency range square wave signals of equal amplitude
• B. Two swept frequency tones
• C. Two non-harmonically related audio signals
• D. Two audio signals of the same frequency shifted 90 degrees

G8B03

32. What is another term for the mixing of two RF signals?

• A. Frequency inversion
• B. Synthesizing
• C. Heterodyning
• D. Phase inversion

G6A07

33. What are the operating points for a bipolar transistor used as a switch?

• A. Saturation and cutoff
• B. The active region (between cutoff and saturation)
• C. Peak and valley current points
• D. Enhancement and depletion modes

G4D01

34. What is the purpose of a speech processor in a transceiver?

• A. Increase the apparent loudness of transmitted voice signals
• B. Decrease high-frequency voice output to prevent out-of-band operation
• C. Prevent distortion of voice signals
• D. Increase transmitter bass response for more natural-sounding SSB signals

G1A11

35. When General class licensees are not permitted to use the entire voice portion of a band, which portion of the voice segment is available to them?

• A. The upper frequency portion on frequencies below 7.3 MHz, and the lower portion on frequencies above 14.150 MHz
• B. The upper frequency portion
• C. The lower frequency portion
• D. The lower frequency portion on frequencies below 7.3 MHz, and the upper portion on frequencies above 14.150 MHz