Practice Exam

E5B01

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

E1A08

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

E7C01

3. How are the capacitors and inductors of a low-pass filter Pi-network arranged between the network's input and output?

• A. Two capacitors are in series between the input and output, and an inductor is connected between the two capacitors and ground
• B. A capacitor is connected between the input and ground, another capacitor is connected between the output and ground, and an inductor is connected between the input and output
• C. Two inductors are in series between the input and output, and a capacitor is connected between the two inductors and ground
• D. An inductor is connected between the input and ground, another inductor is connected between the output and ground, and a capacitor is connected between the input and output

E2D07

4. What digital protocol is used by APRS?

• A. AX.25
• B. PACTOR
• C. AMTOR
• D. QAM

E4C12

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

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

E5C01

6. Which of the following represents pure capacitive reactance of 100 ohms in rectangular notation?

• A. 100 - j0
• B. 100 + j0
• C. 0 + j100
• D. 0 - j100

E7G07

7. What voltage gain can be expected from the circuit in Figure E7-3 when R1 is 10 ohms and RF is 470 ohms?

• A. 4700
• B. 47
• C. 0.21
• D. 24

E1D09

8. Which UHF amateur bands have frequencies authorized for space stations?

• A. 70 centimeters only
• B. 70 centimeters and 13 centimeters
• C. 33 centimeters and 13 centimeters
• D. 70 centimeters and 33 centimeters

E9D08

9. What happens as the Q of an antenna increases?

• A. Gain is reduced
• B. More common-mode current is present on the feed line
• C. SWR bandwidth increases
• D. SWR bandwidth decreases

E0A10

10. When must an RF exposure evaluation be performed on an amateur station operating on 80 meters?

• A. When the station's operating mode is CW
• B. When the ERP of the station is less than 10 watts
• C. When the output power from the transmitter is less than 100 watts
• D. An evaluation must always be performed

E6A04

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

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

E8C13

12. What is described by the constellation diagram of a QAM or QPSK signal?

• A. How many carriers may be present at the same time
• B. The number of bits used for error correction in the protocol
• C. Frequency response of the signal stream
• D. The possible phase and amplitude states for each symbol

E5A09

13. How is the Q of an RLC parallel resonant circuit calculated?

• A. Resistance divided by the reactance of either the inductance or capacitance
• B. Reactance of the inductance multiplied by the reactance of the capacitance
• C. Reactance of either the inductance or capacitance divided by the resistance
• D. Reactance of either the inductance or capacitance multiplied by the resistance

E7H06

14. Which of these functions can be performed by a phase-locked loop?

• A. Comparison of two digital input signals and digital pulse counting
• B. Photovoltaic conversion and optical coupling
• C. Wide-band AF and RF power amplification
• D. Frequency synthesis and FM demodulation

E3B13

15. What type of polarization is supported by ground-wave propagation?

• A. Horizontal
• B. Elliptical
• C. Circular
• D. Vertical

E9E05

16. What Yagi driven element feed point impedance is required to use a beta or hairpin matching system?

• A. Inductive (driven element electrically longer than 1/2 wavelength)
• B. Purely reactive
• C. Purely resistive
• D. Capacitive (driven element electrically shorter than 1/2 wavelength)

E1E10

17. What must the administering VEs do after the administration of a successful examination for an amateur operator license?

• A. They must collect and submit the documents to the coordinating VEC for grading
• B. They must submit the application document to the coordinating VEC according to the coordinating VEC instructions
• C. They must return the documents to the applicant for submission to the FCC according to the FCC instructions
• D. They must collect and send the documents directly to the FCC

E1F11

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

E3C08

19. Which of the following is the space-weather term for an extreme geomagnetic storm?

• A. X5
• B. B9
• C. G5
• D. M9

E6B08

20. Which of the following is a Schottky barrier diode?

• A. PIN junction
• B. Metal-semiconductor junction
• C. Electrolytic rectifier
• D. Thermionic emission diode

E9A10

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

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

E9B04

22. What is the front-to-back ratio of the radiation pattern shown in Figure E9-2?

• A. 3 dB
• B. 28 dB
• C. 15 dB
• D. 38 dB

E9H10

23. How can the output voltage of a multiple-turn receiving loop antenna be increased?

• A. By reducing the permeability of the loop shield
• B. By increasing the number of turns and/or the area enclosed by the loop
• C. By utilizing high impedance wire for the coupling loop
• D. All these choices are correct

E7F06

24. What is the minimum number of bits required to sample a signal with a range of 1 volt at a resolution of 1 millivolt?

• A. 10 bits
• B. 8 bits
• C. 4 bits
• D. 6 bits

E6D06

25. What core material property determines the inductance of an inductor?

• A. Permittivity
• B. Resistance
• C. Permeability
• D. Reactivity

E4D04

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

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

E4B09

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

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

E2B09

28. What kind of receiver can be used to receive and decode SSTV using the Digital Radio Mondiale (DRM) protocol?

• A. SSB
• B. CDMA
• C. AREDN
• D. AM

E7A04

29. How many flip-flops are required to divide a signal frequency by 16?

• A. 8
• B. 16
• C. 6
• D. 4

E8A03

30. Which of the following describes a signal in the time domain?

• A. Power at intervals of phase
• B. Discrete impulses in time order
• C. Frequency at different times
• D. Amplitude at different times

E6C08

31. In Figure E6-3, which is the schematic symbol for a NAND gate?

• A. 3
• B. 4
• C. 2
• D. 1

E3A10

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

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

E4A04

33. How is compensation of an oscilloscope probe performed?

• A. A DC voltage standard is displayed, and the probe is adjusted until the displayed voltage is accurate
• B. A square wave is displayed, and the probe is adjusted until the horizontal portions of the displayed wave are as nearly flat as possible
• C. A high frequency sine wave is displayed, and the probe is adjusted for maximum amplitude
• D. A frequency standard is displayed, and the probe is adjusted until the deflection time is accurate

E6F09

34. What is the efficiency of a photovoltaic cell?

• A. The output RF power divided by the input DC power
• B. The output in lumens divided by the input power in watts
• C. The relative fraction of light that is converted to current
• D. The open-circuit voltage divided by the short-circuit current under full illumination

E1B07

35. To what type of regulations does PRB-1 apply?

• A. Use of wireless devices in vehicles
• B. State and local zoning
• C. FAA tower height limits
• D. Homeowners associations

E5D01

36. What is the result of conductor skin effect?

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

E2C04

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

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

E2E11

38. What is the difference between direct FSK and audio FSK?

• A. Direct FSK occupies less bandwidth
• B. Direct FSK can transmit higher baud rates
• C. Direct FSK modulates the transmitter VFO
• D. All these choices are correct

E4E02

39. Which of the following types of noise can often be reduced by a digital noise reduction?

• A. Power line noise
• B. All these choices are correct
• C. Ignition noise
• D. Broadband white noise

E1C06

40. Which of the following is required in order to operate in accordance with CEPT rules in foreign countries where permitted?

• A. You must append "/CEPT" to your call sign
• B. You must identify in the official language of the country in which you are operating
• C. The US embassy must approve of your operation
• D. You must have a copy of FCC Public Notice DA 16-1048

E9C07

41. What is the approximate feed point impedance at the center of a two-wire half-wave folded dipole antenna?

• A. 300 ohms
• B. 450 ohms
• C. 50 ohms
• D. 72 ohms

E8B07

42. Orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) is a technique used for which types of amateur communication?

• A. OFDM signals are not allowed on amateur bands
• B. Digital modes
• C. Extremely low-power contacts
• D. EME

E6E10

43. What advantage does surface-mount technology offer at RF compared to using through-hole components?

• A. Shorter circuit board traces
• B. Components have less parasitic inductance and capacitance
• C. Smaller circuit area
• D. All these choices are correct

E2A09

44. What do the terms "L band" and "S band" specify?

• A. Which sideband to use
• B. The 23- and 13-centimeter bands
• C. FM and digital store-and-forward systems
• D. The 2-meter and 70-centimeter bands

E7E10

45. How does a diode envelope detector function?

• A. By breakdown of the Zener voltage
• B. By mixing signals with noise in the transition region of the diode
• C. By sensing the change of reactance in the diode with respect to frequency
• D. By rectification and filtering of RF signals

E7B07

46. Which of the following is the likely result of using a Class C amplifier to amplify a single-sideband phone signal?

• A. Increased overall intelligibility
• B. Reduced third-order intermodulation
• C. Reduced intermodulation products
• D. Signal distortion and excessive bandwidth

E7D01

47. How does a linear electronic voltage regulator work?

• A. It has a ramp voltage as its output
• B. It eliminates the need for a pass transistor
• C. The conduction of a control element is varied to maintain a constant output voltage
• D. The control element duty cycle is proportional to the line or load conditions

E9F01

48. What is the velocity factor of a transmission line?

• A. The velocity of a wave in the transmission line multiplied by the velocity of light in a vacuum
• B. The ratio of its termination impedance to its characteristic impedance
• C. The ratio of its characteristic impedance to its termination impedance
• D. The velocity of a wave in the transmission line divided by the velocity of light in a vacuum

E8D10

49. What are some of the differences between the Baudot digital code and ASCII?

• A. Baudot uses 5 data bits per character, ASCII uses 7 or 8; Baudot uses 2 characters as letters/figures shift codes, ASCII has no letters/figures shift code
• B. Baudot uses 7 data bits per character, ASCII uses 8; Baudot has no letters/figures shift code, ASCII uses 2 letters/figures shift codes
• C. Baudot uses 6 data bits per character, ASCII uses 7 or 8; Baudot has no letters/figures shift code, ASCII uses 2 letters/figures shift codes
• D. Baudot uses 4 data bits per character, ASCII uses 7 or 8; Baudot uses 1 character as a letters/figures shift code, ASCII has no letters/figures code

E9G02

50. What type of coordinate system is used in a Smith chart?

• A. Voltage circles and current arcs
• B. Voltage chords and current chords
• C. Resistance circles and reactance arcs
• D. Resistance lines and reactance chords