Practice Exam

E3C02

1. What is indicated by a rising A or K index?

• A. Decreasing disruption of the geomagnetic field
• B. An increase in the critical frequency
• C. Higher levels of solar UV radiation
• D. Increasing disruption of the geomagnetic field

E2D11

2. Which of the following data are used by the APRS network to communicate station location?

• A. Radio direction finding spectrum analysis
• B. Time and frequency
• C. Latitude and longitude
• D. Polar coordinates

E3B06

3. Which of the following amateur bands most frequently provides long-path propagation?

• A. 20 meters
• B. 6 meters
• C. 80 meters
• D. 10 meters

E5B10

4. What is the relationship between the AC current through an inductor and the voltage across an inductor?

• A. Current leads voltage by 90 degrees
• B. Voltage and current are in phase
• C. Voltage leads current by 90 degrees
• D. Voltage and current are 180 degrees out of phase

E9E02

5. What is the name of an antenna matching system that matches an unbalanced feed line to an antenna by feeding the driven element both at the center of the element and at a fraction of a wavelength to one side of center?

• A. The delta match
• B. The epsilon match
• C. The gamma match
• D. The stub match

E9B04

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

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

E1A12

7. What special operating frequency restrictions are imposed on slow scan TV transmissions?

• A. None; they are allowed on all amateur frequencies
• B. They are restricted to phone band segments
• C. They are restricted to 7.245 MHz, 14.245 MHz, 21.345 MHz, and 28.945 MHz
• D. They are not permitted above 54 MHz

E7B09

8. Which of the following describes how the loading and tuning capacitors are to be adjusted when tuning a vacuum tube RF power amplifier that employs a Pi-network output circuit?

• A. The tuning capacitor is adjusted for minimum plate current, and the loading capacitor is adjusted for maximum permissible plate current
• B. The loading capacitor is adjusted to minimum plate current while alternately adjusting the tuning capacitor for maximum allowable plate current
• C. The tuning capacitor is set to maximum capacitance and the loading capacitor is adjusted for minimum plate permissible current
• D. The loading capacitor is set to maximum capacitance and the tuning capacitor is adjusted for minimum allowable plate current

E6F03

9. What is the most common configuration of an optoisolator or optocoupler?

• A. An amplitude modulated helium-neon laser
• B. An LED and a phototransistor
• C. A frequency modulated helium-neon laser
• D. A lens and a photomultiplier

E8A07

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

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

E2E11

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

• A. Direct FSK occupies less bandwidth
• B. Direct FSK can transmit faster baud rates
• C. Only direct FSK can be decoded by computer
• D. Direct FSK applies the data signal to the transmitter VFO, while AFSK transmits tones via phone

E6E07

12. What type of transmission line is used for connections to MMICs?

• A. Microstrip
• B. Parallel wire
• C. Miniature coax
• D. Circular waveguide

E9D06

13. What happens to the SWR bandwidth when one or more loading coils are used to resonate an electrically short antenna?

• A. It is increased
• B. It is unchanged if the loading coil is located at the feed point
• C. It is unchanged if the loading coil is located at a voltage maximum point
• D. It is decreased

E7C09

14. What is a crystal lattice filter?

• A. A power supply filter made with interlaced quartz crystals
• B. An audio filter made with four quartz crystals that resonate at 1 kHz intervals
• C. A filter using lattice-shaped quartz crystals for high-Q performance
• D. A filter with narrow bandwidth and steep skirts made using quartz crystals

E7G12

15. What is an operational amplifier?

• A. A RF amplifier used in the UHF and microwave regions
• B. A digital audio amplifier whose characteristics are determined by components external to the amplifier
• C. An amplifier used to increase the average output of frequency modulated amateur signals to the legal limit
• D. A high-gain, direct-coupled differential amplifier with very high input impedance and very low output impedance

E1C01

16. What is the maximum bandwidth for a data emission on 60 meters?

• A. 1.5 kHz
• B. 60 Hz
• C. 2.8 kHz
• D. 170 Hz

E7D08

17. What type of circuit is shown in Figure E7-2?

• A. Monostable multivibrator
• B. Grounded emitter amplifier
• C. Switching voltage regulator
• D. Linear voltage regulator

E7H06

18. Which of the following oscillator circuits are commonly used in VFOs?

• A. Colpitts and Hartley
• B. Negative feedback and balanced feedback
• C. Pierce and Zener
• D. Armstrong and deForest

E8C01

19. How is Forward Error Correction implemented?

• A. By transmitting extra data that may be used to detect and correct transmission errors
• B. By transmitting a special algorithm to the receiving station along with the data characters
• C. By varying the frequency shift of the transmitted signal according to a predefined algorithm
• D. By the receiving station repeating each block of three data characters

E5C05

20. What is the name of the diagram used to show the phase relationship between impedances at a given frequency?

• A. Near field diagram
• B. Venn diagram
• C. Far field diagram
• D. Phasor diagram

E9A01

21. What is an isotropic antenna?

• A. A grounded antenna used to measure Earth conductivity
• B. A spacecraft antenna used to direct signals toward Earth
• C. A horizontally polarized antenna used to compare Yagi antennas
• D. A theoretical, omnidirectional antenna used as a reference for antenna gain

E4C13

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

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

E1E10

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

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

E2C05

24. What is the function of a DX QSL Manager?

• A. To allocate frequencies for DXpeditions
• B. To run a net to allow many stations to contact a rare DX station
• C. To relay calls to and from a DX station
• D. To handle the receiving and sending of confirmation cards for a DX station

E7E04

25. What is one way a single-sideband phone signal can be generated?

• A. By using a balanced modulator followed by a filter
• B. By using a reactance modulator followed by a mixer
• C. By driving a product detector with a DSB signal
• D. By using a loop modulator followed by a mixer

E5D06

26. In what direction is the magnetic field oriented about a conductor in relation to the direction of electron flow?

• A. In a circle around the conductor
• B. In a direction opposite to the current
• C. In all directions; omni-directional
• D. In the same direction as the current

E4B08

27. Which of the following can be used to measure the Q of a series-tuned circuit?

• A. The inductance to capacitance ratio
• B. The bandwidth of the circuit's frequency response
• C. The resonant frequency of the circuit
• D. The frequency shift

E7F04

28. What is a common method of generating an SSB signal using digital signal processing?

• A. Varying quartz crystal characteristics emulated in digital form
• B. Signals are combined in quadrature phase relationship
• C. Mixing products are converted to voltages and subtracted by adder circuits
• D. A frequency synthesizer removes the unwanted sidebands

E2B02

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

• A. 1080
• B. 30
• C. 525
• D. 60

E4E06

30. What is one type of electrical interference that might be caused by a nearby personal computer?

• A. A clicking noise at intervals of a few seconds
• B. A whining type noise that continually pulses off and on
• C. The appearance of unstable modulated or unmodulated signals at specific frequencies
• D. A loud AC hum in the audio output of your station receiver

E8B10

31. What is frequency division multiplexing?

• A. The transmitted signal is divided into packets of information
• B. The transmitted signal jumps from band to band at a predetermined rate
• C. Two or more information streams are merged into a digital combiner, which then pulse position modulates the transmitter
• D. Two or more information streams are merged into a baseband, which then modulates the transmitter

E2A09

32. What do the terms "L band" and "S band" specify regarding satellite communications?

• A. FM and Digital Store-and-Forward systems
• B. The 23 centimeter and 13 centimeter bands
• C. Which sideband to use
• D. The 2 meter and 70 centimeter bands

E1F08

33. Which of the following types of amateur station communications are prohibited?

• A. Communications that have political content, except as allowed by the Fairness Doctrine
• B. Communications in a language other than English
• C. Communications transmitted for hire or material compensation, except as otherwise provided in the rules
• D. Communications that have religious content

E9H06

34. What is the triangulation method of direction finding?

• A. A fixed receiving station plots three headings to the signal source
• B. The geometric angles of sky waves from the source are used to determine its position
• C. A fixed receiving station uses three different antennas to plot the location of the signal source
• D. Antenna headings from several different receiving locations are used to locate the signal source

E4D08

35. What causes intermodulation in an electronic circuit?

• A. Positive feedback
• B. Lack of neutralization
• C. Nonlinear circuits or devices
• D. Too little gain

E7A03

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

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

E6C05

37. What is an advantage of CMOS logic devices over TTL devices?

• A. Differential output capability
• B. Immune to damage from static discharge
• C. Lower power consumption
• D. Lower distortion

E8D02

38. What spread spectrum communications technique uses a high-speed binary bit stream to shift the phase of an RF carrier?

• A. Direct sequence
• B. Frequency hopping
• C. Binary phase-shift keying
• D. Phase compandored spread spectrum

E6A01

39. 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

E3A03

40. When scheduling EME contacts, which of these conditions will generally result in the least path loss?

• A. When the moon is full
• B. When the moon is at perigee
• C. When the MUF is above 30 MHz
• D. When the moon is at apogee

E4A05

41. What is the purpose of the prescaler function on a frequency counter?

• A. It amplifies low-level signals for more accurate counting
• B. It prevents oscillation in a low-frequency counter circuit
• C. It multiplies a higher frequency signal so a low-frequency counter can display the operating frequency
• D. It divides a higher frequency signal so a low-frequency counter can display the input frequency

E0A07

42. How may dangerous levels of carbon monoxide from an emergency generator be detected?

• A. By the odor
• B. Only with a carbon monoxide detector
• C. By the yellowish appearance of the gas
• D. Any ordinary smoke detector can be used

E9G02

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

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

E6B05

44. What characteristic of a PIN diode makes it useful as an RF switch?

• A. Extremely high reverse breakdown voltage
• B. Reverse bias controls its forward voltage drop
• C. Ability to dissipate large amounts of power
• D. Low junction capacitance

E1B11

45. What does PRB-1 require of regulations affecting amateur radio?

• A. Use of wireless devices in a vehicle is exempt from regulation
• B. No limitations may be placed on antenna size or placement
• C. Amateur radio operations must be permitted in any private residence
• D. Reasonable accommodations of amateur radio must be made

E9F11

46. What impedance does a 1/8-wavelength transmission line present to a generator when the line is open at the far end?

• A. A capacitive reactance
• B. The same as the characteristic impedance of the line
• C. An inductive reactance
• D. Infinite

E5A16

47. What is the resonant frequency of an RLC circuit if R is 33 ohms, L is 50 microhenries and C is 10 picofarads?

• A. 7.12 MHz
• B. 23.5 MHz
• C. 23.5 kHz
• D. 7.12 kHz

E9C06

48. What is the effect of adding a terminating resistor to a rhombic antenna?

• A. It changes the radiation pattern from horizontal to vertical polarization
• B. It decreases the ground loss
• C. It changes the radiation pattern from bidirectional to unidirectional
• D. It reflects the standing waves on the antenna elements back to the transmitter

E6D04

49. Which materials are commonly used as a core in an inductor?

• A. Cobalt and aluminum
• B. Polystyrene and polyethylene
• C. Ferrite and brass
• D. Teflon and Delrin

E1D08

50. Which VHF amateur bands have frequencies authorized for space stations?

• A. 2 meters
• B. 2 meters and 1.25 meters
• C. 6 meters and 2 meters
• D. 6 meters, 2 meters, and 1.25 meters