Practice Exam

E6C09

1. What is a Programmable Logic Device (PLD)?

• A. Programmable equipment used for testing digital logic integrated circuits
• B. A logic circuit that can be modified during use
• C. A programmable collection of logic gates and circuits in a single integrated circuit
• D. A type of transistor whose gain can be changed by digital logic circuits

E2B06

2. What is vestigial sideband modulation?

• A. Narrow-band FM modulation achieved by filtering one sideband from the audio before frequency modulating the carrier
• B. A type of modulation in which one sideband is inverted
• C. Amplitude modulation in which one complete sideband and a portion of the other are transmitted
• D. Spread spectrum modulation achieved by applying FM modulation following single sideband amplitude modulation

E6E10

3. 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. All these choices are correct
• D. Smaller circuit area

E3B03

4. What is the best time of day for transequatorial propagation?

• A. Afternoon or early evening
• B. Noon
• C. Morning
• D. Late at night

E3A12

5. What is the cause of auroral activity?

• A. The interaction in the E layer of charged particles from the Sun with the Earth's magnetic field
• B. An extreme low-pressure area in the polar regions
• C. The interaction in the F2 layer between the solar wind and the Van Allen belt
• D. Meteor showers concentrated in the extreme northern and southern latitudes

E8D01

6. 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. Signals not using the spread spectrum algorithm are suppressed in the receiver
• C. If interference is detected by the receiver it will signal the transmitter to change frequencies
• D. The receiver is always equipped with a digital blanker

E1C05

7. When may an automatically controlled station originate third party communications?

• A. When agreed upon by the sending or receiving station
• B. Never
• C. When approved by the National Telecommunication and Information Administration
• D. Only when transmitting RTTY or data emissions

E2A08

8. Why should effective radiated power to a satellite that uses a linear transponder be limited?

• A. To avoid reducing the downlink power to all other users
• B. To prevent the satellite from emitting out-of-band signals
• C. To prevent creating errors in the satellite telemetry
• D. To avoid interfering with terrestrial QSOs

E7C02

9. Which of the following is a property of a T-network with series capacitors and a parallel shunt inductor?

• A. It is a high-pass filter
• B. It is a low-pass filter
• C. It is a notch filter
• D. It is a band-pass filter

E3C13

10. What type of polarization is best for ground-wave propagation?

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

E7F09

11. Why is an anti-aliasing digital filter required in a digital decimator?

• A. It removes low-frequency signal components to eliminate the need for DC restoration
• B. It removes high-frequency signal components that would otherwise be reproduced as lower frequency components
• C. It notches out the sampling frequency to avoid sampling errors
• D. It peaks the response of the decimator, improving bandwidth

E9F08

12. Which of the following is a significant difference between foam dielectric coaxial cable and solid dielectric cable, assuming all other parameters are the same?

• A. Foam dielectric has higher velocity factor
• B. Foam dielectric has lower safe operating voltage limits
• C. All these choices are correct
• D. Foam dielectric has lower loss per unit of length

E8B05

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

• A. 0.167
• B. 1.67
• C. 60
• D. 0.6

E7A05

14. Which of the following is a circuit that continuously alternates between two states without an external clock?

• A. Astable multivibrator
• B. Monostable multivibrator
• C. T flip-flop
• D. J-K flip-flop

E4E07

15. Which of the following can cause shielded cables to radiate or receive interference?

• A. Use of braided shielding material
• B. Common-mode currents on the shield and conductors
• C. Low inductance ground connections at both ends of the shield
• D. Tying all ground connections to a common point resulting in differential-mode currents in the shield

E1F03

16. Under what circumstances may a dealer sell an external RF power amplifier capable of operation below 144 MHz if it has not been granted FCC certification?

• A. It was purchased in used condition from an amateur operator and is sold to another amateur operator for use at that operator's station
• B. It was imported from a manufacturer in another country and was certificated by that country's government
• C. It was imported from a manufacturer in a country that does not require certification of RF power amplifiers
• D. The equipment dealer assembled it from a kit

E4D12

17. What is the term for the reduction in receiver sensitivity caused by a strong signal near the received frequency?

• A. Squelch gain rollback
• B. Desensitization
• C. Cross-modulation interference
• D. Quieting

E8A03

18. What type of wave does a Fourier analysis show to be made up of sine waves of a given fundamental frequency plus all its harmonics?

• A. A sawtooth wave
• B. A sine wave
• C. A square wave
• D. A cosine wave

E9E10

19. Which of these choices is an effective way to match an antenna with a 100-ohm feed point impedance to a 50-ohm coaxial cable feed line?

• A. Connect a 1/2 wavelength shorted stub of 75-ohm cable in parallel with the 50-ohm cable where it attaches to the antenna
• B. Connect a 1/4-wavelength open stub of 300-ohm twinlead in parallel with the coaxial feed line where it connects to the antenna
• C. Insert a 1/2 wavelength piece of 300-ohm twinlead in series between the antenna terminals and the 50-ohm feed cable
• D. Insert a 1/4-wavelength piece of 75-ohm coaxial cable transmission line in series between the antenna terminals and the 50-ohm feed cable

E6B10

20. In Figure E6-2, what is the schematic symbol for a light-emitting diode?

• A. 6
• B. 1
• C. 7
• D. 5

E7H09

21. 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 diode-switching matrix synthesizer
• B. A direct digital synthesizer
• C. A phase-locked loop synthesizer
• D. A hybrid synthesizer

E7E04

22. 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

E7D13

23. What is the equation for calculating power dissipated by a series linear voltage regulator?

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

E9G11

24. How are the wavelength scales on a Smith chart calibrated?

• A. In fractions of antenna electrical frequency
• B. In fractions of transmission line electrical wavelength
• C. In fractions of transmission line electrical frequency
• D. In fractions of antenna electrical wavelength

E0A04

25. When evaluating a site with multiple transmitters operating at the same time, the operators and licensees of which transmitters are responsible for mitigating over-exposure situations?

• A. Only the most powerful transmitter
• B. Only commercial transmitters
• C. Each transmitter that produces 5 percent or more of its MPE limit in areas where the total MPE limit is exceeded.
• D. Each transmitter operating with a duty cycle greater than 50 percent

E4A02

26. Which of the following parameters does a spectrum analyzer display on the vertical and horizontal axes?

• A. RF amplitude and time
• B. SWR and time
• C. SWR and frequency
• D. RF amplitude and frequency

E1A08

27. 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 operators of all the stations in the system
• 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 operator of the packet bulletin board station

E4C04

28. What is the noise figure of a receiver?

• A. The ratio of the noise bandwidth in hertz to the theoretical bandwidth of a resistive network
• 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 thermal noise to atmospheric noise

E9A10

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

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

E2C01

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

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

E2D02

31. Which of the following is a good technique for making meteor scatter contacts?

• A. All these choices are correct
• B. Use of special digital modes
• C. Short transmissions with rapidly repeated call signs and signal reports
• D. 15-second timed transmission sequences with stations alternating based on location

E9H05

32. What is the main drawback of a small wire-loop antenna for direction finding?

• A. All these choices are correct
• B. It has a bidirectional pattern
• C. It is practical for use only on VHF and higher bands
• D. It has no clearly defined null

E5B03

33. How is impedance in polar form converted to an equivalent admittance?

• A. Take the reciprocal of the magnitude and change the sign of the angle
• B. Take the square root of the magnitude and add 180 degrees to the angle
• C. Square the magnitude and subtract 90 degrees from the angle
• D. Take the reciprocal of the angle and change the sign of the magnitude

E9C04

34. What happens to the radiation pattern of an unterminated long wire antenna as the wire length is increased?

• A. The front-to-back ratio decreases
• B. The lobes align more in the direction of the wire
• C. The vertical angle increases
• D. The lobes become more perpendicular to the wire

E4B02

35. What is the significance of voltmeter sensitivity expressed in ohms per volt?

• A. When used as an ohmmeter, the reading in ohms divided by the ohms per volt rating will determine the voltage applied to the circuit
• B. The full scale reading of the voltmeter multiplied by its ohms per volt rating will indicate the input impedance of the voltmeter
• C. When used as an ammeter, the full scale reading in amps divided by ohms per volt rating will determine the size of shunt needed
• D. When used as a galvanometer, the reading in volts multiplied by the ohms per volt rating will determine the power drawn by the device under test

E1D02

36. Which of the following may transmit special codes intended to obscure the meaning of messages?

• A. Auxiliary relay links carrying repeater audio
• B. Binary control characters
• C. Telecommand signals from a space telecommand station
• D. Data containing personal information

E1B03

37. Within what distance must an amateur station protect an FCC monitoring facility from harmful interference?

• A. 30 miles
• B. 10 miles
• C. 3 miles
• D. 1 mile

E5D01

38. What is the result of skin effect?

• A. Thermal effects on the surface of the conductor decrease the impedance
• B. Thermal effects on the surface of the conductor increase the impedance
• C. As frequency decreases, RF current flows in a thinner layer of the conductor, closer to the surface
• D. As frequency increases, RF current flows in a thinner layer of the conductor, closer to the surface

E6D02

39. What is the equivalent circuit of a quartz crystal?

• A. Motional capacitance, motional inductance, loss resistance, and a capacitor representing electrode and stray capacitance all in series
• B. Motional capacitance, motional inductance, and loss resistance in series, all in parallel with a shunt capacitor representing electrode and stray capacitance
• C. Motional inductance and loss resistance in series, paralleled with motional capacitance and a capacitor representing electrode and stray capacitance
• D. Motional capacitance, motional inductance, loss resistance, and a capacitor representing electrode and stray capacitance all in parallel

E5A10

40. How is the Q of an RLC series resonant circuit calculated?

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

E2E06

41. What is the most common data rate used for HF packet?

• A. 48 baud
• B. 300 baud
• C. 110 baud
• D. 1200 baud

E9D02

42. How can linearly polarized Yagi antennas be used to produce circular polarization?

• A. Stack two Yagis fed 90 degrees out of phase to form an array with the respective elements in parallel planes
• B. Arrange two Yagis collinear to each other with the driven elements fed 180 degrees out of phase
• C. Arrange two Yagis perpendicular to each other with the driven elements at the same point on the boom fed 90 degrees out of phase
• D. Stack two Yagis fed in phase to form an array with the respective elements in parallel planes

E7B14

43. Why are switching amplifiers more efficient than linear amplifiers?

• A. Switching amplifiers use push-pull circuits
• B. Linear amplifiers have high gain resulting in higher harmonic content
• C. The power transistor is at saturation or cutoff most of the time
• D. Switching amplifiers operate at higher voltages

E6F01

44. What absorbs the energy from light falling on a photovoltaic cell?

• A. Electrons
• B. Holes
• C. Protons
• D. Photons

E1E08

45. To which of the following examinees may a VE not administer an examination?

• A. Relatives of the VE as listed in the FCC rules
• B. Employees of the VE
• C. Friends of the VE
• D. All these choices are correct

E8C08

46. How does ARQ accomplish error correction?

• A. Special binary codes provide automatic correction
• B. If errors are detected, redundant data is substituted
• C. If errors are detected, a retransmission is requested
• D. Special polynomial codes provide automatic correction

E5C06

47. What does the impedance 50-j25 represent?

• A. 50 ohms resistance in series with 25 ohms capacitive reactance
• B. 50 ohms resistance in series with 25 ohms inductive reactance
• C. 25 ohms resistance in series with 50 ohms inductive reactance
• D. 25 ohms resistance in series with 50 ohms capacitive reactance

E7G01

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

• A. 1000 ohms
• B. Very low
• C. Very high
• D. 100 ohms

E9B10

49. What is the principle of a Method of Moments analysis?

• A. A wire is modeled as a single sine-wave voltage source
• B. A wire is modeled as a series of segments, each having a uniform value of current
• C. A wire is modeled as a single sine-wave current generator
• D. A wire is modeled as a series of segments, each having a distinct value of voltage across it

E6A06

50. What is the beta of a bipolar junction transistor?

• A. The frequency at which the current gain is reduced to 0.707
• B. The change in collector current with respect to base current
• C. The switching speed
• D. The breakdown voltage of the base to collector junction