Practice Exam

E8B02

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

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

E6E11

2. What is a characteristic of DIP packaging used for integrated circuits?

• A. Package mounts in a direct inverted position
• B. A total of two rows of connecting pins placed on opposite sides of the package (Dual In-line Package)
• C. Low leakage doubly insulated package
• D. Two chips in each package (Dual In Package)

E7A07

3. What logical operation does a NAND gate perform?

• A. It produces logic 0 at its output if some but not all inputs are logic 1
• B. It produces logic 0 at its output only when all inputs are logic 1
• C. It produces logic 1 at its output only when all inputs are logic 1
• D. It produces logic 0 at its output only when all inputs are logic 0

E4E10

4. What might be the cause of a loud roaring or buzzing AC line interference that comes and goes at intervals?

• A. All these choices are correct
• B. A malfunctioning illuminated advertising display
• C. A defective doorbell or doorbell transformer inside a nearby residence
• D. Arcing contacts in a thermostatically controlled device

E5A11

5. What is the half-power bandwidth of a resonant circuit that has a resonant frequency of 7.1 MHz and a Q of 150?

• A. 157.8 Hz
• B. 315.6 Hz
• C. 47.3 kHz
• D. 23.67 kHz

E5C06

6. What does the impedance 50-j25 represent?

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

E2A09

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

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

E7H09

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

E3C03

9. Which of the following signal paths is most likely to experience high levels of absorption when the A index or K index is elevated?

• A. Polar
• B. Transequatorial
• C. Sporadic E
• D. NVIS

E9G07

10. On the Smith chart shown in Figure E9-3, what is the only straight line shown?

• A. The reactance axis
• B. The current axis
• C. The resistance axis
• D. The voltage axis

E6C08

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

• A. 4
• B. 3
• C. 2
• D. 1

E2E06

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

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

E9H08

13. What is the function of a sense antenna?

• A. It increases the sensitivity of a DF antenna array
• B. It modifies the pattern of a DF antenna array to provide a null in one direction
• C. It provides diversity reception that cancels multipath signals
• D. It allows DF antennas to receive signals at different vertical angles

E6D03

14. Which of the following is an aspect of the piezoelectric effect?

• A. Increased conductivity in the presence of light
• B. Mechanical deformation of material by the application of a magnetic field
• C. Generation of electrical energy in the presence of light
• D. Mechanical deformation of material by the application of a voltage

E7B04

15. Where on the load line of a Class A common emitter amplifier would bias normally be set?

• A. Where the load line intersects the voltage axis
• B. Approximately halfway between saturation and cutoff
• C. At a point where the load line intersects the zero bias current curve
• D. At a point where the bias resistor equals the load resistor

E3A11

16. What is a typical range for tropospheric propagation of microwave signals?

• A. 1200 miles
• B. 2500 miles
• C. 10 miles to 50 miles
• D. 100 miles to 300 miles

E4A05

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

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

E1B01

18. Which of the following constitutes a spurious emission?

• A. An amateur station transmission made without the proper call sign identification
• B. A signal transmitted to prevent its detection by any station other than the intended recipient
• C. An emission outside the signal's necessary bandwidth that can be reduced or eliminated without affecting the information transmitted
• D. Any transmitted signal that unintentionally interferes with another licensed radio station

E1E08

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

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

E2B11

20. What is the function of the Vertical Interval Signaling (VIS) code sent as part of an SSTV transmission?

• A. To provide vertical synchronization
• B. To lock the color burst oscillator in color SSTV images
• C. To identify the call sign of the station transmitting
• D. To identify the SSTV mode being used

E9C14

21. How does the performance of a horizontally polarized antenna mounted on the side of a hill compare with the same antenna mounted on flat ground?

• A. The main lobe takeoff angle increases in the downhill direction
• B. The main lobe takeoff angle decreases in the downhill direction
• C. The horizontal beamwidth increases in the uphill direction
• D. The horizontal beamwidth decreases in the downhill direction

E7G06

22. What is the gain-bandwidth of an operational amplifier?

• A. The maximum frequency for a filter circuit using that type of amplifier
• B. The frequency at which the open-loop gain of the amplifier equals one
• C. The frequency at which the amplifier's offset voltage is zero
• D. The gain of the amplifier at a filter's cutoff frequency

E2C12

23. What technique do individual nodes use to form a mesh network?

• A. Acting as store-and-forward digipeaters
• B. Discovery and link establishment protocols
• C. Custom code plugs for the local trunking systems
• D. Forward error correction and Viterbi codes

E7D02

24. What is a characteristic of a switching electronic voltage regulator?

• A. It is generally less efficient than a linear regulator
• B. It gives a ramp voltage at its output
• C. The resistance of a control element is varied in direct proportion to the line voltage or load current
• D. The controlled device's duty cycle is changed to produce a constant average output voltage

E6A08

25. What term indicates the frequency at which the grounded-base current gain of a transistor has decreased to 0.7 of the gain obtainable at 1 kHz?

• A. Corner frequency
• B. Beta cutoff frequency
• C. Alpha cutoff frequency
• D. Alpha rejection frequency

E0A01

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

• A. Reduce received noise
• B. Reduce RFI to telephones and home entertainment systems
• C. Reduce RF current flow between pieces of equipment
• D. Lightning protection

E9A05

27. What is included in the total resistance of an antenna system?

• A. Transmission-line resistance plus radiation resistance
• B. Radiation resistance plus space impedance
• C. Radiation resistance plus loss resistance
• D. Radiation resistance plus transmission resistance

E4C09

28. Which of the following choices is a good reason for selecting a high frequency for the design of the IF in a superheterodyne HF or VHF communications receiver?

• A. Reduced drift
• B. Fewer components in the receiver
• C. Easier for front-end circuitry to eliminate image responses
• D. Improved receiver noise figure

E2D06

29. Which of the following describes a method of establishing EME contacts?

• A. High-speed CW identification to avoid fading
• B. Time synchronous transmissions alternately from each station
• C. Judging optimum transmission times by monitoring beacons reflected from the moon
• D. Storing and forwarding digital messages

E1F09

30. Which of the following conditions apply when transmitting spread spectrum emissions?

• A. All these choices are correct
• B. A station transmitting SS emission must not cause harmful interference to other stations employing other authorized emissions
• C. The transmitting station must be in an area regulated by the FCC or in a country that permits SS emissions
• D. The transmission must not be used to obscure the meaning of any communication

E7F04

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

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

E8C10

32. How may data rate be increased without increasing bandwidth?

• A. Increasing analog-to-digital conversion resolution
• B. Using forward error correction
• C. Using a more efficient digital code
• D. It is impossible

E8D11

33. What is one advantage of using ASCII code for data communications?

• A. It includes built-in error correction features
• B. It is possible to transmit both upper and lower case text
• C. It uses one character as a shift code to send numeric and special characters
• D. It contains fewer information bits per character than any other code

E9F01

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

• A. The velocity of the wave in the transmission line divided by the velocity of light in a vacuum
• B. The ratio of the characteristic impedance of the line to the terminating impedance
• C. The index of shielding for coaxial cable
• D. The velocity of the wave in the transmission line multiplied by the velocity of light in a vacuum

E8A02

35. Which of the following is a type of analog-to-digital conversion?

• A. Phase reversal
• B. Harmonic regeneration
• C. Level shifting
• D. Successive approximation

E9D05

36. What usually occurs if a Yagi antenna is designed solely for maximum forward gain?

• A. The SWR is reduced
• B. The front-to-back ratio increases
• C. The front-to-back ratio decreases
• D. The frequency response is widened over the whole frequency band

E7E08

37. What are the principal frequencies that appear at the output of a mixer circuit?

• A. 1.414 and 0.707 times the input frequency
• B. Two and four times the original frequency
• C. The two input frequencies along with their sum and difference frequencies
• D. The square root of the product of input frequencies

E5B04

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

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

E7C05

39. Which filter type is described as having ripple in the passband and a sharp cutoff?

• A. A Chebyshev filter
• B. An active LC filter
• C. A Butterworth filter
• D. A passive op-amp filter

E3B04

40. What is meant by the terms "extraordinary" and "ordinary" waves?

• A. Extraordinary waves describe rare long-skip propagation compared to ordinary waves, which travel shorter distances
• B. Refracted rays and reflected waves
• C. Long-path and short-path waves
• D. Independent waves created in the ionosphere that are elliptically polarized

E9B01

41. In the antenna radiation pattern shown in Figure E9-1, what is the beamwidth?

• A. 30 degrees
• B. 75 degrees
• C. 25 degrees
• D. 50 degrees

E4B03

42. Which S parameter is equivalent to forward gain?

• A. S12
• B. S22
• C. S21
• D. S11

E9E10

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

E4D02

44. Which of the following describes problems caused by poor dynamic range in a receiver?

• A. Oscillator instability requiring frequent retuning and loss of ability to recover the opposite sideband
• B. Spurious signals caused by cross-modulation and desensitization from strong adjacent signals
• C. Oscillator instability and severe audio distortion of all but the strongest received signals
• D. Cross-modulation of the desired signal and insufficient audio power to operate the speaker

E1D05

45. What must be posted at the station location of a station being operated by telecommand on or within 50 km of the earth's surface?

• A. All these choices are correct
• B. A photocopy of the station license
• C. A label with the name, address, and telephone number of the station licensee
• D. A label with the name, address, and telephone number of the control operator

E6B02

46. What is an important characteristic of a Schottky diode as compared to an ordinary silicon diode when used as a power supply rectifier?

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

E6F01

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

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

E1C05

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

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

E5D09

49. What happens to reactive power in an AC circuit that has both ideal inductors and ideal capacitors?

• A. It is dissipated in the formation of inductive and capacitive fields
• B. It is dissipated as heat in the circuit
• C. It is dissipated as kinetic energy in the circuit
• D. It is repeatedly exchanged between the associated magnetic and electric fields, but is not dissipated

E1A07

50. What is the maximum power permitted on the 2200 meter band?

• A. 1 watt EIRP (Equivalent isotropic radiated power)
• B. 50 watts PEP
• C. 100 watts PEP
• D. 5 watts EIRP (Equivalent isotropic radiated power)