Practice Exam

E7H11

1. What are the major spectral impurity components of direct digital synthesizers?

• A. Spurious signals at discrete frequencies
• B. Nyquist limit noise
• C. Broadband noise
• D. Digital conversion noise

E9B09

2. What type of computer program technique is commonly used for modeling antennas?

• A. Calculus differentiation with respect to physical properties
• B. Graphical analysis
• C. Mutual impedance analysis
• D. Method of Moments

E6A11

3. In Figure E6-1, what is the schematic symbol for a P-channel junction FET?

• A. 3
• B. 6
• C. 1
• D. 2

E9F13

4. What impedance does a 1/4-wavelength transmission line present to a generator when the line is shorted at the far end?

• A. Very low impedance
• B. The same as the generator output impedance
• C. Very high impedance
• D. The same as the characteristic impedance of the transmission line

E9E03

5. What is the name of the matching system that uses a section of transmission line connected in parallel with the feed line at or near the feed point?

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

E3A03

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

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

E7B17

7. Why are odd-order rather than even-order intermodulation distortion products of concern in linear power amplifiers?

• A. Because they are relatively far in frequency from the desired signal
• B. Because they invert the sidebands causing distortion
• C. Because they maintain the sidebands, thus causing multiple duplicate signals
• D. Because they are relatively close in frequency to the desired signal

E7F03

8. What type of digital signal processing filter is used to generate an SSB signal?

• A. A notch filter
• B. An elliptical filter
• C. A Hilbert-transform filter
• D. An adaptive filter

E6F09

9. What is the efficiency of a photovoltaic cell?

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

E9H01

10. When constructing a Beverage antenna, which of the following factors should be included in the design to achieve good performance at the desired frequency?

• A. It must be mounted more than 1 wavelength above ground
• B. Its overall length must not exceed 1/4 wavelength
• C. It should be configured as a four-sided loop
• D. It should be one or more wavelengths long

E8A11

11. Which of the following is a measure of the quality of an analog-to-digital converter?

• A. Power factor
• B. Reciprocal mixing
• C. Peak envelope power
• D. Total harmonic distortion

E3C14

12. Why does the radio-path horizon distance exceed the geometric horizon?

• A. Due to the Doppler effect
• B. D-region skip
• C. E-region skip
• D. Downward bending due to density variations in the atmosphere

E7C04

13. How does an impedance-matching circuit transform a complex impedance to a resistive impedance?

• A. It introduces transconductance to cancel the reactive part of impedance
• B. It cancels the reactive part of the impedance and changes the resistive part to a desired value
• C. Reactive currents are dissipated in matched resistances
• D. It introduces negative resistance to cancel the resistive part of impedance

E0A02

14. When evaluating RF exposure levels from your station at a neighbor's home, what must you do?

• A. Ensure signals from your station are less than the uncontrolled Maximum Permitted Emission (MPE) limits
• B. Ensure signals from your station are less than the controlled Maximum Permitted Exposure (MPE) limits
• C. Ensure signals from your station are less than the controlled Maximum Permitted Emission (MPE) limits
• D. Ensure signals from your station are less than the uncontrolled Maximum Permitted Exposure (MPE) limits

E8D03

15. How does the spread spectrum technique of frequency hopping work?

• A. If interference is detected by the receiver it will signal the transmitter to change frequencies
• B. A binary bit stream is used to shift the phase of an RF carrier very rapidly in a pseudorandom sequence
• C. If interference is detected by the receiver it will signal the transmitter to wait until the frequency is clear
• D. The frequency of the transmitted signal is changed very rapidly according to a pseudorandom sequence also used by the receiving station

E1D04

16. Which of the following is required in the identification transmissions from a balloon-borne telemetry station?

• A. All these choices are correct
• B. The output power of the balloon transmitter
• C. Call sign
• D. The station's six-character Maidenhead grid locator

E4D09

17. What is the purpose of the preselector in a communications receiver?

• A. To store often-used frequencies
• B. To provide a range of AGC time constants
• C. To allow selection of the optimum RF amplifier device
• D. To increase rejection of signals outside the desired band

E7E09

18. What occurs when an excessive amount of signal energy reaches a mixer circuit?

• A. Automatic limiting occurs
• B. A beat frequency is generated
• C. Mixer blanking occurs
• D. Spurious mixer products are generated

E4A02

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

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

E9A09

20. What is antenna efficiency?

• A. Radiation resistance divided by total resistance
• B. Radiation resistance divided by transmission resistance
• C. Effective radiated power divided by transmitter output
• D. Total resistance divided by radiation resistance

E1F04

21. Which of the following geographic descriptions approximately describes "Line A"?

• A. A line roughly parallel to and north of the border between the U.S. and Mexico
• B. A line roughly parallel to and west of the U.S. Atlantic coastline
• C. A line roughly parallel to and south of the border between the U.S. and Canada
• D. A line roughly parallel to and east of the U.S. Pacific coastline

E4B01

22. Which of the following factors most affects the accuracy of a frequency counter?

• A. Input attenuator accuracy
• B. Temperature coefficient of the logic
• C. Decade divider accuracy
• D. Time base accuracy

E6D11

23. Which type of core material decreases inductance when inserted into a coil?

• A. Ceramic
• B. Ferrite
• C. Brass
• D. Powdered iron

E2D04

24. What technology is used to track, in real time, balloons carrying amateur radio transmitters?

• A. APRS
• B. Ultrasonics
• C. Bandwidth compressed LORAN
• D. Doppler shift of beacon signals

E3B09

25. At what time of year is sporadic E propagation most likely to occur?

• A. Around the equinoxes, especially the fall equinox
• B. Around the solstices, especially the winter solstice
• C. Around the equinoxes, especially the spring equinox
• D. Around the solstices, especially the summer solstice

E9G03

26. Which of the following is often determined using a Smith chart?

• A. Beam headings and radiation patterns
• B. Trigonometric functions
• C. Satellite azimuth and elevation bearings
• D. Impedance and SWR values in transmission lines

E1B01

27. Which of the following constitutes a spurious emission?

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

E5B04

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

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

E2B11

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

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

E9C06

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

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

E8B06

31. What is the deviation ratio of an FM-phone signal having a maximum frequency swing of plus or minus 7.5 kHz when the maximum modulation frequency is 3.5 kHz?

• A. 2.14
• B. 47
• C. 0.47
• D. 0.214

E2C09

32. What type of equipment is commonly used to implement an amateur radio mesh network?

• A. A 2 meter VHF transceiver with a 1200 baud modem
• B. A 440 MHz transceiver with a 9600 baud modem
• C. A wireless router running custom firmware
• D. An optical cable connection between the USB ports of 2 separate computers

E1E02

33. Who does Part 97 task with maintaining the pools of questions for all U.S. amateur license examinations?

• A. The VECs
• B. The VEs
• C. The FCC
• D. The ARRL

E5A12

34. What is the half-power bandwidth of a resonant circuit that has a resonant frequency of 3.7 MHz and a Q of 118?

• A. 15.7 kHz
• B. 31.4 kHz
• C. 218.3 kHz
• D. 436.6 kHz

E5C08

35. What coordinate system is often used to display the phase angle of a circuit containing resistance, inductive and/or capacitive reactance?

• A. Elliptical coordinates
• B. Faraday grid
• C. Maidenhead grid
• D. Polar coordinates

E9D06

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

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

E6E10

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

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

E1A11

38. Which of the following describes authorization or licensing required when operating an amateur station aboard a U.S.-registered vessel in international waters?

• A. Any FCC-issued amateur license
• B. An unrestricted Radiotelephone Operator Permit
• C. Any amateur license with an FCC Marine or Aircraft endorsement
• D. Only General Class or higher amateur licenses

E4C05

39. What does a receiver noise floor of -174 dBm represent?

• A. The theoretical noise in a 1 Hz bandwidth at the input of a perfect receiver at room temperature
• B. The galactic noise contribution to minimum detectable signal
• C. The noise figure of a 1 Hz bandwidth receiver
• D. The minimum detectable signal as a function of receive frequency

E7A11

40. What type of logic defines "1" as a high voltage?

• A. Negative logic
• B. Assertive Logic
• C. Reverse Logic
• D. Positive Logic

E7D03

41. What device is typically used as a stable voltage reference in a linear voltage regulator?

• A. A varactor diode
• B. An SCR
• C. A tunnel diode
• D. A Zener diode

E5D15

42. What is the power factor of an RL circuit having a 45-degree phase angle between the voltage and the current?

• A. 1.0
• B. 0.5
• C. 0.707
• D. 0.866

E6B04

43. What type of semiconductor device is designed for use as a voltage-controlled capacitor?

• A. Varactor diode
• B. Silicon-controlled rectifier
• C. Zener diode
• D. Tunnel diode

E8C03

44. Why should phase-shifting of a PSK signal be done at the zero crossing of the RF signal?

• A. To minimize bandwidth
• B. All these choices are correct
• C. To improve carrier suppression
• D. To simplify modulation

E4E11

45. What could cause local AM broadcast band signals to combine to generate spurious signals in the MF or HF bands?

• A. Your station receiver IF amplifier stage is defective
• B. You are receiving skywave signals from a distant station
• C. One or more of the broadcast stations is transmitting an over-modulated signal
• D. Nearby corroded metal joints are mixing and re-radiating the broadcast signals

E2E01

46. Which of the following types of modulation is common for data emissions below 30 MHz?

• A. FSK
• B. DTMF tones modulating an FM signal
• C. Spread spectrum
• D. Pulse modulation

E1C12

47. On what portion of the 630 meter band are phone emissions permitted?

• A. None
• B. Only the bottom 3 kHz
• C. The entire band
• D. Only the top 3 kHz

E6C03

48. What is tri-state logic?

• A. Low-power logic devices designed to operate at 3 volts
• B. Logic devices with 0, 1, and high-impedance output states
• C. Logic devices that utilize ternary math
• D. Proprietary logic devices manufactured by Tri-State Devices

E7G11

49. What absolute voltage gain can be expected from the circuit in Figure E7-3 when R1 is 3300 ohms and RF is 47 kilohms?

• A. 0.07
• B. 14
• C. 28
• D. 7

E2A11

50. What type of antenna can be used to minimize the effects of spin modulation and Faraday rotation?

• A. A log-periodic dipole array
• B. A circularly polarized antenna
• C. A linearly polarized antenna
• D. An isotropic antenna