Practice Exam

E7A01

1. Which circuit is bistable?

• A. An OR gate
• B. A flip-flop
• C. A bipolar amplifier
• D. An AND gate

E3A12

2. What is most likely to result in auroral propagation?

• A. Quiet geomagnetic conditions
• B. Severe geomagnetic storms
• C. Meteor showers
• D. Extreme low-pressure areas in polar regions

E9A08

3. Which frequency band has the smallest first Fresnel zone?

• A. 5.8 GHz
• B. 2.4 GHz
• C. 3.4 GHz
• D. 900 MHz

E2A02

4. Which of the following is characteristic of an inverting linear transponder?

• A. Signal position in the band is reversed
• B. Doppler shift is reduced because the uplink and downlink shifts are in opposite directions
• C. All these choices are correct
• D. Upper sideband on the uplink becomes lower sideband on the downlink, and vice versa

E8B07

5. 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. Extremely low-power contacts
• C. Digital modes
• D. EME

E7B02

6. What is a Class D amplifier?

• A. An amplifier biased to be relatively free from distortion
• B. A low power amplifier that uses a differential amplifier for improved linearity
• C. An amplifier that uses switching technology to achieve high efficiency
• D. An amplifier that uses drift-mode FETs for high efficiency

E1F03

7. 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. The equipment dealer assembled it from a kit
• B. The amplifier is constructed or modified by an amateur radio operator for use at an amateur station
• C. Gain is less than 23 dB when driven by power of 10 watts or less
• D. It was manufactured and certificated in a country which has a reciprocal certification agreement with the FCC

E9E07

8. What parameter describes the interaction of a load and transmission line?

• A. Velocity factor
• B. Dielectric constant
• C. Reflection coefficient
• D. Characteristic impedance

E1E07

9. What should a VE do if a candidate fails to comply with the examiner's instructions during an amateur operator license examination?

• A. Warn the candidate that continued failure to comply will result in termination of the examination
• B. Allow the candidate to complete the examination, but invalidate the results
• C. Immediately terminate the candidate's examination
• D. Immediately terminate everyone's examination and close the session

E7F03

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

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

E1B02

11. Which of the following is an acceptable bandwidth for digital voice or slow-scan TV transmissions made on the HF amateur bands?

• A. 15 kHz
• B. 3 kHz
• C. 10 kHz
• D. 20 kHz

E7D05

12. Which of the following types of linear voltage regulator operates by loading the unregulated voltage source?

• A. A shunt current source
• B. A constant current source
• C. A series regulator
• D. A shunt regulator

E6F11

13. What is the approximate open-circuit voltage produced by a fully illuminated silicon photovoltaic cell?

• A. 0.5 volts
• B. 1.1 volts
• C. 0.7 volts
• D. 1.5 volts

E5D07

14. What combines to create the self-resonance of a component?

• A. The component's nominal and parasitic reactance
• B. The component's resistance and reactance
• C. The component's inductance and capacitance
• D. The component's electrical length and impedance

E2E08

15. Which of the following HF digital modes can be used to transfer binary files?

• A. AMTOR
• B. PSK31
• C. PACTOR
• D. RTTY

E7G09

16. What will be the output voltage of the circuit shown in Figure E7-3 if R1 is 1,000 ohms, RF is 10,000 ohms, and 0.23 volts DC is applied to the input?

• A. -0.23 volts
• B. 2.3 volts
• C. 0.23 volts
• D. -2.3 volts

E6D07

17. What is the current that flows in the primary winding of a transformer when there is no load on the secondary winding?

• A. Magnetizing current
• B. Excitation current
• C. Direct current
• D. Stabilizing current

E9D10

18. How does radiation resistance of a base-fed whip antenna change below its resonant frequency?

• A. Radiation resistance becomes imaginary
• B. Radiation resistance decreases
• C. Radiation resistance increases
• D. Radiation resistance does not depend on frequency

E2B09

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

• A. SSB
• B. AM
• C. CDMA
• D. AREDN

E6E06

20. What characteristics of MMICs make them a popular choice for VHF through microwave circuits?

• A. Extremely high Q factor and high stability over a wide temperature range
• B. The ability to retrieve information from a single signal, even in the presence of other strong signals
• C. Nearly infinite gain, very high input impedance, and very low output impedance
• D. Controlled gain, low noise figure, and constant input and output impedance over the specified frequency range

E1A10

21. If an amateur station is installed aboard a ship or aircraft, what condition must be met before the station is operated?

• A. The amateur station operator must agree not to transmit when the main radio of the ship or aircraft is in use
• B. The amateur station must have a power supply that is completely independent of the main ship or aircraft power supply
• C. The amateur station must operate only in specific segments of the amateur service HF and VHF bands
• D. Its operation must be approved by the master of the ship or the pilot in command of the aircraft

E7H13

22. Which of the following is a technique for providing highly accurate and stable oscillators needed for microwave transmission and reception?

• A. Use a temperature-controlled high Q dielectric resonator
• B. Use a rubidium stabilized reference oscillator
• C. Use a GPS signal reference
• D. All these choices are correct

E5B05

23. What is the effect on the magnitude of pure reactance when it is converted to susceptance?

• A. It is replaced by its reciprocal
• B. It is unchanged
• C. The sign is reversed
• D. It is shifted by 90 degrees

E2C06

24. During a VHF/UHF contest, in which band segment would you expect to find the highest level of SSB or CW activity?

• A. At the top of each band, usually in a segment reserved for contests
• B. In the middle of the band, usually 25 kHz above the national calling frequency
• C. In the weak signal segment of the band, with most of the activity near the calling frequency
• D. In the middle of each band, usually on the national calling frequency

E9B04

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

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

E4B10

26. Which of the following methods measures intermodulation distortion in an SSB transmitter?

• A. Modulate the transmitter using two AF signals having harmonically related frequencies and observe the RF output with a peak reading wattmeter
• B. Modulate the transmitter using two AF signals having non-harmonically related frequencies and observe the RF output with a spectrum analyzer
• C. Modulate the transmitter using two RF signals having non-harmonically related frequencies and observe the RF output with a spectrum analyzer
• D. Modulate the transmitter using two RF signals having harmonically related frequencies and observe the RF output with a logic analyzer

E3B07

27. What effect does lowering a signal's transmitted elevation angle have on ionospheric HF skip propagation?

• A. Faraday rotation becomes stronger
• B. The distance covered by each hop increases
• C. The MUF decreases
• D. The critical frequency increases

E2D06

28. Which of the following is a method for establishing EME contacts?

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

E6A02

29. Which of the following semiconductor materials contains excess free electrons?

• A. P-type
• B. N-type
• C. Insulated gate
• D. Bipolar

E0A01

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

• A. Prevent static build up on power lines
• B. Protect breaker panel from power surges
• C. Lightning charge dissipation
• D. Reduce RF current flow between pieces of equipment

E9H07

31. What is the function of a Beverage antenna's termination resistor?

• A. Increase the front-to-side ratio
• B. Absorb signals from the reverse direction
• C. Decrease SWR bandwidth
• D. Eliminate harmonic reception

E1C04

32. What is an IARP?

• A. An indication of increased antenna reflected power
• B. A forecast of intermittent aurora radio propagation
• C. A permit that allows US amateurs to operate in certain countries of the Americas
• D. The internal amateur radio practices policy of the FCC

E6B08

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

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

E4E04

34. How can conducted noise from an automobile battery charging system be suppressed?

• A. By installing filter capacitors in series with the alternator leads
• B. By installing a noise suppression resistor and a blocking capacitor at the battery
• C. By installing a high-pass filter in series with the radio's power lead and a low-pass filter in parallel with the antenna feed line
• D. By installing ferrite chokes on the charging system leads

E4D09

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

• A. To provide broadband attenuation before the first RF stage to prevent intermodulation
• B. To allow selection of the optimum RF amplifier device
• C. To increase the rejection of signals outside the band being received
• D. To store frequencies that are often used

E8A04

36. What is "dither" with respect to analog-to-digital converters?

• A. A small amount of noise added to the input signal to reduce quantization noise
• B. An error caused by irregular quantization step size
• C. A method of decimation by randomly skipping samples
• D. An abnormal condition where the converter cannot settle on a value to represent the signal

E8D11

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

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

E4C11

38. Why does input attenuation reduce receiver overload on the lower frequency HF bands with little or no impact on signal-to-noise ratio?

• A. The attenuator has a noise filter to suppress interference
• B. Signals are attenuated separately from the noise
• C. Atmospheric noise is generally greater than internally generated noise even after attenuation
• D. The attenuator has a low-pass filter to increase the strength of lower frequency signals

E5C06

39. What does the impedance 50 - j25 ohms represent?

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

E1D07

40. Which of the following HF amateur bands include allocations for space stations?

• A. 30 meters, 17 meters, and 10 meters
• B. 40 meters, 20 meters, 15 meters, and 10 meters
• C. Satellite operation is permitted on all HF bands
• D. Only 10 meters

E7E11

41. Which type of detector is used for demodulating SSB signals?

• A. Product detector
• B. Discriminator
• C. Phase comparator
• D. Phase detector

E9F03

42. Why is the electrical length of a coaxial cable longer than its physical length?

• A. Electromagnetic waves move more slowly in a coaxial cable than in air
• B. Electromagnetic waves move faster in coaxial cable than in air
• C. Skin effect is less pronounced in the coaxial cable
• D. Skin effect is more pronounced in the coaxial cable

E9C08

43. What is a folded dipole antenna?

• A. A dipole one-quarter wavelength long
• B. A center-fed dipole with the ends folded down 90 degrees at the midpoint of each side
• C. A dipole configured to provide forward gain
• D. A half-wave dipole with an additional parallel wire connecting its two ends

E6C05

44. Which of the following digital logic families has the lowest power consumption?

• A. ECL
• B. Schottky TTL
• C. NMOS
• D. CMOS

E5A05

45. What is the result of increasing the Q of an impedance-matching circuit?

• A. Matching bandwidth is increased
• B. Losses increase
• C. Matching bandwidth is decreased
• D. Harmonics increase

E4A03

46. Which of the following test instruments is used to display spurious signals and/or intermodulation distortion products generated by an SSB transmitter?

• A. Network analyzer
• B. Logic analyzer
• C. Differential resolver
• D. Spectrum analyzer

E7C04

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

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

E8C10

48. How can data rate be increased without increasing bandwidth?

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

E3C07

49. Which of the following indicates the greatest solar flare intensity?

• A. Class Z
• B. Class A
• C. Class X
• D. Class M

E9G09

50. What third family of circles is often added to a Smith chart during the process of designing impedance matching networks?

• A. Coaxial-length circles
• B. Transmission line length circles
• C. Radiation-pattern circles
• D. Constant-SWR circles