Practice Exam

E2B06

1. What is vestigial sideband modulation?

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

E7G12

2. What is an operational amplifier?

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

E8B10

3. What is frequency division multiplexing (FDM)?

• A. The transmitted signal jumps from band to band at a predetermined rate
• B. Dividing the transmitted signal into separate frequency bands that each carry a different data stream
• C. Two or more information streams are merged into a digital combiner, which then pulse position modulates the transmitter
• D. The transmitted signal is divided into packets of information

E7C04

4. 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. It introduces negative resistance to cancel the resistive part of impedance
• C. Reactive currents are dissipated in matched resistances
• D. It introduces transconductance to cancel the reactive part of impedance

E2A11

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

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

E8D04

6. What is the primary effect of extremely short rise or fall time on a CW signal?

• A. More difficult to tune
• B. The generation of key clicks
• C. More difficult to copy
• D. The generation of RF harmonics

E4E14

7. What is the purpose of a single point ground panel?

• A. Eliminate air gaps between protected and non-protected circuits
• B. Prevent common-mode transients in multi-wire systems
• C. Ensure all lightning protectors activate at the same time
• D. Remove AC power in case of a short-circuit

E8A08

8. Why are direct or flash conversion analog-to-digital converters used for a software defined radio?

• A. Very low power consumption decreases frequency drift
• B. Immunity to out-of-sequence coding reduces spurious responses
• C. Very high speed allows digitizing high frequencies
• D. All these choices are correct

E7H11

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

• A. Digital conversion noise
• B. Spurious signals at discrete frequencies
• C. Broadband noise
• D. Harmonics of the local oscillator

E6D03

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

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

E3C10

11. What does the 304A solar parameter measure?

• A. The solar wind velocity at an angle of 304 degrees from the solar equator, correlated to geomagnetic storms
• B. UV emissions at 304 angstroms, correlated to the solar flux index
• C. The solar emission at 304 GHz, correlated to X-ray flare levels
• D. The ratio of X-ray flux to radio flux, correlated to sunspot number

E1A09

12. Except in some parts of Alaska, what is the maximum power permitted on the 630-meter band?

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

E5D02

13. Why is it important to keep lead lengths short for components used in circuits for VHF and above?

• A. To minimize inductive reactance
• B. All these choices are correct
• C. To increase the thermal time constant
• D. To maintain component lifetime

E0A03

14. Over what range of frequencies are the FCC human body RF exposure limits most restrictive?

• A. 300 kHz - 3 MHz
• B. 3 - 30 MHz
• C. 300 - 3000 MHz
• D. 30 - 300 MHz

E6B06

15. Which of the following is a common use of a Schottky diode?

• A. In power supplies as a constant voltage reference
• B. As a variable capacitance in an automatic frequency control circuit
• C. In oscillator circuits as the negative resistance element
• D. As a VHF/UHF mixer or detector

E5C05

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

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

E5A01

17. What can cause the voltage across reactances in a series RLC circuit to be higher than the voltage applied to the entire circuit?

• A. Resistance
• B. Low quality factor (Q)
• C. Capacitance
• D. Resonance

E6F01

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

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

E1B03

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

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

E8C01

20. What is Quadrature Amplitude Modulation or QAM?

• A. Transmission of data by modulating the amplitude of two carriers of the same frequency but 90 degrees out of phase
• B. A technique for analog modulation of television video signals using phase modulation and compression
• C. A technique for digital data compression used in digital television which removes redundancy in the data by comparing bit amplitudes
• D. A method of performing single sideband modulation by shifting the phase of the carrier and modulation components of the signal

E1F11

21. Which of the following best describes one of the standards that must be met by an external RF power amplifier if it is to qualify for a grant of FCC certification?

• A. It must produce full legal output when driven by not more than 5 watts of mean RF input power
• B. It must have received an Underwriters Laboratory certification for electrical safety as well as having met IEEE standard 14.101(B)
• C. It must satisfy the FCC's spurious emission standards when operated at the lesser of 1500 watts or its full output power
• D. It must exhibit a gain of less than 23 dB when driven by 10 watts or less

E2E08

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

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

E3A11

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

• A. 2,500 miles
• B. 100 miles to 300 miles
• C. 10 miles to 50 miles
• D. 1,200 miles

E4B02

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

• A. The full scale reading in amps divided by ohms per volt rating will determine the size of shunt needed
• B. The full scale reading of the voltmeter multiplied by its ohms per volt rating is the input impedance of the voltmeter
• C. The reading in volts multiplied by the ohms per volt rating will determine the power drawn by the device under test
• D. The reading in ohms divided by the ohms per volt rating will determine the voltage applied to the circuit

E5B03

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

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

E1D07

26. 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. Only 10 meters
• D. Satellite operation is permitted on all HF bands

E9C13

27. How does the radiation pattern of a horizontally polarized antenna vary with increasing height above ground?

• A. The takeoff angle of the lowest elevation lobe increases
• B. The horizontal beamwidth decreases
• C. The takeoff angle of the lowest elevation lobe decreases
• D. The horizontal beamwidth increases

E2C01

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

• A. No additional indicator is required
• B. / followed by the ARRL Section of the remote station
• 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

E9B06

29. What is the elevation angle of peak response in the antenna radiation pattern shown in Figure E9-2?

• A. 25 degrees
• B. 75 degrees
• C. 7.5 degrees
• D. 45 degrees

E7F11

30. What sets the minimum detectable signal level for a direct-sampling software defined receiver in the absence of atmospheric or thermal noise?

• A. Reference voltage level and sample width in bits
• B. Missing codes and jitter
• C. Sample clock phase noise
• D. Data storage transfer rate

E9D06

31. What happens to 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 unchanged if the loading coil is located at a voltage maximum point
• D. It is decreased

E9G03

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

• A. Beam headings and radiation patterns
• B. Impedance and SWR values in transmission lines
• C. Point-to-point propagation reliability as a function of frequency
• D. Satellite azimuth and elevation bearings

E9E07

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

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

E2D05

34. What is the characteristic of the JT65 mode?

• A. Symbol rate is 65 baud
• B. Decodes signals with a very low signal-to-noise ratio
• C. Permits fast-scan TV transmissions over narrow bandwidth
• D. Uses only a 65 Hz bandwidth

E7D12

35. What is the dropout voltage of a linear voltage regulator?

• A. Minimum input voltage for rated power dissipation
• B. Minimum input-to-output voltage required to maintain regulation
• C. Maximum output voltage drop when the input voltage is varied over its specified range
• D. Maximum that the output voltage may decrease at rated load

E7A06

36. What is a characteristic of a monostable multivibrator?

• A. It maintains a constant output voltage, regardless of variations in the input voltage
• B. It switches temporarily to an alternate state for a set time
• C. It stores one bit of data
• D. It produces a continuous square wave

E6C09

37. What is used to design the configuration of a field-programmable gate array (FPGA)?

• A. Machine and assembly language
• B. An auto-router
• C. Hardware description language (HDL)
• D. Karnaugh maps

E4C05

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

• A. The receiver noise is 6 dB above the theoretical minimum
• B. The receiver noise is 3 dB above theoretical minimum
• C. The theoretical noise in a 1 Hz bandwidth at the input of a perfect receiver at room temperature
• D. The noise figure of a 1 Hz bandwidth receiver

E9A09

39. What is antenna efficiency?

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

E3B05

40. Which of the following paths is most likely to support long-distance propagation on 160 meters?

• A. A path entirely in sunlight
• B. Paths at high latitudes
• C. A path entirely in darkness
• D. A direct north-south path

E4A10

41. Which trigger mode is most effective when using an oscilloscope to measure a linear power supply's output ripple?

• A. Level
• B. Single-shot
• C. Edge
• D. Line

E9F01

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

• A. The ratio of its characteristic impedance to its termination impedance
• B. The velocity of a wave in the transmission line multiplied by the velocity of light in a vacuum
• C. The ratio of its termination impedance to its characteristic impedance
• D. The velocity of a wave in the transmission line divided by the velocity of light in a vacuum

E6A03

43. Why does a PN-junction diode not conduct current when reverse biased?

• A. Holes in P-type material and electrons in the N-type material are separated by the applied voltage, widening the depletion region
• B. Only P-type semiconductor material can conduct current
• C. Only N-type semiconductor material can conduct current
• D. Excess holes in P-type material combine with the electrons in N-type material, converting the entire diode into an insulator

E9H06

44. What indicates the correct value of terminating resistance for a Beverage antenna?

• A. Maximum feed point DC resistance at the center of the desired frequency range
• B. Minimum low-angle front-to-back ratio at the design frequency
• C. Maximum DC current in the terminating resistor
• D. Minimum variation in SWR over the desired frequency range

E1E07

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

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

E6E08

46. How is power supplied to the most common type of MMIC?

• A. Directly to the bias voltage (Vcc) lead
• B. Through a resistor and/or RF choke connected to the amplifier output lead
• C. MMICs require no operating bias
• D. Through a capacitor and RF choke connected to the amplifier input lead

E7B04

47. What is the operating point of a Class A common emitter amplifier?

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

E1C08

48. What is the maximum permissible duration of a remotely controlled station's transmissions if its control link malfunctions?

• A. 10 minutes
• B. 5 minutes
• C. 3 minutes
• D. 30 seconds

E7E02

49. What is the function of a reactance modulator?

• A. Produce AM signals by varying a resistance
• B. Produce PM or FM signals by varying a capacitance
• C. Produce PM or FM signals by varying a resistance
• D. Produce AM signals by varying an inductance

E4D11

50. Why are odd-order intermodulation products, created within a receiver, of particular interest compared to other products?

• A. Odd-order products are an indication of poor image rejection
• B. Odd-order products of two signals in the band being received are also likely to be within the band
• C. Odd-order products are more likely to overload the IF filters
• D. Odd-order intermodulation produces three products for every input signal within the band of interest