Practice Exam

E3A09

1. Which of the following frequency ranges is most suited for meteor-scatter communications?

• A. 28 MHz - 148 MHz
• B. 1.8 MHz - 1.9 MHz
• C. 220 MHz - 450 MHz
• D. 10 MHz - 14 MHz

E8C12

2. What factors affect the bandwidth of a transmitted CW signal?

• A. Keying speed and shape factor (rise and fall time)
• B. IF bandwidth and Q
• C. Modulation index and output power
• D. All these choices are correct

E2E02

3. Which of the following synchronizes WSJT-X digital mode transmit/receive timing?

• A. Alignment of frequency shifts
• B. Sync-field transmission
• C. Synchronization of computer clocks
• D. Sync-pulse timing

E2D03

4. Which of the following digital modes is designed for EME communications?

• A. Q65
• B. MSK144
• C. WSPR
• D. PACTOR III

E0A04

5. 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. Each transmitter operating with a duty cycle greater than 25 percent
• B. Each transmitter operating with a duty cycle greater than 50 percent
• 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 that produces 20 percent or more of its MPE limit in areas where the total MPE limit is exceeded

E9C06

6. What is the effect of adding a terminating resistor to a rhombic or long-wire antenna?

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

E1F11

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

E9F11

8. What impedance does a 1/8-wavelength transmission line present to an RF generator when the line is open at the far end?

• A. A capacitive reactance
• B. An inductive reactance
• C. Infinite
• D. The same as the characteristic impedance of the line

E7A03

9. Which of the following can divide the frequency of a pulse train by 2?

• A. An XOR gate
• B. A multiplexer
• C. An OR gate
• D. A flip-flop

E3C03

10. 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. Transequatorial
• B. Through the auroral oval
• C. NVIS
• D. Sporadic-E

E7B11

11. In Figure E7-1, what is the purpose of R3?

• A. Output load resistor
• B. Emitter bypass
• C. Self bias
• D. Fixed bias

E9E09

12. Which of the following is used to shunt feed a grounded tower at its base?

• A. Gamma match
• B. Beta or hairpin match
• C. All these choices are correct
• D. Double-bazooka match

E4D11

13. 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 intermodulation produces three products for every input signal within the band of interest
• D. Odd-order products are more likely to overload the IF filters

E3B02

14. What is the approximate maximum range for signals using transequatorial propagation?

• A. 2,500 miles
• B. 1,000 miles
• C. 5,000 miles
• D. 7,500 miles

E9A01

15. What is an isotropic radiator?

• A. A spacecraft antenna used to direct signals toward Earth
• B. A calibrated, unidirectional antenna used to make precise antenna gain measurements
• C. An omnidirectional, horizontally polarized, precisely calibrated antenna used to make field measurements of antenna gain
• D. A hypothetical, lossless antenna having equal radiation intensity in all directions used as a reference for antenna gain

E1D12

16. Which of the following amateur stations may transmit one-way communications?

• A. A local repeater or linked repeater station
• B. A message forwarding station or automatically controlled digital station
• C. A space station, beacon station, or telecommand station
• D. All these choices are correct

E8B01

17. What is the modulation index of an FM signal?

• A. The modulating signal frequency divided by the bandwidth of the transmitted signal
• B. The ratio of modulating signal amplitude to frequency deviation
• C. The ratio of frequency deviation to modulating signal frequency
• D. The bandwidth of the transmitted signal divided by the modulating signal frequency

E9D06

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

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

E6E10

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

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

E5B11

20. What is the phase angle between the voltage across and the current through a series RLC circuit if XC is 25 ohms, R is 100 ohms, and XL is 75 ohms?

• A. 27 degrees with the voltage leading the current
• B. 63 degrees with the voltage leading the current
• C. 63 degrees with the voltage lagging the current
• D. 27 degrees with the voltage lagging the current

E1C03

21. How long must an operator wait after filing a notification with the Utilities Technology Council (UTC) before operating on the 2200-meter or 630-meter band?

• A. Operators must not operate until approval is received
• B. Operators may operate after 30 days, providing they have not been told that their station is within 1 kilometer of PLC systems using those frequencies
• C. Operations may commence immediately, and may continue unless interference is reported by the UTC
• D. Operators may not operate until a test signal has been transmitted in coordination with the local power company

E6A08

22. What is the term for the frequency at which the grounded-base current gain of a bipolar junction transistor has decreased to 0.7 of the gain obtainable at 1 kHz?

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

E8D04

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

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

E8A09

24. How many different input levels can be encoded by an analog-to-digital converter with 8-bit resolution?

• A. 8 multiplied by the gain of the input amplifier
• B. 8
• C. 256
• D. 256 divided by the gain of the input amplifier

E7F14

25. Which of the following would allow a digital signal processing filter to create a sharper filter response?

• A. More taps
• B. Lower Q
• C. Double-precision math routines
• D. Higher data rate

E7D07

26. What is the purpose of C2 in the circuit shown in Figure E7-2?

• A. To provide fixed DC bias for Q1
• B. To prevent self-oscillation
• C. It is a brute force filter for the output
• D. It bypasses rectifier output ripple around D1

E4A08

27. Which of the following is used to measure SWR?

• A. Vector network analyzer
• B. Directional wattmeter
• C. Antenna analyzer
• D. All these choices are correct

E9G02

28. What type of coordinate system is used in a Smith chart?

• A. Voltage circles and current arcs
• B. Voltage chords and current chords
• C. Resistance lines and reactance chords
• D. Resistance circles and reactance arcs

E2A11

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

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

E6B09

30. What is a common use for point-contact diodes?

• A. As a high-voltage rectifier
• B. As a constant current source
• C. As a constant voltage source
• D. As an RF detector

E9B04

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

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

E7G01

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

• A. 10,000 ohms
• B. Very high
• C. Very low
• D. 100 ohms

E1E02

33. Who is tasked by Part 97 with maintaining the pools of questions for all US amateur license examinations?

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

E2B05

34. Which of the following describes the use of vestigial sideband in analog fast-scan TV transmissions?

• A. The vestigial sideband contains chroma information
• B. Vestigial sideband reduces the bandwidth while increasing the fidelity of low frequency video components
• C. The vestigial sideband carries the audio information
• D. Vestigial sideband provides high frequency emphasis to sharpen the picture

E6D05

35. How do ferrite and powdered iron compare for use in an inductor core?

• A. Ferrite cores generally require fewer turns to produce a given inductance value
• B. Ferrite cores are easier to use with surface-mount technology
• C. Ferrite cores generally have lower initial permeability
• D. Ferrite cores generally have better temperature stability

E6C04

36. Which of the following is an advantage of BiCMOS logic?

• A. All these choices are correct
• B. It is immune to electrostatic damage
• C. It has the high input impedance of CMOS and the low output impedance of bipolar transistors
• D. Its simplicity results in much less expensive devices than standard CMOS

E9H03

37. What is receiving directivity factor (RDF)?

• A. Relative directivity compared to a dipole
• B. Forward gain compared to the gain in the reverse direction
• C. Peak antenna gain compared to average gain over the hemisphere around and above the antenna
• D. Relative directivity compared to isotropic

E4C12

38. How does a narrow-band roofing filter affect receiver performance?

• A. It improves intelligibility by using low Q circuitry to reduce ringing
• B. It improves sensitivity by reducing front-end noise
• C. All these choices are correct
• D. It improves blocking dynamic range by attenuating strong signals near the receive frequency

E5D05

39. What parasitic characteristic causes electrolytic capacitors to be unsuitable for use at RF?

• A. Shunt capacitance
• B. Skin effect
• C. Dielectric leakage
• D. Inductance

E4B07

40. What do the subscripts of S parameters represent?

• A. The port or ports at which measurements are made
• B. The relative time between measurements
• C. Relative quality of the data
• D. Frequency order of the measurements

E5C12

41. Which point on Figure E5-1 best represents the impedance of a series circuit consisting of a 300-ohm resistor and a 19-picofarad capacitor at 21.200 MHz?

• A. Point 3
• B. Point 8
• C. Point 7
• D. Point 1

E7H05

42. How is positive feedback supplied in a Pierce oscillator?

• A. Through link coupling
• B. Through a quartz crystal
• C. Through a neutralizing capacitor
• D. Through a tapped coil

E5A11

43. 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. 23.67 kHz
• B. 315.6 Hz
• C. 157.8 Hz
• D. 47.3 kHz

E1B07

44. To what type of regulations does PRB-1 apply?

• A. FAA tower height limits
• B. State and local zoning
• C. Use of wireless devices in vehicles
• D. Homeowners associations

E7C02

45. What is the frequency response of a T-network with series capacitors and a shunt inductor?

• A. Band-pass
• B. High-pass
• C. Low-pass
• D. Notch

E7E05

46. What is added to an FM speech channel to boost the higher audio frequencies?

• A. A harmonic enhancer
• B. A pre-emphasis network
• C. A heterodyne enhancer
• D. A de-emphasis network

E1A02

47. When using a transceiver that displays the carrier frequency of phone signals, which of the following displayed frequencies represents the lowest frequency at which a properly adjusted LSB emission will be totally within the band?

• A. 300 Hz above the lower band edge
• B. 1 kHz above the lower band edge
• C. The exact lower band edge
• D. 3 kHz above the lower band edge

E2C04

48. Which of the following frequencies can be used for amateur radio mesh networks?

• A. The 60-meter band channel centered on 5373 kHz
• B. HF frequencies where digital communications are permitted
• C. Frequencies shared with various unlicensed wireless data services
• D. Cable TV channels 41-43

E6F09

49. What is the efficiency of a photovoltaic cell?

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

E4E06

50. What type of electrical interference can be caused by computer network equipment?

• A. A whining-type noise that continually pulses off and on
• B. A clicking noise at intervals of a few seconds
• C. A loud AC hum in the audio output of your station's receiver
• D. The appearance of unstable modulated or unmodulated signals at specific frequencies