Practice Exam

E8A08

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

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

E2B03

2. How is an interlaced scanning pattern generated in a fast-scan (NTSC) television system?

• A. By scanning odd-numbered lines in one field and even-numbered lines in the next
• B. By scanning lines from left-to-right in one field and right-to-left in the next
• C. By scanning two fields simultaneously
• D. By scanning each field from bottom-to-top

E7B08

3. Why are switching amplifiers more efficient than linear amplifiers?

• A. Linear amplifiers have high gain resulting in higher harmonic content
• B. Switching amplifiers use push-pull circuits
• C. Switching amplifiers operate at higher voltages
• D. The switching device is at saturation or cutoff most of the time

E9F04

4. What impedance does a 1/2-wavelength transmission line present to an RF generator when the line is shorted at the far end?

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

E9C07

5. What is the approximate feed point impedance at the center of a two-wire half-wave folded dipole antenna?

• A. 450 ohms
• B. 50 ohms
• C. 300 ohms
• D. 72 ohms

E6D10

6. What is a primary advantage of using a toroidal core instead of a solenoidal core in an inductor?

• A. Toroidal cores confine most of the magnetic field within the core material
• B. Toroidal cores make it easier to couple the magnetic energy into other components
• C. Toroidal cores have lower Q characteristics
• D. Toroidal cores exhibit greater hysteresis

E5B04

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

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

E6E10

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

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

E7C06

9. What are the characteristics of an elliptical filter?

• A. Gradual passband rolloff with extreme stop-band ripple
• B. Extremely sharp cutoff with one or more notches in the stop band
• C. Gradual passband rolloff with minimal stop-band ripple
• D. Extremely flat response over its pass band with gradually rounded stop-band corners

E7F09

10. Why is an anti-aliasing filter required in a decimator?

• A. It peaks the response of the decimator, improving bandwidth
• B. It removes high-frequency signal components that would otherwise be reproduced as lower frequency components
• C. It removes low-frequency signal components to eliminate the need for DC restoration
• D. It notches out the sampling frequency to avoid sampling errors

E7D01

11. How does a linear electronic voltage regulator work?

• A. The conduction of a control element is varied to maintain a constant output voltage
• B. It has a ramp voltage as its output
• C. It eliminates the need for a pass transistor
• D. The control element duty cycle is proportional to the line or load conditions

E8D03

12. Which describes spread spectrum frequency hopping?

• 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. RF signals are clipped to generate a wide band of harmonics which provides redundancy to correct errors
• D. Rapidly varying the frequency of a transmitted signal according to a pseudorandom sequence

E1B06

13. Which of the following additional rules apply if you are erecting an amateur station antenna structure at a site at or near a public use airport?

• A. You may have to enter the height above ground in meters, and the latitude and longitude in degrees, minutes, and seconds on the FAA website
• B. You must file an Environmental Impact Statement with the EPA before construction begins
• C. You may have to notify the Federal Aviation Administration and register it with the FCC as required by Part 17 of the FCC rules
• D. You must obtain a construction permit from the airport zoning authority per Part 119 of the FAA regulations

E7A08

14. What logical operation does an OR gate perform?

• A. It produces a 1 at its output if all inputs are 0
• B. It produces a 1 at its output if any input is 1
• C. It produces a 0 at its output if some but not all inputs are 1
• D. It produces a 0 at its output if all inputs are 1

E8B06

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

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

E1D12

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

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

E4C06

17. How much does increasing a receiver's bandwidth from 50 Hz to 1,000 Hz increase the receiver's noise floor?

• A. 13 dB
• B. 10 dB
• C. 3 dB
• D. 5 dB

E1E11

18. What must the VE team do if an examinee scores a passing grade on all examination elements needed for an upgrade or new license?

• A. Three VEs must certify that the examinee is qualified for the license grant and that they have complied with the administering VE requirements
• B. All these choices are correct
• C. Issue the examinee the new or upgrade license
• D. Photocopy all examination documents and forward them to the FCC for processing

E2A11

19. 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

E9G04

20. What are the two families of circles and arcs that make up a Smith chart?

• A. Inductance and capacitance
• B. Voltage and impedance
• C. Resistance and reactance
• D. Reactance and voltage

E9H04

21. What is the purpose of placing an electrostatic shield around a small-loop direction-finding antenna?

• A. It eliminates unbalanced capacitive coupling to the antenna's surroundings, improving the depth of its nulls
• B. It adds capacitive loading, increasing the bandwidth of the antenna
• C. It eliminates tracking errors caused by strong out-of-band signals
• D. It increases signal strength by providing a better match to the feed line

E3C03

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

E6F03

23. What is the most common configuration of an optoisolator or optocoupler?

• A. A frequency-modulated helium-neon laser
• B. An amplitude-modulated helium-neon laser
• C. A lens and a photomultiplier
• D. An LED and a phototransistor

E0A02

24. 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 controlled maximum permissible exposure (MPE) limits
• B. Ensure signals from your station are less than the uncontrolled maximum permissible emission (MPE) limits
• C. Ensure signals from your station are less than the controlled maximum permissible emission (MPE) limits
• D. Ensure signals from your station are less than the uncontrolled maximum permissible exposure (MPE) limits

E9B05

25. What type of antenna pattern is shown in Figure E9-2?

• A. Polarization
• B. Azimuth
• C. Near field
• D. Elevation

E2C04

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

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

E5D11

27. How much real power is consumed in a circuit consisting of a 100-ohm resistor in series with a 100-ohm inductive reactance drawing 1 ampere?

• A. 100 watts
• B. 70.7 watts
• C. 200 watts
• D. 141.4 watts

E4D09

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

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

E9A05

29. What does the term "ground gain" mean?

• A. The gain of the antenna with respect to a dipole at ground level
• B. An increase in signal strength from ground reflections in the environment of the antenna
• C. To force net gain to 0 dB by grounding part of the antenna
• D. The change in signal strength caused by grounding the antenna

E8C01

30. What is Quadrature Amplitude Modulation or QAM?

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

E3B07

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

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

E9D07

32. What is an advantage of top loading an electrically short HF vertical antenna?

• A. Greater structural strength
• B. Higher losses
• C. Improved radiation efficiency
• D. Lower Q

E4A06

33. What is the effect of aliasing on a digital oscilloscope when displaying a waveform?

• A. The waveform DC offset will be inaccurate
• B. A false, jittery low-frequency version of the waveform is displayed
• C. Calibration of the vertical scale is no longer valid
• D. Excessive blanking occurs, which prevents display of the waveform

E2D03

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

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

E1F04

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

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

E5A09

36. How is the Q of an RLC parallel resonant circuit calculated?

• A. Reactance of either the inductance or capacitance multiplied by the resistance
• B. Resistance divided by the reactance of either the inductance or capacitance
• C. Reactance of the inductance multiplied by the reactance of the capacitance
• D. Reactance of either the inductance or capacitance divided by the resistance

E4E06

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

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

E1C06

38. Which of the following is required in order to operate in accordance with CEPT rules in foreign countries where permitted?

• A. You must identify in the official language of the country in which you are operating
• B. The US embassy must approve of your operation
• C. You must append "/CEPT" to your call sign
• D. You must have a copy of FCC Public Notice DA 16-1048

E6B11

39. What is used to control the attenuation of RF signals by a PIN diode?

• A. A variable RF reference voltage
• B. Capacitance of an RF coupling capacitor
• C. Reverse voltage larger than the RF signal
• D. Forward DC bias current

E3A01

40. What is the approximate maximum separation measured along the surface of the Earth between two stations communicating by EME?

• A. 2,000 miles, if the moon is at perigee
• B. 5,000 miles, if the moon is at perigee
• C. 2,000 miles, if the moon is at apogee
• D. 12,000 miles, if the moon is "visible" by both stations

E4B04

41. Which S parameter represents input port return loss or reflection coefficient (equivalent to VSWR)?

• A. S11
• B. S22
• C. S12
• D. S21

E7E07

42. What is meant by the term "baseband" in radio communications?

• A. The frequency range occupied by a message signal prior to modulation
• B. The basic oscillator frequency in an FM transmitter that is multiplied to increase the deviation and carrier frequency
• C. The lowest frequency band that the transmitter or receiver covers
• D. The unmodulated bandwidth of the transmitted signal

E2E09

43. Which of the following HF digital modes uses variable-length character coding?

• A. PACTOR
• B. PSK31
• C. RTTY
• D. MT63

E9E05

44. What Yagi driven element feed point impedance is required to use a beta or hairpin matching system?

• A. Capacitive (driven element electrically shorter than 1/2 wavelength)
• B. Purely resistive
• C. Purely reactive
• D. Inductive (driven element electrically longer than 1/2 wavelength)

E5C11

45. Which point in Figure E5-1 best represents the impedance of a series circuit consisting of a 300-ohm resistor and an 18-microhenry inductor at 3.505 MHz?

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

E1A05

46. Who must be in physical control of the station apparatus of an amateur station aboard any vessel or craft that is documented or registered in the United States?

• A. Only a person with an FCC Marine Radio license grant
• B. Only a person named in an amateur station license grant
• C. Any person named in an amateur station license grant or a person holding an unrestricted Radiotelephone Operator Permit
• D. Any person holding an FCC issued amateur license or who is authorized for alien reciprocal operation

E6C07

47. What best describes a pull-up or pull-down resistor?

• A. A resistor that ensures that an oscillator frequency does not drift
• B. A resistor connected to the positive or negative supply used to establish a voltage when an input or output is an open circuit
• C. A resistor connected to an op-amp output that prevents signals from exceeding the power supply voltage
• D. A resistor in a keying circuit used to reduce key clicks

E7H06

48. Which of these functions can be performed by a phase-locked loop?

• A. Frequency synthesis and FM demodulation
• B. Wide-band AF and RF power amplification
• C. Comparison of two digital input signals and digital pulse counting
• D. Photovoltaic conversion and optical coupling

E7G08

49. How does the gain of an ideal operational amplifier vary with frequency?

• A. It decreases logarithmically with increasing frequency
• B. It does not vary with frequency
• C. It decreases linearly with increasing frequency
• D. It increases linearly with increasing frequency

E6A02

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

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