Practice Exam

E4D05

1. What transmitter frequencies would create an intermodulation-product signal in a receiver tuned to 146.70 MHz when a nearby station transmits on 146.52 MHz?

• A. 146.34 MHz and 146.61 MHz
• B. 146.88 MHz and 146.34 MHz
• C. 146.10 MHz and 147.30 MHz
• D. 146.30 MHz and 146.90 MHz

E9D04

2. Why should antenna loading coils have a high ratio of reactance to resistance?

• A. To lower the radiation angle
• B. To maximize efficiency
• C. To swamp out harmonics
• D. To minimize the Q

E1A02

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

E9C13

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

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

E4B03

5. Which S parameter is equivalent to forward gain?

• A. S21
• B. S12
• C. S11
• D. S22

E6E06

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

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

E5A09

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

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

E4E09

8. What undesirable effect can occur when using a noise blanker?

• A. Received audio in the speech range might have an echo effect
• B. FM signals can no longer be demodulated
• C. The audio frequency bandwidth of the received signal might be compressed
• D. Strong signals may be distorted and appear to cause spurious emissions

E6F05

9. Which of the following describes an optical shaft encoder?

• A. A device for generating RTTY signals by means of a rotating light source
• B. A device that measures the strength of a beam of light using analog-to-digital conversion
• C. An optical computing device in which light is coupled between devices by fiber optics
• D. A device that detects rotation by interrupting a light source with a patterned wheel

E7D09

10. How is battery operating time calculated?

• A. Average current divided by capacity in amp-hours
• B. Average current divided by internal resistance
• C. Internal resistance divided by average current
• D. Capacity in amp-hours divided by average current

E4A05

11. What is the purpose of using a prescaler with a frequency counter?

• A. Prevent oscillation in a low-frequency counter circuit
• B. Multiply a higher frequency signal so a low-frequency counter can display the operating frequency
• C. Amplify low-level signals for more accurate counting
• D. Reduce the signal frequency to within the counter's operating range

E6B05

12. What characteristic of a PIN diode makes it useful as an RF switch?

• A. Reverse bias controls its forward voltage drop
• B. Extremely high reverse breakdown voltage
• C. Low junction capacitance
• D. Ability to dissipate large amounts of power

E8B11

13. What is digital time division multiplexing?

• A. Two or more signals are quadrature modulated to increase bandwidth efficiency
• B. Two or more data streams are assigned to discrete sub-carriers on an FM transmitter
• C. Two or more data streams share the same channel by transmitting time of transmission as the sub-carrier
• D. Two or more signals are arranged to share discrete time slots of a data transmission

E5C04

14. What type of Y-axis scale is most often used for graphs of circuit frequency response?

• A. Scatter
• B. Random
• C. Linear
• D. Logarithmic

E3C01

15. What is the cause of short-term radio blackouts?

• A. Sunspots on the solar equator
• B. Coronal mass ejections
• C. Solar flares
• D. North-oriented interplanetary magnetic field

E7F03

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

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

E9F07

17. How does parallel conductor transmission line compare to coaxial cable with a plastic dielectric?

• A. Lower loss
• B. Smaller reflection coefficient
• C. Higher SWR
• D. Lower velocity factor

E7E06

18. Why is de-emphasis used in FM communications receivers?

• A. For compatibility with transmitters using phase modulation
• B. To reduce impulse noise reception
• C. To remove third-order distortion products
• D. For higher efficiency

E9A02

19. What is the effective radiated power (ERP) of a repeater station with 150 watts transmitter power output, 2 dB feed line loss, 2.2 dB duplexer loss, and 7 dBd antenna gain?

• A. 469 watts
• B. 420 watts
• C. 286 watts
• D. 78.7 watts

E5D02

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

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

E2C12

21. What indicates the delay between a control operator action and the corresponding change in the transmitted signal?

• A. Latency
• B. Anti-VOX
• C. Jitter
• D. Hang time

E1C12

22. In what portion of the 630-meter band are phone emissions permitted?

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

E8A09

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

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

E9E07

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

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

E6C07

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

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

E1D07

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

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

E7C03

27. What is the purpose of adding an inductor to a Pi-network to create a Pi-L-network?

• A. Higher efficiency
• B. Greater transformation range
• C. To eliminate one capacitor
• D. Greater harmonic suppression

E8C03

28. Why should the phase of a PSK signal be changed at the zero crossing of the RF signal?

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

E3A03

29. 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 full
• C. When the Moon is at apogee
• D. When the MUF is above 30 MHz

E8D07

30. What is a common cause of overmodulation of AFSK signals?

• A. Excessive transmit audio levels
• B. Excessive frequency deviation
• C. Excessive numbers of retries
• D. Bit errors in the modem

E3B10

31. What is the effect of chordal-hop propagation?

• A. The MUF for chordal-hop propagation is much lower than for normal skip propagation
• B. The signal experiences less loss compared to multi-hop propagation, which uses Earth as a reflector
• C. Signals travel faster along ionospheric chords
• D. Atmospheric noise is reduced in the direction of chordal-hop propagation

E7A07

32. What logical operation does a NAND gate perform?

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

E7G12

33. What is an operational amplifier?

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

E9G03

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

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

E1E04

35. What is required to be accredited as a Volunteer Examiner?

• A. The prospective VE must obtain accreditation from the FCC
• B. The amateur operator applying must pass a VE examination administered by the FCC Enforcement Bureau
• C. A VEC must confirm that the VE applicant meets FCC requirements to serve as an examiner
• D. Each General, Advanced and Amateur Extra class operator is automatically accredited as a VE when the license is granted

E9H05

36. What challenge is presented by a small wire-loop antenna for direction finding?

• A. It has a bidirectional null pattern
• B. It does not have a clearly defined null
• C. It is practical for use only on VHF and higher bands
• D. All these choices are correct

E5B07

37. What is the phase angle between the voltage across and the current through a series RLC circuit if XC is 500 ohms, R is 1 kilohm, and XL is 250 ohms?

• A. 68.2 degrees with the voltage lagging the current
• B. 14.0 degrees with the voltage lagging the current
• C. 68.2 degrees with the voltage leading the current
• D. 14.0 degrees with the voltage leading the current

E4C03

38. What is the term for the suppression in an FM receiver of one signal by another stronger signal on the same frequency?

• A. Desensitization
• B. Capture effect
• C. Frequency discrimination
• D. Cross-modulation interference

E7H08

39. Which of the following components can be used to reduce thermal drift in crystal oscillators?

• A. Toroidal inductors
• B. Non-inductive resistors
• C. NP0 capacitors
• D. Wirewound resistors

E0A02

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

E2E09

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

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

E7B03

42. What circuit is required at the output of an RF switching amplifier?

• A. A high-pass filter to compensate for low gain at low frequencies
• B. A temperature compensating load resistor to improve linearity
• C. A matched load resistor to prevent damage by switching transients
• D. A filter to remove harmonic content

E6D02

43. What is the equivalent circuit of a quartz crystal?

• A. Series RLC in parallel with a shunt C representing electrode and stray capacitance
• B. Series RLC, where C is the parallel combination of resonance capacitance of the crystal and electrode and stray capacitance
• C. Parallel RLC, where C is the series combination of resonance capacitance of the crystal and electrode and stray capacitance
• D. Parallel RLC, where C is the parallel combination of resonance capacitance of the crystal and electrode and stray capacitance

E9B09

44. What type of analysis is commonly used for modeling antennas?

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

E6A08

45. 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. Beta cutoff frequency
• C. Corner frequency
• D. Alpha rejection frequency

E1B06

46. 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 must file an Environmental Impact Statement with the EPA before construction begins
• B. You must obtain a construction permit from the airport zoning authority per Part 119 of the FAA regulations
• 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 may have to enter the height above ground in meters, and the latitude and longitude in degrees, minutes, and seconds on the FAA website

E2A09

47. What do the terms "L band" and "S band" specify?

• A. Which sideband to use
• B. FM and digital store-and-forward systems
• C. The 2-meter and 70-centimeter bands
• D. The 23- and 13-centimeter bands

E2D05

48. What is the characteristic of the JT65 mode?

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

E1F04

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

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

E2B02

50. How many horizontal lines make up a fast-scan (NTSC) television frame?

• A. 30
• B. 60
• C. 525
• D. 1080