Practice Exam

T1A03

1. What do the FCC rules state regarding the use of a phonetic alphabet for station identification in the Amateur Radio Service?

• A. It is encouraged
• B. It is required when in contact with foreign stations
• C. All these choices are correct
• D. It is required when transmitting emergency messages

T3B02

2. What property of a radio wave defines its polarization?

• A. The ratio of the velocity to the wavelength
• B. The orientation of the magnetic field
• C. The orientation of the electric field
• D. The ratio of the energy in the magnetic field to the energy in the electric field

T3A11

3. Which region of the atmosphere can refract or bend HF and VHF radio waves?

• A. The troposphere
• B. The stratosphere
• C. The ionosphere
• D. The mesosphere

T7C08

4. Which instrument can be used to determine SWR?

• A. Voltmeter
• B. Iambic pentameter
• C. Ohmmeter
• D. Directional wattmeter

T0C06

5. Which of the following is an acceptable method to determine whether your station complies with FCC RF exposure regulations?

• A. By calculation based on FCC OET Bulletin 65
• B. By calculation based on computer modeling
• C. All these choices are correct
• D. By measurement of field strength using calibrated equipment

T3C06

6. What type of propagation is responsible for allowing over-the-horizon VHF and UHF communications to ranges of approximately 300 miles on a regular basis?

• A. D region refraction
• B. Faraday rotation
• C. Tropospheric ducting
• D. F2 region refraction

T0B09

7. Why should you avoid attaching an antenna to a utility pole?

• A. The antenna will not work properly because of induced voltages
• B. All these choices are correct
• C. The antenna could contact high-voltage power lines
• D. The 60 Hz radiations from the feed line may increase the SWR

T7A05

8. What is the name of a circuit that generates a signal at a specific frequency?

• A. Low-pass filter
• B. Phase modulator
• C. Oscillator
• D. Reactance modulator

T8B12

9. Which of the following is a way to determine whether your satellite uplink power is neither too low nor too high?

• A. Check your signal strength report in the telemetry data
• B. Your signal strength on the downlink should be about the same as the beacon
• C. Listen for distortion on your downlink signal
• D. All these choices are correct

T6B04

10. Which of the following components can consist of three regions of semiconductor material?

• A. Triode
• B. Transistor
• C. Pentagrid converter
• D. Alternator

T5D01

11. What formula is used to calculate current in a circuit?

• A. I = E / R
• B. I = E - R
• C. I = E * R
• D. I = E + R

T5A09

12. Which of the following describes alternating current?

• A. Current that alternates between positive and negative directions
• B. Current that alternates between a positive direction and zero
• C. Current that alternates between a negative direction and zero
• D. All these answers are correct

T8D10

13. Which of the following operating activities is supported by digital mode software in the WSJT-X software suite?

• A. Earth-Moon-Earth
• B. Weak signal propagation beacons
• C. Meteor scatter
• D. All these choices are correct

T7B03

14. Which of the following can cause radio frequency interference?

• A. Spurious emissions
• B. Fundamental overload
• C. Harmonics
• D. All these choices are correct

T1B09

15. Why should you not set your transmit frequency to be exactly at the edge of an amateur band or sub-band?

• A. To allow for transmitter frequency drift
• B. To allow for calibration error in the transmitter frequency display
• C. All these choices are correct
• D. So that modulation sidebands do not extend beyond the band edge

T8C05

16. What is a grid locator?

• A. A letter-number designator assigned to a geographic location
• B. An instrument for neutralizing a final amplifier
• C. An instrument for radio direction finding
• D. A letter-number designator assigned to an azimuth and elevation

T1E02

17. Who may be the control operator of a station communicating through an amateur satellite or space station?

• A. Any amateur allowed to transmit on the satellite uplink frequency
• B. Only an Amateur Extra Class operator
• C. A General class or higher licensee with a satellite operator certification
• D. Only an Amateur Extra Class operator who is also an AMSAT member

T2B09

18. Why are simplex channels designated in the VHF/UHF band plans?

• A. For contest operation
• B. For working DX only
• C. So stations within range of each other can communicate without tying up a repeater
• D. So stations with simple transmitters can access the repeater without automated offset

T5C11

19. How much current is required to deliver 120 watts at a voltage of 12 volts DC?

• A. 10 amperes
• B. 132 amperes
• C. 12 amperes
• D. 0.1 amperes

T1D08

20. In which of the following circumstances may the control operator of an amateur station receive compensation for operating that station?

• A. All these choices are correct
• B. When the communication is made to obtain emergency information for a local broadcast station
• C. When the communication is related to the sale of amateur equipment by the control operator's employer
• D. When the communication is incidental to classroom instruction at an educational institution

T6A08

21. What is the function of an SPDT switch?

• A. Two circuits are opened or closed
• B. Two circuits are each switched between one of two other circuits
• C. A single circuit is opened or closed
• D. A single circuit is switched between one of two other circuits

T7D07

22. Which of the following measurements are made using a multimeter?

• A. All these choices are correct
• B. Impedance and reactance
• C. Signal strength and noise
• D. Voltage and resistance

T9B05

23. What happens as the frequency of a signal in coaxial cable is increased?

• A. The characteristic impedance decreases
• B. The loss decreases
• C. The loss increases
• D. The characteristic impedance increases

T6D07

24. Which of the following is commonly used as a visual indicator?

• A. Zener diode
• B. Bipolar transistor
• C. LED
• D. FET

T5B10

25. Which decibel value most closely represents a power decrease from 12 watts to 3 watts?

• A. -1 dB
• B. -9 dB
• C. -3 dB
• D. -6 dB

T9A10

26. In which direction does a half-wave dipole antenna radiate the strongest signal?

• A. Off the ends of the antenna
• B. Broadside to the antenna
• C. In the direction of the feed line
• D. Equally in all directions

T8A03

27. Which type of voice mode is often used for long-distance (weak signal) contacts on the VHF and UHF bands?

• A. PM
• B. SSB
• C. DRM
• D. FM

T0A10

28. What hazard is caused by charging or discharging a battery too quickly?

• A. Excess output ripple
• B. Overheating or out-gassing
• C. Inverse memory effect
• D. Half-wave rectification

T4B05

29. What does the scanning function of an FM transceiver do?

• A. Checks incoming signal deviation
• B. Checks for messages left on a digital bulletin board
• C. Prevents interference to nearby repeaters
• D. Tunes through a range of frequencies to check for activity

T1F09

30. What type of amateur station simultaneously retransmits the signal of another amateur station on a different channel or channels?

• A. Repeater station
• B. Earth station
• C. Message forwarding station
• D. Beacon station

T4A04

31. How are the transceiver audio input and output connected in a station configured to operate using FT8?

• A. To an FT8 conversion unit, a keyboard, and a computer monitor
• B. To the audio input and output of a computer running WSJT-X software
• C. To a computer running a terminal program and connected to a terminal node controller unit
• D. To a computer connected to the FT8converter.com website

T6C04

32. What is component 3 in figure T-1?

• A. Ground symbol
• B. Resistor
• C. Lamp
• D. Transistor

T2C11

33. What is meant by "check" in a radiogram header?

• A. The number of words or word equivalents in the text portion of the message
• B. The call sign of the originating station
• C. A box on the message form that indicates that the message was received and/or relayed
• D. A list of stations that have relayed the message

T1C10

34. How soon after passing the examination for your first amateur radio license may you transmit on the amateur radio bands?

• A. As soon as your operator/station license grant appears in the FCC's license database
• B. As soon as you receive your license in the mail from the FCC
• C. As soon as your operator/station license grant appears on the ARRL website
• D. Immediately on receiving your Certificate of Successful Completion of Examination (CSCE)

T2A08

35. What is the meaning of the procedural signal "CQ"?

• A. Only the called station should transmit
• B. Test transmission, no reply expected
• C. Call on the quarter hour
• D. Calling any station