Amateur Radio for Smart People
From the realm of “Good Operating Practice” we get our question of the week from the Amateur Extra exam. [E2C11] How should you generally identify your station when attempting to contact a DX station working a pileup or in a contest? A. Send your full call sign once or twice B. Send only the last … Read more
This week’s General question comes from the section on circuit components. [G5C14] Which of the following components should be added to an inductor to increase the inductance? A. A capacitor in series B. A resistor in parallel C. An inductor in parallel D. An inductor in series The answer, is D. An inductor in series. … Read more
From the Technician pool today we look at a question relating to a common issue in amateur radio, SWR, or Standing Wave Ratio. [T9B09] What might cause erratic changes in SWR readings? A. The transmitter is being modulated B. A loose connection in an antenna or a feed line C. The transmitter is being over-modulated … Read more
Which of the following is a disadvantage of using wind as the primary source of power for an emergency station? [G4E11] A. The conversion efficiency from mechanical energy to electrical energy is less than 2 percent B. The voltage and current ratings of such systems are not compatible with amateur equipment C. A large energy … Read more
This week’s Technician question is another one where we can apply a little logic and the process of elimination…. [T6D05] What type of circuit controls the amount of voltage from a power supply? A. Regulator B. Oscillator C. Filter D. Phase inverter Well, first off lets just stop and think for a minute. Control, … Read more
Which of these modes is most affected by non-linear phase response in a receiver IF filter? [E7C14] A. Meteor Scatter B. Single-Sideband voice C. Digital D. Video The answer is C. Digital. Why? Well, for one, the question is pretty vague. If you’re using a Frequency Shift Keying (FSK) digital signal you probably won’t have … Read more
What is the maximum symbol rate permitted for RTTY or data emission transmissions on the 2 meter band? [G1C11] A. 56 kilobaud B. 19.6 kilobaud C. 1200 baud D. 300 baud The answer is B. 19.6 kilobaud. But why? It has to do with the amount of bandwidth used by a signal. 1200 and 300 … Read more
The Technician class question of the week is from Section 0 (Safety.) The answer to this question should be obvious, but we’ll go over it nonetheless. [T0B01] When should members of a tower work team wear a hard hat and safety glasses? A. At all times except when climbing the tower B. At all times … Read more