Ham Radio for Smart People
K5HRA 
Ah a little down one of the side paths of amateur radio for this question from the General Class exam pool. How many states does a 3-bit binary counter have? A. 3B. 6C. 8D. 16 The answer depends on us knowing how to count in binary. Essentially the question is asking us what the maximum …
Which of the following must be done to insure that a crystal oscillator provides the frequency specified by the crystal manufacturer? A. Provide the crystal with a specified parallel inductanceB. Provide the crystal with a specified parallel capacitanceC. Bias the crystal at a specified voltageD. Bias the crystal at a specified current A crystal oscillator …
In which type of circuit is current the same through all components? A. SeriesB. ParallelC. ResonantD. Branch The answer here is A. Series. The reason why is pretty straight forward. If you line up a series (ha!) of components in a straight line, the output of each going into the input of the next, then …
At what time of year is Sporadic E propagation most likely to occur? A. Around the solstices, especially the summer solsticeB. Around the solstices, especially the winter solsticeC. Around the equinoxes, especially the spring equinoxD. Around the equinoxes, especially the fall equinox Sporadic E Propagation refers to the phenomena where radio signals bounce off of …
What frequency range is occupied by a 3 kHz LSB signal when the displayed carrier frequency is set to 7.178 MHz? A. 7.178 to 7.181 MHzB. 7.178 to 7.184 MHzC. 7.175 to 7.178 MHzD. 7.1765 to 7.1795 MHz LSB, or Lower Side Band, is a transmission mode where all of the transmitted signal exists to …
Which of these precautions should be taken when installing devices for lightning protection in a coaxial cable feed line? A. Include a parallel bypass switch for each protector so that it can be switched out of the circuit when running high powerB. Include a series switch in the ground line of each protector to prevent …
What is an advantage of Gray code in digital communications where symbols are transmitted as multiple bits? A. It increases security B. It has more possible states than simple binary C. It has more resolution than simple binary D. It facilitates error detection Firstly, what the heck is “Gray code” anyway? The reflected binary code …
Which of the following is a characteristic of a Class A amplifier? A. Low standby power B. High Efficiency C. No need for bias D. Low distortion By definition, a Class A amplifier operates on 100% of the input signal. Because of this, they are not particularly efficient or have low standby power. “No need …
Which of the following is a good way to judge whether your uplink power is neither too low nor too high? A. Check your signal strength report in the telemetry data B. Listen for distortion on your downlink signal C. Your signal strength on the downlink should be about the same as the beacon D. …
What is meant by circularly polarized electromagnetic waves? A. Waves with an electric field bent into a circular shapeB. Waves with a rotating electric fieldC. Waves that circle the EarthD. Waves produced by a loop antenna To answer this we need to understand what’s going on inside an electromagnetic (or EM) wave. In an EM …
