Amateur Radio for Smart People
This week’s Tech question is from sub-element 5 (Electrical Principles) group A (units) [T5A11] What is the basic unit of electromotive force? A. The volt B. The watt C. The ampere D. The ohm This is one of the fundamental concepts when dealing with electricity, and therefore radio. The standard units that we use to … Read more
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
The following is a list of Q codes/signals used in radio operations. You’ll probably never hear or use most of these, but several are in common usage…. Code Question Answer or Statement QLE What is your expected signal? The expected signal is low… QRA What is the name (or call sign) of your station? The … Read more
