HAM Practice Questions 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: What is the maximum power output permitted for an Amateur Extra class licensee operating on 160 meters?
- 200 watts PEP
- 500 watts PEP
- 1500 watts PEP (Correct answer)
- 1000 watts PEP
Correct answer: 1500 watts PEP
FCC Part 97 allows a maximum of 1500 watts PEP output for Amateur Extra class licensees on 160 meters.
Question 2: Which ITU region includes the contiguous United States?
- ITU Region 1
- ITU Region 2 (Correct answer)
- ITU Region 3
- ITU Region 4
Correct answer: ITU Region 2
The contiguous United States is located in ITU Region 2, which covers the Americas.
Question 3: What term describes a reduction in the ionosphere's ability to refract signals during a solar event?
- Tropospheric scatter
- Ionospheric absorption (Correct answer)
- Sporadic-E propagation
- Gray-line enhancement
Correct answer: Ionospheric absorption
Ionospheric absorption occurs when X-ray and UV radiation from solar flares increases D-layer electron density, attenuating HF signals.
Question 4: What is the name of the effect where a signal's polarization rotates as it passes through the ionosphere?
- Doppler shift
- Faraday rotation (Correct answer)
- Fresnel diffraction
- Rayleigh fading
Correct answer: Faraday rotation
Faraday rotation is the rotation of the polarization plane of an electromagnetic wave as it travels through the ionosphere in the presence of Earth's magnetic field.
Question 5: Which type of emission is designated by FCC as J3E?
- AM double sideband full carrier
- FM voice
- Single sideband suppressed carrier voice (Correct answer)
- Digital data
Correct answer: Single sideband suppressed carrier voice
J3E designates single sideband suppressed carrier (SSB) telephony, the standard voice mode used on HF amateur bands.
Question 6: What is the primary purpose of a PTT (Push-To-Talk) delay in a linear amplifier?
- To prevent feedback oscillation
- To allow the amplifier tubes to reach operating temperature
- To sequence keying so the transceiver is muted before high voltage is applied (Correct answer)
- To reduce intermodulation distortion
Correct answer: To sequence keying so the transceiver is muted before high voltage is applied
PTT delay ensures the transceiver switches to transmit before the amplifier's high voltage is applied to the output stage, preventing RF arc damage.
Question 7: In a G5RV antenna, what is the primary purpose of the open-wire transmission line section?
- To act as a matching transformer to the coaxial feedline (Correct answer)
- To provide DC isolation
- To increase gain in the horizontal plane
- To reject common-mode currents
Correct answer: To act as a matching transformer to the coaxial feedline
The open-wire ladder-line section of a G5RV acts as an impedance transformer, matching the antenna's feed impedance to 50-ohm coax across multiple bands.
HAM Practice Questions 2
What is the maximum power output permitted for an Amateur Extra class licensee operating on 160 meters?