E3A01
What is the approximate maximum separation along the surface of the Earth between two stations communicating by moonbounce?
A. 500 miles if the moon is at perigee
B. 2000 miles, if the moon is at apogee
C. 5000 miles, if the moon is at perigee
D. 12,000 miles, as long as both can “see” the moon
E3A02
What characterizes libration fading of an earth-moon-earth signal?
A. A slow change in the pitch of the CW signal
B. A fluttery irregular fading
C. A gradual loss of signal as the sun rises
D. The returning echo is several Hertz lower in frequency than the transmitted signal
E3A03
When scheduling EME contacts, which of these conditions will generally result in the least path loss?
A. When the moon is at perigee
B. When the moon is full
C. When the moon is at apogee
D. When the MUF is above 30 MHz
E3A04 edited A
What type of receiving system is desirable for EME communications?
A. Equipment with very wide bandwidth
B. Equipment with very low dynamic range
C. Equipment with very low gain
D. Equipment with very low noise figures
E3A05
What transmit and receive time sequencing is normally used on 144 MHz when attempting an EME contact?
A. Two-minute sequences, where one station transmits for a full two minutes and then receives for the following two minutes
B. One-minute sequences, where one station transmits for one minute and then receives for the following one minute
C. Two-and-one-half minute sequences, where one station transmits for a full 2.5 minutes and then receives for the following 2.5 minutes
D. Five-minute sequences, where one station transmits for five minutes and then receives for the following five minutes
E3A06
What transmit and receive time sequencing is normally used on 432 MHz when attempting an EME contact?
A. Two-minute sequences, where one station transmits for a full two minutes and then receives for the following two minutes
B. One-minute sequences, where one station transmits for one minute and then receives for the following one minute
C. Two-and-one-half minute sequences, where one station transmits for a full 2.5 minutes and then receives for the following 2.5 minutes
D. Five-minute sequences, where one station transmits for five minutes and then receives for the following five minutes
E3A07
What frequency range would you normally tune to find EME stations in the 2 meter band?
A. 144.000 - 144.001 MHz
B. 144.000 - 144.100 MHz
C. 144.100 - 144.300 MHz
D. 145.000 - 145.100 MHz
E3A08
What frequency range would you normally tune to find EME stations in the 70 cm band?
A. 430.000 - 430.150 MHz
B. 430.100 - 431.100 MHz
C. 431.100 - 431.200 MHz
D. 432.000 - 432.100 MHz
E3A09
When a meteor strikes the Earth's atmosphere, a cylindrical region of free electrons is formed at what layer of the ionosphere?
A. The E layer
B. The F1 layer
C. The F2 layer
D. The D layer
E3A10
Which range of frequencies is well suited for meteor-scatter communications?
A. 1.8 - 1.9 MHz
B. 10 - 14 MHz
C. 28 - 148 MHz
D. 220 - 450 MHz
E3A11
What transmit and receive time sequencing is normally used on 144 MHz when attempting a meteor-scatter contact?
A. Two-minute sequences, where one station transmits for a full two minutes and then receives for the following two minutes
B. One-minute sequences, where one station transmits for one minute and then receives for the following one minute
C. 15-second sequences, where one station transmits for 15 seconds and then receives for the following 15 seconds
D. 30-second sequences, where one station transmits for 30 seconds and then receives for the following 30 seconds
What is transequatorial propagation?
A. Propagation between two points at approximately the same distance north and south of the magnetic equator
B. Propagation between any two points located on the magnetic equator
C. Propagation between two continents by way of ducts along the magnetic equator
D. Propagation between two stations at the same latitude
E3B02
What is the approximate maximum range for signals using transequatorial propagation?
A. 1000 miles
B. 2500 miles
C. 5000 miles
D. 7500 miles
E3B03
What is the best time of day for transequatorial propagation?
A. Morning
B. Noon
C. Afternoon or early evening
D. Late at night
E3B04
What type of propagation is probably occurring if an HF beam antenna must be pointed in a direction 180 degrees away from a station to receive the strongest signals?
A. Long-path
B. Sporadic-E
C. Transequatorial
D. Auroral
E3B05
Which amateur bands typically support long-path propagation?
A. 160 to 40 meters
B. 30 to 10 meters
C. 160 to 10 meters
D. 6 meters to 2 meters
E3B06
Which of the following amateur bands most frequently provides long-path propagation?
A. 80 meters
B. 20 meters
C. 10 meters
D. 6 meters
E3B07
Which of the following could account for hearing an echo on the received signal of a distant station?
A. High D layer absorption
B. Meteor scatter
C. Transmit frequency is higher than the MUF
D. Receipt of a signal by more than one path
E3B08
What type of propagation is probably occurring if radio signals travel along the terminator between daylight and darkness?
A. Transequatorial
B. Sporadic-E
C. Long-path
D. Gray-line
E3B09 [edited A]
At what time of day is gray-line propagation most prevalent?
A. At sunrise and sunset
B. When the sun is directly above the location of the transmitting station
C. When the sun is directly overhead at the middle of the communications path between the two stations
D. When the sun is directly above the location of the receiving station
E3B10
What is the cause of gray-line propagation?
A. At midday, the sun, being directly overhead, superheats the ionosphere causing increased refraction of radio waves
B. At twilight, solar absorption drops greatly, while atmospheric ionization is not weakened enough to reduce the MUF
C. At darkness, solar absorption drops greatly, while atmospheric ionization remains steady
D. At mid afternoon, the sun heats the ionosphere, increasing radio wave refraction and the MUF
E3B11
What communications are possible during gray-line propagation?
A. Contacts up to 2,000 miles only on the 10-meter band
B. Contacts up to 750 miles on the 6- and 2-meter bands
C. Contacts up to 8,000 to 10,000 miles on three or four HF bands
D. Contacts up to 12,000 to 15,000 miles on the 2 meter and 70 centimeter bands
What effect does auroral activity have on radio communications?
A. Signals experience long-delay echo
B. FM communications are clearer
C. CW signals have a clearer tone
D. CW signals have a fluttery tone
E3C02
What is the cause of auroral activity?
A. Reflections in the solar wind
B. A low sunspot level
C. The emission of charged particles from the sun
D. Meteor showers concentrated in the northern latitudes
E3C03
Where in the ionosphere does auroral activity occur?
A. At F-region height
B. In the equatorial band
C. At D-region height
D. At E-region height
E3C04
Which emission mode is best for auroral propagation?
A. CW
B. SSB
C. FM
D. RTTY
E3C05
What causes selective fading?
A. Small changes in beam heading at the receiving station
B. Phase differences in the received signal caused by different paths
C. Large changes in the height of the ionosphere
D. Time differences between the receiving and transmitting stations
E3C06
How much farther does the VHF/UHF radio-path horizon distance exceed the geometric horizon?
A. By approximately 15% of the distance
B. By approximately twice the distance
C. By approximately one-half the distance
D. By approximately four times the distance
E3C07
How does the radiation pattern of a 3-element, horizontally polarized beam antenna vary with height above ground?
A. The main lobe takeoff angle increases with increasing height
B. The main lobe takeoff angle decreases with increasing height
C. The horizontal beam width increases with height
D. The horizontal beam width decreases with height
E3C08
What is the name of the high-angle wave in HF propagation that travels for some distance within the F2 region?
A. Oblique-angle ray
B. Pedersen ray
C. Ordinary ray
D. Heaviside ray
E3C09
What effect is usually responsible for propagating a VHF signal over 500 miles?
A. D-region absorption
B. Faraday rotation
C. Tropospheric ducting
D. Moonbounce
E3C10
How does the performance of a horizontally polarized antenna mounted on the side of a hill compare with the same antenna mounted on flat ground?
A. The main lobe takeoff angle increases in the downhill direction
B. The main lobe takeoff angle decreases in the downhill direction
C. The horizontal beam width decreases in the downhill direction
D. The horizontal beam width increases in the uphill direction
E3C11
From the contiguous 48 states, in which approximate direction should an antenna be pointed to take maximum advantage of auroral propagation?
A. South
B. North
C. East
D. West
E3C12
As the frequency of a signal is increased, how does its ground wave propagation change?
A. It increases
B. It decreases
C. It stays the same
D. Radio waves don't propagate along the Earth's surface
E3C13
What type of polarization does most ground-wave propagation have?
A. Vertical
B. Horizontal
C. Circular
D. Elliptical
E3C14
Why does the radio-path horizon distance exceed the geometric horizon?
A. E-region skip
B. D-region skip
C. Auroral skip
D. Radio waves may be bent