Extra class
Commission Rules
6 of 50 exam questionsBand edges, ships and low-band power
Check that a sideband signal stays inside the band, and know the rules for 60 m, 630 m, 2200 m, vessels and forwarding.
Station restrictions and special operations
Define spurious emissions and know who your station must protect, what PRB-1 requires, and how RACES works.
Remote control, signal limits and foreign operation
Know the control-link, spurious and modulation limits, the 630 m and 2200 m notification, and the CEPT and IARP arrangements.
Space stations, telemetry and telecommand
Tell telemetry from telecommand, know who may run space-link stations, and which bands carry space stations.
The Volunteer Examiner program
Explain what VECs and VEs do, how an exam session is run, and what happens to the paperwork afterward.
Prohibited communications and other rules
Know where spread spectrum is allowed, what Line A restricts, what you may not send for money, and how amplifier certification works.
Operating Procedures
5 of 50 exam questionsAmateur satellites and orbits
Explain ascending passes, orbit types, inverting transponders, mode letters, circular polarization and store-and-forward.
Television: fast-scan and SSTV
Explain NTSC interlace, vestigial sideband, digital TV coding rates and how SSTV encodes brightness, color and line starts.
Contesting, DX, logs and remote operation
Explain split DX operating, where contests happen, what ADIF, Cabrillo and LoTW do, remote-operation identification, latency and mesh networks.
VHF/UHF digital, APRS, EME and meteor scatter
Choose the right weak-signal mode for meteors or the Moon, and read APRS frames and digipeater paths.
HF digital modes
Explain FSK, WSJT-X clock timing, FT8/FT4/FST4/Q65, mode traits, bandwidth versus speed and ALE.
Radio Wave Propagation
3 of 50 exam questionsEME, scatter and wave basics
Explain EME, meteor and auroral scatter, microwave ducts, and how electromagnetic waves are built.
Special HF paths and ionospheric waves
Explain transequatorial, long-path, chordal-hop, sporadic-E and ground-wave propagation, and what ordinary and extraordinary waves are.
Space weather and propagation prediction
Explain the radio horizon, how flares and CMEs disturb HF, and what Bz, K and A indices, VOACAP and reporting networks tell you.
Amateur Practices
5 of 50 exam questionsOscilloscopes, analyzers and counters
Explain what scopes, spectrum analyzers, antenna analyzers and prescalers show, and how aliasing and probes affect readings.
Measurement accuracy, S parameters, VNAs
Explain what limits meter and counter accuracy, read S parameters, calibrate a VNA, find Q, and test SSB for intermodulation.
Receiver noise, selectivity and overload
Calculate noise floor from bandwidth, and explain image rejection, roofing filters, attenuators, overload and phase noise.
Dynamic range, intermodulation, link budget
Explain dynamic range and intermodulation, find third-order products, read intercept points, and work a dB link budget.
Noise, interference and grounding
Identify noise sources by their signature, choose blankers, notch filters and chokes, and place surge protectors on a single point ground.
Electrical Principles
4 of 50 exam questionsResonance and Q
Find a circuit's resonant frequency, say what series and parallel circuits do there, and use Q to get bandwidth.
Time constants and phase angle
Work out RC time constants, the phase angle of series RLC circuits, and convert impedance to admittance.
Rectangular, polar and phasors
Plot impedances in rectangular form, convert to polar, and read phasor diagrams and the E5-1 figure.
RF effects in components
Explain skin effect, parasitic reactance, electrical length, and the difference between real and reactive power.
Circuit Components
6 of 50 exam questionsSemiconductors, BJTs and FETs
Explain doping and the PN junction, bipolar beta, and how FETs differ, and read the six FET symbols.
Diodes and their uses
Choose the right diode (Zener, Schottky, PIN, varactor, LED) for a job and recognize each symbol.
Digital ICs and logic gates
Explain comparators, gate symbols, logic families, tri-state outputs, pull resistors and how FPGAs are designed.
Inductors, cores and crystals
Explain piezoelectricity and the crystal's equivalent circuit, how core permeability, laminations and saturation affect inductors and transformers.
Semiconductors and packages for RF
Explain why GaAs and GaN suit UHF and microwaves, what MMICs are, and why surface mount beats leaded packages at RF.
Optoelectronic devices
Explain photoconductors, photovoltaic cells, optoisolators, solid-state relays and optical shaft encoders.
Practical Circuits
8 of 50 exam questionsDigital logic and flip-flops
Read truth tables for logic gates, and explain how flip-flops and counters divide a frequency.
Amplifier classes and circuits
Explain amplifier classes, why switching amplifiers are efficient, and read the bias parts in a common-emitter circuit.
Filters and matching networks
Tell low-pass from high-pass networks, name filter types by their response, and pick the right filter for a job.
Power supplies and regulators
Explain how linear and switching regulators hold voltage steady, read Figure E7-2, and calculate battery time and regulator heat.
Modulators, mixers and detectors
Explain how FM, SSB and mixing signals are produced and detected, and why pre-emphasis and de-emphasis are used.
Software defined radio and DSP
Explain how an SDR samples and processes signals: Nyquist, aliasing, bit depth, FIR filters, SSB generation and the FFT.
Operational amplifiers
Read the inverting op-amp in figure E7-3, calculate its gain and output, and explain what real op-amps do differently from ideal ones.
Oscillators, PLLs and synthesizers
Explain how oscillators, phase-locked loops and DDS synthesizers generate frequencies, and how to keep an oscillator stable.
Signals and Emissions
4 of 50 exam questionsFourier, RMS, PEP and converters
How a square wave is built from sine waves, what RMS and PEP measure, and how analog-to-digital conversion works.
FM index, deviation ratio and multiplexing
How to calculate modulation index and deviation ratio, and what OFDM and frequency or time multiplexing do.
Digital modes, bandwidth and constellations
How QAM and constellation diagrams work, how symbol rate relates to data rate, and how bandwidth and error correction behave.
Spread spectrum, keying defects and digital codes
How spread spectrum resists interference, why key clicks and overmodulation happen, and how Baudot, ASCII and parity differ.
Antennas and Transmission Lines
8 of 50 exam questionsGain, ERP and antenna efficiency
Convert dBi and dBd, calculate ERP and EIRP, and explain what makes an antenna efficient.
Antenna patterns and modeling
Read azimuth and elevation plots for beamwidth, front-to-back and peak angle, and explain far field and Method of Moments modeling.
Phased arrays, wire antennas and ground
Predict array patterns from spacing and phase, recognize common wire antennas, and see how ground height, slope and seawater change takeoff angle.
Yagis, dishes and short antennas
Explain dish gain, how Yagi elements shape a beam, and why loading a short antenna lowers bandwidth and efficiency.
Matching systems and phasing lines
Tell gamma, hairpin and stub matches apart, size a quarter-wave section, and see what Wilkinson dividers and phasing lines do.
Transmission line lengths and stubs
Explain velocity factor, what shorted and open lines look like at 1/8, 1/4 and 1/2 wavelength, and why open wire beats coax on loss.
The Smith chart
Read a Smith chart: resistance circles, reactance arcs, the matched center, SWR circles and wavelength scales, and use it to place a stub.
Receiving antennas and direction finding
Explain why Beverage antennas are terminated, why low-band receiving favors directivity over loss, and how loops and sense antennas find bearings.