Test your amateur radio knowledge with this entertaining quiz! See how many you can get right and challenge your fellow hams.
1. Which propagation mode is characterized by signals reflecting off ionized meteor trails in the atmosphere?
- A. Tropospheric ducting
- B. Meteor scatter
- C. Sporadic-E
- D. Moonbounce (EME)
2. Which antenna design typically provides the highest front-to-back ratio?
- A. Half-wave dipole
- B. Yagi-Uda
- C. G5RV
- D. End-fed random wire
3. What was the first amateur satellite successfully launched into space, and in what year?
- A. AMSAT-OSCAR 7 (1974)
- B. AO-40 (2000)
- C. OSCAR-1 (1961)
- D. AO-27 (1993)
4. In digital communications, what is the typical bandwidth of a PSK31 transmission?
- A. Approximately 31 Hz
- B. Approximately 500 Hz
- C. Approximately 2.7 kHz
- D. Approximately 6 kHz
5. What is the purpose of a “Balun” in antenna systems?
- A. To match impedance between balanced and unbalanced lines
- B. To amplify weak signals
- C. To reduce atmospheric static
- D. To provide lightning protection
6. Which of these amateur bands allows ONLY CW (Morse code) emissions in the United States?
- A. 6 meters (50 MHz)
- B. 30 meters (10 MHz)
- C. 17 meters (18 MHz)
- D. 12 meters (24 MHz)
7. What type of antenna system uses multiple driven elements fed in specific phase relationships to achieve directional gain without physically rotating antennas?
- A. Log-periodic dipole array
- B. Beverage antenna
- C. Phased array
- D. Rhombic antenna
8. What is the most common material used for constructing high-quality amateur HF antenna traps?
- A. Ferrite cores
- B. Copper coils with high-voltage capacitors
- C. Aluminum tubing only
- D. Plastic tubing with resistors
9. Who developed and introduced the first fully integrated solid-state transceiver for amateur radio, revolutionizing radio designs in the early 1970s?
- A. Collins Radio
- B. Kenwood (Trio)
- C. Yaesu
- D. Ten-Tec
10. In Amateur Radio, what does the term “Gray Line” refer to?
- A. The ideal grounding configuration for antennas
- B. The boundary line between daytime and nighttime propagation conditions
- C. A specific RF shielding technique used in transceivers
- D. The maximum permissible power level between bands
Answer Key:
- B – Meteor scatter
- B – Yagi-Uda
- C – OSCAR-1 (1961)
- A – Approximately 31 Hz
- A – To match impedance between balanced and unbalanced lines
- B – 30 meters (10 MHz)
- C – Phased array
- B – Copper coils with high-voltage capacitors
- D – Ten-Tec
- B – The boundary line between daytime and nighttime propagation conditions
How did you do? Share your score and challenge your fellow club members!
73 and good luck!