[TVARC] Ham Radio Trivia Quiz

Mon May 20 08:28:47 EDT 2024

Hey all – Tom feels bad about sending his answers to everyone, instead of just to me.  I should have emphasized that.  But try not to look at his (probably wrong) answers if you want to participate!

73, Pete, K2PS

From: Tom Menas <tommenas.k3wt at gmail.com> 
Sent: Monday, May 20, 2024 7:58 AM
To: K2PS Pete Stafford <psk2ps at gmail.com>
Cc: villages reflector <tvarc at mailman.qth.net>
Subject: Re: [TVARC] Ham Radio Trivia Quiz

Tom Menas

Cell: 952-303-2086

tommenas.k3wt at gmail.com <mailto:tommenas.k3wt at gmail.com> 

Sent From My iPhone

On May 20, 2024, at 01:44, K2PS Pete Stafford <psk2ps at gmail.com <mailto:psk2ps at gmail.com> > wrote:

Among other things that keep me busy in The Villages, I subscribe to a trivia league.  In the off-season, which is now, members are encouraged to supply their own set of questions on various topics, and one individual did so for Ham Radio.  I tried my hand at it and, while my score wasn’t perfect, I found the questions to be at a level at which most of you should be able to do well.

Give it a try, and if you care to send me your answers, I’ll grade them and publish the answers by Wednesday night.

73, Pete, K2PS

1.  Radio frequencies are measured in hertz (cycles per second), but the bands of frequencies allocated to amateur radio use are generally known by a measurement in meters, corresponding to what property, which varies inversely with frequency? For example, the frequency 146.52 MHz is considered to lie in the 2 meter band because it has a what of about 2 meters?

Wave length

2.  When hams say a band is "open", we mean that communication within it is possible, usually across great distances. What charged region of the atmosphere is responsible for bending and reflecting radio signals to go around the curved surface of the Earth?

Ionosphere

3.  The dipole, the discone, the end-fed half-wave, the G5RV, the Zepp (as in Zeppelin), the J-pole, the Yagi-Uda, the hex beam, and the "rubber ducky" are all types of what essential piece of radio equipment?

Antenna   The question could have included exotic names like:  “Sterba Curtain” or “rhombic”

4.  One of the most appealing aspects of amateur radio, to a lot of hams, is making contacts with other hams in unusual places. Two amateur radio stations, call signs NA1SS and RS0ISS, operate from what difficult-to-access location? The attached audio transcription is part of a recording of an 8-year-old girl making contact with one of these stations. Audio transcription: YOUNG GIRL'S VOICE: "November Alpha One Sierra Sierra, Mike Zero Lima Mike Kilo, my name is Isabella, I'm eight years old, you're five and nine. Thank you." MAN'S VOICE: "Mike Zero Lima Mike Kilo, this is November Alpha One Sierra Sierra. Isabella, it's so great to chat with you, thank you for getting on the radio and saying hello." YOUNG GIRL'S VOICE: "Thank you, bye."

International Space station

5.  Hams operate many different modes of transmission: for example, AM and FM, such as you'd find in a broadcast receiver, but also CW (Morse code), SSB (single sideband), RTTY (radioteletype), SSTV (slow-scan television), and FT8 (a type of digital mode). Such modes make different uses of what process by which information is added to a radio wave?

Modulation

6.  The first part ("prefix") of an amateur radio station's call sign tells you which government licensed the station. For example, the prefixes K, W, and N all belong to the United States; F indicates France, and 6Y is Jamaica. Virtually all of these prefixes are assigned by what specialized agency of the United Nations, which is responsible for many matters related to information and communication, and which, at 158 years old, is one of the oldest international organizations still in operation? (Either the full name or its three-letter acronym is acceptable.)

ITU (I thought it was IARU so I looked it up).  

7.  One particularly difficult amateur radio activity is to try to "bounce" a signal off of what object, allowing anyone who can see that same object to receive your signal? The use of this object to reflect radio waves was first proposed during the Second World War, but the development of communications satellites in the 1960s made the idea obsolete for practical use.

Ionosphere

8.  The competitive activity known as amateur radio direction finding combines locating hidden radio transmitters (or "foxhunting") with what sport, in which a map and magnetic compass are used to navigate from point to point across terrain? In its non-radio version, this sport has petitioned for entry to the Olympic Games multiple times, and a version on skis was staged parallel to the Winter Olympics in 1998 in Nagano, Japan.

Geocaching

9.  What 1997 science-fiction film opens with a memorable scene culminating in a shot of a girl talking on a ham radio? The girl later grows up to become a scientist who puts her knowledge of radio to practical use.

Contact (guessing)

10.  To become licensed in amateur radio, you must demonstrate some knowledge of basic electrical engineering. One fundamental principle of electricity states that the current through a conductor between two points varies in direct proportion to the voltage across the two points; this is expressed by the equation V = IR, where V stands for voltage in volts, I for current in amperes, and R for resistance in what unit—named after the same physicist who lends his name to this law?

Ohm

11.  In 1957, Buddy Holly felt blue and recorded a classic rock song yearning for what woman, who became a ham later in life with the personalized call sign K5PSG? (First and middle names required; last name optional.)

Peggy Sue

12.  The abbreviation SK is often used as a euphemism to indicate that an amateur radio operator is deceased. SK derives from the Morse code procedural sign that is traditionally the last signal sent from a station before ceasing operation, when the station would no longer be heard on the air. The K stands for "key" (as in a telegraph key)—what does the S stand for?

Silent

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