RAE practice questions

2 543 questions in 32 chapters

1. Chapter 1: Overview of Amateur Radio

   What radio amateurs do, from contacts, QSL cards, DXing and contests to satellites and emergency work, and how the hobby is governed and licensed in South Africa.

2. Chapter 2: Operating Procedures

   How to call and work other stations on phone, CW and repeaters, handle emergency traffic, keep a log and exchange QSL cards and electronic confirmations.

3. Chapter 3: Basic Electrical Concepts

   Atoms and electrons, conductors and insulators, current, voltage and power, SI units and prefixes, and scientific notation.

4. Chapter 4: Resistance and Ohm’s Law

   Resistance, Ohm's Law and how to rearrange it to find the voltage, the current or the resistance.

5. Chapter 5: The Resistor and Potentiometer

   The kinds of resistor, the colour code, how resistor values are written, and how a potentiometer works.

6. Chapter 6: Direct Current Circuits

   Direct current, Kirchhoff's laws, resistors in series and in parallel, and the voltage divider.

7. Chapter 7: Power in DC Circuits

   Power in resistances, Ohm's Law with the power formula, sources, matching a source to its load, and efficiency.

8. Chapter 8: Alternating Current

   The sine wave, period and frequency, wavelength and the speed of light, phase, RMS values and the frequency ranges.

9. Chapter 9: Capacitance and the Capacitor

   How a capacitor works, capacitive reactance, the phase of current and voltage, capacitors in series and parallel, and the types in use.

10. Chapter 10: Inductance and the Inductor

    Inductors and their values, inductive reactance, Ohm's Law with reactance, phase, and inductors in series and parallel.

11. Chapter 11: Tuned Circuits

    Reactances in series and parallel, series and parallel tuned circuits, impedance, the resonant frequency, circulating current and Q.

12. Chapter 12: Decibel Notation

    Decibels for power and voltage ratios, adding gains and losses, quick conversions, and power levels in dBW and dBm.

13. Chapter 13: Filters

    Lowpass, highpass, bandpass and bandstop filters, crystal filters, multi-pole designs and filters in real RF circuits.

14. Chapter 14: The Transformer

    How a transformer works, and its turns, voltage, current and impedance ratios, with their uses.

15. Chapter 15: Semiconductors and the Diode

    Semiconductors, the junction diode, half-wave and full-wave rectifiers, and special-purpose diodes.

16. Chapter 16: The Power Supply

    Simple and regulated power supplies, switching supplies and the interference they can cause, and batteries.

17. Chapter 17: The Bipolar Junction Transistor

    NPN and PNP transistors, how they work, and the transistor as a switch.

18. Chapter 18: The Transistor Amplifier

    Amplification and amplifier classes, the common-emitter, emitter-follower and common-base circuits, FETs, valves and integrated circuits.

19. Chapter 19: The Oscillator

    How oscillators work, the Barkhausen criteria, Colpitts and Hartley oscillators, buffering, VCOs and crystal oscillators.

20. Chapter 20: Frequency Translation

    Frequency multipliers and dividers, the phase-locked loop synthesiser and the mixer.

21. Chapter 21: Modulation Methods

    AM, double-sideband, SSB, CW and FM, and the digital modulation techniques.

22. Chapter 22: The Transmitter

    How CW, AM, SSB and synthesised VHF FM transmitters are built, stage by stage.

23. Chapter 23: Receiver Fundamentals

    Noise in receivers, what makes a good receiver, and the TRF and direct-conversion receivers.

24. Chapter 24: The Superheterodyne Receiver

    Single and multiple-conversion superhets, noise limiters and blankers, FM reception and reciprocal mixing.

25. Chapter 25: Transceivers and Transverters

    How a transceiver shares its circuits between transmit and receive, and how a transverter takes it to other bands.

26. Chapter 26: Antennas

    Dipoles, verticals, groundplanes, loops, Yagis and dishes, polarisation, gain and EIRP, feedlines, SWR and matching.

27. Chapter 27: Propagation

    Path loss, line of sight and ground wave, the ionosphere and skywave, sporadic E and other modes, tropospheric ducting, EME and satellites.

28. Chapter 28: Electromagnetic Compatibility

    Why interference happens, the transmitter and receiver faults behind it, and the cures: filters, chokes, shielding and good practice.

29. Chapter 29: Measurements

    Meters, frequency counters, SWR meters, oscilloscopes, dip meters, dummy loads, wavemeters and the two-tone test.

30. Chapter 30: Digital Systems

    Binary numbers and logic, sampling and quantisation, digital filters, direct digital synthesis, the Fourier transform and SDR.

31. Chapter 31: Digital Communication Modes

    Morse, RTTY, packet, APRS, WSJT and the other text modes, image modes such as SSTV, and digital voice.

32. Chapter 32: Safety Considerations

    Electric shock and the body, mains wiring, high voltages, RF exposure and lightning protection.