Amateur Radio Quiz: No Guessing
By H. Ward Silver, N0AX
n0ax@arrl.net
You’ll have to work extra hard on this quiz because it’s not a “multiple guess.” Some answers may require a little calculation, some may require exercising the memory banks -- and all will require a little head scratching.
1. Where would you tune for a signal that has the same numeric value of frequency in MHz and wavelength in meters?
2. In Hawaii, KH6, to which of the continents does the antenna always point, no matter what the rotator control box says?
3. Which DXCC entity gives its name to a popular item of men’s summer clothing?
4. On what holiday does the ARRL’s Straight Key Night occur?
5. Who invented the first multi-band dipole antenna to use tuned traps?
6. Which two metals were used to make the first battery?
7. From what country was the first European to make a two-way contact with US hams?
8. Which circuit and structure have the same name?
9. If three known-value resistors are connected in series, how many measurements does it take to determine the power dissipation of all three?
10. What does the abbreviation WARC stand for?
Bonus Question: When movie character Rick Blaine says to Ilsa Lund “We’ll always have Paris,” in what DXCC entity is he standing?
Answers:
1. 17.320508 MHz = 17.320508 meters
2. Africa, in which lies the antipode to KH6.
3. VP9, Bermuda and the famous “Bermuda shorts.”
4. New Year’s Eve
5. W3DZZ
6. Volta used zinc and copper
7. France -- the station was owned by Leon Deloy, 8AB
8. The bridge
9. The simplest method is to measure the voltage across each resistor and compute power as E(squared)/R. The minimum number of measurements required is just one -- measure the current through the series circuit and use I(squared)×R. (Thanks to Ed Hare, W1RFI, for the update)
10. World Administrative Radio Conference
Bonus Answer: Casablanca, a city in what was then French Morocco (CN), now Morocco.
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