Chapter 1: Introduction to

Communication Systems
MULTIPLE CHOICE
1. The theory of radio waves
was originated by:
a. Marconi
b. Bell
c. Maxwell
d. Hertz
2. The person who sent the
first radio signal across the
Atlantic ocean was:
a. Marconi
b. Bell
c. Maxwell
d. Hertz

8. TDM stands for:

a. Time-Division
Multiplexing
b. Two-level Digital Modulation
c. Time Domain Measurement
d. none of the above
9. FDM stands for:
a. Fast Digital Modulation
b. Frequency Domain
Measurement
c. Frequency-Division
Multiplexing
d. none of the above

3. The transmission of radio

waves was first done by:
a. Marconi
b. Bell
c. Maxwell
d. Hertz

10. The wavelength of a radio

signal is:
a. equal to f c
b. equal to c l
c. the distance a wave
travels in one period
d. how far the signal can
travel without distortion

4. A complete communication
system must include:
a. a transmitter and receiver
b. a transmitter, a receiver,
and a channel
c. a transmitter, a receiver,
and a spectrum analyzer
d. a multiplexer, a
demultiplexer, and a channel

11. Distortion is caused by:

a. creation of harmonics of
baseband frequencies
b. baseband frequencies
"mixing" with each other
c. shift in phase relationships
between baseband
frequencies
d. all of the above

5. Radians per second is equal

to:
a. 2p f
b. f 2p
c. the phase angle
d. none of the above

12. The collection of sinusoidal

frequencies present in a
modulated carrier is called its:
a. frequency-domain
representation
b. Fourier series
c. spectrum
d. all of the above

6. The bandwidth required for

a modulated carrier depends
on:
a. the carrier frequency
b. the signal-to-noise ratio
c. the signal-plus-noise to
noise ratio
d. the baseband frequency
range
7. When two or more signals
share a common channel, it is
called:
a. sub-channeling
b. signal switching
c. SINAD
d. multiplexing

15. "Man-made" noise can

come from:
a. equipment that sparks
b. temperature
c. static
d. all of the above
16. Thermal noise is
generated in:
a. transistors and diodes
b. resistors
c. copper wire
d. all of the above
17. Shot noise is generated in:
a. transistors and diodes
b. resistors
c. copper wire
d. none of the above
18. The power density of
"flicker" noise is:
a. the same at all frequencies
b. greater at high frequencies
c. greater at low
frequencies
d. the same as "white" noise
19. So called "1/f" noise is also
called:
a. random noise
b. pink noise
c. white noise
d. partition noise
20. "Pink" noise has:
a. equal power per Hertz
b. equal power per octave
c. constant power
d. none of the above

13. The baseband bandwidth

for a voice-grade (telephone)
signal is:
a. approximately 3 kHz
b. 20 Hz to 15,000 Hz
c. at least 5 kHz
d. none of the above

21. When two noise voltages,

V1 and V2, are combined, the
total voltage VT is:
a. VT = sqrt(V1 V1 + V2
V2)
b. VT = (V1 + V2)/2
c. VT = sqrt(V1 V2)
d. VT = V1 + V2

14. Noise in a communication

system originates in:
a. the sender
b. the receiver
c. the channel
d. all of the above

22. Signal-to-Noise ratio is

calculated as:
a. signal voltage divided by
noise voltage
b. signal power divided by
noise power

c. first add the signal power to

the noise power, then divide
by noise power
d. none of the above
23. SINAD is calculated as:
a. signal voltage divided by
noise voltage
b. signal power divided by
noise power
c. first add the signal power to
the noise power, then divide
by noise power
d. none of the above
24. Noise Figure is a measure
of:
a. how much noise is in a
communications system
b. how much noise is in the
channel
c. how much noise an
amplifier adds to a signal
d. signal-to-noise ratio in dB
25. The part, or parts, of a
sinusoidal carrier that can be
modulated are:
a. its amplitude
b. its amplitude and frequency
c. its amplitude, frequency,
and direction
d. its amplitude,
frequency, and phase
angle
COMPLETION
1. The telephone was invented
in the year
____________________.
ANS: 1863
2. Radio signals first were sent
across the Atlantic in the year
____________________.
ANS: 1901
3. The frequency band used to
modulate the carrier is called
the ____________________ band.
ANS: base
4. The job of the carrier is to
get the information through
the ____________________.
ANS: channel
5. The bandwidth of an
unmodulated carrier is
____________________.
ANS: zero

6. The 'B' in Hartley's Law

stands for
____________________.
ANS: bandwidth

7. The more information per

second you send, the
____________________ the
bandwidth required.
ANS:
greater
larger
wider
8. In ____________________, you
split the bandwidth of a
channel into sub-channels to
carry multiple
signals.
ANS: FDM
9. In ____________________,
multiple signal streams take
turns using the channel.
ANS: TDM
10. VHF stands for the
____________________ frequency
band.
ANS: very high
11. The VHF band starts at
____________________ MHz.
ANS: 30
12. The UHF band starts at
____________________ MHz.
ANS: 300
13. A radio signal's
____________________ is the
distance it travels in one cycle
of the carrier.
ANS: wavelength
14. In free space, radio signals
travel at approximately
____________________ meters
per second.
ANS: 300 million
15. The equipment used to
show signals in the frequency
domain is the
_________________________.
ANS: spectrum analyzer

16. Mathematically, a
spectrum is represented by a
____________________ series.
ANS: Fourier
17. Disabling a receiver during
a burst of atmospheric noise is
called ____________________.
ANS:
noise blanking
blanking
18. For satellite
communications,
____________________ noise can
be a serious problem.
ANS: solar
19. Thermal noise is caused
by the random motions of
____________________ in a
conductor.
ANS: electrons
SHORT ANSWER
1. Name the five elements in a
block diagram of a
communications system.
ANS:
Source, Transmitter,
Channel, Receiver,
Destination
2. Name five types of internal
noise.
ANS:
Thermal, Shot, Partition,
1/f, transit-time
3. Why is thermal noise called
"white noise"?
ANS:
White light is composed of
equal amounts of light at
all visible frequencies.
Likewise, thermal noise
has
equal power density over a
wide range of frequencies.
4. What is "pink noise"?
ANS:
Light is pink when it
contains more red than it
does other colors, and red
is at the low end of the
visible
spectrum. Likewise, pink
noise has higher power
density at lower
frequencies.

5. Suppose there is 30 mV
from one noise source that is
combined with 40 mV from
another noise source.
Calculate the total noise
voltage.
ANS:
50 mV
6. If you have 100 mV of
signal and 10 mV of noise,
both across the same 100ohm load, what is the signal
tonoise ratio in dB?
ANS:
20 dB
7. The input to an amplifier
has a signal-to-noise ratio of
100 dB and an output signalto-noise ratio of 80
dB. Find NF, both in dB and as
a ratio.
ANS:
20 dB, NF = 100
8. A microwave receiver has a
noise temperature of 145 K.
Find its noise figure.
ANS: 1.5
9. Two cascaded amplifiers
each have a noise figure of 5
and a gain of 10. Find the total
NF for the pair.
ANS: 5.4
10. Explain why you could use
a diode as a noise source with
a spectrum close to that of
pure thermal noise.
How would you control the
amount of noise generated?
ANS:
When current flows
through a diode, it
generates shot noise that
can be represented as a
current source,
the output of which is a
noise current. The
equation for the noise
current is very similar to
the equation for
thermal noise voltage.
Since the power in the
shot noise is proportional
to the diode current,
controlling

the diode current controls

the noise power.

Chapter 2: RadioFrequency Circuits

MULTIPLE CHOICE
1. The time it takes a charge
carrier to cross from the
emitter to the collector is
called:
a. base time
b. transit time
c. charge time
d. Miller time

2. A real capacitor actually

contains:
a. capacitance and resistance
only
b. capacitance and inductance
only
c. capacitance, inductance,
and resistance
d. reactance only
3. Bypass capacitors are used
to:
a. remove RF from non-RF
circuits
b. couple RF around an
amplifier
c. neutralize amplifiers
d. reduce the Miller effect
4. A resonant circuit is:
a. a simple form of bandpass
filter
b. used in narrowband RF
amplifiers
c. both a and b
d. none of the above
5. Loading down a tunedcircuit amplifier will:
a. raise the Q of the tuned
circuit
b. lower the Q of the tuned
circuit
c. "multiply" the Q
d. have no effect on Q
6. The "Miller Effect" can:
a. cause an amplifier to
oscillate
b. cause an amplifier to lose
gain
c. reduce the bandwidth of an
amplifier

d. all of the above

7. The Miller Effect can be
avoided by:
a. using a common-emitter
amplifier
b. using a common-base
amplifier
c. increasing the Q of the
tuned circuit
d. it cannot be avoided
8. In a BJT, the Miller Effect is
due to:
a. inductance of collector lead
b. collector-to-emitter
capacitance
c. base-to-emitter capacitance
d. base-to-collector
capacitance
9. In RF amplifiers, impedance
matching is usually done with:
a. RC coupling
b. transformer coupling
c. direct coupling
d. lumped reactance

10. Neutralization cancels

unwanted feedback by:
a. adding feedback out of
phase with the unwanted
feedback
b. bypassing the feedback to
the "neutral" or ground plane
c. decoupling it
d. none of the above
11. For a "frequency
multiplier" to work, it requires:
a. a nonlinear circuit
b. a linear amplifier
c. a signal containing
harmonics
d. an input signal that is an
integer multiple of the desired
frequency
12. A sinusoidal oscillation
from an amplifier requires:
a. loop gain equal to unity
b. phase shift around loop
equal to 0 degrees
c. both a and b, but at just
one frequency
d. none of the above

13. The conditions for

sinusoidal oscillation from an
amplifier are called:
a. the loop-gain criteria
b. the Hartley criteria
c. the Bode criteria
d. the Barkhausen criteria
14. The Hartley oscillator
uses:
a. a tapped inductor
b. a two-capacitor divider
c. an RC time constant
d. a piezoelectric crystal
15. The Colpitts VFO uses:
a. a tapped inductor
b. a two-capacitor divider
c. an RC time constant
d. a piezoelectric crystal
16. The Clapp oscillator is:
a. a modified Hartley oscillator
b. a modified Colpitts
oscillator
c. a type of crystal-controlled
oscillator
d. only built with FETs

17. A varactor is:

a. a voltage-controlled
capacitor
b. a diode
c. used in tuner circuits
d. all of the above
18. Crystal-Controlled
oscillators are:
a. used for a precise frequency
b. used for very low frequency
drift (parts per million)
c. made by grinding quartz to
exact dimensions
d. all of the above
19. If two signals, Va =
sin(wat) and Vb = sin(wbt),
are fed to a mixer, the output:
a. will contain w1 = wa +
wb and w2 = wa wb
b. will contain w1 = wa / wb
and w2 = wb / wa
c. will contain w = (wa +
wb ) / 2
d. none of the above

20. In a balanced mixer, the

output:
a. contains equal (balanced)
amounts of all input
frequencies
b. contains the input
frequencies
c. does not contain the
input frequencies
d. is a linear mixture of the
input signals
21. "VFO" stands for:
a. Voltage-Fed Oscillator
b. Variable-Frequency
Oscillator
c. Varactor-Frequency
Oscillator
d. Voltage-Feedback Oscillator
22. A "frequency synthesizer"
is:
a. a VCO phase-locked to a
reference frequency
b. a VFO with selectable
crystals to change frequency
c. a fixed-frequency RF
generator
d. same as a mixer

wires and ____________________

can be critical.
ANS: components
6. A ____________________
circuit is used to remove RF
from the DC voltage bus.
ANS: decoupling
7. A ____________________
capacitor is used to short
unwanted RF to ground.
ANS: bypass
8. The bandwidth of a tunedcircuit amplifier depends on
the ____________________ of the
tuned circuit.
ANS: Q
9. A value of
____________________ or more
for Q is required for the
approximate tuned circuit
equations
to be valid.
ANS: 10

COMPLETION
1. Generally, conductor
lengths in RF circuits should
be ____________________.
ANS: short

10. In a class C RF amplifier,

the ____________________
extracts one frequency from
all the harmonics
contained in the device
current (e.g. collector current).
ANS: tuned circuit

2. At UHF frequencies and

above, elements must be
considered as
____________________ instead of
as
being "lumped".
ANS: distributed

11. Using additional feedback

to compensate for "stray"
feedback is called
____________________.
ANS: neutralization
12. A Colpitts oscillator uses a
____________________ voltage
divider to provide feedback.
ANS: capacitive

3. When one side of a doublesided pc board is used for

ground, it is called a
____________________.
ANS: ground-plane

13. Electrically, a piezoelectric

crystal has both a
____________________ and a
____________________
resonant frequency.
ANS: series, parallel

4. Interactions between parts

of an RF circuit can be
reduced by using
____________________ between
them.
ANS: shielding

14. To produce sum and

difference frequencies, a
mixer must be a non____________________ circuit.
ANS: linear

5. In high-frequency RF
circuits, the placement of

15. At some bias point, a

diode or a transistor can act

as a ____________________-law
mixer.
ANS: square
SHORT ANSWER
1. What inductance would you
use with a 47-pF capacitor to
make a tuned circuit for 10
MHz?
ANS:
5.4 mH
2. What value of Q is required
for a 10-MHz tuned circuit to
have a bandwidth of 100 kHz?
ANS:
100
3. A tuned-circuit amplifier
with a gain of 10 is being used
to make an oscillator. What
should be the value
of the feedback ratio to satisfy
the Barkhausen criteria?
ANS:
0.1
4. What is the advantage of a
Clapp oscillator compared to a
Colpitts oscillator?
ANS:
It is more stable because it
"swamps" the device
capacitance with large
value capacitors in the
feedback
divider.
5. If a varactor has a
capacitance of 90 pF at zero
volts, what will be the
capacitance at 4 volts?
ANS:
30 pF
6. An oscillator has a
frequency of 100 MHz at 20C,
and a tempco of +10 ppm per
degree Celsius. What
will be the shift in frequency
at 70C? What percentage is
that?
ANS:
50 kHz, 0.05%
7. Two sinusoidal signals, V1
and V2, are fed into an ideal
balanced mixer. V1 is a 20MHz signal; V2 is a 5MHz signal. What frequencies
would you expect at the
output of the mixer?

ANS:
15 MHz and 25 MHz
8. Suppose the phase-lockedloop frequency synthesizer of
Figure 2.39 has a reference
frequency of 1 MHz
and a fixed-modulus divider of
10. What should be the value
of the programmable divider
to get an output
frequency of 120 MHz?
ANS:
12

Chapter 3: Amplitude
Modulation
MULTIPLE CHOICE
1. AM stands for:
a. Audio Modulation
b. Amplitude Modulation
c. Angle Modulation
d. Antenna Modulation
2. The "envelope" of an AM
signal is due to:
a. the baseband signal
b. the carrier signal
c. the amplitude signal
d. none of the above
3. If the audio Va sin(wat)
modulates the carrier Vc
sin(wct), then the modulation
index, m, is:
a. m = wa / wc
b. m = Va / Vc
c. m = (Va / Vc)2
d. m = Va / wa

4. The equation for full-carrier

AM is:
a. v(t) = (Ec + Em) sin(wct)
b. v(t) = (Ec + Em) sin(wmt)
+ sin(wct)
c. v(t) = (Ec Em) sin(wmt)
sin(wct)
d. v(t) = (Ec + Em
sin(wmt)) sin(wct)
5. Overmodulation causes:
a. distortion
b. splatter
c. both a and b
d. none of the above

6. The peak voltage of an AM

signal goes from Emax to
Emin. The modulation index,
m, is:
a. m = Emin / Emax
b. m = Emax / Emin
c. m = (Emax Emin) /
(Emax + Emin)
d. m = (Emax + Emin) / (Emax
Emin)
7. If Va sin(wat) amplitude
modulates the carrier Vc
sin(wct), it will produce the
frequencies:
a. wc + wa and wc wa
b. (wc + wa)/2 and (wc wa)/2
c. wc + wa and 2wc + 2wa
d. none of the above
8. At 100% modulation, the
total sideband power is:
a. equal to the carrier power
b. twice the carrier power
c. half the carrier power
d. 1.414 carrier power
9. If a 5-kHz signal modulates
a 1-MHz carrier, the bandwidth
of the AM signal will be:
a. 5 kHz
b. 10 kHz
c. 1.005 MHz
d. none of the above
10. If an AM radio station
increases its modulation
index, you would expect:
a. the audio to get louder at
the receiver
b. the received RF signal to
increase
c. the signal-to-noise ratio to
increase
d. all of the above

11. The modulation index can

be derived from:
a. the time-domain signal
b. the frequency-domain
signal
c. both a and b
d. none of the above
12. The main problem in using
quadrature AM would be:

a. requires too much

bandwidth
b. requires too much power
c. incompatibility with
ordinary AM radios
d. all of the above

modulation index of m2. The

total modulation index is:
a. m1 + m2
b. (m1 + m2) / 2
c. sqrt(m1 m2 + m2 m1)
d. sqrt(m1 m1 + m2 m2)

13. As compared to plain AM,

SSB AM:
a. is more efficient
b. requires a more complex
demodulator circuit
c. requires less bandwidth
d. all of the above

20. To demodulate a USB SSB

signal, the receiver must:
a. be set to USB mode
b. reinsert the carrier
c. both a and b
d. none of the above

14. The SC in SSB SC stands

for:
a. single-carrier
b. suppressed-carrier
c. sideband-carrier
d. none of the above
15. PEP stands for:
a. Peak Envelope Power
b. Peak Efficiency Power
c. Peak Envelope Product
d. none of the above
16. If an SSB transmitter
radiates 1000 watts at peak
modulation, what will it
radiate with no modulation?
a. 1000 watts
b. 500 watts
c. 250 watts
d. 0 watts
17. Music on AM radio stations
is "low-fidelity" because:
a. AM is susceptible to noise
b. commercial AM stations use
low power
c. commercial AM stations
have a narrow bandwidth
d. all of the above

18. The type of information

that can be sent using AM is:
a. audio
b. video
c. digital data
d. all of the above
19. Two tones modulate an AM
carrier. One tone causes a
modulation index of m1 and
the other tone causes a

COMPLETION
1. An advantage of AM is that
the receiver can be very
____________________.
ANS: simple
2. A disadvantage of AM is its
____________________ use of
power.
ANS: inefficient
3. The ____________________ of
an AM signal resembles the
shape of the baseband signal.
ANS: envelope
4. In AM, modulating with a
single audio tone produces
____________________
sidebands.
ANS: two
5. Compared to the USB, the
information in the LSB is
____________________.
ANS: the same
6. Compared to the USB, the
power in the LSB is
____________________.
ANS: the same

7. In AM, total sideband power

is always ____________________
than the carrier power.
ANS: less
8. In AM, as the modulation
index increases, the carrier
power
_________________________.
ANS: remains constant
9. The power in an AM signal
is maximum when the

modulation index is
____________________.
ANS: one
10. In AM, a voice-band signal
of 300 Hz to 3000 Hz will
require a bandwidth of
____________________.
ANS: 6000 Hz
11. With a 1-MHz carrier, if the
LSB extends down to 990 kHz,
then the USB will extend up to
____________________.
ANS: 1010 kHz
12. If an AM transmitter puts
out 100 watts with no
modulation, it will put out
____________________ watts
with 100% modulation.
ANS: 150
SHORT ANSWER
1. An AM transmitter
generates 100 watts with 0%
modulation. How much power
will it generate with 20%
modulation?
ANS:
102 watts
2. If the carrier power is 1000
watts, what is the power in the
USB at 70.7% modulation?
ANS:
125 watts
3. A carrier is modulated by
three audio tones. If the
modulation indexes for the
tones are 0.3, 0.4, and 0.5,
then what is the total
modulation index?
ANS:
0.707
4. You look at an AM signal
with an oscilloscope and see
that the maximum Vpp is 100
volts and the
minimum Vpp is 25 volts.
What is the modulation index?
ANS:
0.6
5. A SSB transmitter is
connected to a 50-ohm
antenna. If the peak output
voltage of the transmitter is
20

volts, what is the PEP?

ANS:
4 watts