By H. Ward Silver, N0AX
[email protected]

The last quiz took a long look in the rear-view mirror. Let’s turn around to the future and take a look out the windshield with this collection of new ham radio jargon!

1) What information is contained in a “spot”?
a. Time
b. Frequency
c. Call sign
d. All of the above

2) Which of the following components could be a “roofing” type?
a. Antenna
b. Connector
c. Filter
d. Cable

3) A buck-boost converter is a type of what?
a. Rectifier
b. Filter
c. Power supply
d. Mixer

4) What causes aliasing in a DSP system?
a. Under-sampling
b. Over-sampling
c. Dither
d. Noise

5) Which of the following is a type of spectrum display?
a. Dobsonian
b. Waterfall
c. Magic-eye tube
d. Delayed sweep

6) What does the SOHO satellite observe?
a. Ocean surface temperatures
b. Solar phenomena
c. Geomagnetic pole drift
d. Cosmic rays

7) What type of communication is the WSJT suite of software used for?
a. High-speed CW
b. Networking
c. Satellite
d. Weak signal

8) Rover stations constitute a category in what type of contest?
a. VHF/UHF
b. Field Day
c. Digital mode
d. Sprints

9) Through what platform does “bent-pipe” communication take place?
a. Digipeater
b. D-STAR
c. Satellite
d. Passive reflector

10) What does a “Skimmer” skim?
a. CW signals
b. Intruders
c. VLF “whistlers”
d. Meteor trails

Bonus Question -- How did the “screwdriver antenna” get its name?

Answers

1) d -- Spotting networks distribute reception reports of stations for DXing and contesting.
2) c -- A roofing filter helps reject strong in-band signals.
3) c -- Buck-boost is a type of switchmode dc-to-dc converter.
4) a -- To avoid aliasing, sample at a minimum of twice the maximum signal frequency.
5) b -- A waterfall display shows a sequence of spectrum sweeps.
6) b -- The Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) keeps an eye on our Sun.
7) d -- WSJT is written by Joe Taylor, K1JT, for EME and meteor scatter modes.
8) a -- Rover stations move from grid square to grid square during the contest.
9) c -- Signals are received by the satellite and transmitted back to the ground without processing.
10) a -- Alex Shovkoplyas, VE3NEA, wrote this software to decode CW signals automaticall.

Bonus Answer -- The original models used electric screwdriver motors to adjust the antenna’s resonant frequency.