GENERAL INFORMATION

General License Class Requirements

1. You must take and pass the General Class written exam (element 3)

· There are 35 questions on the exam, All questions are multiple choice

· Questions come from a published pool of questions (all possible questions are

covered in this syllabus).

· The number of possible questions for each topic area is fixed and shown for each

question group in the syllabus.

· There are on line practice sites with the real test questions you cam take for practice.

Listed below are three sites where you can take practice exams:

http://aa9pw.com/radio/

http://www.eham.net/exams/

http://www.qrz.com/ham/

2011-2015 General Class Question Pool

SUBELEMENT G1 - COMMISSION'S RULES [5 Exam Questions - 5 Groups]

G1A - General Class control operator frequency privileges; primary and secondary allocations

G1B - Antenna structure limitations; good engineering and good amateur practice; beacon

operation; restricted operation; retransmitting radio signals

G1C - Transmitter power regulations; data emission standards

G1D - Volunteer Examiners and Volunteer Examiner Coordinators; temporary identification

G1E - Control categories; repeater regulations; harmful interference; third party rules; ITU regions

SUBELEMENT G2 - OPERATING PROCEDURES [5 Exam Questions - 5 Groups]

G2A Phone operating procedures; USB/LSB utilization conventions; procedural signals;

breaking into a QSO in progress; VOX operation

G2B - Operating courtesy; band plans, emergencies, including drills and emergency communications

G2C - CW operating procedures and procedural signals, Q signals and common abbreviations; full break in

G2D - Amateur Auxiliary; minimizing interference; HF operations

G2E - Digital operating: procedures, procedural signals and common abbreviations

SUBELEMENT G3 - RADIO WAVE PROPAGATION [3 Exam Questions - 3 Groups]

G3A - Sunspots and solar radiation; ionospheric disturbances; propagation forecasting and indices

G3B - Maximum Usable Frequency; Lowest Usable Frequency; propagation

G3C – Ionospheric layers; critical angle and frequency; HF scatter; Near Vertical Incidence Sky waves

SUBELEMENT G4 - AMATEUR RADIO PRACTICES [5 Exam Questions - 5 groups]

G4A – Station Operation and setup

G4B - Test and monitoring equipment; two-tone test

G4C - Interference with consumer electronics; grounding; DSP

G4D - Speech processors; S meters; sideband operation near band edges

G4E - HF mobile radio installations; emergency and battery powered operation

SUBELEMENT G5 – ELECTRICAL PRINCIPLES [3 exam questions – 3 groups]

G5A - Reactance; inductance; capacitance; impedance; impedance matching

G5B - The Decibel; current and voltage dividers; electrical power calculations; sine wave rootmean-

square (RMS) values; PEP calculations

G5C – Resistors, capacitors and inductors in series and parallel; transformers

AD7FO Page 7 1/10/2012

SUBELEMENT G6 – CIRCUIT COMPONENTS [3 exam questions – 3 groups]

G6A - Resistors; capacitors; inductors

G6B - Rectifiers; solid state diodes and transistors; vacuum tubes; batteries

G6C - Analog and digital integrated circuits (IC’s); microprocessors; memory; I/O devices;

microwave IC’s (MMIC’s ); display devices

SUBELEMENT G7 – PRACTICAL CIRCUITS [3 exam questions – 3 groups]

G7A - Power supplies; schematic symbols

G7B - Digital circuits; amplifiers and oscillators

G7C - Receivers and transmitters; filters, oscillators

SUBELEMENT G8 – SIGNALS AND EMISSIONS [2 exam questions – 2 groups]

G8A - Carriers and modulation: AM; FM; single and double sideband; modulation envelope;

over-modulation

G8B - Frequency mixing; multiplication; HF data communications; bandwidths of various

modes; deviation

SUBELEMENT G9 – ANTENNAS AND FEED LINES [4 exam questions – 4 groups]

G9A - Antenna feed lines: characteristic impedance and attenuation; SWR calculation,

measurement and effects; matching networks

G9B - Basic antennas

G9C - Directional antennas

G9D - Specialized antennas

SUBELEMENT G0 – ELECTRICAL AND RF SAFETY [2 exam Questions – 2 groups]

G0A - RF safety principles, rules and guidelines; routine station evaluation

G0B - Safety in the ham shack: electrical shock and treatment, safety grounding, fusing,

interlocks, wiring, antenna and tower safety

SUBELEMENT G1 - COMMISSION'S RULES [5 Exam Questions - 5 Groups]

G1A - General Class control operator frequency privileges; primary and secondary

allocations