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E4A01

AMATEUR PRACTICES · Test equipment: analog and digital instruments; spectrum analyzers; antenna analyzers; oscilloscopes; RF measurements

E4A01E4A →

Which of the following limits the highest frequency signal that can be accurately displayed on a digital oscilloscope?

  1. ASampling rate of the analog-to-digital converter
  2. BAnalog-to-digital converter reference frequency
  3. CQ of the circuit
  4. DAll these choices are correct
Why A digital scope works by taking discrete samples of the waveform and reconstructing it, so the analog-to-digital converter's sampling rate sets the ceiling on what it can faithfully show. The Nyquist criterion says you need at least two samples per cycle just to detect a frequency, and in practice scope makers want roughly 5 to 10 samples per cycle for a usable waveform picture. So a scope sampling at, say, 1 gigasample per second cannot honestly display signals anywhere near that rate; undersampling produces aliasing, a false low-frequency image of the real signal.
Watch out The idea of an 'analog-to-digital converter reference frequency' sounds plausible but is not the limiting spec; ADCs have a voltage reference that sets amplitude scaling, not a frequency reference. Q describes the sharpness of a resonant circuit and has nothing to do with scope bandwidth.
Digital scope = samples. Nyquist: you need at least 2 samples per cycle, so sample rate caps the top frequency.
HamSandwich explanation, first draft. The question and answers are the NCVEC text.
All of E4A E4A02 →

The rest of E4A

  1. E4A01 Which of the following limits the highest frequency signal that can be accurately displayed on a digital osci…
  2. E4A02 Which of the following parameters does a spectrum analyzer display on the vertical and horizontal axes?
  3. E4A03 Which of the following test instruments is used to display spurious signals and/or intermodulation distortion…
  4. E4A04 How is compensation of an oscilloscope probe performed?
  5. E4A05 What is the purpose of using a prescaler with a frequency counter?
  6. E4A06 What is the effect of aliasing on a digital oscilloscope when displaying a waveform?
  7. E4A07 Which of the following is an advantage of using an antenna analyzer compared to an SWR bridge?
  8. E4A08 Which of the following is used to measure SWR?
  9. E4A09 Which of the following is good practice when using an oscilloscope probe?
  10. E4A10 Which trigger mode is most effective when using an oscilloscope to measure a linear power supply's output rip…
  11. E4A11 Which of the following can be measured with an antenna analyzer?
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