M0JDB

J de B Pollard, M0JDB
Windy Arbour
Kenilworth, CV8 2BB
Maidenhead Locator IO92FI

please email me at:

This was a (light-hearted) quiz prepared for the Mid Warwickshire Amateur Radio Society Christmas party in 2006. But we never got through it ..! Not to be taken too seriously, although one or two of the questions have thought-provoking implications.

Legal disclaimer: This quiz is for amusement only. No responsibility implied or accepted for the outcomes for anyone acting on any on the information contained herein.
This includes financial losses (e.g. gambling). There are NO prizes!

1) A resistor is colour coded (with bands in the normal way) yellow, violet, gold, gold. Is it:

47KΩ 5% (tolerance)
47Ω 1 ppm (temperature coefficient), 5%
47 KΩ 0.25%
4.7Ω 5%
47Ω 5 ppm 5%
0.47Ω 5%
no such code
2 marks for each correct answer.

I included this because it originally caught me out - I thought I knew all about colour coding!

2) A column in a now defunct technical journal was signed “Free xxx”, where “xxx” stands for: “Lunch”; “Wheeling” ; “Grid”;
“Oscillations”; “Frequency”; “2LO”; “Spirit”; “George Davis”; “Enterprise”; “For All”

4 marks for each correct answer

3) In the same journal identified in question 2, who signed the ‘Random Radiations’ column?
‘Diallist’; ‘Stamford Hill’; ‘Savoy Hill’; ‘2HI’;

4 marks for each correct answer

4) In the UK it is legal for radio amateurs to receive the following transmissions (tick if true):

- broadcast signals (radio) and amateur transmissions
- broadcast and amateur signals emanating from the UK and any transmissions from outside the European Union.
- transmissions by aircraft taking part in an Air Show in the UK.
- any radio transmission providing that it is for ‘private use’ and that no disclosures, whether for commercial reasons or otherwise, are made to third parties.

5 marks for each correct answer; penalty 3 marks per incorrect answer

5) A person in listening to UK police frequencies commits an offence under the Wireless Telegraphy Act 1949.

- True;
- False;
- True, but only if a crime is known to have been committed as a result

5 marks for each correct answer

6) On Earth, solar time is based on the idea that when the sun reaches its highest point in the sky, it is noon. Defining the length of a day as the interval between two successive returns of the Sun to the local highest point (i.e. noon locally), which of the following are true:

- apart from small variations, measured in tenths of a second, the length of a day is constant.
- the length of a day depends on which hemisphere you measure it in
- in Macclesfield, days are longer in the Winter than they are in the Summer
- days are longer in the Northern Hemisphere Summers
- in South Africa, Summer days are longer than Winter days
- in Kenilworth (UK) the earliest sunset in 2006 is on December 13
- I no longer wish to be a licensed Radio Amateur if it means having to answer questions like this.

3 marks for each correct answer; (Penalty 10 marks for defeatism if "Yes" to last question)

7) Up to October 2006, which of the following statements were true.

- when rig is operated in a car, and the car is moving, the suffix /M must be used.
- as soon as the car stops and parks (i.e. stopping other than in traffic ) the suffix /P must be used because /M is short for “mobile” and a parked car is obviously not mobile.
- when rig is taken out of a car and put on a table on the grass verge then /P must be used
- when rig is taken out of a car and put on a table in a hotel room /P must be used ;
- rig is in M0JDB’s Morris Minor in Scotland so the correct suffix is /MMM

3 marks for each correct answer; penalty 2 marks per incorrect answer (compiler’s decision final; no correspondence will be entered into).

The new licence has changed the meaning of "mobile": before it was undefined and so took - in accordance with normal legal procedure - it's everyday meaning, now it is specifically defined.

8) In the early 1940s most computers weighed about 120 lbs (give or take), were usually encased in dresses and frocks, and were quite probably (given the culture the time) widely regarded as “cute” by the scientists and engineers (tick if true) .

3 marks

9) Both ‘N’ type and ‘BNC’ type connectors are named after their inventors (Neill and Concelman). The PL259/ SO239 combination was invented by:

- Phil Lemoines and Sheldon Orbison
- Two German Jewish refugee scientists known only by their security numbers (war time precaution)
- E. Clark Quackenbush
- Simply a numerical designation

4 marks for each correct answer

10) Cathode ray tubes were used in the first computers

- for monitoring the initial 8 bit set-up;
- as storage;
- for synchronising trigger pulses;
- for monitoring valve screen and anode voltages.
- question is incorrect; they were not used

6 marks for each correct answer

11) If a Television Receiving Licence is not required at your address (e.g. because you don’t have a set), then a simple statement of the facts to the Licensing Authority will result in no further action on their part until someone again applies for a licence at that address. (tick if true)

½ mark for correct answer

I included this after wasting a lot of time & money on postage dutifully informing the licensing authority that there was no television in the house. It went on for three years. We did at least get some enjoyment to see what the latest threatening letter said when it arrived on the door-mat.

12) Suppose there is a one in 8,500 chance (8,499 to one against) that a randomly selected couple will produce a male child with blue eyes, dark hair, B negative blood group and who goes bald at age 22. What are the chances that a couple has two children with these same characteristics?

one in 8,500 times one in 8,500 i.e. approximately 1 in 72 million
less, but not hugely less , than one in 8,500, say one in 150,000
as near zero as makes no difference

20 marks for correct answer

I included this because - tragically - a recent criminal law court assumed that a child-care expert in cot-deaths was also an expert in elementary probability theory.

13) Which of the following are true (tick if true):

- The first woman to be elected to the Royal Statistical Society was Florence Nightingale
- The poet Byron’s daughter wrote the world’s first computer program (to calculate Bernoulli numbers)
- Three of the five (to 2005) female Nobel Laureates in Physics & Chemistry had the same surname
- The Lady Diana Spencer, first wife of the Prince of Wales, had a GCSE in Maths.
- Margaret Thatcher (ex prime minister) has a degree in Chemistry.
- John Logie Baird invented and sold special socks as well as developing television.

4 marks for each correct answer; penalty 3 marks per incorrect answer

14) And now for some ‘write-in’ answers:

14.1 A small wood or group of trees is called a............ .
14.2 In the BBC’s ‘The Archers’, Phillip Archer was once accused of murder. What was the full (Christian and surname) of his alleged victim?
14.3 To where did BBC TV move its London studios from Alexandra Palace?
14.4 What was BBC TV’s first soap opera called?

3 marks for each correct answer, apart from question 14.2 where 6 marks are awarded.

When you have got the answers to 3 of the 4 above they will be seen to fall into an obvious pattern. However after setting this question I researched
the Phil Archer murder allegation, but I can find no trace that this particular character died, despite what my memory tells me!
Any info. would be welcome.

15) When was the last car to bear the name “Austin 7” introduced?

4 marks for correct answer

16) What was the radio call sign of the Titanic?

8 marks for correct answer

17) If the Uruguayan call sign CX3VM existed in 1961, what would not have changed for licensed amateurs on May 1^st of that year?

8 marks for correct answer

18) In January 1939 the journal Electronics published a paper entitled 'A Transmission Line Calculator' which has been extensively cited in subsequent years.
What was the author’s name?

1 mark for correct surname.4 extra marks for first name, times 10 multiplier for all names correctly spelt.

19) Why is the Disney cartoon Mickey's Gala Première famous in British television history?

10 marks for correct answer

20)

20.1 Who was Captain Bligh? 1 mark for correct answer
20.2 Who was Jasmine Bligh? 4 marks for correct answer; 50 marks bonus for identifying link with a previous question

21) Name three announcers regularly seen on television in 1952 and remembered by M0JDB
5 marks for correct answer ; 2 mark for two correct names

22) Put the following television transmitters in order of their coming on-air at full

Transmitter	Order	Points
Rowridge
Kirk o’Shotts
Holme Moss
North Hessary Tor
Wenvoe
Sutton Coldfield
Pontop Pike
Total Points scored

The scoring method is more interesting than the question. Arrive at a total points score by considering each each station in turn using the correct order. If the correct answer is that, say,Rowridge preceded Wenvoe, Sutton Coldfield and Pontop Pike, and in your answer you have put Rowridge in 6th
place with only Sutton Coldfield below it then you score one point. If you had put Rowridge in 6th place with ,say, Holme Moss in 7th place you have scored the infamous 'nul points' in respect of that transmitter. Do this for each in turn.

Maximum marks for 100% correct order is 21

23) The history of scientific discovery and engineering invention is full of instances where credit is unfairly allocated. If justice had been done, and accurate nomenclature used, would we now refer to:

the Vail code
the Vail cypher
the Morse code and the Vail cypher
the Vail code and the Morse cypher
the Morse cypher

2 marks for each correct answer; penalty 1 marks per incorrect answer

24) What in “CW speak” do the following abbreviations stand for:

55 Greeting used by Continental amateurs in the 1930s ; “Best Success”; “strong signal but not very intelligent”
72 Rhyming slang (note the dot dash symmetry) for “QRT for a brew”; “best wishes from a QRP station” ; Not a telegraphic code in use
51 “Good Luck”; “Hope to work you again soon”; “Happy Christmas!”

10 marks for all three correct; 5 marks for two correct; 3 marks for one only correct

25) When was the first trans-Atlantic television transmission?

9^th February 1928;
25^th January 1953;
23^rd April 1952;
4^th November 1938

10 marks for correct answer

The XYL was so taken with this question she included it her office Xmas quiz: none got the answer (but none of them are radio amateurs!)

26) When was the first trans-Atlantic telephone cable brought into operation?

19^th February 1927;
25^th September 1956;
14^th April 1932 ;
4^th October 1946;
None of the preceding dates

10 marks for correct answer

27) In the three card trick, three cards are dealt face down. One is a Queen, the other two are non- court cards. The dealer shuffles the three cards and deals them on to the table face down. The punter lays out his stake and if he points to what turns out to be the Queen, he wins at odds of 15/8. In this instance the dealer - an honest radio amateur - after the punter has selected a card, instead of turning it up straight away,puts the following proposition : “If you like I will remove one of the two cards you didn’t select and I guarantee it won’t be the Queen I take away. Also you can, if you wish, change your mind about which card is the Queen. If you alter your choice of card you must accept at the reduced odds of 2 to1 on (i.e.1 back for every 2 staked)?”

If you were the punter would you:

Refuse the proposition
Accept the proposition of a card being removed but not changeyour choice.
Accept the proposition of a card being removed and opt for the other card being the Queen

15 marks for correct answer

28) DX on HF is possible because radio waves can travel faster than light:

True
False
True in respect of the waves’ phase velocity.
Reflection by the Appleton (F) layers changes the sign of the velocity but not the speed

3 marks for each correct answer

I think I know the correct answer here but am open to argument/ explanation.

29) The Titanic was found (in 1986) to have sunk at 41° 44 North 49°57' West. Assume that the iceberg was struck quite close to this position. If the radio operator (Jack Phillips) had known of the Maidenhead Locator he would have sent:

LN41XR ; LE48XG ; GN51AR ; IO92FI ; GE58AG ; IO74AO

9 marks for correct answer

It is not necessary to have a computer, or even a calculator to answer this one. UK amateurs who know their own locator - and who have pondered the relationship between the most useful and universally understood latitude and longitude system and the Maidenhead abomination - may well have noticed that one of the latitude/ longitude digits carries through into the locator, and so gives the game away. Five of the six geographical references given above are connected through the history of the Titanic; the one that isn't is my QTH (see above).

30) The ‘Q’ of an oscillating system is defined as proportional to the ratio of the energy in the system divided by the energy lost per cycle. Which has the highest Q according to RadCom?

A pendulum swinging at the rate of one tick per second ;
The inductance from a £320 commercially built ATU used on 20 metres ;
A tenor saxophone resonating at 440 Hz (A above middle C) 10 marks for correct answer

31) Who made the bicycles for the first British team to participate in the Tour de France?

- Raleigh
- Hercules
- Ryton-built Peugeot
- Hetchins
- Claud Butler
- Geoffrey Butler
- Ephgraves
- Falcon
- Gamages
- none of the above

30 marks for each correct answer.

32) And finally, finally which famous RF engineer worked in the Bell Laboratories; played the cornet in his college band; married Rosine Rittenhouse around 1930; married Anita Macpherson around 1958; was elected to the New Jersey Inventors Hall of Fame in 1994 (posthumously) and invented a chart which still sells in quantities in excess of a ton a year?

300 marks for correct answer

If you have come from there this link may be used to return to the Mid Warwickshire Amateur Radio Society .

The "Jewel in the crown": an Eddystone 830.

Revised 24 April 2007

Link to John Pollard's Home Page

Transmitter

Order

Points

The "Jewel in the crown": an Eddystone 830.