Chapter 18: Terrestrial Microwave Communication Systems

MULTIPLE CHOICE

1. Another term for a single microwave link is a:

a. section c. skip
b. hop d. jump
ANS: B

2. Microwave systems use:

a. FM c. QAM
b. SSB d. all of the above
ANS: D

3. The typical reliability of a microwave system is:

a. 90% c. 99.9%
b. 99% d. 99.99%
ANS: D

4. A typical microwave system uses a transmitted power of about:

a. 2 watts c. 200 watts
b. 20 watts d. none of the above
ANS: A

5. In analog microwave systems, additional repeaters increase the:

a. reliability c. jitter
b. noise level d. all of the above
ANS: B

6. In digital microwave systems, additional repeaters increase the:

a. reliability c. jitter
b. noise level d. all of the above
ANS: C

7. LOS stands for:

a. Loss Of Skip c. Line-Of-Sight
b. Loss Of Signal d. Line-Of-Signal
ANS: C

8. Too much antenna gain causes:

a. a very narrow microwave beam c. excessive noise
b. a very wide microwave beam d. jitter
ANS: A
 9. The microwave signal path should clear obstacles by at least:
a. 60% of the Faraday zone c. 60% of the height of the antenna tower
b. 60% of the Fresnel zone d. 60% of the highest obstacle height
ANS: B

10. Satisfactory performance of an analog microwave system is defined as:

a. a carrier-to-noise ratio that exceeds a given value
b. an ERP level that exceeds a given value
c. an energy-per-hertz level that exceeds a given value
d. none of the above
ANS: A

11. Satisfactory performance of a digital microwave system requires a:

a. low level of transmitted power
b. high level of ERP
c. good energy per bit per transmitted Watt ratio
d. good energy per bit per noise density ratio
ANS: D

12. Fading is caused by:

a. multipath reception c. ducting
b. attenuation due to weather d. all of the above
ANS: D

13. The effects of fading due to multipath reception are often reduced using:
a. diversity c. high-gain antennas
b. power d. all of the above
ANS: A

14. Repeaters are used in a microwave system:

a. always c. above 10 GHz
b. when distance exceeds line-of-sight d. below 10 GHz
ANS: B

15. Microwave repeaters can be:

a. IF type c. regenerative type
b. baseband type d. all of the above
ANS: D

16. An advantage of digital techniques over analog in a microwave system is:

a. less bandwidth is required c. it requires less power
b. accumulation of noise is reduced d. all of the above
ANS: B

17. MMDS stands for:

a. Multichannel Microwave Distribution System
 b. Multipoint Microwave Distribution System
c. Multichannel Multipoint Distribution System
d. Multiple Microwave Distribution Systems
ANS: C

18. LMDS stands for:

a. Local Microwave Distribution System
b. Local Multipoint Distribution System
c. Local Multichannel Distribution System
d. Low-power Microwave Distribution System
ANS: B

19. LMDS is:

a. bidirectional c. multidirectional
b. unidirectional d. none of the above
ANS: A

COMPLETION

1. One microwave link is called a ____________________.

ANS: hop

2. STL stands for ____________________-to-transmitter links.

ANS: studio

3. A typical microwave system has about one hour per ____________________ or less of downtime.

ANS: year

4. Adding more links causes ____________________ in a digital microwave system.

ANS: jitter

5. In microwave systems, it is more convenient to use noise ____________________ than noise figure in
calculations.

ANS: temperature

6. In digital microwave systems, the energy per bit per ____________________ is a key parameter.

ANS: noise density

7. Multipath reception can cause 20 dB or more of ____________________.

ANS: fading
 8. Two antennas stacked one above the other on a tower is an example of ____________________ diversity
in a microwave system.

ANS: space

9. The ability to use two frequencies simultaneously is an example of ____________________.

ANS: diversity

10. Microwave systems generally use less than ____________________ watts of power.

ANS: ten

11. ____________________ are necessary in a microwave system that extends beyond the line-of-sight
distance.

ANS: Repeaters

12. Analog microwave systems use both IF and ____________________ repeaters.

ANS: baseband

13. Microwave digital radio techniques reduce the accumulation of ____________________ as a signal goes
from link to link.

ANS: noise

14. MMDS is unidirectional, but ____________________ is bidirectional.

ANS: LMDS

SHORT ANSWER

1. If the line-of-sight distance for an optical beam is 12 km, what would it be, approximately, for a
microwave beam?

ANS:
16 km

2. A line-of-sight microwave link operating at 4 GHz has a separation of 40 km between antennas. An

obstacle in the path is located midway between the two antennas. By how much must the beam clear the
obstacle?

ANS:
16.4 meters

3. A transmitter and receiver operating at 1 GHz are separated by 10 km. How many dBm of power gets to
the receiver if the transmitter puts out 1 Watt, and both the sending and receiving antennas have a gain of
20 dBi?
 ANS:
–42.4 dBm

4. A microwave system has a feed-line loss of 2 dB and sees a sky temperature of 150 K. Calculate the noise
temperature of the antenna/feed-line system referenced to the receiver input.

ANS:
201 K

5. A microwave receiver receives –60 dBm of signal. The noise power is –100 dBm. What is the carrier-to-
noise power ratio?

ANS:
40 dB