Electronics IQ Quiz
May 1967 Popular Electronics

May 1967 Popular Electronics   Table of Contents Wax nostalgic about and learn from the history of early electronics. See articles from Popular Electronics, published October 1954 - April 1985. All copyrights are hereby acknowledged.

Unlike those IQ (intelligence quotient) tests conceived of and administered by Ph.D. college professors with pulsating veins in their foreheads, this "Electronics IQ Quiz," created by Popular Electronics magazine quizmaster Robert Balin, is a true measure of your real-world acumen. Here are a couple hints to assist quiz takers not familiar with last century electronics. You need to have knowledge of the NTSC-mandated broadcast television channel bandwidth for figure A, but you might be able to guess it by process of elimination. For figure E, consider the bandwidth limits in terms of dB, not MHz. Kinks in the characteristic curves of the tube alluded to in figure D betray its number (extra hint: it's not a diode or a triode). Good luck!

Electronics IQ Quiz

By Robert P. Balin

Each of the sketches (A-I) below can be directly associated with a single digit (1-9) that helps to describe its purpose, or interprets its function. For example, in the sample sketch (X), the silver band on the resistor indicates a tolerance of ±10%. If you answer 9 out of 9, you're a genius; 7 correct answers is about average.

  1 ___

   2 ___

   3 ___

   4 ___

   5 ___

   6 ___

   7 ___

   8 ___

   9 ___

10 _X__

Answers at bottom of page.

Posted June 30, 2023
(updated from original post on 11/2/2018)

Quizzes from vintage electronics magazines such as Popular Electronics, Electronics-World, QST, and Radio News were published over the years - some really simple and others not so simple. Robert P. Balin created most of the quizzes for Popular Electronics. This is a listing of all I have posted thus far.

Quiz Answers

1 - I) The unijunction transistor has but one p-n junction.

2 - B) The voltage doubler output is approximately equal to two times its r.m.s. input.

3 - E) Audio equipment frequency response is measured within the half-power point on the curve - read as three db down.

4 - D) These curves, representing the characteristics of a tetrode (four-element vacuum tube) plate, display a negative resistance region.

5 -G) By Ohm's law, the current flowing in the circuit is five mA.

6 - A) Television channels are six MHz wide.

7 - C) This is the Morse code symbol for numeral seven.

8 - F) A figure-eight (Lissajous) pattern on a scope indicates that the scope's horizontal input is being fed a sine wave having twice the frequency of the vertical input signal.

9 - H) The "on" lamps are reading nine in the binary number system.