CBT Risk Management & Mitigation 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A broadcast facility experiences a power outage during a live news program. Which mitigation strategy provides the FASTEST automatic switchover to backup power?
- Manual generator start
- Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) (Correct answer)
- Automatic Transfer Switch (ATS) with generator
- Redundant utility feed
Correct answer: Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS)
A UPS provides instantaneous power bridging during outages, whereas generators and ATS systems have startup delays of several seconds.
Question 2: When conducting a risk assessment for a broadcast tower, which factor MOST significantly increases lightning strike probability?
- Tower color
- Tower height (Correct answer)
- Antenna polarization
- Transmission frequency
Correct answer: Tower height
Tower height is the primary factor increasing lightning strike probability because taller structures are more likely to intercept stepped leaders from storm clouds.
Question 3: A station's primary satellite uplink fails mid-broadcast. The BEST pre-planned mitigation is to have which of the following?
- A second uplink path via a different satellite or fiber (Correct answer)
- A printed script of the broadcast
- An extra technician on standby
- A backup antenna pointed at the same satellite
Correct answer: A second uplink path via a different satellite or fiber
Path diversity using a separate satellite or fiber circuit eliminates single-point-of-failure dependency on one uplink infrastructure.
Question 4: In broadcast risk management, what does the term 'MTTR' stand for?
- Mean Time To Repair (Correct answer)
- Maximum Transmitter Thermal Rating
- Minimum Transmission Time Required
- Mean Tower Thermal Resistance
Correct answer: Mean Time To Repair
MTTR (Mean Time To Repair) measures the average time required to restore a failed system and is a key metric in availability planning.
Question 5: Which document establishes the systematic procedures a broadcast facility follows to recover operations after a catastrophic failure?
- FCC Form 302
- Business Continuity Plan (BCP) (Correct answer)
- Equipment maintenance log
- Station technical file
Correct answer: Business Continuity Plan (BCP)
A Business Continuity Plan (BCP) outlines recovery procedures, backup resources, and responsibilities to restore broadcast operations after a major failure.
Question 6: A transmitter's PA stage VSWR suddenly spikes. What is the PRIMARY risk this poses to the system?
- Increased power consumption at the rectifier
- Reflected power damaging the final amplifier transistors (Correct answer)
- Reduced modulation index
- Audio distortion at baseband
Correct answer: Reflected power damaging the final amplifier transistors
High VSWR causes significant reflected power to return to the PA stage, which can overheat and destroy final amplifier transistors if not folded back or shut down.
Question 7: Which risk mitigation approach involves operating two identical systems simultaneously so one can take over instantly if the other fails?
- Cold standby
- Warm standby
- Hot standby (Correct answer)
- Load shedding
Correct answer: Hot standby
Hot standby operates both primary and backup systems simultaneously in active states, enabling zero-downtime switchover upon primary failure.
CBT Risk Management & Mitigation 2
A broadcast facility experiences a power outage during a live news program.
Which mitigation strategy provides the FASTEST automatic switchover to backup power?