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SCTE · Last updated November 2026

SCTE Broadband TelecomCenter Specialist (BTCS): free practice test

BTCS certifies knowledge of maintaining and troubleshooting inside plant facilities (headends, hubs and telecom centers) for minimal outages, high reliability and standards compliance, covering video, data and voice networks. SCTE lists five topic categories: facilities, baseband signaling, digital telephony over cable, RF/photonic signals, and tests and measurements. The online exam has 50 questions in 2 hours, is open book and needs 76% to pass.

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About the SCTE BTCS exam

BTCS certifies knowledge of maintaining and troubleshooting inside plant facilities (headends, hubs and telecom centers) for minimal outages, high reliability and standards compliance, covering video, data and voice networks. SCTE lists five topic categories: facilities, baseband signaling, digital telephony over cable, RF/photonic signals, and tests and measurements. The online exam has 50 questions in 2 hours, is open book and needs 76% to pass.

What's on the exam

SCTE BTCS
Facilities: Power, Grounding and Environment
7 key facts
Baseband Signaling and IP Networking
6 key facts
Digital Telephony over Cable
6 key facts
RF Signals and Headend Combining
6 key facts
Photonic Signals and Optical Transport
6 key facts
Video Services and Transport Streams
6 key facts
Tests and Measurements
6 key facts

Each branch is a topic in the official outline. Members see every key fact on the full mind map. Read the free study guide →

How to pass the SCTE BTCS exam

  • You need 38 of 50 correct for 76%, at 2.4 minutes per question. Open book only helps if your notes are indexed: keep a sheet of dBmV, subnet and bit-rate formulas ready.
  • Facilities questions are about keeping the site up: -48 V DC plants, battery runtime, generators, grounding and HVAC. Think about what fails first in an outage.
  • Expect headend RF and video detail: dBmV arithmetic, QAM and MER, MPEG transport stream tables, SCTE 35 cues and multicast for IP video.
  • SCTE recommends its BTCS curriculum plus Network Specialist, DAA and IPTV courses, so expect Remote PHY and IP video questions, not only legacy analog.

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Create a free account after the test: your score by topic, a mistakes bank, the complete study notes for the first topic, flashcards and the RCDD Numbers & Formulas Sheet.

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What's in the premium SCTE BTCS prep

Premium SCTE BTCS prep is studied one topic at a time. Each step starts with that topic's key notes and flashcard deck, then its own question sets of 25, so you master one topic before you move to the next. When every topic is strong, the 6 full mock exams show you're ready.

3,000practice questions, every answer explained
6full-length mock exams, 50 questions each, timed
800flashcards with spaced repetition, sorted by topic
60comprehensive key notes across 7 topics

Your step-by-step study path

  1. 1
    Facilities: Power, Grounding and Environment9 key notes, 115 flashcards, then 450 practice questions in 18 sets of 25
    Notes free with an account
  2. 2
    Baseband Signaling and IP Networking9 key notes, 115 flashcards, then 425 practice questions in 17 sets of 25
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  3. 3
    Digital Telephony over Cable9 key notes, 115 flashcards, then 425 practice questions in 17 sets of 25
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  4. 4
    RF Signals and Headend Combining9 key notes, 115 flashcards, then 425 practice questions in 17 sets of 25
    Premium
  5. 5
    Photonic Signals and Optical Transport8 key notes, 115 flashcards, then 425 practice questions in 17 sets of 25
    Premium
  6. 6
    Video Services and Transport Streams8 key notes, 115 flashcards, then 425 practice questions in 17 sets of 25
    Premium
  7. 7
    Tests and Measurements8 key notes, 110 flashcards, then 425 practice questions in 17 sets of 25
    Premium
  8. Final step: 6 full mock exams50 questions each, timed like test day. Pass them, then book your exam.
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Free with an account

Read the complete SCTE BTCS study notes for “Facilities: Power, Grounding and Environment”

Our first full set of comprehensive notes, about 12 minutes of reading: DC power plants · Batteries and runtime · AC power, generators and UPS · Grounding, bonding and environment, a worked exam example, the traps examiners use and a one-minute recap. Create a free account to read it and see how premium notes work before you decide.

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Study tools included

3,000 practice questions

3,000 exam-style questions per exam, organized topic by topic in sets of 25. Every answer explained, with the rule it comes from.

6 full mock exams

6 full-length timed mock exams per exam, with real question counts and time limits, so test day feels like practice day.

Exam Readiness Score

One 0 to 100 number that tells you when you're ready to book. Reach 80 and you're covered by our Pass Guarantee.

800 flashcards + spaced repetition

800 flashcards per exam, in a deck for each topic, that come back right before you'd forget them. Five minutes a day keeps every number fresh.

60 comprehensive key notes

60 key notes per exam, split across its topics and each explained in full: the concepts, worked exam examples, the traps examiners use and a quick recap. Your first set is free with an account.

Mind maps

See the whole exam on one screen: every topic and the facts under it.

Sample questions with answers

These are the questions in the free test above, with answers. Try the test first. You'll learn more by getting some wrong.

1. A hub's -48 V DC plant carries a steady 60 A load. Its battery strings total 400 Ah. Ignoring temperature and discharge-rate derating, about how long can the batteries carry the load after commercial power and the generator both fail?
Answer: About 6.7 hours. Runtime is about capacity divided by load: 400 Ah / 60 A = 6.7 hours. In practice runtime is shorter because high discharge rates and cold batteries reduce usable capacity, so design reserve is checked against the manufacturer's discharge tables.
2. In a telecom center -48 V DC power plant, which battery terminal is bonded to the facility ground?
Answer: The positive terminal. Telecom DC plants ground the positive side, so the battery return is at ground and the feed is about -48 V (around -52 to -54 V on float). A positive-grounded plant reduces electrolytic corrosion of outside cable pairs. Floating or center-tapped systems are not the telecom norm.
3. A new headend management subnet is assigned 10.20.30.0/26. How many usable host addresses does it provide?
Answer: 62. A /26 leaves 6 host bits: 2^6 = 64 addresses, minus the network and broadcast addresses = 62 usable hosts. 64 forgets those two reserved addresses; 126 is a /25.
4. After an IPTV channel lineup is added, a headend Ethernet switch floods multicast video to every port and links to non-video devices saturate. What should be enabled on the switch?
Answer: IGMP snooping. IGMP snooping lets the switch learn which ports have joined each multicast group and forward the stream only there. Without it, a layer 2 switch treats multicast like broadcast and floods it. Spanning tree prevents loops; it does not limit multicast.
5. Which DOCSIS upstream scheduling service gives a voice service flow fixed-size grants at fixed intervals without the modem requesting them each time?
Answer: Unsolicited Grant Service. Unsolicited Grant Service (UGS) matches constant-bit-rate voice: the CMTS issues grants of a set size on a set schedule, keeping latency and jitter low. Real-time polling suits variable-rate real-time traffic, and best effort is for ordinary data.
6. A voice line uses the G.711 codec with 20 ms packetization. Counting IP, UDP and RTP headers (40 bytes) but no layer 2 overhead, what bandwidth does one direction of the call use?
Answer: 80 kbps. 20 ms of G.711 is 160 bytes of payload; adding 40 bytes of headers gives 200 bytes per packet. At 50 packets per second, 200 × 8 × 50 = 80,000 bps = 80 kbps. 64 kbps is the codec rate alone, before headers.
7. A headend technician measures a carrier at 10 mV RMS across 75 ohms. What is its level?
Answer: +20 dBmV. dBmV = 20 log (V / 1 mV) = 20 log 10 = +20 dBmV. Voltage ratios use 20 log, not 10 log, which is why the +10 dBmV answer is a common error. 0 dBmV is 1 mV across 75 ohms.
8. About how much payload data does one 6 MHz 256-QAM downstream channel (ITU-T J.83 Annex B) carry?
Answer: About 38.8 Mbps. Annex B 256-QAM runs at about 5.36 Msym/s with 8 bits per symbol, about 42.9 Mbps raw, leaving about 38.8 Mbps of payload after FEC and framing. 64-QAM in the same 6 MHz carries about 26.97 Mbps. The 42.9 Mbps figure forgets the coding overhead.
9. A technician is about to connect a jumper to a forward optical transmitter output during maintenance. What is the correct practice?
Answer: Inspect both ends, clean if dirty, then reinspect. Inspect, clean only if dirty, and inspect again, using acceptance criteria such as IEC 61300-3-35. Contamination at a high-power transmitter output can burn into the end face and cause reflections that raise noise. Cleaning blind can leave or move debris.
10. A single fiber to a node carries the 1550 nm forward signal one way and a 1310 nm return signal the other. Which passive device in the hub separates them?
Answer: A WDM filter. A wavelength division multiplexing filter routes each wavelength to its own port with little loss, so 1550 nm goes to the fiber and 1310 nm comes back to the return receiver. A 50/50 coupler would split power without separating wavelengths and add about 3 dB loss each way.
11. A set-top box reports that it cannot find any programs in a transport stream. Which MPEG-2 table, always carried on PID 0x0000, should be checked first?
Answer: Program Association Table (PAT). The PAT on PID 0 lists every program and the PID of each program's PMT; without it a receiver cannot find any service. The PMT then lists the video and audio PIDs for one program, and the CAT (PID 1) points to conditional access data.
12. Ad insertion equipment misses local avails on a network feed. Which standard defines the cue messages in the transport stream that mark these splice points?
Answer: SCTE 35. SCTE 35 carries digital program insertion cue messages in the MPEG transport stream to signal splice points for ads. SCTE 104 is the automation-to-encoder interface that triggers those cues, SCTE 18 covers emergency alert messaging and SCTE 27 covers subtitles.
13. A spectrum analyzer with a 300 kHz resolution bandwidth is used on a 6 MHz wide QAM channel, without a channel power function. Roughly how much lower than the true channel power will the displayed level read?
Answer: About 13 dB. A QAM signal is noise-like, so the analyzer shows only the power inside its resolution bandwidth: 10 log (6 MHz / 0.3 MHz) = 13 dB below the full channel power. That is why digital channels are measured with a channel power function or a bandwidth correction.
14. A QAM analyzer at the headend shows the constellation points smeared into arcs around the center rather than round fuzzy clouds. What is the most likely impairment?
Answer: Phase noise. Phase noise rotates symbols back and forth, so points stretch into arcs at a constant radius. Random noise produces round fuzzy clouds, and compression squeezes the outer points toward the center. Check local oscillators and the upconverter.
15. The upstream noise floor on a CMTS port fed by four combined node returns rises by 15 dB. What is the most efficient first step at the headend?
Answer: Remove each return leg in turn while watching the noise. Return paths from several nodes are combined, so noise from one node funnels into the shared port. Removing one leg at a time (or switching it out) while watching the noise floor shows which node carries the ingress, so field crews can then work that node.

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SCTE BTCS exam FAQ

How many questions are on the SCTE BTCS exam?

50 multiple-choice questions, with a time limit of 2 hours; the exam cannot be paused and breaks are not allowed. Format: open book: scte training materials, books, printed documents, notes, tables, calculators and internet resources are allowed (digital content in a separate tab of the same browser); ai tools are not allowed.

What is the passing score for SCTE BTCS?

76%.

How much does the SCTE BTCS exam cost?

US$125 for members and non-members; a new fee is due for each attempt and the exam must be taken within one year of purchase. Certification lasts 3 years and is renewed with 36 continuing education hours (CEH) or by retaking the exam. BICSI fees can change without notice, so confirm on bicsi.org before you apply.

Which languages is the SCTE BTCS exam offered in?

English. SCTE does not list a Spanish BTCS exam.

Where do I take the SCTE BTCS exam?

Online through the SCTE account portal, with Proctorio automated remote proctoring on Chrome or Edge (webcam, microphone and photo ID required).

Is this SCTE BTCS practice test free?

Yes. The 15-question practice test on this page is free, with an explanation for every answer and no signup. A free account also unlocks the complete study notes for the first topic. The full SCTE BTCS prep is Premium at $147 a month for this exam.

What's in the premium SCTE BTCS prep?

3,000 practice questions organized topic by topic (Facilities: Power, Grounding and Environment: 450; Baseband Signaling and IP Networking: 425; Digital Telephony over Cable: 425; RF Signals and Headend Combining: 425; Photonic Signals and Optical Transport: 425; Video Services and Transport Streams: 425; Tests and Measurements: 425), 6 full-length timed mock exams of 50 questions, 800 flashcards and 60 comprehensive key notes split across all 7 topics, plus a mistakes bank and the Readiness Score.

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Exam details are summarized from the official candidate information available in October 2026. BICSI changes formats and fees, so confirm with SCTE (Society of Cable Telecommunications Engineers), a subsidiary of CableLabs before you book. RCDDQuizBank is not affiliated with BICSI or Pearson VUE.

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