US Amateur Radio - Amateur Extra (Element 4, 2016-2020) Practice Test

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1. - E1A06

Where must the carrier frequency of a CW signal be set to comply with FCC rules for 60 meter operation?

Select	Answer
A	At the highest frequency of the channel
B	At the center frequency of the channel
C	At the lowest frequency of the channel
D	On any frequency where the signal's sidebands are within the channel

2. - E1B06

Which of the following additional rules apply if you are installing an amateur station antenna at a site at or near a public use airport?

Select	Answer
A	You must obtain a construction permit from the airport zoning authority
B	You may have to notify the Federal Aviation Administration and register it with the FCC as required by Part 17 of FCC rules
C	You must file an Environmental Impact Statement with the EPA before construction begins
D	No special rules apply if your antenna structure will be less than 300 feet in height

3. - E1C06

Which of the following statements concerning remotely controlled amateur stations is true?

Select	Answer
A	A control operator need not be present at the control point
B	Repeater and auxiliary stations may not be remotely controlled
C	A control operator must be present at the control point
D	Only Extra Class operators may be the control operator of a remote station

4. - E1D01

What is the definition of the term telemetry?

Select	Answer
A	Two-way radiotelephone transmissions in excess of 1000 feet
B	One-way transmission of measurements at a distance from the measuring instrument
C	One-way transmission that initiates, modifies, or terminates the functions of a device at a distance
D	Two-way single channel transmissions of data

5. - E1E03

What is a Volunteer Examiner Coordinator?

Select	Answer
A	An organization that has entered into an agreement with the FCC to coordinate amateur operator license examinations
B	A person who has volunteered to administer amateur operator license examinations
C	A person who has volunteered to prepare amateur operator license examinations
D	The person who has entered into an agreement with the FCC to be the VE session manager

6. - E1F06

Under what circumstances might the FCC issue a Special Temporary Authority (STA) to an amateur station?

Select	Answer
A	To provide additional spectrum for personal use
B	To provide temporary operation while awaiting normal licensing
C	To allow regular operation on Land Mobile channels
D	To provide for experimental amateur communications

7. - E2A07

Which of the following types of signals can be relayed through a linear transponder?

Select	Answer
A	All of these choices are correct
B	SSB and SSTV
C	PSK and Packet
D	FM and CW

8. - E2B07

What is the name of the signal component that carries color information in NTSC video?

Select	Answer
A	Hue
B	Spectral Intensity
C	Luminance
D	Chroma

9. - E2C09

What type of equipment is commonly used to implement a ham radio mesh network?

Select	Answer
A	A standard wireless router running custom software
B	A 2 meter VHF transceiver with a 1200 baud modem
C	An optical cable connection between the USB ports of 2 separate computers
D	A 440 MHz transceiver with a 9600 baud modem

10. - E2D08

What type of packet frame is used to transmit APRS beacon data?

Select	Answer
A	Disconnect
B	Connect
C	Acknowledgement
D	Unnumbered Information

11. - E2E02

What do the letters FEC mean as they relate to digital operation?

Select	Answer
A	Final Error Correction
B	Fatal Error Correction
C	First Error Correction
D	Forward Error Correction

12. - E3A16

Which of the following best describes electromagnetic waves traveling in free space?

Select	Answer
A	Changing electric and magnetic fields propagate the energy
B	Electric and magnetic fields become aligned as they travel
C	The waves are reflected by the ionosphere and return to their source
D	The energy propagates through a medium with a high refractive index

13. - E3B06

Which of the following amateur bands most frequently provides long-path propagation?

Select	Answer
A	10 meters
B	80 meters
C	6 meters
D	20 meters

14. - E3C05

What orientation of Bz (B sub z) increases the likelihood that incoming particles from the Sun will cause disturbed conditions?

Select	Answer
A	Westward
B	Eastward
C	Southward
D	Northward

15. - E4A14

What is the purpose of the prescaler function on a frequency counter?

Select	Answer
A	It prevents oscillation in a low-frequency counter circuit
B	It multiplies a higher frequency signal so a low-frequency counter can display the operating frequency
C	It amplifies low level signals for more accurate counting
D	It divides a higher frequency signal so a low-frequency counter can display the input frequency

16. - E4B14

What happens if a dip meter is too tightly coupled to a tuned circuit being checked?

Select	Answer
A	A less accurate reading results
B	Cross modulation occurs
C	Intermodulation distortion occurs
D	Harmonics are generated

17. - E4C11

Which of the following is a desirable amount of selectivity for an amateur SSB phone receiver?

Select	Answer
A	4.8 kHz
B	2.4 kHz
C	4.2 kHz
D	1 kHz

18. - E4D06

What is the term for unwanted signals generated by the mixing of two or more signals?

Select	Answer
A	Adjacent channel interference
B	Intermodulation interference
C	Amplifier desensitization
D	Neutralization

19. - E4E03

Which of the following signals might a receiver noise blanker be able to remove from desired signals?

Select	Answer
A	Signals which have a sharply peaked frequency distribution
B	Signals which appear across a wide bandwidth
C	Signals which are constant at all IF levels
D	Signals which appear at one IF but not another

20. - E5A03

What is the magnitude of the impedance of a series RLC circuit at resonance?

Select	Answer
A	High, as compared to the circuit resistance
B	Approximately equal to inductive reactance
C	Approximately equal to capacitive reactance
D	Approximately equal to circuit resistance

21. - E5B03

What happens to the phase angle of a reactance when it is converted to a susceptance?

Select	Answer
A	It is shifted by 90 degrees
B	The sign is reversed
C	It is unchanged
D	The susceptance phase angle is the inverse of the reactance phase angle

22. - E5C05

What is the name of the diagram used to show the phase relationship between impedances at a given frequency?

Select	Answer
A	Venn diagram
B	Phasor diagram
C	Near field diagram
D	Far field diagram

23. - E5D04

Why are short connections necessary at microwave frequencies?

Select	Answer
A	To reduce noise figure
B	To reduce phase shift along the connection
C	To increase neutralizing resistance
D	Because of ground reflections

24. - E6A06

What is the beta of a bipolar junction transistor?

Select	Answer
A	The change in collector current with respect to base current
B	The breakdown voltage of the base to collector junction
C	The switching speed of the transistor
D	The frequency at which the current gain is reduced to 1

25. - E6B13

What type of bias is required for an LED to emit light?

Select	Answer
A	Forward bias
B	Inductive bias
C	Zero bias
D	Reverse bias

26. - E6C08

In Figure E6-5, what is the schematic symbol for a NAND gate?

Select	Answer
A	1
B	3
C	2
D	4

27. - E6D16

What is the common name for a capacitor connected across a transformer secondary that is used to absorb transient voltage spikes?

Select	Answer
A	Snubber capacitor
B	Trimmer capacitor
C	Clipper capacitor
D	Feedback capacitor

28. - E6E03

Which of the following materials is likely to provide the highest frequency of operation when used in MMICs?

Select	Answer
A	Silicon nitride
B	Silicon
C	Gallium nitride
D	Silicon dioxide

29. - E6F03

What is the most common configuration of an optoisolator or optocoupler?

Select	Answer
A	A lens and a photomultiplier
B	An LED and a phototransistor
C	An amplitude modulated helium-neon laser
D	A frequency modulated helium-neon laser

30. - E7A03

Which of the following can divide the frequency of a pulse train by 2?

Select	Answer
A	An OR gate
B	A flip-flop
C	An XOR gate
D	A multiplexer

31. - E7B05

What can be done to prevent unwanted oscillations in an RF power amplifier?

Select	Answer
A	Tune both the input and output for maximum power
B	Tune the stage for maximum SWR
C	Install parasitic suppressors and/or neutralize the stage
D	Use a phase inverter in the output filter

32. - E7C14

Which mode is most affected by non-linear phase response in a receiver IF filter?

Select	Answer
A	Meteor scatter
B	Digital
C	Single-Sideband voice
D	Video

33. - E7D13

What is the equation for calculating power dissipation by a series connected linear voltage regulator?

Select	Answer
A	Output voltage multiplied by output current
B	Input voltage divided by output current
C	Voltage difference from input to output multiplied by output current
D	Input voltage multiplied by input current

34. - E7E07

What is meant by the term baseband in radio communications?

Select	Answer
A	The basic oscillator frequency in an FM transmitter that is multiplied to increase the deviation and carrier frequency
B	The unmodulated bandwidth of the transmitted signal
C	The frequency components present in the modulating signal
D	The lowest frequency band that the transmitter or receiver covers

35. - E7F01

What is meant by direct digital conversion as applied to software defined radios?

Select	Answer
A	A switching mixer is used to generate I and Q signals directly from the RF input
B	Incoming RF is digitized by an analog-to-digital converter without being mixed with a local oscillator signal
C	Incoming RF is converted to a control voltage for a voltage controlled oscillator
D	Software is converted from source code to object code during operation of the receiver

36. - E7G03

What is the typical input impedance of an integrated circuit op-amp?

Select	Answer
A	Very high
B	1000 ohms
C	Very low
D	100 ohms

37. - E7H15

Which of these functions can be performed by a phase-locked loop?

Select	Answer
A	Photovoltaic conversion, optical coupling
B	Frequency synthesis, FM demodulation
C	Wide-band AF and RF power amplification
D	Comparison of two digital input signals, digital pulse counter

38. - E8A04

What is "dither" with respect to analog to digital converters?

Select	Answer
A	An abnormal condition where the converter cannot settle on a value to represent the signal
B	An error caused by irregular quantization step size
C	A method of decimation by randomly skipping samples
D	A small amount of noise added to the input signal to allow more precise representation of a signal over time

39. - E8B10

What describes frequency division multiplexing?

Select	Answer
A	The transmitted signal is divided into packets of information
B	The transmitted signal jumps from band to band at a predetermined rate
C	Two or more information streams are merged into a baseband, which then modulates the transmitter
D	Two or more information streams are merged into a digital combiner, which then pulse position modulates the transmitter

40. - E8C04

What technique is used to minimize the bandwidth requirements of a PSK31 signal?

Select	Answer
A	Reed-Solomon character encoding
B	Zero-sum character encoding
C	Use of sinusoidal data pulses
D	Use of trapezoidal data pulses

41. - E8D03

How does the spread spectrum technique of frequency hopping work?

Select	Answer
A	A pseudo-random binary bit stream is used to shift the phase of an RF carrier very rapidly in a particular sequence
B	The frequency of the transmitted signal is changed very rapidly according to a particular sequence also used by the receiving station
C	If interference is detected by the receiver it will signal the transmitter to wait until the frequency is clear
D	If interference is detected by the receiver it will signal the transmitter to change frequencies

42. - E9A18

What term describes station output, taking into account all gains and losses?

Select	Answer
A	Power factor
B	Effective radiated power
C	Half-power bandwidth
D	Apparent power

43. - E9B14

What type of information can be obtained by submitting the details of a proposed new antenna to a modeling program?

Select	Answer
A	SWR vs frequency charts
B	Antenna gain
C	Polar plots of the far field elevation and azimuth patterns
D	All of these choices are correct

44. - E9C10

Which of the following describes a Zepp antenna?

Select	Answer
A	A vertical array capable of quickly changing the direction of maximum radiation by changing phasing lines
B	An end fed dipole antenna
C	An omni-directional antenna commonly used for satellite communications
D	A dipole constructed from zip cord

45. - E9D11

Which of the following types of conductors would be best for minimizing losses in a station's RF ground system?

Select	Answer
A	A resistive wire, such as spark plug wire
B	A cable with six or seven 18 gauge conductors in parallel
C	A single 12 gauge or 10 gauge stainless steel wire
D	A wide flat copper strap

46. - E9E10

Which of these choices is an effective way to match an antenna with a 100 ohm feed point impedance to a 50 ohm coaxial cable feed line?

Select	Answer
A	Insert a 1/2 wavelength piece of 300 ohm twin-lead in series between the antenna terminals and the 50 ohm feed cable
B	Connect a 1/4-wavelength open stub of 300 ohm twin-lead in parallel with the coaxial feed line where it connects to the antenna
C	Connect 1/2 wavelength shorted stub of 75 ohm cable in parallel with the 50 ohm cable where it attaches to the antenna
D	Insert a 1/4-wavelength piece of 75 ohm coaxial cable transmission line in series between the antenna terminals and the 50 ohm feed cable

47. - E9F10

What impedance does a 1/8 wavelength transmission line present to a generator when the line is shorted at the far end?

Select	Answer
A	An inductive reactance
B	The same as the characteristic impedance of the line
C	The same as the input impedance to the final generator stage
D	A capacitive reactance

48. - E9G02

What type of coordinate system is used in a Smith chart?

Select	Answer
A	Resistance circles and reactance arcs
B	Voltage circles and current arcs
C	Voltage lines and current chords
D	Resistance lines and reactance chords

49. - E9H10

How can the output voltage of a multiple turn receiving loop antenna be increased?

Select	Answer
A	By winding adjacent turns in opposing directions
B	By reducing the permeability of the loop shield
C	By increasing either the number of wire turns in the loop or the area of the loop structure or both
D	By increasing the number of wire turns in the loop and reducing the area of the loop structure

50. - E0A03

Which of the following would be a practical way to estimate whether the RF fields produced by an amateur radio station are within permissible MPE limits?

Select	Answer
A	All of the choices are correct
B	Use an antenna modeling program to calculate field strength at accessible locations
C	Use a hand calculator plus Smith-chart equations to calculate the fields
D	Use a calibrated antenna analyzer

Figure E6-5