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

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1. - E1A07

Which amateur band requires transmission on specific channels rather than on a range of frequencies?

Select	Answer
A	30 meter band
B	17 meter band
C	12 meter band
D	60 meter band

2. - E1B03

Within what distance must an amateur station protect an FCC monitoring facility from harmful interference?

Select	Answer
A	10 miles
B	3 miles
C	30 miles
D	1 mile

3. - E1C05

When may an automatically controlled station originate third party communications?

Select	Answer
A	Only when transmitting RTTY or data emissions
B	When approved by the National Telecommunication and Information Administration
C	When agreed upon by the sending or receiving station
D	Never

4. - E1D03

What is a telecommand station in the amateur satellite service?

Select	Answer
A	An amateur station that transmits telemetry consisting of measurements of upper atmosphere
B	An amateur station located more than 50 km above the Earth's surface
C	An amateur station that transmits communications to initiate, modify or terminate functions of a space station
D	An amateur station located on the Earth's surface for communication with other Earth stations by means of Earth satellites

5. - E1E07

What should a VE do if a candidate fails to comply with the examiner's instructions during an amateur operator license examination?

Select	Answer
A	Allow the candidate to complete the examination, but invalidate the results
B	Immediately terminate the candidate's examination
C	Warn the candidate that continued failure to comply will result in termination of the examination
D	Immediately terminate everyone's examination and close the session

6. - E1F03

Under what circumstances may a dealer sell an external RF power amplifier capable of operation below 144 MHz if it has not been granted FCC certification?

Select	Answer
A	It was imported from a manufacturer in another country and was certificated by that country's government
B	The equipment dealer assembled it from a kit
C	It was purchased in used condition from an amateur operator and is sold to another amateur operator for use at that operator's station
D	It was imported from a manufacturer in a country that does not require certification of RF power amplifiers

7. - E2A10

Why may the received signal from an amateur satellite exhibit a rapidly repeating fading effect?

Select	Answer
A	Because the satellite is spinning
B	Because of the satellite's low orbital altitude
C	Because of the Doppler Effect
D	Because of ionospheric absorption

8. - E2B10

Which of the following is an acceptable bandwidth for Digital Radio Mondiale (DRM) based voice or SSTV digital transmissions made on the HF amateur bands?

Select	Answer
A	10 KHz
B	20 KHz
C	15 KHz
D	3 KHz

9. - E2C01

Which of the following is true about contest operating?

Select	Answer
A	Every contest requires a signal report in the exchange
B	It is mandatory to transmit the call sign of the station being worked as part of every transmission to that station
C	Operators are permitted to make contacts even if they do not submit a log
D	Interference to other amateurs is unavoidable and therefore acceptable

10. - E2D09

Which of these digital modes has the fastest data throughput under clear communication conditions?

Select	Answer
A	170 Hz shift, 45 baud RTTY
B	PSK31
C	AMTOR
D	300 baud packet

11. - E2E09

Which of the following HF digital modes uses variable-length coding for bandwidth efficiency?

Select	Answer
A	PSK31
B	PACTOR
C	RTTY
D	MT63

12. - E3A01

What is the approximate maximum separation measured along the surface of the Earth between two stations communicating by Moon bounce?

Select	Answer
A	2000 miles, if the Moon is at apogee
B	500 miles, if the Moon is at perigee
C	12,000 miles, if the Moon is visible by both stations
D	5000 miles, if the Moon is at perigee

13. - E3B08

What type of HF propagation is probably occurring if radio signals travel along the terminator between daylight and darkness?

Select	Answer
A	Long-path
B	Sporadic-E
C	Gray-line
D	Transequatorial

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	Southward
B	Westward
C	Eastward
D	Northward

15. - E4A12

Which of the following procedures is an important precaution to follow when connecting a spectrum analyzer to a transmitter output?

Select	Answer
A	All of these choices are correct
B	Attenuate the transmitter output going to the spectrum analyzer
C	Match the antenna to the load
D	Use high quality double shielded coaxial cables to reduce signal losses

16. - E4B16

Which S parameter represents return loss or SWR?

Select	Answer
A	S21
B	S12
C	S11
D	S22

17. - E4C06

A CW receiver with the AGC off has an equivalent input noise power density of -174 dBm/Hz. What would be the level of an unmodulated carrier input to this receiver that would yield an audio output SNR of 0 dB in a 400 Hz noise bandwidth?

Select	Answer
A	-164 dBm
B	-148 dBm
C	-155 dBm
D	-174 dBm

18. - E4D11

Why are third-order intermodulation products created within a receiver of particular interest compared to other products?

Select	Answer
A	Third-order products are an indication of poor image rejection
B	The third-order product of two signals which are in the band of interest is also likely to be within the band
C	The third-order intercept is much higher than other orders
D	Third-order intermodulation produces three products for every input signal within the band of interest

19. - E4E09

What undesirable effect can occur when using an IF noise blanker?

Select	Answer
A	Received audio in the speech range might have an echo effect
B	FM signals can no longer be demodulated
C	Nearby signals may appear to be excessively wide even if they meet emission standards
D	The audio frequency bandwidth of the received signal might be compressed

20. - E5A05

What is the magnitude of the current at the input of a series RLC circuit as the frequency goes through resonance?

Select	Answer
A	R/L
B	Maximum
C	Minimum
D	L/R

21. - E5B06

What is susceptance?

Select	Answer
A	The ratio of magnetic field to electric field
B	The inverse of reactance
C	The magnetic impedance of a circuit
D	A measure of the efficiency of a transformer

22. - E5C17

Which point on Figure E5-2 best represents the impedance of a series circuit consisting of a 300 ohm resistor, a 0.64-microhenry inductor and an 85-picofarad capacitor at 24.900 MHz?

Select	Answer
A	Point 3
B	Point 8
C	Point 1
D	Point 5

23. - E5D03

What is microstrip?

Select	Answer
A	Lightweight transmission line made of common zip cord
B	Miniature coax used for low power applications
C	Precision printed circuit conductors above a ground plane that provide constant impedance interconnects at microwave frequencies
D	Short lengths of coax mounted on printed circuit boards to minimize time delay between microwave circuits

24. - E6A07

Which of the following indicates that a silicon NPN junction transistor is biased on?

Select	Answer
A	Base-to-emitter voltage of approximately 0.6 to 0.7 volts
B	Base-to-emitter voltage of approximately 6 to 7 volts
C	Base-to-emitter resistance of approximately 6 to 7 ohms
D	Base-to-emitter resistance of approximately 0.6 to 0.7 ohms

25. - E6B08

Which of the following describes a type of semiconductor diode?

Select	Answer
A	Metal-semiconductor junction
B	Thermionic emission diode
C	Electrolytic rectifier
D	CMOS-field effect

26. - E6C13

Which of the following is an advantage of BiCMOS logic?

Select	Answer
A	All of these choices are correct
B	Its simplicity results in much less expensive devices than standard CMOS
C	It has the high input impedance of CMOS and the low output impedance of bipolar transistors
D	It is totally immune to electrostatic damage

27. - E6D12

What is the definition of saturation in a ferrite core inductor?

Select	Answer
A	Adjacent inductors become over-coupled
B	The inductor windings are over coupled
C	The inductor's voltage rating is exceeded causing a flashover
D	The ability of the inductor's core to store magnetic energy has been exceeded

28. - E6E05

Which of the following noise figure values is typical of a low-noise UHF preamplifier?

Select	Answer
A	2 dB
B	-20 dBm
C	-10 dB
D	44 dBm

29. - E6F06

Which of these materials is affected the most by photoconductivity?

Select	Answer
A	An ordinary metal
B	A heavy metal
C	A liquid semiconductor
D	A crystalline semiconductor

30. - E7A04

How many flip-flops are required to divide a signal frequency by 4?

Select	Answer
A	4
B	1
C	8
D	2

31. - E7B01

For what portion of a signal cycle does a Class AB amplifier operate?

Select	Answer
A	More than 180 degrees but less than 360 degrees
B	Less than 180 degrees
C	Exactly 180 degrees
D	The entire cycle

32. - E7C07

What kind of filter would you use to attenuate an interfering carrier signal while receiving an SSB transmission?

Select	Answer
A	A Pi-network filter
B	An all-pass filter
C	A band-pass filter
D	A notch filter

33. - E7D07

What is the purpose of C2 in the circuit shown in Figure E7-3?

Select	Answer
A	To provide fixed DC bias for Q1
B	It bypasses hum around D1
C	It is a brute force filter for the output
D	To self-resonate at the hum frequency

34. - E7E08

What are the principal frequencies that appear at the output of a mixer circuit?

Select	Answer
A	Two and four times the original frequency
B	The sum, difference and square root of the input frequencies
C	1.414 and 0.707 times the input frequency
D	The two input frequencies along with their sum and difference frequencies

35. - E7F17

What do the letters I and Q in I/Q Modulation represent?

Select	Answer
A	Inactive and Quiescent
B	In-phase and Quadrature
C	Instantaneous and Quenched
D	Instantaneous and Quasi-stable

36. - E7G04

What is meant by the term op-amp input offset voltage?

Select	Answer
A	The differential input voltage needed to bring the open loop output voltage to zero
B	The output voltage of the op-amp minus its input voltage
C	The potential between the amplifier input terminals of the op-amp in an open loop condition
D	The difference between the output voltage of the op-amp and the input voltage required in the immediately following stage

37. - E7H09

What type of frequency synthesizer circuit uses a phase accumulator, lookup table, digital to analog converter, and a low-pass anti-alias filter?

Select	Answer
A	A phase locked loop synthesizer
B	A direct digital synthesizer
C	A hybrid synthesizer
D	A diode-switching matrix synthesizer

38. - E8A07

What determines the PEP-to-average power ratio of a single-sideband phone signal?

Select	Answer
A	The characteristics of the modulating signal
B	The frequency of the modulating signal
C	The degree of carrier suppression
D	The amplifier gain

39. - E8B10

What describes frequency division multiplexing?

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

40. - E8C01

How is Forward Error Correction implemented?

Select	Answer
A	By varying the frequency shift of the transmitted signal according to a predefined algorithm
B	By transmitting a special algorithm to the receiving station along with the data characters
C	By the receiving station repeating each block of three data characters
D	By transmitting extra data that may be used to detect and correct transmission errors

41. - E8D09

What is considered a good minimum IMD level for an idling PSK signal?

Select	Answer
A	+15 dB
B	-20 dB
C	+10 dB
D	-30 dB

42. - E9A05

What is included in the total resistance of an antenna system?

Select	Answer
A	Radiation resistance plus transmission resistance
B	Transmission-line resistance plus radiation resistance
C	Radiation resistance plus ohmic resistance
D	Radiation resistance plus space impedance

43. - E9B02

In the antenna radiation pattern shown in Figure E9-1, what is the front-to-back ratio?

Select	Answer
A	14 dB
B	18 dB
C	24 dB
D	36 dB

44. - E9C13

What is the main effect of placing a vertical antenna over an imperfect ground?

Select	Answer
A	It causes increased SWR
B	It changes the impedance angle of the matching network
C	It reduces losses in the radiating portion of the antenna
D	It reduces low-angle radiation

45. - E9D10

What happens to feed point impedance at the base of a fixed length HF mobile antenna as the frequency of operation is lowered?

Select	Answer
A	The radiation resistance decreases and the capacitive reactance decreases
B	The radiation resistance decreases and the capacitive reactance increases
C	The radiation resistance increases and the capacitive reactance increases
D	The radiation resistance increases and the capacitive reactance decreases

46. - E9E06

What is the equivalent lumped-constant network for a hairpin matching system of a 3-element Yagi?

Select	Answer
A	Pi-network
B	A shunt inductor
C	A series capacitor
D	Pi-L-network

47. - E9F03

Why is the physical length of a coaxial cable transmission line shorter than its electrical length?

Select	Answer
A	Skin effect is less pronounced in the coaxial cable
B	Electrical signals move more slowly in a coaxial cable than in air
C	The characteristic impedance is higher in a parallel feed line
D	The surge impedance is higher in a parallel feed line

48. - E9G10

What do the arcs on a Smith chart represent?

Select	Answer
A	Points with constant resistance
B	Points with constant reactance
C	Frequency
D	SWR

49. - E9H09

Which of the following describes the construction of a receiving loop antenna?

Select	Answer
A	One or more turns of wire wound in the shape of a large open coil
B	A vertical antenna coupled to a feed line through an inductive loop of wire
C	A small coil of wire tightly wound around a toroidal ferrite core
D	A large circularly polarized antenna

50. - E0A11

Which of the following injuries can result from using high-power UHF or microwave transmitters?

Select	Answer
A	Ingestion of ozone gas from the cooling system
B	Localized heating of the body from RF exposure in excess of the MPE limits
C	Blood clotting from the intense magnetic field
D	Hearing loss caused by high voltage corona discharge

Figure E5-2

Figure E7-3

Figure E9-1