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

2. - E1B05

What is the National Radio Quiet Zone?

Select	Answer
A	An area in Puerto Rico surrounding the Arecibo Radio Telescope
B	An area in Florida surrounding Cape Canaveral
C	An area in New Mexico surrounding the White Sands Test Area
D	An area surrounding the National Radio Astronomy Observatory

3. - E1C06

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

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

4. - E1D04

What is an Earth station in the amateur satellite service?

Select	Answer
A	An amateur station within 50 km of the Earth's surface intended for communications with amateur stations by means of objects in space
B	Any amateur station on the surface of the Earth
C	An amateur station that transmits telemetry consisting of measurement of upper atmosphere
D	An amateur station that is not able to communicate using amateur satellites

5. - E1E05

What is the minimum passing score on amateur operator license examinations?

Select	Answer
A	Minimum passing score of 77%
B	Minimum passing score of 70%
C	Minimum passing score of 80%
D	Minimum passing score of 74%

6. - E1F01

On what frequencies are spread spectrum transmissions permitted?

Select	Answer
A	Only on amateur frequencies above 50 MHz
B	Only on amateur frequencies above 420 MHz
C	Only on amateur frequencies above 222 MHz
D	Only on amateur frequencies above 144 MHz

7. - E2A06

On what band would a satellite receive signals if it were operating in mode U/V?

Select	Answer
A	29.5 MHz - 29.7 MHz
B	50.0 MHz - 50.2 MHz
C	435 MHz - 438 MHz
D	144 MHz - 146 MHz

8. - E2B03

How is an interlaced scanning pattern generated in a fast-scan (NTSC) television system?

Select	Answer
A	By scanning each field from bottom to top
B	By scanning odd numbered lines in one field and even numbered lines in the next
C	By scanning two fields simultaneously
D	By scanning lines from left to right in one field and right to left in the next

9. - E2C03

From which of the following bands is amateur radio contesting generally excluded?

Select	Answer
A	6 m
B	33 cm
C	30 m
D	2 m

10. - E2D10

How can an APRS station be used to help support a public service communications activity?

Select	Answer
A	An APRS station with an emergency medical technician can automatically transmit medical data to the nearest hospital
B	An APRS station with a GPS unit can automatically transmit information to show a mobile station's position during the event
C	APRS stations with General Personnel Scanners can automatically relay the participant numbers and time as they pass the check points
D	All of these choices are correct

11. - E2E10

Which of these digital modes has the narrowest bandwidth?

Select	Answer
A	PSK31
B	MFSK16
C	300-baud packet
D	170 Hz shift, 45 baud RTTY

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

13. - E3B06

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

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

14. - E3C11

What does VOACAP software model?

Select	Answer
A	VHF radio propagation
B	HF propagation
C	AC voltage and impedance
D	AC current and impedance

15. - E4A07

Which of the following is an advantage of using an antenna analyzer compared to an SWR bridge to measure antenna SWR?

Select	Answer
A	Antenna analyzers automatically tune your antenna for resonance
B	Antenna analyzers display a time-varying representation of the modulation envelope
C	Antenna analyzers do not need an external RF source
D	All of these choices are correct

16. - E4B11

How should an antenna analyzer be connected when measuring antenna resonance and feed point impedance?

Select	Answer
A	Loosely couple the analyzer near the antenna base
B	Loosely couple the antenna and a dummy load to the analyzer
C	Connect the analyzer via a high-impedance transformer to the antenna
D	Connect the antenna feed line directly to the analyzer's connector

17. - E4C05

What does a value of -174 dBm/Hz represent with regard to the noise floor of a receiver?

Select	Answer
A	The theoretical noise at the input of a perfect receiver at room temperature
B	The minimum detectable signal as a function of receive frequency
C	The galactic noise contribution to minimum detectable signal
D	The noise figure of a 1 Hz bandwidth receiver

18. - E4D04

Which of the following may reduce or eliminate intermodulation interference in a repeater caused by another transmitter operating in close proximity?

Select	Answer
A	A Class C final amplifier
B	A properly terminated circulator at the output of the transmitter
C	A band-pass filter in the feed line between the transmitter and receiver
D	A Class D final amplifier

19. - E4E12

What is one disadvantage of using some types of automatic DSP notch-filters when attempting to copy CW signals?

Select	Answer
A	Received CW signals will appear to be modulated at the DSP clock frequency
B	A DSP filter can remove the desired signal at the same time as it removes interfering signals
C	Ringing in the DSP filter will completely remove the spaces between the CW characters
D	Any nearby signal passing through the DSP system will overwhelm the desired signal

20. - E5A01

What can cause the voltage across reactances in series to be larger than the voltage applied to them?

Select	Answer
A	Capacitance
B	Resonance
C	Resistance
D	Conductance

21. - E5B02

What is the term for the time it takes for a charged capacitor in an RC circuit to discharge to 36.8% of its initial voltage?

Select	Answer
A	One time constant
B	A discharge factor of one
C	An exponential discharge rate of one
D	One discharge period

22. - E5C11

What do the two numbers that are used to define a point on a graph using rectangular coordinates represent?

Select	Answer
A	The magnitude and phase of the point
B	The coordinate values along the horizontal and vertical axes
C	The tangent and cotangent values
D	The sine and cosine values

23. - E5D02

Why is it important to keep lead lengths short for components used in circuits for VHF and above?

Select	Answer
A	All of these choices are correct
B	To maintain component lifetime
C	To increase the thermal time constant
D	To avoid unwanted inductive reactance

24. - E6A12

Why do many MOSFET devices have internally connected Zener diodes on the gates?

Select	Answer
A	To reduce the chance of the gate insulation being punctured by static discharges or excessive voltages
B	To provide a voltage reference for the correct amount of reverse-bias gate voltage
C	To protect the substrate from excessive voltages
D	To keep the gate voltage within specifications and prevent the device from overheating

25. - E6B02

What is an important characteristic of a Schottky diode as compared to an ordinary silicon diode when used as a power supply rectifier?

Select	Answer
A	Less forward voltage drop
B	Controlled reverse avalanche voltage
C	Enhanced carrier retention time
D	Much higher reverse voltage breakdown

26. - E6C13

Which of the following is an advantage of BiCMOS logic?

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

27. - E6D02

What is the equivalent circuit of a quartz crystal?

Select	Answer
A	Motional inductance and loss resistance in series, paralleled with motional capacitance and a capacitor representing electrode and stray capacitance
B	Motional capacitance, motional inductance, loss resistance, and a capacitor representing electrode and stray capacitance all in series
C	Motional capacitance, motional inductance, and loss resistance in series, all in parallel with a shunt capacitor representing electrode and stray capacitance
D	Motional capacitance, motional inductance, loss resistance, and a capacitor representing electrode and stray capacitance all in parallel

28. - E6E11

What is a characteristic of DIP packaging used for integrated circuits?

Select	Answer
A	Two chips in each package (Dual In Package)
B	Package mounts in a direct inverted position
C	Low leakage doubly insulated package
D	A total of two rows of connecting pins placed on opposite sides of the package (Dual In-line Package)

29. - E6F12

What absorbs the energy from light falling on a photovoltaic cell?

Select	Answer
A	Holes
B	Electrons
C	Photons
D	Protons

30. - E7A02

What is the function of a decade counter digital IC?

Select	Answer
A	It produces one output pulse for every ten input pulses
B	It produces ten output pulses for every input pulse
C	It adds two decimal numbers together
D	It decodes a decimal number for display on a seven segment LED display

31. - E7B15

What is one way to prevent thermal runaway in a bipolar transistor amplifier?

Select	Answer
A	Neutralization
B	Use a resistor in series with the emitter
C	Select transistors with high beta
D	All of these choices are correct

32. - E7C12

Which describes a Pi-L-network used for matching a vacuum tube final amplifier to a 50 ohm unbalanced output?

Select	Answer
A	A network with only three discrete parts
B	A matching network in which all components are isolated from ground
C	A Phase Inverter Load network
D	A Pi-network with an additional series inductor on the output

33. - E7D16

When several electrolytic filter capacitors are connected in series to increase the operating voltage of a power supply filter circuit, why should resistors be connected across each capacitor?

Select	Answer
A	To provide a minimum load current to reduce voltage excursions at light loads
B	To equalize, as much as possible, the voltage drop across each capacitor
C	All of these choices are correct
D	To provide a safety bleeder to discharge the capacitors when the supply is off

34. - E7E03

How does an analog phase modulator function?

Select	Answer
A	By varying the tuning of a microphone preamplifier to produce AM signals
B	By varying the tuning of an amplifier tank circuit to produce PM signals
C	By varying the tuning of a microphone preamplifier to produce PM signals
D	By varying the tuning of an amplifier tank circuit to produce AM signals

35. - E7F16

How might the sampling rate of an existing digital signal be adjusted by a factor of 3/4?

Select	Answer
A	Change the gain by a factor of 3/4
B	Multiply each sample value by a factor of 3/4
C	Add 3 to each input value and subtract 4 from each output value
D	Interpolate by a factor of three, then decimate by a factor of four

36. - E7G02

What is the effect of ringing in a filter?

Select	Answer
A	An echo caused by a long time delay
B	Partial cancellation of the signal over a range of frequencies
C	A reduction in high frequency response
D	Undesired oscillations added to the desired signal

37. - E7H06

Which of the following oscillator circuits are commonly used in VFOs?

Select	Answer
A	Pierce and Zener
B	Negative feedback and balanced feedback
C	Colpitts and Hartley
D	Armstrong and deForest

38. - E8A10

What is the purpose of a low pass filter used in conjunction with a digital-to-analog converter?

Select	Answer
A	Improve accuracy by removing out of sequence codes from the input
B	Lower the input bandwidth to increase the effective resolution
C	All of these choices are correct
D	Remove harmonics from the output caused by the discrete analog levels generated

39. - E8B08

What describes Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing?

Select	Answer
A	A frequency modulation technique which uses non-harmonically related frequencies
B	A digital modulation technique using subcarriers at frequencies chosen to avoid intersymbol interference
C	A digital mode for narrow band, slow speed transmissions
D	A bandwidth compression technique using Fourier transforms

40. - E8C02

What is the definition of symbol rate in a digital transmission?

Select	Answer
A	The duration of each bit in a message sent over the air
B	The number of control characters in a message packet
C	The rate at which the waveform of a transmitted signal changes to convey information
D	The number of characters carried per second by the station-to-station link

41. - E8D05

What is the most common method of reducing key clicks?

Select	Answer
A	Low-pass filters at the transmitter output
B	Reduce keying waveform rise and fall times
C	High-pass filters at the transmitter output
D	Increase keying waveform rise and fall times

42. - E9A15

What is the effective radiated power relative to a dipole of a repeater station with 150 watts transmitter power output, 2 dB feed line loss, 2.2 dB duplexer loss, and 7 dBd antenna gain?

Select	Answer
A	286 watts
B	420 watts
C	1977 watts
D	78.7 watts

43. - E9B09

What type of computer program technique is commonly used for modeling antennas?

Select	Answer
A	Mutual impedance analysis
B	Graphical analysis
C	Method of Moments
D	Calculus differentiation with respect to physical properties

44. - E9C13

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

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

45. - E9D08

What happens as the Q of an antenna increases?

Select	Answer
A	SWR bandwidth decreases
B	SWR bandwidth increases
C	More common-mode current is present on the feed line
D	Gain is reduced

46. - E9E04

What is the purpose of the series capacitor in a gamma-type antenna matching network?

Select	Answer
A	To cancel the inductive reactance of the matching network
B	To provide a rejection notch that prevents the radiation of harmonics
C	To transform the antenna impedance to a higher value
D	To provide DC isolation between the feed line and the antenna

47. - E9F04

What is the typical velocity factor for a coaxial cable with solid polyethylene dielectric?

Select	Answer
A	2.70
B	0.10
C	0.66
D	0.30

48. - E9G11

How are the wavelength scales on a Smith chart calibrated?

Select	Answer
A	In fractions of transmission line electrical wavelength
B	In fractions of antenna electrical frequency
C	In fractions of antenna electrical wavelength
D	In fractions of transmission line electrical frequency

49. - E9H01

When constructing a Beverage antenna, which of the following factors should be included in the design to achieve good performance at the desired frequency?

Select	Answer
A	It should be one or more wavelengths long
B	It should be configured as a four-sided loop
C	Its overall length must not exceed 1/4 wavelength
D	It must be mounted more than 1 wavelength above ground

50. - E0A06

Why are there separate electric (E) and magnetic (H) field MPE limits?

Select	Answer
A	E field and H field radiation intensity peaks can occur at different locations
B	The body reacts to electromagnetic radiation from both the E and H fields
C	All of these choices are correct
D	Ground reflections and scattering make the field impedance vary with location