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

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1. - E1A14

What is the maximum bandwidth for a data emission on 60 meters?

Select	Answer
A	60 Hz
B	1.5 kHz
C	170 Hz
D	2.8 kHz

2. - E1B01

Which of the following constitutes a spurious emission?

Select	Answer
A	A signal transmitted to prevent its detection by any station other than the intended recipient
B	Any transmitted signal that unintentionally interferes with another licensed radio station
C	An amateur station transmission made at random without the proper call sign identification
D	An emission outside its necessary bandwidth that can be reduced or eliminated without affecting the information transmitted

3. - E1C02

What is meant by automatic control of a station?

Select	Answer
A	The use of devices and procedures for control so that the control operator does not have to be present at a control point
B	The use of a control link between a control point and a locally controlled station
C	Remotely controlling a station's antenna pattern through a directional control link
D	A station operating with its output power controlled automatically

4. - E1D08

Which VHF amateur service bands have frequencies available for space stations?

Select	Answer
A	2 meters
B	6 meters, 2 meters, and 1.25 meters
C	2 meters and 1.25 meters
D	6 meters and 2 meters

5. - E1E08

To which of the following examinees may a VE not administer an examination?

Select	Answer
A	Relatives of the VE as listed in the FCC rules
B	Employees of the VE
C	Friends of the VE
D	All of these choices are correct

6. - E1F10

What is the maximum permitted transmitter peak envelope power for an amateur station transmitting spread spectrum communications?

Select	Answer
A	10 W
B	1 W
C	1.5 kW
D	1.5 W

7. - E2A02

What is the direction of a descending pass for an amateur satellite?

Select	Answer
A	From north to south
B	From south to north
C	From east to west
D	From west to east

8. - E2B16

Which is a video standard used by North American Fast Scan ATV stations?

Select	Answer
A	NTSC
B	PAL
C	Scottie
D	DRM

9. - E2C08

Which of the following contacts may be confirmed through the U.S. QSL bureau system?

Select	Answer
A	Contacts between a U.S. station and a non-U.S. station
B	Special event contacts between stations in the U.S.
C	Contacts using tactical call signs
D	Repeater contacts between U.S. club members

10. - E2D08

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

Select	Answer
A	Disconnect
B	Unnumbered Information
C	Connect
D	Acknowledgement

11. - E2E09

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

Select	Answer
A	MT63
B	PACTOR
C	PSK31
D	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	500 miles, if the Moon is at perigee
B	12,000 miles, if the Moon is visible by both stations
C	2000 miles, if the Moon is at apogee
D	5000 miles, if the Moon is at perigee

13. - E3B07

Which of the following could account for hearing an echo on the received signal of a distant station?

Select	Answer
A	Transmit frequency is higher than the MUF
B	Receipt of a signal by more than one path
C	Meteor scatter
D	High D layer absorption

14. - E3C13

What type of polarization is best for ground-wave propagation?

Select	Answer
A	Horizontal
B	Elliptical
C	Circular
D	Vertical

15. - E4A11

Which of the following is good practice when using an oscilloscope probe?

Select	Answer
A	Never use a DC-coupled probe to measure an AC circuit
B	Keep the signal ground connection of the probe as short as possible
C	Never use a high impedance probe to measure a low impedance circuit
D	All of these choices are correct

16. - E4B13

Which S parameter is equivalent to forward gain?

Select	Answer
A	S11
B	S22
C	S12
D	S21

17. - E4C16

Which of the following is caused by missing codes in an SDR receiver's analog-to-digital converter?

Select	Answer
A	Loss of sensitivity
B	Overload
C	Excess output level
D	Distortion

18. - E4D14

Which of the following is a way to reduce the likelihood of receiver desensitization?

Select	Answer
A	Decrease the RF bandwidth of the receiver
B	Switch from fast AGC to slow AGC
C	Increase the receiver front end gain
D	Raise the receiver IF frequency

19. - E4E06

What is a major cause of atmospheric static?

Select	Answer
A	Geomagnetic storms
B	Meteor showers
C	Thunderstorms
D	Solar radio frequency emissions

20. - E5A12

What is the half-power bandwidth of a parallel resonant circuit that has a resonant frequency of 3.7 MHz and a Q of 118?

Select	Answer
A	218.3 kHz
B	31.4 kHz
C	436.6 kHz
D	15.7 kHz

21. - E5B10

What is the relationship between the current through an inductor and the voltage across an inductor?

Select	Answer
A	Voltage and current are in phase
B	Voltage and current are 180 degrees out of phase
C	Current leads voltage by 90 degrees
D	Voltage leads current by 90 degrees

22. - E5C16

Which point on Figure E5-2 best represents the impedance of a series circuit consisting of a 300 ohm resistor and a 19 picofarad capacitor at 21.200 MHz?

Select	Answer
A	Point 1
B	Point 7
C	Point 8
D	Point 3

23. - E5D05

Which parasitic characteristic increases with conductor length?

Select	Answer
A	Permittivity
B	Malleability
C	Inductance
D	Permeability

24. - E6A05

What is the alpha of a bipolar junction transistor?

Select	Answer
A	The change of collector current with respect to base current
B	The change of collector current with respect to emitter current
C	The change of collector current with respect to gate current
D	The change of base current with respect to collector current

25. - E6B09

What is a common use for point contact diodes?

Select	Answer
A	As an RF detector
B	As a constant current source
C	As a high voltage rectifier
D	As a constant voltage source

26. - E6C04

What is the primary advantage of tri-state logic?

Select	Answer
A	More efficient arithmetic operations
B	Ability to connect many device outputs to a common bus
C	High speed operation
D	Low power consumption

27. - E6D07

What is the usable frequency range of inductors that use toroidal cores, assuming a correct selection of core material for the frequency being used?

Select	Answer
A	From a few kHz to no more than 30 MHz
B	From about 100 kHz to at least 1000 GHz
C	From less than 20 Hz to approximately 300 MHz
D	From approximately 10 Hz to no more than 3000 kHz

28. - E6E01

Which of the following is true of a charge-coupled device (CCD)?

Select	Answer
A	Its phase shift changes rapidly with frequency
B	It is a CMOS analog-to-digital converter
C	It is used in a battery charger circuit
D	It samples an analog signal and passes it in stages from the input to the output

29. - E6F10

What is the most common type of photovoltaic cell used for electrical power generation?

Select	Answer
A	Copper oxide
B	Silicon
C	Cadmium Sulfide
D	Selenium

30. - E7A04

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

Select	Answer
A	2
B	4
C	8
D	1

31. - E7B09

Which of the following describes how the loading and tuning capacitors are to be adjusted when tuning a vacuum tube RF power amplifier that employs a Pi-network output circuit?

Select	Answer
A	The tuning capacitor is set to maximum capacitance and the loading capacitor is adjusted for minimum plate permissible current
B	The loading capacitor is adjusted to minimum plate current while alternately adjusting the tuning capacitor for maximum allowable plate current
C	The loading capacitor is set to maximum capacitance and the tuning capacitor is adjusted for minimum allowable plate current
D	The tuning capacitor is adjusted for minimum plate current, and the loading capacitor is adjusted for maximum permissible plate current

32. - E7C05

Which filter type is described as having ripple in the passband and a sharp cutoff?

Select	Answer
A	A Chebyshev filter
B	A Butterworth filter
C	An active LC filter
D	A passive op-amp filter

33. - E7D02

What is one characteristic of a switching electronic voltage regulator?

Select	Answer
A	It is generally less efficient than a linear regulator
B	It gives a ramp voltage at its output
C	The controlled device's duty cycle is changed to produce a constant average output voltage
D	The resistance of a control element is varied in direct proportion to the line voltage or load current

34. - E7E01

Which of the following can be used to generate FM phone emissions?

Select	Answer
A	A balanced modulator on the oscillator
B	A reactance modulator on the final amplifier
C	A reactance modulator on the oscillator
D	A balanced modulator on the audio amplifier

35. - E7F16

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

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

36. - E7G04

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

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

37. - E7H02

Which describes a microphonic?

Select	Answer
A	An IC used for amplifying microphone signals
B	Excess loading of the microphone by an oscillator
C	Changes in oscillator frequency due to mechanical vibration
D	Distortion caused by RF pickup on the microphone cable

38. - E8A13

Which of these methods is commonly used to convert analog signals to digital signals?

Select	Answer
A	Phase reversal
B	Sequential sampling
C	Harmonic regeneration
D	Level shifting

39. - E8B08

What describes Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing?

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

40. - E8C04

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

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

41. - E8D02

What spread spectrum communications technique uses a high speed binary bit stream to shift the phase of an RF carrier?

Select	Answer
A	Binary phase-shift keying
B	Direct sequence
C	Frequency hopping
D	Phase compandored spread spectrum

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	Method of Moments
C	Graphical analysis
D	Calculus differentiation with respect to physical properties

44. - E9C11

How is the far-field elevation pattern of a vertically polarized antenna affected by being mounted over seawater versus rocky ground?

Select	Answer
A	The low-angle radiation decreases
B	The high-angle radiation increases
C	The low-angle radiation increases
D	Both the high-angle and low-angle radiation decrease

45. - E9D07

What is an advantage of using top loading in a shortened HF vertical antenna?

Select	Answer
A	Lower Q
B	Higher losses
C	Greater structural strength
D	Improved radiation efficiency

46. - E9E03

What is the name of the matching system that uses a section of transmission line connected in parallel with the feed line at or near the feed point?

Select	Answer
A	The gamma match
B	The delta match
C	The stub match
D	The omega match

47. - E9F11

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

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

48. - E9G01

Which of the following can be calculated using a Smith chart?

Select	Answer
A	Radiation resistance
B	Impedance along transmission lines
C	Radio propagation
D	Antenna radiation pattern

49. - E9H02

Which is generally true for low band (160 meter and 80 meter) receiving antennas?

Select	Answer
A	Low loss coax transmission line is essential for good performance
B	They must be erected at least 1/2 wavelength above the ground to attain good directivity
C	Atmospheric noise is so high that gain over a dipole is not important
D	All of these choices are correct

50. - E0A04

When evaluating a site with multiple transmitters operating at the same time, the operators and licensees of which transmitters are responsible for mitigating over-exposure situations?

Select	Answer
A	Only the most powerful transmitter
B	Each transmitter operating with a duty-cycle greater than 50 percent
C	Only commercial transmitters
D	Each transmitter that produces 5 percent or more of its MPE limit at accessible locations

Figure E5-2