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

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1. - E1A09

What is the first action you should take if your digital message forwarding station inadvertently forwards a communication that violates FCC rules?

Select	Answer
A	Notify the nearest FCC Field Engineer's office
B	Notify the originating station that the communication does not comply with FCC rules
C	Discontinue forwarding all messages
D	Discontinue forwarding the communication as soon as you become aware of it

2. - E1B07

What is the highest modulation index permitted at the highest modulation frequency for angle modulation below 29.0 MHz?

Select	Answer
A	3.0
B	1.0
C	0.5
D	2.0

3. - E1C09

Which of these ranges of frequencies is available for an automatically controlled repeater operating below 30 MHz?

Select	Answer
A	18.110 MHz - 18.168 MHz
B	29.500 MHz - 29.700 MHz
C	10.100 MHz - 10.150 MHz
D	24.940 MHz - 24.990 MHz

4. - E1D08

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

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

5. - E1E11

What must the VE team do if an examinee scores a passing grade on all examination elements needed for an upgrade or new license?

Select	Answer
A	Three VEs must certify that the examinee is qualified for the license grant and that they have complied with the administering VE requirements
B	Photocopy all examination documents and forward them to the FCC for processing
C	All these choices are correct
D	Issue the examinee the new or upgrade license

6. - E1F12

Who may be the control operator of an auxiliary station?

Select	Answer
A	Only Amateur Extra Class operators
B	Any licensed amateur operator
C	Only General, Advanced or Amateur Extra Class operators
D	Only Technician, General, Advanced or Amateur Extra Class operators

7. - E2A08

Why should effective radiated power to a satellite which uses a linear transponder be limited?

Select	Answer
A	To prevent creating errors in the satellite telemetry
B	To avoid interfering with terrestrial QSOs
C	To prevent the satellite from emitting out-of-band signals
D	To avoid reducing the downlink power to all other users

8. - E2B11

What is the function of the Vertical Interval Signaling (VIS) code sent as part of an SSTV transmission?

Select	Answer
A	To provide vertical synchronization
B	To identify the call sign of the station transmitting
C	To identify the SSTV mode being used
D	To lock the color burst oscillator in color SSTV images

9. - E2C08

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

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

10. - E2D04

What is the purpose of digital store-and-forward functions on an Amateur Radio satellite?

Select	Answer
A	To upload operational software for the transponder
B	To relay messages between satellites
C	To delay download of telemetry between satellites
D	To store digital messages in the satellite for later download by other stations

11. - E2E13

Which of the following is a possible reason that attempts to initiate contact with a digital station on a clear frequency are unsuccessful?

Select	Answer
A	The protocol version you are using is not the supported by the digital station
B	All of these choices are correct
C	Another station you are unable to hear is using the frequency
D	Your transmit frequency is incorrect

12. - E3A05

Tropospheric propagation of microwave signals often occurs along what weather related structure?

Select	Answer
A	Lightning discharges
B	Warm and cold fronts
C	Sprites and jets
D	Gray-line

13. - E3B08

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

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

14. - E3C15

What might a sudden rise in radio background noise indicate?

Select	Answer
A	Increased transequatorial propagation likely
B	A meteor ping
C	Long-path propagation is occurring
D	A solar flare has occurred

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

16. - E4B05

If a frequency counter with a specified accuracy of +/- 10 ppm reads 146,520,000 Hz, what is the most the actual frequency being measured could differ from the reading?

Select	Answer
A	10 Hz
B	146.52 Hz
C	146.52 kHz
D	1465.20 Hz

17. - E4C15

What is usually the primary source of noise that is heard from an HF receiver with an antenna connected?

Select	Answer
A	Receiver front-end noise
B	Induction motor noise
C	Detector noise
D	Atmospheric noise

18. - E4D09

What is the purpose of the preselector in a communications receiver?

Select	Answer
A	To allow selection of the optimum RF amplifier device
B	To increase rejection of unwanted signals
C	To store often-used frequencies
D	To provide a range of AGC time constants

19. - E4E06

What is a major cause of atmospheric static?

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

20. - E5A13

What is an effect of increasing Q in a resonant circuit?

Select	Answer
A	Parasitic effects are minimized
B	Fewer components are needed for the same performance
C	Phase shift can become uncontrolled
D	Internal voltages and circulating currents increase

21. - E5B12

What is admittance?

Select	Answer
A	The inverse of impedance
B	The term for the gain of a field effect transistor
C	The unit used for Q factor
D	The turns ratio of a transformer

22. - E5C12

If you plot the impedance of a circuit using the rectangular coordinate system and find the impedance point falls on the right side of the graph on the horizontal axis, what do you know about the circuit?

Select	Answer
A	It has to be a direct current circuit
B	It contains resistance and capacitive reactance
C	It is equivalent to a pure resistance
D	It contains resistance and inductive reactance

23. - E5D04

Why are short connections necessary at microwave frequencies?

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

24. - E6A12

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

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

25. - E6B12

What is one common use for PIN diodes?

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

26. - E6C05

What is an advantage of CMOS logic devices over TTL devices?

Select	Answer
A	Lower power consumption
B	Immune to damage from static discharge
C	Lower distortion
D	Differential output capability

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

28. - E6E10

What is the packaging technique in which leadless components are soldered directly to circuit boards?

Select	Answer
A	Direct soldering
B	Surface mount
C	Virtual lead mounting
D	Stripped lead

29. - E6F01

What is photoconductivity?

Select	Answer
A	The decreased conductivity of an illuminated semiconductor
B	The conversion of photon energy to electromotive energy
C	The conversion of electromotive energy to photon energy
D	The increased conductivity of an illuminated semiconductor

30. - E7A04

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

Select	Answer
A	8
B	2
C	1
D	4

31. - E7B14

Why are switching amplifiers more efficient than linear amplifiers?

Select	Answer
A	Switching amplifiers operate at higher voltages
B	Switching amplifiers use push-pull circuits
C	Linear amplifiers have high gain resulting in higher harmonic content
D	The power transistor is at saturation or cut off most of the time, resulting in low power dissipation

32. - E7C07

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

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

33. - E7D11

What circuit element is controlled by a series analog voltage regulator to maintain a constant output voltage?

Select	Answer
A	Reference voltage
B	Error amplifier
C	Switching inductance
D	Pass transistor

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 frequency components present in the modulating signal
C	The lowest frequency band that the transmitter or receiver covers
D	The unmodulated bandwidth of the transmitted signal

35. - E7F08

What is the function of decimation with regard to digital filters?

Select	Answer
A	Removing unnecessary significant digits
B	Attenuating the signal
C	Converting data to binary code decimal form
D	Reducing the effective sample rate by removing samples

36. - E7G02

What is the effect of ringing in a filter?

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

37. - E7H10

What information is contained in the lookup table of a direct digital frequency synthesizer?

Select	Answer
A	The phase relationship between a voltage-controlled oscillator and the output waveform
B	The amplitude values that represent a sine-wave output
C	The phase relationship between a reference oscillator and the output waveform
D	The synthesizer frequency limits and frequency values stored in the radio memories

38. - E8A03

What type of wave does a Fourier analysis show to be made up of sine waves of a given fundamental frequency plus all of its harmonics?

Select	Answer
A	A sine wave
B	A square wave
C	A sawtooth wave
D	A cosine wave

39. - E8B10

What describes frequency division multiplexing?

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

40. - E8C06

What is the necessary bandwidth of a 170-hertz shift, 300-baud ASCII transmission?

Select	Answer
A	0.5 kHz
B	0.1 Hz
C	1.0 kHz
D	0.3 kHz

41. - E8D06

Which of the following indicates likely overmodulation of an AFSK signal such as PSK or MFSK?

Select	Answer
A	Rapid signal fading
B	Harmonics on higher bands
C	Strong ALC action
D	High reflected power

42. - E9A18

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

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

43. - E9B06

What is the elevation angle of peak response in the antenna radiation pattern shown in Figure E9-2?

Select	Answer
A	25 degrees
B	45 degrees
C	7.5 degrees
D	75 degrees

44. - E9C05

What is an OCFD antenna?

Select	Answer
A	A multiband dipole antenna using one-way circular polarization for frequency diversity
B	A remotely tunable dipole antenna using orthogonally controlled frequency diversity
C	An eight band dipole antenna using octophase filters
D	A dipole feed approximately 1/3 the way from one end with a 4:1 balun to provide multiband operation

45. - E9D03

Where should a high Q loading coil be placed to minimize losses in a shortened vertical antenna?

Select	Answer
A	Near the center of the vertical radiator
B	As close to the transmitter as possible
C	At a voltage node
D	As low as possible on the vertical radiator

46. - E9E12

What is the primary purpose of a phasing line when used with an antenna having multiple driven elements?

Select	Answer
A	It prevents reflected power from traveling back down the feed line and causing harmonic radiation from the transmitter
B	It allows single-band antennas to operate on other bands
C	It ensures that each driven element operates in concert with the others to create the desired antenna pattern
D	It makes sure the antenna has a low-angle radiation pattern

47. - E9F15

What impedance does a 1/2 wavelength transmission line present to a generator when the line is open at the far end?

Select	Answer
A	Very low impedance
B	Very high impedance
C	The same as the characteristic impedance of the line
D	The same as the output impedance of the generator

48. - E9G11

How are the wavelength scales on a Smith chart calibrated?

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

49. - E9H09

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

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

50. - E0A10

What toxic material may be present in some electronic components such as high voltage capacitors and transformers?

Select	Answer
A	Polymorphic silicon
B	Polyethylene
C	Polytetrafluroethylene
D	Polychlorinated Biphenyls

Figure E9-2