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

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1. - E1A13

Who must be in physical control of the station apparatus of an amateur station aboard any vessel or craft that is documented or registered in the United States?

Select	Answer
A	Only a person with an FCC Marine Radio
B	Only a person named in an amateur station license grant
C	Any person holding an FCC issued amateur license or who is authorized for alien reciprocal operation
D	Any person named in an amateur station license grant or a person holding an unrestricted Radiotelephone Operator Permit

2. - E1B01

Which of the following constitutes a spurious emission?

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

3. - E1C08

What is the maximum permissible duration of a remotely controlled station's transmissions if its control link malfunctions?

Select	Answer
A	30 seconds
B	5 minutes
C	10 minutes
D	3 minutes

4. - E1D09

Which UHF amateur service bands have frequencies available for a space station?

Select	Answer
A	70 cm and 13 cm
B	70 cm only
C	33 cm and 13 cm
D	70 cm and 33 cm

5. - E1E08

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

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

6. - E1F04

Which of the following geographic descriptions approximately describes "Line A"?

Select	Answer
A	A line roughly parallel to and south of the U.S.-Canadian border
B	A line roughly parallel to and west of the U.S. Atlantic coastline
C	A line roughly parallel to and east of the U.S. Pacific coastline
D	A line roughly parallel to and north of the U.S.-Mexican border and Gulf coastline

7. - E2A07

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

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

8. - E2B14

What aspect of an amateur slow-scan television signal encodes the brightness of the picture?

Select	Answer
A	Sync frequency
B	Tone amplitude
C	Sync amplitude
D	Tone frequency

9. - E2C11

How should you generally identify your station when attempting to contact a DX station during a contest or in a pileup?

Select	Answer
A	Send the call sign of the DX station three times, the words "this is", then your call sign three times
B	Send only the last two letters of your call sign until you make contact
C	Send your full call sign and grid square
D	Send your full call sign once or twice

10. - E2D05

Which of the following techniques is normally used by low Earth orbiting digital satellites to relay messages around the world?

Select	Answer
A	Store-and-forward
B	Multi-satellite relaying
C	Node hopping
D	Digipeating

11. - E2E11

What is the difference between direct FSK and audio FSK?

Select	Answer
A	Direct FSK applies the data signal to the transmitter VFO
B	Direct FSK uses a DC-coupled data connection
C	Audio FSK can be performed anywhere in the transmit chain
D	Audio FSK has a superior frequency response

12. - E3A04

What do Hepburn maps predict?

Select	Answer
A	Sporadic E propagation
B	Locations of auroral reflecting zones
C	Probability of tropospheric propagation
D	Likelihood of rain-scatter along cold or warm fronts

13. - E3B03

What is the best time of day for transequatorial propagation?

Select	Answer
A	Morning
B	Late at night
C	Afternoon or early evening
D	Noon

14. - E3C01

What does the term ray tracing describe in regard to radio communications?

Select	Answer
A	Evaluating high voltage sources for X-Rays
B	Determining the radiation pattern from an array of antennas
C	The process in which an electronic display presents a pattern
D	Modeling a radio wave's path through the ionosphere

15. - E4A01

Which of the following parameter determines the bandwidth of a digital or computer-based oscilloscope?

Select	Answer
A	Sample resolution
B	Input capacitance
C	Sampling rate
D	Input impedance

16. - E4B03

If a frequency counter with a specified accuracy of +/- 1.0 ppm reads 146,520,000 Hz, what is the most the actual frequency being measured could differ from the reading?

Select	Answer
A	14.652 kHz
B	1.4652 MHz
C	146.52 Hz
D	165.2 Hz

17. - E4C13

How does a narrow-band roofing filter affect receiver performance?

Select	Answer
A	It improves sensitivity by reducing front end noise
B	All of these choices are correct
C	It improves intelligibility by using low Q circuitry to reduce ringing
D	It improves dynamic range by attenuating strong signals near the receive frequency

18. - E4D07

Which describes the most significant effect of an off-frequency signal when it is causing cross-modulation interference to a desired signal?

Select	Answer
A	The off-frequency unwanted signal is heard in addition to the desired signal
B	A large increase in background noise
C	The desired signal can no longer be heard
D	A reduction in apparent signal strength

19. - E4E01

Which of the following types of receiver noise can often be reduced by use of a receiver noise blanker?

Select	Answer
A	Ignition noise
B	Heterodyne interference
C	Broadband white noise
D	All of these choices are correct

20. - E5A14

What is the resonant frequency of a series RLC circuit if R is 22 ohms, L is 50 microhenrys and C is 40 picofarads?

Select	Answer
A	3.56 MHz
B	44.72 MHz
C	22.36 MHz
D	1.78 MHz

21. - E5B01

What is the term for the time required for the capacitor in an RC circuit to be charged to 63.2% of the applied voltage?

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

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. - E5D02

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

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

24. - E6A10

In Figure E6-2, what is the schematic symbol for an N-channel dual-gate MOSFET?

Select	Answer
A	5
B	4
C	6
D	2

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

26. - E6C08

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

Select	Answer
A	1
B	2
C	3
D	4

27. - E6D01

How many turns will be required to produce a 5-microhenry inductor using a powdered-iron toroidal core that has an inductance index (A L) value of 40 microhenrys/100 turns?

Select	Answer
A	13 turns
B	79 turns
C	35 turns
D	141 turns

28. - E6E01

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

Select	Answer
A	It is a CMOS analog-to-digital converter
B	Its phase shift changes rapidly with frequency
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. - E6F06

Which of these materials is affected the most by photoconductivity?

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

30. - E7A06

What is a characteristic of a monostable multivibrator?

Select	Answer
A	It switches momentarily to the opposite binary state and then returns to its original state after a set time
B	It produces a continuous square wave oscillating between 1 and 0
C	It stores one bit of data in either a 0 or 1 state
D	It maintains a constant output voltage, regardless of variations in the input voltage

31. - E7B07

Which of the following is a likely result when a Class C amplifier is used to amplify a single-sideband phone signal?

Select	Answer
A	Signal distortion and excessive bandwidth
B	Increased overall intelligibility
C	Signal inversion
D	Reduced intermodulation products

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

33. - E7D15

What is the purpose of a "step-start" circuit in a high voltage power supply?

Select	Answer
A	To allow for remote control of the power supply
B	To compensate for variations of the incoming line voltage
C	To allow the filter capacitors to charge gradually
D	To provide a dual-voltage output for reduced power applications

34. - E7E04

What is one way a single-sideband phone signal can be generated?

Select	Answer
A	By using a reactance modulator followed by a mixer
B	By using a balanced modulator followed by a filter
C	By using a loop modulator followed by a mixer
D	By driving a product detector with a DSB signal

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

36. - E7G08

How does the gain of an ideal operational amplifier vary with frequency?

Select	Answer
A	It decreases logarithmically with increasing frequency
B	It decreases linearly with increasing frequency
C	It increases linearly with increasing frequency
D	It does not vary with frequency

37. - E7H08

Which of the following components can be used to reduce thermal drift in crystal oscillators?

Select	Answer
A	Wirewound resistors
B	Non-inductive resistors
C	Toroidal inductors
D	NP0 capacitors

38. - E8A11

What type of information can be conveyed using digital waveforms?

Select	Answer
A	Data
B	Human speech
C	All of these choices are correct
D	Video signals

39. - E8B02

How does the modulation index of a phase-modulated emission vary with RF carrier frequency (the modulated frequency)?

Select	Answer
A	It decreases as the RF carrier frequency increases
B	It increases as the RF carrier frequency increases
C	It does not depend on the RF carrier frequency
D	It varies with the square root of the RF carrier frequency

40. - E8C01

How is Forward Error Correction implemented?

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

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	Strong ALC action
C	Harmonics on higher bands
D	High reflected power

42. - E9A04

Which of the following factors may affect the feed point impedance of an antenna?

Select	Answer
A	Sunspot activity and time of day
B	Transmission-line length
C	Antenna height, conductor length/diameter ratio and location of nearby conductive objects
D	The settings of an antenna tuner at the transmitter

43. - E9B04

What may occur when a directional antenna is operated at different frequencies within the band for which it was designed?

Select	Answer
A	Element spacing limits could be exceeded
B	The gain may change depending on frequency
C	Feed point impedance may become negative
D	The E-field and H-field patterns may reverse

44. - E9C01

What is the radiation pattern of two 1/4-wavelength vertical antennas spaced 1/2-wavelength apart and fed 180 degrees out of phase?

Select	Answer
A	Cardioid
B	A figure-8 broadside to the axis of the array
C	A figure-8 oriented along the axis of the array
D	Omni-directional

45. - E9D06

What happens to the bandwidth of an antenna as it is shortened through the use of loading coils?

Select	Answer
A	It is decreased
B	It is increased
C	No change occurs
D	It becomes flat

46. - E9E13

What is a use for a Wilkinson divider?

Select	Answer
A	It divides the operating frequency of a transmitter signal so it can be used on a lower frequency band
B	It is used to divide power equally between two 50 ohm loads while maintaining 50 ohm input impedance
C	It is used to feed low-impedance loads from a high-impedance source
D	It is used to feed high-impedance antennas from a low-impedance source

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

48. - E9G05

What type of chart is shown in Figure E9-3?

Select	Answer
A	Smith chart
B	Elevation angle radiation pattern chart
C	Azimuth angle radiation pattern chart
D	Free space radiation directivity chart

49. - E9H05

What is the main drawback of a wire-loop antenna for direction finding?

Select	Answer
A	It receives equally well in all directions
B	It has a bidirectional pattern
C	It is non-rotatable
D	It is practical for use only on VHF bands

50. - E0A11

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

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

Figure E5-2

Figure E6-2

Figure E6-5

Figure E9-3