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

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1. - E1A05

What is the maximum power output permitted on the 60 meter band?

Select	Answer
A	100 watts PEP effective radiated power relative to the gain of a half-wave dipole
B	50 watts PEP effective radiated power relative to an isotropic radiator
C	100 watts PEP effective radiated power relative to an isotropic radiator
D	50 watts PEP effective radiated power relative to a dipole

2. - E1B08

What limitations may the FCC place on an amateur station if its signal causes interference to domestic broadcast reception, assuming that the receivers involved are of good engineering design?

Select	Answer
A	The amateur station must cease operation on all frequencies above 30 MHz
B	The amateur station must avoid transmitting during certain hours on frequencies that cause the interference
C	The amateur station must cease operation on all frequencies below 30 MHz
D	The amateur station must cease operation

3. - E1C13

Which of the following is required in order to operate in accordance with CEPT rules in foreign countries where permitted?

Select	Answer
A	The U.S. embassy must approve of your operation
B	You must bring a copy of FCC Public Notice DA 11-221
C	You must identify in the official language of the country in which you are operating
D	You must append "/CEPT" to your call sign

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	An amateur station that is not able to communicate using amateur satellites
C	An amateur station that transmits telemetry consisting of measurement of upper atmosphere
D	Any amateur station on the surface of the Earth

5. - E1E02

Where are the questions for all written U.S. amateur license examinations listed?

Select	Answer
A	In FCC Part 97
B	In a question pool maintained by the FCC
C	In a question pool maintained by all the VECs
D	In the appropriate FCC Report and Order

6. - E1F12

Who may be the control operator of an auxiliary station?

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

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 ionospheric absorption
C	Because of the Doppler Effect
D	Because of the satellite's low orbital altitude

8. - E2B03

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

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

9. - E2C01

Which of the following is true about contest operating?

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

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	All of these choices are correct
D	APRS stations with General Personnel Scanners can automatically relay the participant numbers and time as they pass the check points

11. - E2E11

What is the difference between direct FSK and audio FSK?

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

12. - E3A08

When a meteor strikes the Earth's atmosphere, a cylindrical region of free electrons is formed at what layer of the ionosphere?

Select	Answer
A	The F1 layer
B	The E layer
C	The D layer
D	The F2 layer

13. - E3B12

What is the primary characteristic of chordal hop propagation?

Select	Answer
A	Propagation away from the great circle bearing between stations
B	Signals reflected back toward the transmitting station
C	Successive ionospheric reflections without an intermediate reflection from the ground
D	Propagation across the geomagnetic equator

14. - E3C08

What does the space weather term G5 mean?

Select	Answer
A	Waning sunspot numbers
B	An extreme geomagnetic storm
C	Very low solar activity
D	Moderate solar wind

15. - E4A08

Which of the following instrument would be best for measuring the SWR of a beam antenna?

Select	Answer
A	A Q meter
B	A spectrum analyzer
C	An antenna analyzer
D	An ohmmeter

16. - E4B16

Which S parameter represents return loss or SWR?

Select	Answer
A	S11
B	S21
C	S12
D	S22

17. - E4C01

What is an effect of excessive phase noise in the local oscillator section of a receiver?

Select	Answer
A	It decreases receiver third-order intermodulation distortion dynamic range
B	It reduces receiver sensitivity
C	It can cause strong signals on nearby frequencies to interfere with reception of weak signals
D	It limits the receiver's ability to receive strong signals

18. - E4D10

What does a third-order intercept level of 40 dBm mean with respect to receiver performance?

Select	Answer
A	A pair of 40 dBm signals will theoretically generate a third-order intermodulation product with the same level as the input signals
B	Signals less than 40 dBm will not generate audible third-order intermodulation products
C	A pair of 1 mW input signals will produce a third-order intermodulation product which is 40 dB stronger than the input signal
D	The receiver can tolerate signals up to 40 dB above the noise floor without producing third-order intermodulation products

19. - E4E03

Which of the following signals might a receiver noise blanker be able to remove from desired signals?

Select	Answer
A	Signals which appear at one IF but not another
B	Signals which are constant at all IF levels
C	Signals which appear across a wide bandwidth
D	Signals which have a sharply peaked frequency distribution

20. - E5A15

Which of the following can increase Q for inductors and capacitors?

Select	Answer
A	Higher self-resonant frequency
B	Lower losses
C	Lower reactance
D	Lower self-resonant frequency

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	Current leads voltage by 90 degrees
C	Voltage leads current by 90 degrees
D	Voltage and current are 180 degrees out of phase

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

23. - E5D04

Why are short connections necessary at microwave frequencies?

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

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. - E6B06

Which of the following is a common use of a hot-carrier diode?

Select	Answer
A	As balanced mixers in FM generation
B	As a VHF/UHF mixer or detector
C	As a constant voltage reference in a power supply
D	As a variable capacitance in an automatic frequency control circuit

26. - E6C05

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

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

27. - E6D13

What is the primary cause of inductor self-resonance?

Select	Answer
A	Inductive kickback
B	The skin effect
C	Inter-turn capacitance
D	Non-linear core hysteresis

28. - E6E10

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

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

29. - E6F07

What is a solid state relay?

Select	Answer
A	A device that uses semiconductors to implement the functions of an electromechanical relay
B	A relay using transistors to drive the relay coil
C	A passive delay line
D	A mechanical relay that latches in the on or off state each time it is pulsed

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. - E7B10

In Figure E7-1, what is the purpose of R1 and R2?

Select	Answer
A	Feedback
B	Self bias
C	Load resistors
D	Fixed bias

32. - E7C14

Which mode is most affected by non-linear phase response in a receiver IF filter?

Select	Answer
A	Meteor scatter
B	Video
C	Single-Sideband voice
D	Digital

33. - E7D11

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

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

34. - E7E10

How does a diode detector function?

Select	Answer
A	By rectification and filtering of RF signals
B	By sensing the change of reactance in the diode with respect to frequency
C	By breakdown of the Zener voltage
D	By mixing signals with noise in the transition region of the diode

35. - E7F08

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

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

36. - E7G12

What is an integrated circuit operational amplifier?

Select	Answer
A	A high-gain, direct-coupled differential amplifier with very high input impedance and very low output impedance
B	A RF amplifier used in the UHF and microwave regions
C	An amplifier used to increase the average output of frequency modulated amateur signals to the legal limit
D	A digital audio amplifier whose characteristics are determined by components external to the amplifier

37. - E7H06

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

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

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 sawtooth wave
C	A cosine wave
D	A square wave

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. - E8C07

What is the necessary bandwidth of a 4800-Hz frequency shift, 9600-baud ASCII FM transmission?

Select	Answer
A	9.6 kHz
B	5.76 kHz
C	15.36 kHz
D	4.8 kHz

41. - E8D11

What is one advantage of using ASCII code for data communications?

Select	Answer
A	It contains fewer information bits per character than any other code
B	It uses one character as a shift code to send numeric and special characters
C	It includes built in error correction features
D	It is possible to transmit both upper and lower case text

42. - E9A08

What is meant by antenna bandwidth?

Select	Answer
A	The angle formed between two imaginary lines drawn through the element ends
B	The frequency range over which an antenna satisfies a performance requirement
C	The angle between the half-power radiation points
D	Antenna length divided by the number of elements

43. - E9B11

What is a disadvantage of decreasing the number of wire segments in an antenna model below the guideline of 10 segments per half-wavelength?

Select	Answer
A	The resulting design will favor radiation of harmonic energy
B	The computed feed point impedance may be incorrect
C	Ground conductivity will not be accurately modeled
D	The antenna will become mechanically unstable

44. - E9C10

Which of the following describes a Zepp antenna?

Select	Answer
A	An end fed dipole antenna
B	A dipole constructed from zip cord
C	A vertical array capable of quickly changing the direction of maximum radiation by changing phasing lines
D	An omni-directional antenna commonly used for satellite communications

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

46. - E9E07

What term best describes the interactions at the load end of a mismatched transmission line?

Select	Answer
A	Dielectric constant
B	Characteristic impedance
C	Velocity factor
D	Reflection coefficient

47. - E9F06

What is the approximate physical length of an air-insulated, parallel conductor transmission line that is electrically one-half wavelength long at 14.10 MHz?

Select	Answer
A	20 meters
B	15 meters
C	71 meters
D	10 meters

48. - E9G05

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

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

49. - E9H10

How can the output voltage of a multiple turn receiving loop antenna be increased?

Select	Answer
A	By winding adjacent turns in opposing directions
B	By increasing either the number of wire turns in the loop or the area of the loop structure or both
C	By reducing the permeability of the loop shield
D	By increasing the number of wire turns in the loop and reducing the area of the loop structure

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	Blood clotting from the intense magnetic field
C	Localized heating of the body from RF exposure in excess of the MPE limits
D	Hearing loss caused by high voltage corona discharge

Figure E6-2

Figure E7-1

Figure E9-3