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

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1. - E1A03

With your transceiver displaying the carrier frequency of phone signals, you hear a station calling CQ on 14.349 MHz USB. Is it legal to return the call using upper sideband on the same frequency?

Select	Answer
A	No, U.S. stations are not permitted to use phone emissions above 14.340 MHz
B	Yes, because you were not the station calling CQ
C	Yes, because the displayed frequency is within the 20 meter band
D	No, the sideband will extend beyond the band edge

2. - E1B10

What frequencies are authorized to an amateur station operating under RACES rules?

Select	Answer
A	Military Auxiliary Radio System (MARS) channels
B	All amateur service frequencies authorized to the control operator
C	Specific local government channels
D	Specific segments in the amateur service MF, HF, VHF and UHF bands

3. - E1C09

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

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

4. - E1D03

What is a telecommand station in the amateur satellite service?

Select	Answer
A	An amateur station that transmits communications to initiate, modify or terminate functions of a space station
B	An amateur station located on the Earth's surface for communication with other Earth stations by means of Earth satellites
C	An amateur station that transmits telemetry consisting of measurements of upper atmosphere
D	An amateur station located more than 50 km above the Earth's surface

5. - E1E08

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

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

6. - E1F10

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

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

7. - E2A02

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

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

8. - E2B15

What signals SSTV receiving equipment to begin a new picture line?

Select	Answer
A	Specific tone amplitudes
B	Specific tone frequencies
C	Elapsed time
D	A two-tone signal

9. - E2C10

Why might a DX station state that they are listening on another frequency?

Select	Answer
A	To separate the calling stations from the DX station
B	Because the DX station may be transmitting on a frequency that is prohibited to some responding stations
C	To improve operating efficiency by reducing interference
D	All of these choices are correct

10. - E2D06

Which of the following describes a method of establishing EME contacts?

Select	Answer
A	Judging optimum transmission times by monitoring beacons reflected from the Moon
B	Time synchronous transmissions alternately from each station
C	High speed CW identification to avoid fading
D	Storing and forwarding digital messages

11. - E2E07

What is the typical bandwidth of a properly modulated MFSK16 signal?

Select	Answer
A	2.16 kHz
B	31 Hz
C	316 Hz
D	550 Hz

12. - E3A13

Which emission mode is best for aurora propagation?

Select	Answer
A	SSB
B	RTTY
C	FM
D	CW

13. - E3B14

What happens to linearly polarized radio waves that split into ordinary and extraordinary waves in the ionosphere?

Select	Answer
A	They are bent toward the magnetic poles
B	They become phase-locked
C	Their polarization is randomly modified
D	They become elliptically polarized

14. - E3C11

What does VOACAP software model?

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

15. - E4A05

What might be an advantage of a digital vs an analog oscilloscope?

Select	Answer
A	Manipulation of time base after trace capture
B	All of these choices are correct
C	Storage of traces for future reference
D	Automatic amplitude and frequency numerical readout

16. - E4B02

What is an advantage of using a bridge circuit to measure impedance?

Select	Answer
A	It provides an excellent match under all conditions
B	It can display results directly in Smith chart format
C	It is very precise in obtaining a signal null
D	It is relatively immune to drift in the signal generator source

17. - E4C10

Which of the following is a desirable amount of selectivity for an amateur RTTY HF receiver?

Select	Answer
A	300 Hz
B	6000 Hz
C	2400 Hz
D	100 Hz

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 Class D final amplifier
D	A band-pass filter in the feed line between the transmitter and receiver

19. - E4E08

What type of signal is picked up by electrical wiring near a radio antenna?

Select	Answer
A	An electrical-sparking signal
B	A common-mode signal at the frequency of the radio transmitter
C	Harmonics of the AC power line frequency
D	A differential-mode signal at the AC power line frequency

20. - E5A13

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

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

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. - E5C08

What coordinate system is often used to display the phase angle of a circuit containing resistance, inductive and/or capacitive reactance?

Select	Answer
A	Elliptical coordinates
B	Faraday grid
C	Polar coordinates
D	Maidenhead grid

23. - E5D08

What type of energy is stored in an electromagnetic or electrostatic field?

Select	Answer
A	Thermodynamic energy
B	Potential energy
C	Kinetic energy
D	Electromechanical energy

24. - E6A02

Which of the following semiconductor materials contains excess free electrons?

Select	Answer
A	Insulated gate
B	Bipolar
C	N-type
D	P-type

25. - E6B03

What special type of diode is capable of both amplification and oscillation?

Select	Answer
A	Junction
B	Zener
C	Point contact
D	Tunnel

26. - E6C13

Which of the following is an advantage of BiCMOS logic?

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

27. - E6D14

Which type of slug material decreases inductance when inserted into a coil?

Select	Answer
A	Ferrite
B	Brass
C	Ceramic
D	Powdered-iron

28. - E6E12

Why are high-power RF amplifier ICs and transistors sometimes mounted in ceramic packages?

Select	Answer
A	High-voltage insulating ability
B	Enhanced sensitivity to light
C	Better dissipation of heat
D	To provide a low-pass frequency response

29. - E6F12

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

Select	Answer
A	Protons
B	Holes
C	Photons
D	Electrons

30. - E7A12

What type of logic defines "0" as a high voltage?

Select	Answer
A	Positive Logic
B	Negative logic
C	Assertive Logic
D	Reverse Logic

31. - E7B06

Which of the following amplifier types reduces or eliminates even order harmonics?

Select	Answer
A	Class C
B	Push-push
C	Class AB
D	Push-pull

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

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	Reference voltage
C	Switching inductance
D	Pass transistor

34. - E7E04

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

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

35. - E7F01

What is meant by direct digital conversion as applied to software defined radios?

Select	Answer
A	Software is converted from source code to object code during operation of the receiver
B	Incoming RF is digitized by an analog-to-digital converter without being mixed with a local oscillator signal
C	A switching mixer is used to generate I and Q signals directly from the RF input
D	Incoming RF is converted to a control voltage for a voltage controlled oscillator

36. - E7G07

What magnitude of voltage gain can be expected from the circuit in Figure E7-4 when R1 is 10 ohms and RF is 470 ohms?

Select	Answer
A	47
B	94
C	24
D	0.21

37. - E7H02

Which describes a microphonic?

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

38. - E8A06

What is the approximate ratio of PEP-to-average power in a typical single-sideband phone signal?

Select	Answer
A	2.5 to 1
B	100 to 1
C	1 to 1
D	25 to 1

39. - E8B09

What is meant by deviation ratio?

Select	Answer
A	The ratio of the maximum carrier frequency deviation to the highest audio modulating frequency
B	The ratio of the carrier center frequency to the audio modulating frequency
C	The ratio of the highest audio modulating frequency to the average audio modulating frequency
D	The ratio of the audio modulating frequency to the center carrier frequency

40. - E8C06

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

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

41. - E8D08

What parameter might indicate that excessively high input levels are causing distortion in an AFSK signal?

Select	Answer
A	Repeat Request Rate (RRR)
B	Signal to noise ratio
C	Baud rate
D	Intermodulation Distortion (IMD)

42. - E9A07

What is meant by antenna gain?

Select	Answer
A	The ratio of the amount of power radiated by an antenna compared to the transmitter output power
B	The ratio of the radiated signal strength of an antenna in the direction of maximum radiation to that of a reference antenna
C	The final amplifier gain minus the transmission line losses
D	The ratio of the signal in the forward direction to that in the opposite direction

43. - E9B01

In the antenna radiation pattern shown in Figure E9-1, what is the 3 dB beam-width?

Select	Answer
A	25 degrees
B	50 degrees
C	30 degrees
D	75 degrees

44. - E9C02

What is the radiation pattern of two 1/4 wavelength vertical antennas spaced 1/4 wavelength apart and fed 90 degrees out of phase?

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

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

46. - E9E01

What system matches a higher impedance transmission line to a lower impedance antenna by connecting the line to the driven element in two places spaced a fraction of a wavelength each side of element center?

Select	Answer
A	The gamma matching system
B	The delta matching system
C	The stub matching system
D	The omega matching system

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	10 meters
B	71 meters
C	15 meters
D	20 meters

48. - E9G03

Which of the following is often determined using a Smith chart?

Select	Answer
A	Impedance and SWR values in transmission lines
B	Satellite azimuth and elevation bearings
C	Trigonometric functions
D	Beam headings and radiation patterns

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	One or more turns of wire wound in the shape of a large open coil
C	A small coil of wire tightly wound around a toroidal ferrite core
D	A large circularly polarized antenna

50. - E0A01

What is the primary function of an external earth connection or ground rod?

Select	Answer
A	Reduce RF current flow between pieces of equipment
B	Reduce RFI to telephones and home entertainment systems
C	Lightning protection
D	Reduce received noise

Figure E7-4

Figure E9-1