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	1.5 kHz
B	2.8 kHz
C	60 Hz
D	170 Hz

2. - E1B02

Which of the following factors might cause the physical location of an amateur station apparatus or antenna structure to be restricted?

Select	Answer
A	The location is in an ITU Zone designated for coordination with one or more foreign governments
B	The location is of geographical or horticultural importance
C	The location is near an area of political conflict
D	The location is of environmental importance or significant in American history, architecture, or culture

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

4. - E1D07

Which amateur service HF bands have frequencies authorized for space stations?

Select	Answer
A	Only the 40 m, 20 m, 17 m, 15 m, 12 m and 10 m bands
B	All HF bands
C	Only the 40 m, 30 m, 20 m, 15 m, 12 m and 10 m bands
D	Only the 40 m, 20 m, 17 m, 15 m and 10 m bands

5. - E1E12

What must the VE team do with the application form if the examinee does not pass the exam?

Select	Answer
A	Maintain the application form with the VEC's records
B	Send the application form to the FCC and inform the FCC of the grade
C	Return the application document to the examinee
D	Destroy the application form

6. - E1F10

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

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

7. - E2A01

What is the direction of an ascending pass for an amateur satellite?

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

8. - E2B16

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

Select	Answer
A	NTSC
B	PAL
C	DRM
D	Scottie

9. - E2C13

What indicator is required to be used by U.S.-licensed operators when operating a station via remote control where the transmitter is located in the U.S.?

Select	Answer
A	/R# where # is the district of the remote station
B	The ARRL section of the remote station
C	No additional indicator is required
D	/ followed by the USPS two letter abbreviation for the state in which the remote station is located

10. - E2D04

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

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

11. - E2E12

Which type of control is used by stations using the Automatic Link Enable (ALE) protocol?

Select	Answer
A	ALE can use any type of control
B	Automatic
C	Remote
D	Local

12. - E3A14

From the contiguous 48 states, in which approximate direction should an antenna be pointed to take maximum advantage of aurora propagation?

Select	Answer
A	West
B	North
C	East
D	South

13. - E3B13

Why is chordal hop propagation desirable?

Select	Answer
A	The signal experiences less loss along the path compared to normal skip propagation
B	Atmospheric noise is lower in the direction of chordal hop propagation
C	The MUF for chordal hop propagation is much lower than for normal skip propagation
D	Signals travel faster along ionospheric chords

14. - E3C03

Which of the following signal paths is most likely to experience high levels of absorption when the A index or K index is elevated?

Select	Answer
A	Sporadic-E
B	Polar paths
C	NVIS
D	Transequatorial propagation

15. - E4A12

Which of the following procedures is an important precaution to follow when connecting a spectrum analyzer to a transmitter output?

Select	Answer
A	Match the antenna to the load
B	Attenuate the transmitter output going to the spectrum analyzer
C	All of these choices are correct
D	Use high quality double shielded coaxial cables to reduce signal losses

16. - E4B14

What happens if a dip meter is too tightly coupled to a tuned circuit being checked?

Select	Answer
A	Harmonics are generated
B	Intermodulation distortion occurs
C	A less accurate reading results
D	Cross modulation occurs

17. - E4C16

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

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

18. - E4D10

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

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

19. - E4E04

How can conducted and radiated noise caused by an automobile alternator be suppressed?

Select	Answer
A	By installing filter capacitors in series with the DC power lead and a blocking capacitor in the field lead
B	By installing a high-pass filter in series with the radio's power lead and a low-pass filter in parallel with the field lead
C	By installing a noise suppression resistor and a blocking capacitor in both leads
D	By connecting the radio's power leads directly to the battery and by installing coaxial capacitors in line with the alternator leads

20. - E5A04

What is the magnitude of the impedance of a circuit with a resistor, an inductor and a capacitor all in parallel, at resonance?

Select	Answer
A	Approximately equal to inductive reactance
B	Approximately equal to circuit resistance
C	Approximately equal to capacitive reactance
D	Low, as compared to the circuit resistance

21. - E5B06

What is susceptance?

Select	Answer
A	The magnetic impedance of a circuit
B	A measure of the efficiency of a transformer
C	The ratio of magnetic field to electric field
D	The inverse of reactance

22. - E5C11

What do the two numbers that are used to define a point on a graph using rectangular coordinates represent?

Select	Answer
A	The tangent and cotangent values
B	The magnitude and phase of the point
C	The coordinate values along the horizontal and vertical axes
D	The sine and cosine values

23. - E5D07

What determines the strength of the magnetic field around a conductor?

Select	Answer
A	The amount of current flowing through the conductor
B	The resistance divided by the current
C	The diameter of the conductor
D	The ratio of the current to the resistance

24. - E6A17

What are the names of the three terminals of a field-effect transistor?

Select	Answer
A	Gate, drain, source
B	Gate 1, gate 2, drain
C	Emitter, base 1, base 2
D	Emitter, base, collector

25. - E6B03

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

Select	Answer
A	Junction
B	Tunnel
C	Point contact
D	Zener

26. - E6C01

What is the function of hysteresis in a comparator?

Select	Answer
A	To prevent input noise from causing unstable output signals
B	To allow the comparator to be used with AC input signal
C	To cause the output to change states continually
D	To increase the sensitivity

27. - E6D09

What devices are commonly used as VHF and UHF parasitic suppressors at the input and output terminals of a transistor HF amplifier?

Select	Answer
A	Ferrite beads
B	Butterworth filters
C	Steel-core toroids
D	Electrolytic capacitors

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	It samples an analog signal and passes it in stages from the input to the output
C	Its phase shift changes rapidly with frequency
D	It is used in a battery charger circuit

29. - E6F13

What is a liquid crystal display (LCD)?

Select	Answer
A	A display that uses a glowing liquid to remain brightly lit in dim light
B	A frequency-determining unit for a transmitter or receiver
C	A modern replacement for a quartz crystal oscillator which displays its fundamental frequency
D	A display utilizing a crystalline liquid and polarizing filters which becomes opaque when voltage is applied

30. - E7A03

Which of the following can divide the frequency of a pulse train by 2?

Select	Answer
A	An OR gate
B	A flip-flop
C	An XOR gate
D	A multiplexer

31. - E7B17

Why are odd-order rather than even-order intermodulation distortion products of concern in linear power amplifiers?

Select	Answer
A	Because they are relatively close in frequency to the desired signal
B	Because they maintain the sidebands, thus causing multiple duplicate signals
C	Because they are relatively far in frequency from the desired signal
D	Because they invert the sidebands causing distortion

32. - E7C15

What is a crystal lattice filter?

Select	Answer
A	A filter with wide bandwidth and shallow skirts made using quartz crystals
B	A power supply filter made with interlaced quartz crystals
C	A filter with narrow bandwidth and steep skirts made using quartz crystals
D	An audio filter made with four quartz crystals that resonate at 1kHz intervals

33. - E7D14

What is one purpose of a "bleeder" resistor in a conventional unregulated power supply?

Select	Answer
A	To improve output voltage regulation
B	To boost the amount of output current
C	To balance the low-voltage filament windings
D	To cut down on waste heat generated by the power supply

34. - E7E03

How does an analog phase modulator function?

Select	Answer
A	By varying the tuning of an amplifier tank circuit to produce PM signals
B	By varying the tuning of an amplifier tank circuit to produce AM signals
C	By varying the tuning of a microphone preamplifier to produce AM signals
D	By varying the tuning of a microphone preamplifier to produce PM signals

35. - E7F09

Why is an anti-aliasing digital filter required in a digital decimator?

Select	Answer
A	It removes low frequency signal components to eliminate the need for DC restoration
B	It notches out the sampling frequency to avoid sampling errors
C	It peaks the response of the decimator, improving bandwidth
D	It removes high-frequency signal components which would otherwise be reproduced as lower frequency components

36. - E7G03

What is the typical input impedance of an integrated circuit op-amp?

Select	Answer
A	Very low
B	Very high
C	100 ohms
D	1000 ohms

37. - E7H04

How is positive feedback supplied in a Colpitts oscillator?

Select	Answer
A	Through link coupling
B	Through a tapped coil
C	Through a neutralizing capacitor
D	Through a capacitive divider

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	Level shifting
D	Harmonic regeneration

39. - E8B11

What is digital time division multiplexing?

Select	Answer
A	Two or more data streams share the same channel by transmitting time of transmission as the sub-carrier
B	Two or more signals are quadrature modulated to increase bandwidth efficiency
C	Two or more data streams are assigned to discrete sub-carriers on an FM transmitter
D	Two or more signals are arranged to share discrete time slots of a data transmission

40. - E8C07

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

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

41. - E8D03

How does the spread spectrum technique of frequency hopping work?

Select	Answer
A	A pseudo-random binary bit stream is used to shift the phase of an RF carrier very rapidly in a particular sequence
B	The frequency of the transmitted signal is changed very rapidly according to a particular sequence also used by the receiving station
C	If interference is detected by the receiver it will signal the transmitter to change frequencies
D	If interference is detected by the receiver it will signal the transmitter to wait until the frequency is clear

42. - E9A16

What is the effective radiated power relative to a dipole of a repeater station with 200 watts transmitter power output, 4 dB feed line loss, 3.2 dB duplexer loss, 0.8 dB circulator loss, and 10 dBd antenna gain?

Select	Answer
A	300 watts
B	317 watts
C	2000 watts
D	126 watts

43. - E9B16

How many elevation lobes appear in the forward direction of the antenna radiation pattern shown in Figure E9-2?

Select	Answer
A	1
B	7
C	3
D	4

44. - E9C03

What is the radiation pattern of two 1/4 wavelength vertical antennas spaced a 1/2 wavelength apart and fed in phase?

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

45. - E9D08

What happens as the Q of an antenna increases?

Select	Answer
A	Gain is reduced
B	SWR bandwidth decreases
C	More common-mode current is present on the feed line
D	SWR bandwidth increases

46. - E9E09

Which of these matching systems is an effective method of connecting a 50 ohm coaxial cable feed line to a grounded tower so it can be used as a vertical antenna?

Select	Answer
A	Double-bazooka match
B	Gamma match
C	Hairpin match
D	All of these choices are correct

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

48. - E9G01

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

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

49. - E9H07

Why is it advisable to use an RF attenuator on a receiver being used for direction finding?

Select	Answer
A	It compensates for the effects of an isotropic antenna, thereby improving directivity
B	It narrows the bandwidth of the received signal to improve signal to noise ratio
C	It prevents receiver overload which could make it difficult to determine peaks or nulls
D	It reduces loss of received signals caused by antenna pattern nulls, thereby increasing sensitivity

50. - E0A02

When evaluating RF exposure levels from your station at a neighbor's home, what must you do?

Select	Answer
A	Make sure signals from your station are less than the uncontrolled MPE limits
B	You need only evaluate exposure levels on your own property
C	Advise your neighbors of the results of your tests
D	Make sure signals from your station are less than the controlled MPE limits

Figure E9-2