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 the communication as soon as you become aware of it
D	Discontinue forwarding all messages

2. - E1B10

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

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

3. - E1C12

What types of communications may be transmitted to amateur stations in foreign countries?

Select	Answer
A	Messages intended for connection to users of the maritime satellite service
B	Communications incidental to the purpose of the amateur service and remarks of a personal nature
C	Business-related messages for non-profit organizations
D	All of these choices are correct

4. - E1D04

What is an Earth station in the amateur satellite service?

Select	Answer
A	An amateur station that transmits telemetry consisting of measurement of upper atmosphere
B	An amateur station that is not able to communicate using amateur satellites
C	Any amateur station on the surface of the Earth
D	An amateur station within 50 km of the Earth's surface intended for communications with amateur stations by means of objects in space

5. - E1E04

Which of the following best describes the Volunteer Examiner accreditation process?

Select	Answer
A	The procedure by which a VEC confirms that the VE applicant meets FCC requirements to serve as an examiner
B	The prospective VE obtains accreditation from the FCC
C	The amateur operator applying must pass a VE examination administered by the FCC Enforcement Bureau
D	Each General, Advanced and Amateur Extra Class operator is automatically accredited as a VE when the license is granted

6. - E1F05

Amateur stations may not transmit in which of the following frequency segments if they are located in the contiguous 48 states and north of Line A?

Select	Answer
A	53 MHz - 54 MHz
B	420 MHz - 430 MHz
C	222 MHz - 223 MHz
D	440 MHz - 450 MHz

7. - E2A03

What is the orbital period of an Earth satellite?

Select	Answer
A	The time it takes for a satellite to complete one revolution around the Earth
B	The point of minimum height of a satellite's orbit
C	The point of maximum height of a satellite's orbit
D	The time it takes for a satellite to travel from perigee to apogee

8. - E2B07

What is the name of the signal component that carries color information in NTSC video?

Select	Answer
A	Chroma
B	Luminance
C	Hue
D	Spectral Intensity

9. - E2C06

During a VHF/UHF contest, in which band segment would you expect to find the highest level of activity?

Select	Answer
A	In the weak signal segment of the band, with most of the activity near the calling frequency
B	In the middle of each band, usually on the national calling frequency
C	At the top of each band, usually in a segment reserved for contests
D	In the middle of the band, usually 25 kHz above the national calling frequency

10. - E2D02

Which of the following is a good technique for making meteor scatter contacts?

Select	Answer
A	All of these choices are correct
B	Use of high speed CW or digital modes
C	15 second timed transmission sequences with stations alternating based on location
D	Short transmission with rapidly repeated call signs and signal reports

11. - E2E07

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

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

12. - E3A16

Which of the following best describes electromagnetic waves traveling in free space?

Select	Answer
A	The energy propagates through a medium with a high refractive index
B	Changing electric and magnetic fields propagate the energy
C	The waves are reflected by the ionosphere and return to their source
D	Electric and magnetic fields become aligned as they travel

13. - E3B01

What is transequatorial propagation?

Select	Answer
A	Propagation between two continents by way of ducts along the magnetic equator
B	Propagation between two stations at the same latitude
C	Propagation between two mid-latitude points at approximately the same distance north and south of the magnetic equator
D	Propagation between any two points located on the magnetic equator

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	Polar paths
B	Sporadic-E
C	NVIS
D	Transequatorial propagation

15. - E4A06

What is the effect of aliasing in a digital or computer-based oscilloscope?

Select	Answer
A	All signals will have a DC offset
B	False signals are displayed
C	Calibration of the vertical scale is no longer valid
D	False triggering occurs

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	A less accurate reading results
C	Intermodulation distortion occurs
D	Cross modulation occurs

17. - E4C02

Which of the following portions of a receiver can be effective in eliminating image signal interference?

Select	Answer
A	A notch filter
B	A narrow IF filter
C	A front-end filter or pre-selector
D	A properly adjusted product detector

18. - E4D01

What is meant by the blocking dynamic range of a receiver?

Select	Answer
A	The difference in dB between the noise floor and the third order intercept point
B	The minimum difference in dB between the levels of two FM signals which will cause one signal to block the other
C	The difference in dB between the noise floor and the level of an incoming signal which will cause 1 dB of gain compression
D	The minimum difference in dB between two signals which produce third order intermodulation products greater than the noise floor

19. - E4E10

What is a common characteristic of interference caused by a touch controlled electrical device?

Select	Answer
A	All of these choices are correct
B	The interfering signal can be several kHz in width and usually repeats at regular intervals across a HF band
C	The interfering signal sounds like AC hum on an AM receiver or a carrier modulated by 60 Hz hum on a SSB or CW receiver
D	The interfering signal may drift slowly across the HF spectrum

20. - E5A07

What is the magnitude of the current at the input of a parallel RLC circuit at resonance?

Select	Answer
A	Minimum
B	Maximum
C	L/R
D	R/L

21. - E5B05

What happens to the magnitude of a reactance when it is converted to a susceptance?

Select	Answer
A	The sign is reversed
B	It is unchanged
C	It is shifted by 90 degrees
D	The magnitude of the susceptance is the reciprocal of the magnitude of the reactance

22. - E5C15

Which point in Figure E5-2 best represents the impedance of a series circuit consisting of a 300 ohm resistor and an 18 microhenry inductor at 3.505 MHz?

Select	Answer
A	Point 3
B	Point 7
C	Point 1
D	Point 8

23. - E5D10

How can the true power be determined in an AC circuit where the voltage and current are out of phase?

Select	Answer
A	By dividing the reactive power by the power factor
B	By multiplying the reactive power times the power factor
C	By multiplying the apparent power times the power factor
D	By dividing the apparent power by the power factor

24. - E6A02

Which of the following semiconductor materials contains excess free electrons?

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

25. - E6B01

What is the most useful characteristic of a Zener diode?

Select	Answer
A	A constant voltage drop under conditions of varying current
B	A constant current drop under conditions of varying voltage
C	An internal capacitance that varies with the applied voltage
D	A negative resistance region

26. - E6C08

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

Select	Answer
A	2
B	4
C	3
D	1

27. - E6D16

What is the common name for a capacitor connected across a transformer secondary that is used to absorb transient voltage spikes?

Select	Answer
A	Snubber capacitor
B	Clipper capacitor
C	Feedback capacitor
D	Trimmer capacitor

28. - E6E09

Which of the following component package types would be most suitable for use at frequencies above the HF range?

Select	Answer
A	Axial lead
B	Surface mount
C	TO-220
D	Radial lead

29. - E6F13

What is a liquid crystal display (LCD)?

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

30. - E7A04

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

Select	Answer
A	1
B	8
C	4
D	2

31. - E7B09

Which of the following describes how the loading and tuning capacitors are to be adjusted when tuning a vacuum tube RF power amplifier that employs a Pi-network output circuit?

Select	Answer
A	The loading capacitor is adjusted to minimum plate current while alternately adjusting the tuning capacitor for maximum allowable plate current
B	The tuning capacitor is set to maximum capacitance and the loading capacitor is adjusted for minimum plate permissible current
C	The loading capacitor is set to maximum capacitance and the tuning capacitor is adjusted for minimum allowable plate current
D	The tuning capacitor is adjusted for minimum plate current, and the loading capacitor is adjusted for maximum permissible plate current

32. - E7C14

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

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

33. - E7D11

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

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

34. - E7E08

What are the principal frequencies that appear at the output of a mixer circuit?

Select	Answer
A	The two input frequencies along with their sum and difference frequencies
B	The sum, difference and square root of the input frequencies
C	1.414 and 0.707 times the input frequency
D	Two and four times the original frequency

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	Incoming RF is converted to a control voltage for a voltage controlled oscillator
D	A switching mixer is used to generate I and Q signals directly from the RF input

36. - E7G06

Which of the following is the most appropriate use of an op-amp active filter?

Select	Answer
A	As a low-pass filter used between a transmitter and a transmission line
B	As an audio filter in a receiver
C	For smoothing power supply output
D	As a high-pass filter used to block RFI at the input to receivers

37. - E7H10

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

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

38. - E8A11

What type of information can be conveyed using digital waveforms?

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

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. - E8C03

When performing phase shift keying, why is it advantageous to shift phase precisely at the zero crossing of the RF carrier?

Select	Answer
A	All of these choices are correct
B	It improves carrier suppression
C	It is easier to demodulate with a conventional, non-synchronous detector
D	This results in the least possible transmitted bandwidth for the particular mode

41. - E8D01

Why are received spread spectrum signals resistant to interference?

Select	Answer
A	The receiver is always equipped with a digital blanker
B	If interference is detected by the receiver it will signal the transmitter to change frequencies
C	Signals not using the spread spectrum algorithm are suppressed in the receiver
D	The high power used by a spread spectrum transmitter keeps its signal from being easily overpowered

42. - E9A11

Which of the following factors determines ground losses for a ground-mounted vertical antenna operating in the 3 MHz to 30 MHz range?

Select	Answer
A	Take-off angle
B	Soil conductivity
C	The standing wave ratio
D	Distance from the transmitter

43. - E9B15

What is the front-to-back ratio of the radiation pattern shown in Figure E9-2?

Select	Answer
A	3 dB
B	24 dB
C	28 dB
D	15 dB

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

45. - E9D05

What is a disadvantage of using a multiband trapped antenna?

Select	Answer
A	It must be neutralized
B	It might radiate harmonics
C	It radiates the harmonics and fundamental equally well
D	It is too sharply directional at lower frequencies

46. - E9E10

Which of these choices is an effective way to match an antenna with a 100 ohm feed point impedance to a 50 ohm coaxial cable feed line?

Select	Answer
A	Insert a 1/4-wavelength piece of 75 ohm coaxial cable transmission line in series between the antenna terminals and the 50 ohm feed cable
B	Connect a 1/4-wavelength open stub of 300 ohm twin-lead in parallel with the coaxial feed line where it connects to the antenna
C	Insert a 1/2 wavelength piece of 300 ohm twin-lead in series between the antenna terminals and the 50 ohm feed cable
D	Connect 1/2 wavelength shorted stub of 75 ohm cable in parallel with the 50 ohm cable where it attaches to the antenna

47. - E9F08

What is the term for the ratio of the actual speed at which a signal travels through a transmission line to the speed of light in a vacuum?

Select	Answer
A	Velocity factor
B	Surge impedance
C	Characteristic impedance
D	Standing wave ratio

48. - E9G07

On the Smith chart shown in Figure E9-3, what is the only straight line shown?

Select	Answer
A	The current axis
B	The voltage axis
C	The resistance axis
D	The reactance axis

49. - E9H01

When constructing a Beverage antenna, which of the following factors should be included in the design to achieve good performance at the desired frequency?

Select	Answer
A	It should be one or more wavelengths long
B	Its overall length must not exceed 1/4 wavelength
C	It should be configured as a four-sided loop
D	It must be mounted more than 1 wavelength above ground

50. - E0A04

When evaluating a site with multiple transmitters operating at the same time, the operators and licensees of which transmitters are responsible for mitigating over-exposure situations?

Select	Answer
A	Only commercial transmitters
B	Each transmitter operating with a duty-cycle greater than 50 percent
C	Each transmitter that produces 5 percent or more of its MPE limit at accessible locations
D	Only the most powerful transmitter

Figure E5-2

Figure E6-5

Figure E9-2

Figure E9-3