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	No, the sideband will extend beyond the band edge
C	Yes, because the displayed frequency is within the 20 meter band
D	Yes, because you were not the station calling CQ

2. - E1B06

Which of the following additional rules apply if you are installing an amateur station antenna at a site at or near a public use airport?

Select	Answer
A	You must obtain a construction permit from the airport zoning authority
B	You may have to notify the Federal Aviation Administration and register it with the FCC as required by Part 17 of FCC rules
C	You must file an Environmental Impact Statement with the EPA before construction begins
D	No special rules apply if your antenna structure will be less than 300 feet in height

3. - E1C04

What is meant by IARP?

Select	Answer
A	An international amateur radio permit that allows U.S. amateurs to operate in certain countries of the Americas
B	A forecast of intermittent aurora radio propagation
C	The internal amateur radio practices policy of the FCC
D	An indication of increased antenna reflected power

4. - E1D02

What is the amateur satellite service?

Select	Answer
A	A radio navigation service using satellites for the purpose of self training, intercommunication and technical studies carried out by amateurs
B	A radio communications service using stations on Earth satellites for public service broadcast
C	A radio communications service using amateur radio stations on satellites
D	A spacecraft launching service for amateur-built satellites

5. - E1E10

What must the administering VEs do after the administration of a successful examination for an amateur operator license?

Select	Answer
A	They must collect and send the documents to the NCVEC for grading
B	They must collect and submit the documents to the coordinating VEC for grading
C	They must collect and send the documents to the FCC according to instructions
D	They must submit the application document to the coordinating VEC according to the coordinating VEC instructions

6. - E1F06

Under what circumstances might the FCC issue a Special Temporary Authority (STA) to an amateur station?

Select	Answer
A	To provide additional spectrum for personal use
B	To provide for experimental amateur communications
C	To provide temporary operation while awaiting normal licensing
D	To allow regular operation on Land Mobile channels

7. - E2A02

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

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

8. - E2B10

Which of the following is an acceptable bandwidth for Digital Radio Mondiale (DRM) based voice or SSTV digital transmissions made on the HF amateur bands?

Select	Answer
A	20 KHz
B	10 KHz
C	15 KHz
D	3 KHz

9. - E2C01

Which of the following is true about contest operating?

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

10. - E2D02

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

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

11. - E2E05

Which type of digital mode does not support keyboard-to-keyboard operation?

Select	Answer
A	PSK31
B	Winlink
C	RTTY
D	MFSK

12. - E3A07

Atmospheric ducts capable of propagating microwave signals often form over what geographic feature?

Select	Answer
A	Forests
B	Urban areas
C	Bodies of water
D	Mountain ranges

13. - E3B04

What is meant by the terms extraordinary and ordinary waves?

Select	Answer
A	Extraordinary waves describe rare long skip propagation compared to ordinary waves which travel shorter distances
B	Refracted rays and reflected waves
C	Long path and short path waves
D	Independent waves created in the ionosphere that are elliptically polarized

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	The process in which an electronic display presents a pattern
C	Determining the radiation pattern from an array of antennas
D	Modeling a radio wave's path through the ionosphere

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

16. - E4B01

Which of the following factors most affects the accuracy of a frequency counter?

Select	Answer
A	Time base accuracy
B	Decade divider accuracy
C	Temperature coefficient of the logic
D	Input attenuator accuracy

17. - E4C17

Which of the following has the largest effect on an SDR receiver's linearity?

Select	Answer
A	Anti-aliasing input filter bandwidth
B	CPU register width in bits
C	Analog-to-digital converter sample width in bits
D	RAM speed used for data storage

18. - E4D02

Which of the following describes two problems caused by poor dynamic range in a communications receiver?

Select	Answer
A	Cross-modulation of the desired signal and insufficient audio power to operate the speaker
B	Oscillator instability and severe audio distortion of all but the strongest received signals
C	Cross-modulation of the desired signal and desensitization from strong adjacent signals
D	Oscillator instability requiring frequent retuning and loss of ability to recover the opposite sideband

19. - E4E16

What current flows equally on all conductors of an unshielded multi-conductor cable?

Select	Answer
A	Common-mode current
B	Differential-mode current
C	Reactive current only
D	Return current

20. - E5A05

What is the magnitude of the current at the input of a series RLC circuit as the frequency goes through resonance?

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

21. - E5B09

What is the relationship between the current through a capacitor and the voltage across a capacitor?

Select	Answer
A	Voltage and current are in phase
B	Voltage and current are 180 degrees out of phase
C	Current leads voltage by 90 degrees
D	Voltage leads current by 90 degrees

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 8
B	Point 3
C	Point 1
D	Point 7

23. - E5D07

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

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

24. - E6A04

What is the name given to an impurity atom that adds holes to a semiconductor crystal structure?

Select	Answer
A	Donor impurity
B	Insulator impurity
C	N-type impurity
D	Acceptor impurity

25. - E6B01

What is the most useful characteristic of a Zener diode?

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

26. - E6C12

What is BiCMOS logic?

Select	Answer
A	A FET logic family based on bimetallic semiconductors
B	A logic device with two CMOS circuits per package
C	An integrated circuit logic family using both bipolar and CMOS transistors
D	A logic family based on bismuth CMOS devices

27. - E6D02

What is the equivalent circuit of a quartz crystal?

Select	Answer
A	Motional inductance and loss resistance in series, paralleled with motional capacitance and a capacitor representing electrode and stray capacitance
B	Motional capacitance, motional inductance, and loss resistance in series, all in parallel with a shunt capacitor representing electrode and stray capacitance
C	Motional capacitance, motional inductance, loss resistance, and a capacitor representing electrode and stray capacitance all in parallel
D	Motional capacitance, motional inductance, loss resistance, and a capacitor representing electrode and stray capacitance all in series

28. - E6E08

How is voltage from a power supply normally furnished to the most common type of monolithic microwave integrated circuit (MMIC)?

Select	Answer
A	Through a capacitor and RF choke connected to the amplifier input lead
B	Directly to the bias voltage (VCC IN) lead
C	MMICs require no operating bias
D	Through a resistor and/or RF choke connected to the amplifier output lead

29. - E6F11

What is the approximate open-circuit voltage produced by a fully-illuminated silicon photovoltaic cell?

Select	Answer
A	0.5 V
B	1.5 V
C	0.1 V
D	12 V

30. - E7A08

What logical operation does an OR gate perform?

Select	Answer
A	It produces logic "0" at its output if all inputs are logic "1"
B	It only produces logic "0" at its output when all inputs are logic "1"
C	It produces logic "1" at its output if all inputs are logic "0"
D	It produces logic "1" at its output if any or all inputs are logic "1"

31. - E7B12

What type of amplifier circuit is shown in Figure E7-1?

Select	Answer
A	Common emitter
B	Common base
C	Emitter follower
D	Common collector

32. - E7C03

What advantage does a Pi-L-network have over a regular Pi-network for impedance matching between the final amplifier of a vacuum-tube transmitter and an antenna?

Select	Answer
A	Greater transformation range
B	Greater harmonic suppression
C	Higher efficiency
D	Lower losses

33. - E7D11

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

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

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

35. - E7F08

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

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

36. - E7G10

What absolute voltage gain can be expected from the circuit in Figure E7-4 when R1 is 1800 ohms and RF is 68 kilohms?

Select	Answer
A	76
B	38
C	1
D	0.03

37. - E7H06

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

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

38. - E8A05

What would be the most accurate way of measuring the RMS voltage of a complex waveform?

Select	Answer
A	By measuring the heating effect in a known resistor
B	By using a grid dip meter
C	By measuring the voltage with a D'Arsonval meter
D	By using an absorption wave meter

39. - E8B01

What is the term for the ratio between the frequency deviation of an RF carrier wave and the modulating frequency of its corresponding FM-phone signal?

Select	Answer
A	Quieting index
B	FM compressibility
C	Modulation index
D	Percentage of modulation

40. - E8C11

What is the relationship between symbol rate and baud?

Select	Answer
A	They are the same
B	Symbol rate is only used for packet-based modes
C	Baud is only used for RTTY
D	Baud is twice the symbol rate

41. - E8D11

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

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

42. - E9A09

How is antenna efficiency calculated?

Select	Answer
A	(total resistance / radiation resistance) x 100 per cent
B	(radiation resistance / total resistance) x 100 per cent
C	(radiation resistance / transmission resistance) x 100 per cent
D	(effective radiated power / transmitter output) x 100 percent

43. - E9B06

What is the elevation angle of peak response in the antenna radiation pattern shown in Figure E9-2?

Select	Answer
A	75 degrees
B	45 degrees
C	7.5 degrees
D	25 degrees

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

45. - E9D07

What is an advantage of using top loading in a shortened HF vertical antenna?

Select	Answer
A	Lower Q
B	Higher losses
C	Improved radiation efficiency
D	Greater structural strength

46. - E9E07

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

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

47. - E9F12

What impedance does a 1/4 wavelength transmission line present to a generator when the line is open at the far end?

Select	Answer
A	Very high impedance
B	The same as the characteristic impedance of the line
C	The same as the input impedance to the generator
D	Very low impedance

48. - E9G05

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

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

49. - E9H02

Which is generally true for low band (160 meter and 80 meter) receiving antennas?

Select	Answer
A	They must be erected at least 1/2 wavelength above the ground to attain good directivity
B	Atmospheric noise is so high that gain over a dipole is not important
C	Low loss coax transmission line is essential for good performance
D	All of these choices are correct

50. - E0A07

How may dangerous levels of carbon monoxide from an emergency generator be detected?

Select	Answer
A	By the yellowish appearance of the gas
B	Any ordinary smoke detector can be used
C	By the odor
D	Only with a carbon monoxide detector

Figure E5-2

Figure E7-1

Figure E7-4

Figure E9-2

Figure E9-3