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

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1. - E1A02

When using a transceiver that displays the carrier frequency of phone signals, which of the following displayed frequencies represents the lowest frequency at which a properly adjusted LSB emission will be totally within the band?

Select	Answer
A	1 kHz above the lower band edge
B	The exact lower band edge
C	3 kHz above the lower band edge
D	300 Hz above the lower band edge

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

3. - E1C08

What is the maximum permissible duration of a remotely controlled station's transmissions if its control link malfunctions?

Select	Answer
A	10 minutes
B	5 minutes
C	30 seconds
D	3 minutes

4. - E1D10

Which amateur stations are eligible to be telecommand stations?

Select	Answer
A	All of these choices are correct
B	Any amateur station designated by NASA
C	Any amateur station so designated by the space station licensee, subject to the privileges of the class of operator license held by the control operator
D	Any amateur station so designated by the ITU

5. - E1E07

What should a VE do if a candidate fails to comply with the examiner's instructions during an amateur operator license examination?

Select	Answer
A	Immediately terminate the candidate's examination
B	Warn the candidate that continued failure to comply will result in termination of the examination
C	Allow the candidate to complete the examination, but invalidate the results
D	Immediately terminate everyone's examination and close the session

6. - E1F08

Which of the following types of amateur station communications are prohibited?

Select	Answer
A	Communications that have a religious content
B	Communications that have a political content, except as allowed by the Fairness Doctrine
C	Communications in a language other than English
D	Communications transmitted for hire or material compensation, except as otherwise provided in the rules

7. - E2A06

On what band would a satellite receive signals if it were operating in mode U/V?

Select	Answer
A	144 MHz - 146 MHz
B	29.5 MHz - 29.7 MHz
C	50.0 MHz - 50.2 MHz
D	435 MHz - 438 MHz

8. - E2B15

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

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

9. - E2C04

What type of transmission is most often used for a ham radio mesh network?

Select	Answer
A	Spread spectrum in the 2.4 GHz band
B	Frequency division multiplex in the 24 GHz band
C	Store and forward on the 440 MHz band
D	Multiple Frequency Shift Keying in the 10 GHz band

10. - E2D05

Which of the following techniques is normally used by low Earth orbiting digital satellites to relay messages around the world?

Select	Answer
A	Multi-satellite relaying
B	Store-and-forward
C	Digipeating
D	Node hopping

11. - E2E02

What do the letters FEC mean as they relate to digital operation?

Select	Answer
A	Fatal Error Correction
B	Forward Error Correction
C	Final Error Correction
D	First Error Correction

12. - E3A09

Which of the following frequency range is most suited for meteor scatter communications?

Select	Answer
A	28 MHz - 148 MHz
B	10 MHz - 14 MHz
C	220 MHz - 450 MHz
D	1.8 MHz - 1.9 MHz

13. - E3B03

What is the best time of day for transequatorial propagation?

Select	Answer
A	Afternoon or early evening
B	Noon
C	Morning
D	Late at night

14. - E3C04

What does the value of Bz (B sub Z) represent?

Select	Answer
A	Geomagnetic field stability
B	Critical frequency for vertical transmissions
C	Direction and strength of the interplanetary magnetic field
D	Duration of long-delayed echoes

15. - E4A11

Which of the following is good practice when using an oscilloscope probe?

Select	Answer
A	Never use a high impedance probe to measure a low impedance circuit
B	Never use a DC-coupled probe to measure an AC circuit
C	Keep the signal ground connection of the probe as short as possible
D	All of these choices are correct

16. - E4B04

If a frequency counter with a specified accuracy of +/- 0.1 ppm reads 146,520,000 Hz, what is the most the actual frequency being measured could differ from the reading?

Select	Answer
A	0.1 MHz
B	14.652 Hz
C	1.4652 kHz
D	1.4652 Hz

17. - E4C02

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

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

18. - E4D03

How can intermodulation interference between two repeaters occur?

Select	Answer
A	When the repeaters are in close proximity and the signals mix in the final amplifier of one or both transmitters
B	When the signals from the transmitters are reflected in phase from airplanes passing overhead
C	When the repeaters are in close proximity and the signals cause feedback in the final amplifier of one or both transmitters
D	When the signals from the transmitters are reflected out of phase from airplanes passing overhead

19. - E4E13

What might be the cause of a loud roaring or buzzing AC line interference that comes and goes at intervals?

Select	Answer
A	A malfunctioning illuminated advertising display
B	A defective doorbell or doorbell transformer inside a nearby residence
C	All of these choices are correct
D	Arcing contacts in a thermostatically controlled device

20. - E5A15

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

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

21. - E5B01

What is the term for the time required for the capacitor in an RC circuit to be charged to 63.2% of the applied voltage?

Select	Answer
A	One exponential period
B	A time factor of one
C	An exponential rate of one
D	One time constant

22. - E5C02

How are impedances described in polar coordinates?

Select	Answer
A	By Y and G values
B	By X and R values
C	By real and imaginary parts
D	By phase angle and amplitude

23. - E5D18

How many watts are consumed in a circuit having a power factor of 0.71 if the apparent power is 500VA?

Select	Answer
A	252 W
B	704 W
C	355 W
D	1.42 mW

24. - E6A12

Why do many MOSFET devices have internally connected Zener diodes on the gates?

Select	Answer
A	To reduce the chance of the gate insulation being punctured by static discharges or excessive voltages
B	To provide a voltage reference for the correct amount of reverse-bias gate voltage
C	To protect the substrate from excessive voltages
D	To keep the gate voltage within specifications and prevent the device from overheating

25. - E6B07

What is the failure mechanism when a junction diode fails due to excessive current?

Select	Answer
A	Excessive inverse voltage
B	Charge carrier depletion
C	Excessive junction temperature
D	Insufficient forward voltage

26. - E6C02

What happens when the level of a comparator's input signal crosses the threshold?

Select	Answer
A	The IC input can be damaged
B	The comparator enters latch-up
C	The comparator changes its output state
D	The feedback loop becomes unstable

27. - E6D10

What is a primary advantage of using a toroidal core instead of a solenoidal core in an inductor?

Select	Answer
A	Toroidal cores make it easier to couple the magnetic energy into other components
B	Toroidal cores confine most of the magnetic field within the core material
C	Toroidal cores exhibit greater hysteresis
D	Toroidal cores have lower Q characteristics

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

29. - E6F01

What is photoconductivity?

Select	Answer
A	The increased conductivity of an illuminated semiconductor
B	The conversion of photon energy to electromotive energy
C	The decreased conductivity of an illuminated semiconductor
D	The conversion of electromotive energy to photon energy

30. - E7A12

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

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

31. - E7B02

What is a Class D amplifier?

Select	Answer
A	An amplifier that uses drift-mode FETs for high efficiency
B	A low power amplifier that uses a differential amplifier for improved linearity
C	A frequency doubling amplifier
D	A type of amplifier that uses switching technology to achieve high efficiency

32. - E7C04

How does an impedance-matching circuit transform a complex impedance to a resistive impedance?

Select	Answer
A	It introduces transconductance to cancel the reactive part of impedance
B	It cancels the reactive part of the impedance and changes the resistive part to a desired value
C	Network resistances are substituted for load resistances and reactances are matched to the resistances
D	It introduces negative resistance to cancel the resistive part of impedance

33. - E7D04

Which of the following types of linear voltage regulator usually make the most efficient use of the primary power source?

Select	Answer
A	A shunt current source
B	A series current source
C	A shunt regulator
D	A series regulator

34. - E7E06

Why is de-emphasis commonly used in FM communications receivers?

Select	Answer
A	To remove third-order distortion products
B	For higher efficiency
C	To reduce impulse noise reception
D	For compatibility with transmitters using phase modulation

35. - E7F13

What is the function of taps in a digital signal processing filter?

Select	Answer
A	Select the point at which baseband signals are generated
B	Provide incremental signal delays for filter algorithms
C	Provide access for debugging software
D	To reduce excess signal pressure levels

36. - E7G05

How can unwanted ringing and audio instability be prevented in a multi-section op-amp RC audio filter circuit?

Select	Answer
A	Restrict gain but increase Q
B	Increase both gain and Q
C	Restrict both gain and Q
D	Restrict Q but increase gain

37. - E7H14

What is a phase-locked loop circuit?

Select	Answer
A	An electronic circuit consisting of a precision push-pull amplifier with a differential input
B	An electronic servo loop consisting of a ratio detector, reactance modulator, and voltage-controlled oscillator
C	An electronic circuit also known as a monostable multivibrator
D	An electronic servo loop consisting of a phase detector, a low-pass filter, a voltage-controlled oscillator, and a stable reference oscillator

38. - E8A02

What type of wave has a rise time significantly faster than its fall time (or vice versa)?

Select	Answer
A	A sawtooth wave
B	A sine wave
C	A square wave
D	A cosine wave

39. - E8B11

What is digital time division multiplexing?

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

40. - E8C05

What is the necessary bandwidth of a 13-WPM international Morse code transmission?

Select	Answer
A	Approximately 13 Hz
B	Approximately 52 Hz
C	Approximately 26 Hz
D	Approximately 104 Hz

41. - E8D02

What spread spectrum communications technique uses a high speed binary bit stream to shift the phase of an RF carrier?

Select	Answer
A	Frequency hopping
B	Direct sequence
C	Phase compandored spread spectrum
D	Binary phase-shift keying

42. - E9A06

How does the beamwidth of an antenna vary as the gain is increased?

Select	Answer
A	It is essentially unaffected
B	It increases arithmetically
C	It increases geometrically
D	It decreases

43. - E9B01

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

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

44. - E9C13

What is the main effect of placing a vertical antenna over an imperfect ground?

Select	Answer
A	It reduces low-angle radiation
B	It reduces losses in the radiating portion of the antenna
C	It changes the impedance angle of the matching network
D	It causes increased SWR

45. - E9D05

What is a disadvantage of using a multiband trapped antenna?

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

46. - E9E05

How must the driven element in a 3-element Yagi be tuned to use a hairpin matching system?

Select	Answer
A	The driven element reactance must be inductive
B	The driven element radiation resistance must be higher than the characteristic impedance of the transmission line
C	The driven element reactance must be capacitive
D	The driven element resonance must be lower than the operating frequency

47. - E9F10

What impedance does a 1/8 wavelength transmission line present to a generator when the line is shorted at the far end?

Select	Answer
A	The same as the input impedance to the final generator stage
B	A capacitive reactance
C	The same as the characteristic impedance of the line
D	An inductive reactance

48. - E9G04

What are the two families of circles and arcs that make up a Smith chart?

Select	Answer
A	Voltage and impedance
B	Resistance and voltage
C	Reactance and voltage
D	Resistance and reactance

49. - E9H08

What is the function of a sense antenna?

Select	Answer
A	It modifies the pattern of a DF antenna array to provide a null in one direction
B	It allows DF antennas to receive signals at different vertical angles
C	It provides diversity reception that cancels multipath signals
D	It increases the sensitivity of a DF antenna array

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

Figure E9-1