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

Logging in (or registering) will help the system to select questions that you need to focus on.

1. - E1A06

Where must the carrier frequency of a CW signal be set to comply with FCC rules for 60 meter operation?

Select	Answer
A	At the center frequency of the channel
B	On any frequency where the signal's sidebands are within the channel
C	At the highest frequency of the channel
D	At the lowest frequency of the channel

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

3. - E1C05

When may an automatically controlled station originate third party communications?

Select	Answer
A	Only when transmitting RTTY or data emissions
B	When agreed upon by the sending or receiving station
C	Never
D	When approved by the National Telecommunication and Information Administration

4. - E1D07

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

Select	Answer
A	All HF bands
B	Only the 40 m, 30 m, 20 m, 15 m, 12 m and 10 m bands
C	Only the 40 m, 20 m, 17 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. - E1E03

What is a Volunteer Examiner Coordinator?

Select	Answer
A	A person who has volunteered to administer amateur operator license examinations
B	A person who has volunteered to prepare amateur operator license examinations
C	The person who has entered into an agreement with the FCC to be the VE session manager
D	An organization that has entered into an agreement with the FCC to coordinate amateur operator license examinations

6. - E1F03

Under what circumstances may a dealer sell an external RF power amplifier capable of operation below 144 MHz if it has not been granted FCC certification?

Select	Answer
A	The equipment dealer assembled it from a kit
B	It was purchased in used condition from an amateur operator and is sold to another amateur operator for use at that operator's station
C	It was imported from a manufacturer in another country and was certificated by that country's government
D	It was imported from a manufacturer in a country that does not require certification of RF power amplifiers

7. - E2A09

What do the terms L band and S band specify with regard to satellite communications?

Select	Answer
A	The 2 meter and 70 centimeter bands
B	Which sideband to use
C	The 23 centimeter and 13 centimeter bands
D	FM and Digital Store-and-Forward systems

8. - E2B13

How many lines are commonly used in each frame of an amateur slow-scan color television picture?

Select	Answer
A	180 or 360
B	30 or 60
C	128 or 256
D	60 or 100

9. - E2C06

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

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

10. - E2D10

How can an APRS station be used to help support a public service communications activity?

Select	Answer
A	An APRS station with a GPS unit can automatically transmit information to show a mobile station's position during the event
B	APRS stations with General Personnel Scanners can automatically relay the participant numbers and time as they pass the check points
C	An APRS station with an emergency medical technician can automatically transmit medical data to the nearest hospital
D	All of these choices are correct

11. - E2E04

What is indicated when one of the ellipses in an FSK crossed-ellipse display suddenly disappears?

Select	Answer
A	The mark and space signal have been inverted
B	One of the signal filters is saturated
C	Selective fading has occurred
D	The receiver has drifted 5 kHz from the desired receive frequency

12. - E3A15

What is an electromagnetic wave?

Select	Answer
A	A wave of alternating current, in the core of an electromagnet
B	A wave consisting of two electric fields at parallel right angles to each other
C	A wave consisting of two magnetic fields at right angles to each other
D	A wave consisting of an electric field and a magnetic field oscillating at right angles to each other

13. - E3B12

What is the primary characteristic of chordal hop propagation?

Select	Answer
A	Successive ionospheric reflections without an intermediate reflection from the ground
B	Signals reflected back toward the transmitting station
C	Propagation away from the great circle bearing between stations
D	Propagation across the geomagnetic equator

14. - E3C15

What might a sudden rise in radio background noise indicate?

Select	Answer
A	Long-path propagation is occurring
B	A solar flare has occurred
C	A meteor ping
D	Increased transequatorial propagation likely

15. - E4A11

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

Select	Answer
A	All of these choices are correct
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	Never use a high impedance probe to measure a low impedance circuit

16. - E4B11

How should an antenna analyzer be connected when measuring antenna resonance and feed point impedance?

Select	Answer
A	Connect the analyzer via a high-impedance transformer to the antenna
B	Loosely couple the antenna and a dummy load to the analyzer
C	Connect the antenna feed line directly to the analyzer's connector
D	Loosely couple the analyzer near the antenna base

17. - E4C08

An SDR receiver is overloaded when input signals exceed what level?

Select	Answer
A	One-half the maximum sample rate
B	The maximum count value of the analog-to-digital converter
C	The reference voltage of the analog-to-digital converter
D	One-half the maximum sampling buffer size

18. - E4D13

Which of the following can cause receiver desensitization?

Select	Answer
A	Audio gain adjusted too low
B	Strong adjacent channel signals
C	Audio bias adjusted too high
D	Squelch gain misadjusted

19. - E4E01

Which of the following types of receiver noise can often be reduced by use of a receiver noise blanker?

Select	Answer
A	All of these choices are correct
B	Heterodyne interference
C	Broadband white noise
D	Ignition noise

20. - E5A03

What is the magnitude of the impedance of a series RLC circuit at resonance?

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

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

22. - E5C06

What does the impedance 50-j25 represent?

Select	Answer
A	25 ohms resistance in series with 50 ohms inductive reactance
B	25 ohms resistance in series with 50 ohms capacitive reactance
C	50 ohms resistance in series with 25 ohms capacitive reactance
D	50 ohms resistance in series with 25 ohms inductive reactance

23. - E5D03

What is microstrip?

Select	Answer
A	Precision printed circuit conductors above a ground plane that provide constant impedance interconnects at microwave frequencies
B	Miniature coax used for low power applications
C	Short lengths of coax mounted on printed circuit boards to minimize time delay between microwave circuits
D	Lightweight transmission line made of common zip cord

24. - E6A10

In Figure E6-2, what is the schematic symbol for an N-channel dual-gate MOSFET?

Select	Answer
A	2
B	6
C	5
D	4

25. - E6B08

Which of the following describes a type of semiconductor diode?

Select	Answer
A	CMOS-field effect
B	Electrolytic rectifier
C	Thermionic emission diode
D	Metal-semiconductor junction

26. - E6C07

What best describes a pull-up or pull-down resistor?

Select	Answer
A	A resistor in a keying circuit used to reduce key clicks
B	A resistor connected to the positive or negative supply line used to establish a voltage when an input or output is an open circuit
C	A resistor that insures that an oscillator frequency does not drive lower over time
D	A resistor connected to an op-amp output that only functions when the logic output is false

27. - E6D12

What is the definition of saturation in a ferrite core inductor?

Select	Answer
A	The ability of the inductor's core to store magnetic energy has been exceeded
B	The inductor windings are over coupled
C	The inductor's voltage rating is exceeded causing a flashover
D	Adjacent inductors become over-coupled

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	Through a resistor and/or RF choke connected to the amplifier output lead
D	MMICs require no operating bias

29. - E6F10

What is the most common type of photovoltaic cell used for electrical power generation?

Select	Answer
A	Selenium
B	Cadmium Sulfide
C	Silicon
D	Copper oxide

30. - E7A04

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

Select	Answer
A	8
B	4
C	2
D	1

31. - E7B04

Where on the load line of a Class A common emitter amplifier would bias normally be set?

Select	Answer
A	At a point where the load line intersects the zero bias current curve
B	Where the load line intersects the voltage axis
C	Approximately half-way between saturation and cutoff
D	At a point where the bias resistor equals the load resistor

32. - E7C06

What are the distinguishing features of an elliptical filter?

Select	Answer
A	Extremely flat response over its pass band with gradually rounded stop band corners
B	Extremely sharp cutoff with one or more notches in the stop band
C	Gradual passband rolloff with minimal stop band ripple
D	Gradual passband rolloff with extreme stop band ripple

33. - E7D01

What is one characteristic of a linear electronic voltage regulator?

Select	Answer
A	It eliminates the need for a pass transistor
B	The control element duty cycle is proportional to the line or load conditions
C	The conduction of a control element is varied to maintain a constant output voltage
D	It has a ramp voltage as its output

34. - E7E11

Which type of detector is used for demodulating SSB signals?

Select	Answer
A	Product detector
B	Discriminator
C	Phase detector
D	Phase comparator

35. - E7F11

What sets the minimum detectable signal level for an SDR in the absence of atmospheric or thermal noise?

Select	Answer
A	Sample clock phase noise
B	Reference voltage level and sample width in bits
C	Data storage transfer rate
D	Missing codes and jitter

36. - E7G11

What absolute voltage gain can be expected from the circuit in Figure E7-4 when R1 is 3300 ohms and RF is 47 kilohms?

Select	Answer
A	28
B	7
C	14
D	0.07

37. - E7H11

What are the major spectral impurity components of direct digital synthesizers?

Select	Answer
A	Spurious signals at discrete frequencies
B	Broadband noise
C	Nyquist limit noise
D	Digital conversion noise

38. - E8A11

What type of information can be conveyed using digital waveforms?

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

39. - E8B08

What describes Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing?

Select	Answer
A	A frequency modulation technique which uses non-harmonically related frequencies
B	A bandwidth compression technique using Fourier transforms
C	A digital mode for narrow band, slow speed transmissions
D	A digital modulation technique using subcarriers at frequencies chosen to avoid intersymbol interference

40. - E8C01

How is Forward Error Correction implemented?

Select	Answer
A	By the receiving station repeating each block of three data characters
B	By transmitting extra data that may be used to detect and correct transmission errors
C	By transmitting a special algorithm to the receiving station along with the data characters
D	By varying the frequency shift of the transmitted signal according to a predefined algorithm

41. - E8D04

What is the primary effect of extremely short rise or fall time on a CW signal?

Select	Answer
A	More difficult to copy
B	The generation of key clicks
C	The generation of RF harmonics
D	Limits data speed

42. - E9A12

How much gain does an antenna have compared to a 1/2-wavelength dipole when it has 6 dB gain over an isotropic antenna?

Select	Answer
A	8.15 dB
B	6.0 dB
C	2.79 dB
D	3.85 dB

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	75 degrees
D	30 degrees

44. - E9C12

Which of the following describes an extended double Zepp antenna?

Select	Answer
A	A portable antenna erected using two push support poles
B	An end fed folded dipole antenna
C	A center fed 1.25 wavelength antenna (two 5/8 wave elements in phase)
D	A wideband vertical antenna constructed from precisely tapered aluminum tubing

45. - E9D03

Where should a high Q loading coil be placed to minimize losses in a shortened vertical antenna?

Select	Answer
A	Near the center of the vertical radiator
B	At a voltage node
C	As close to the transmitter as possible
D	As low as possible on the vertical radiator

46. - E9E03

What is the name of the matching system that uses a section of transmission line connected in parallel with the feed line at or near the feed point?

Select	Answer
A	The omega match
B	The gamma match
C	The stub match
D	The delta match

47. - E9F11

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

Select	Answer
A	The same as the input impedance of 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	Resistance and voltage
B	Voltage and impedance
C	Resistance and reactance
D	Reactance and voltage

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

50. - E0A07

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

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

Figure E6-2

Figure E7-4

Figure E9-1