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. - 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	Yes, because you were not the station calling CQ
B	No, U.S. stations are not permitted to use phone emissions above 14.340 MHz
C	Yes, because the displayed frequency is within the 20 meter band
D	No, the sideband will extend beyond the band edge

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	Specific local government channels
C	Specific segments in the amateur service MF, HF, VHF and UHF bands
D	Military Auxiliary Radio System (MARS) channels

3. - E1C02

What is meant by automatic control of a station?

Select	Answer
A	A station operating with its output power controlled automatically
B	The use of devices and procedures for control so that the control operator does not have to be present at a control point
C	The use of a control link between a control point and a locally controlled station
D	Remotely controlling a station's antenna pattern through a directional control link

4. - E1D11

Which amateur stations are eligible to operate as Earth stations?

Select	Answer
A	Only those of Amateur Extra Class operators
B	Only those of General, Advanced or Amateur Extra Class operators
C	Any amateur station whose licensee has filed a pre-space notification with the FCC's International Bureau
D	Any amateur station, subject to the privileges of the class of operator license held by the control operator

5. - E1E05

What is the minimum passing score on amateur operator license examinations?

Select	Answer
A	Minimum passing score of 74%
B	Minimum passing score of 80%
C	Minimum passing score of 70%
D	Minimum passing score of 77%

6. - E1F07

When may an amateur station send a message to a business?

Select	Answer
A	When neither the amateur nor his or her employer has a pecuniary interest in the communications
B	When transmitting international third-party communications
C	When the control operator is employed by the FCC or another government agency
D	When the total money involved does not exceed $25

7. - E2A14

What technology is used to track, in real time, balloons carrying amateur radio transmitters?

Select	Answer
A	APRS
B	Radar
C	Doppler shift of beacon signals
D	Bandwidth compressed LORAN

8. - E2B09

What hardware, other than a receiver with SSB capability and a suitable computer, is needed to decode SSTV using Digital Radio Mondiale (DRM)?

Select	Answer
A	A special IF converter
B	No other hardware is needed
C	A special notch filter to remove synchronization pulses
D	A special front end limiter

9. - E2C11

How should you generally identify your station when attempting to contact a DX station during a contest or in a pileup?

Select	Answer
A	Send your full call sign and grid square
B	Send the call sign of the DX station three times, the words "this is", then your call sign three times
C	Send your full call sign once or twice
D	Send only the last two letters of your call sign until you make contact

10. - E2D09

Which of these digital modes has the fastest data throughput under clear communication conditions?

Select	Answer
A	300 baud packet
B	PSK31
C	170 Hz shift, 45 baud RTTY
D	AMTOR

11. - E2E06

What is the most common data rate used for HF packet?

Select	Answer
A	1200 baud
B	48 baud
C	110 baud
D	300 baud

12. - E3A11

What is a typical range for tropospheric propagation of microwave signals?

Select	Answer
A	10 miles to 50 miles
B	2500 miles
C	100 miles to 300 miles
D	1200 miles

13. - E3B07

Which of the following could account for hearing an echo on the received signal of a distant station?

Select	Answer
A	Receipt of a signal by more than one path
B	Transmit frequency is higher than the MUF
C	Meteor scatter
D	High D layer absorption

14. - E3C12

How does the maximum distance of ground-wave propagation change when the signal frequency is increased?

Select	Answer
A	It stays the same
B	It peaks at roughly 14 MHz
C	It increases
D	It decreases

15. - E4A13

How is the compensation of an oscilloscope probe typically adjusted?

Select	Answer
A	A square wave is displayed and the probe is adjusted until the horizontal portions of the displayed wave are as nearly flat as possible
B	A DC voltage standard is displayed and the probe is adjusted until the displayed voltage is accurate
C	A high frequency sine wave is displayed and the probe is adjusted for maximum amplitude
D	A frequency standard is displayed and the probe is adjusted until the deflection time is accurate

16. - E4B17

What three test loads are used to calibrate a standard RF vector network analyzer?

Select	Answer
A	Short circuit, open circuit, and 50 ohms
B	50 ohms through 1/8 wavelength, 1/4 wavelength, and 1/2 wavelength of coaxial cable
C	50 ohms, 75 ohms, and 90 ohms
D	Short circuit, open circuit, and resonant circuit

17. - E4C02

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

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

18. - E4D02

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

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

19. - E4E05

How can noise from an electric motor be suppressed?

Select	Answer
A	By installing a bypass capacitor in series with the motor leads
B	By using a ground-fault current interrupter in the circuit used to power the motor
C	By installing a high pass filter in series with the motor's power leads
D	By installing a brute-force AC-line filter in series with the motor leads

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. - E5B03

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

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

22. - E5C14

Which point on Figure E5-2 best represents the impedance of a series circuit consisting of a 400 ohm resistor and a 38 picofarad capacitor at 14 MHz?

Select	Answer
A	Point 5
B	Point 4
C	Point 6
D	Point 2

23. - E5D05

Which parasitic characteristic increases with conductor length?

Select	Answer
A	Inductance
B	Permittivity
C	Permeability
D	Malleability

24. - E6A13

What do the initials CMOS stand for?

Select	Answer
A	Common Mode Oscillating System
B	Complementary Mica-Oxide Silicon
C	Common Mode Organic Silicon
D	Complementary Metal-Oxide Semiconductor

25. - E6B10

In Figure E6-3, what is the schematic symbol for a light-emitting diode?

Select	Answer
A	7
B	5
C	1
D	6

26. - E6C06

Why do CMOS digital integrated circuits have high immunity to noise on the input signal or power supply?

Select	Answer
A	Input signals are stronger
B	The input switching threshold is about one-half the power supply voltage
C	The input switching threshold is about two times the power supply voltage
D	Larger bypass capacitors are used in CMOS circuit design

27. - E6D07

What is the usable frequency range of inductors that use toroidal cores, assuming a correct selection of core material for the frequency being used?

Select	Answer
A	From a few kHz to no more than 30 MHz
B	From less than 20 Hz to approximately 300 MHz
C	From about 100 kHz to at least 1000 GHz
D	From approximately 10 Hz to no more than 3000 kHz

28. - E6E01

Which of the following is true of a charge-coupled device (CCD)?

Select	Answer
A	Its phase shift changes rapidly with frequency
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	It is a CMOS analog-to-digital converter

29. - E6F12

What absorbs the energy from light falling on a photovoltaic cell?

Select	Answer
A	Holes
B	Protons
C	Photons
D	Electrons

30. - E7A09

What logical operation is performed by an exclusive NOR gate?

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

31. - E7B03

Which of the following components form the output of a class D amplifier circuit?

Select	Answer
A	A temperature compensating load resistor to improve linearity
B	A low-pass filter to remove switching signal components
C	A matched load resistor to prevent damage by switching transients
D	A high-pass filter to compensate for low gain at low frequencies

32. - E7C14

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

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

33. - E7D07

What is the purpose of C2 in the circuit shown in Figure E7-3?

Select	Answer
A	To provide fixed DC bias for Q1
B	To self-resonate at the hum frequency
C	It is a brute force filter for the output
D	It bypasses hum around D1

34. - E7E01

Which of the following can be used to generate FM phone emissions?

Select	Answer
A	A reactance modulator on the final amplifier
B	A reactance modulator on the oscillator
C	A balanced modulator on the audio amplifier
D	A balanced modulator on the oscillator

35. - E7F08

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

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

36. - E7G12

What is an integrated circuit operational amplifier?

Select	Answer
A	A high-gain, direct-coupled differential amplifier with very high input impedance and very low output impedance
B	A digital audio amplifier whose characteristics are determined by components external to the amplifier
C	A RF amplifier used in the UHF and microwave regions
D	An amplifier used to increase the average output of frequency modulated amateur signals to the legal limit

37. - E7H04

How is positive feedback supplied in a Colpitts oscillator?

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

38. - E8A06

What is the approximate ratio of PEP-to-average power in a typical single-sideband phone signal?

Select	Answer
A	100 to 1
B	2.5 to 1
C	25 to 1
D	1 to 1

39. - E8B07

Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing is a technique used for which type of amateur communication?

Select	Answer
A	High speed digital modes
B	Extremely low-power contacts
C	OFDM signals are not allowed on amateur bands
D	EME

40. - E8C10

What is an advantage of Gray code in digital communications where symbols are transmitted as multiple bits

Select	Answer
A	It facilitates error detection
B	It has more resolution than simple binary
C	It increases security
D	It has more possible states than simple binary

41. - E8D04

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

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

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

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	25 degrees
C	50 degrees
D	30 degrees

44. - E9C11

How is the far-field elevation pattern of a vertically polarized antenna affected by being mounted over seawater versus rocky ground?

Select	Answer
A	Both the high-angle and low-angle radiation decrease
B	The high-angle radiation increases
C	The low-angle radiation decreases
D	The low-angle radiation increases

45. - E9D08

What happens as the Q of an antenna increases?

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

46. - E9E12

What is the primary purpose of a phasing line when used with an antenna having multiple driven elements?

Select	Answer
A	It ensures that each driven element operates in concert with the others to create the desired antenna pattern
B	It allows single-band antennas to operate on other bands
C	It prevents reflected power from traveling back down the feed line and causing harmonic radiation from the transmitter
D	It makes sure the antenna has a low-angle radiation pattern

47. - E9F01

What is the velocity factor of a transmission line?

Select	Answer
A	The ratio of the characteristic impedance of the line to the terminating impedance
B	The velocity of the wave in the transmission line divided by the velocity of light in a vacuum
C	The velocity of the wave in the transmission line multiplied by the velocity of light in a vacuum
D	The index of shielding for coaxial cable

48. - E9G05

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

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

49. - E9H04

What is an advantage of using a shielded loop antenna for direction finding?

Select	Answer
A	It is electro statically balanced against ground, giving better nulls
B	It eliminates tracking errors caused by strong out-of-band signals
C	It allows stations to communicate without giving away their position
D	It automatically cancels ignition noise in mobile installations

50. - E0A10

What toxic material may be present in some electronic components such as high voltage capacitors and transformers?

Select	Answer
A	Polychlorinated Biphenyls
B	Polyethylene
C	Polymorphic silicon
D	Polytetrafluroethylene

Figure E5-2

Figure E6-3

Figure E7-3

Figure E9-1

Figure E9-3