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. - E1A13

Who must be in physical control of the station apparatus of an amateur station aboard any vessel or craft that is documented or registered in the United States?

Select	Answer
A	Only a person with an FCC Marine Radio
B	Any person named in an amateur station license grant or a person holding an unrestricted Radiotelephone Operator Permit
C	Any person holding an FCC issued amateur license or who is authorized for alien reciprocal operation
D	Only a person named in an amateur station license grant

2. - E1B01

Which of the following constitutes a spurious emission?

Select	Answer
A	An emission outside its necessary bandwidth that can be reduced or eliminated without affecting the information transmitted
B	An amateur station transmission made at random without the proper call sign identification
C	Any transmitted signal that unintentionally interferes with another licensed radio station
D	A signal transmitted to prevent its detection by any station other than the intended recipient

3. - E1C01

What is a remotely controlled station?

Select	Answer
A	A station operated away from its regular home location
B	A station operating under automatic control
C	A station controlled by someone other than the licensee
D	A station controlled indirectly through a control link

4. - E1D03

What is a telecommand station in the amateur satellite service?

Select	Answer
A	An amateur station located more than 50 km above the Earth's surface
B	An amateur station located on the Earth's surface for communication with other Earth stations by means of Earth satellites
C	An amateur station that transmits telemetry consisting of measurements of upper atmosphere
D	An amateur station that transmits communications to initiate, modify or terminate functions of a space station

5. - E1E09

What may be the penalty for a VE who fraudulently administers or certifies an examination?

Select	Answer
A	A fine of up to $1000 per occurrence
B	A sentence of up to one year in prison
C	Revocation of the VE's amateur station license grant and the suspension of the VE's amateur operator license grant
D	All of these choices are correct

6. - E1F11

Which of the following best describes one of the standards that must be met by an external RF power amplifier if it is to qualify for a grant of FCC certification?

Select	Answer
A	It must be capable of external RF switching between its input and output networks
B	It must exhibit a gain of 0 dB or less over its full output range
C	It must satisfy the FCC's spurious emission standards when operated at the lesser of 1500 watts or its full output power
D	It must produce full legal output when driven by not more than 5 watts of mean RF input power

7. - E2A11

What type of antenna can be used to minimize the effects of spin modulation and Faraday rotation?

Select	Answer
A	An isotropic antenna
B	A circularly polarized antenna
C	A log-periodic dipole array
D	A linearly polarized antenna

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	15 KHz
B	10 KHz
C	20 KHz
D	3 KHz

9. - E2C05

What is the function of a DX QSL Manager?

Select	Answer
A	To relay calls to and from a DX station
B	To run a net to allow many stations to contact a rare DX station
C	To handle the receiving and sending of confirmation cards for a DX station
D	To allocate frequencies for DXpeditions

10. - E2D04

What is the purpose of digital store-and-forward functions on an Amateur Radio satellite?

Select	Answer
A	To store digital messages in the satellite for later download by other stations
B	To relay messages between satellites
C	To upload operational software for the transponder
D	To delay download of telemetry between satellites

11. - E2E09

Which of the following HF digital modes uses variable-length coding for bandwidth efficiency?

Select	Answer
A	PACTOR
B	PSK31
C	RTTY
D	MT63

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. - E3B02

What is the approximate maximum range for signals using transequatorial propagation?

Select	Answer
A	1000 miles
B	2500 miles
C	5000 miles
D	7500 miles

14. - E3C04

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

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

15. - E4A11

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

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

16. - E4B10

Which of the following describes a method to measure intermodulation distortion in an SSB transmitter?

Select	Answer
A	Modulate the transmitter with two harmonically related audio frequencies and observe the RF output with a peak reading wattmeter
B	Modulate the transmitter with two non-harmonically related radio frequencies and observe the RF output with a spectrum analyzer
C	Modulate the transmitter with two non-harmonically related audio frequencies and observe the RF output with a spectrum analyzer
D	Modulate the transmitter with two harmonically related audio frequencies and observe the RF output with a logic analyzer

17. - E4C13

How does a narrow-band roofing filter affect receiver performance?

Select	Answer
A	It improves dynamic range by attenuating strong signals near the receive frequency
B	It improves intelligibility by using low Q circuitry to reduce ringing
C	All of these choices are correct
D	It improves sensitivity by reducing front end noise

18. - E4D10

What does a third-order intercept level of 40 dBm mean with respect to receiver performance?

Select	Answer
A	The receiver can tolerate signals up to 40 dB above the noise floor without producing third-order intermodulation products
B	A pair of 40 dBm signals will theoretically generate a third-order intermodulation product with the same level as the input signals
C	A pair of 1 mW input signals will produce a third-order intermodulation product which is 40 dB stronger than the input signal
D	Signals less than 40 dBm will not generate audible third-order intermodulation products

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. - E5A10

How is the Q of an RLC series resonant circuit calculated?

Select	Answer
A	Reactance of either the inductance or capacitance times the resistance
B	Reactance of the inductance times the reactance of the capacitance
C	Resistance divided by the reactance of either the inductance or capacitance
D	Reactance of either the inductance or capacitance divided by the resistance

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

22. - E5C08

What coordinate system is often used to display the phase angle of a circuit containing resistance, inductive and/or capacitive reactance?

Select	Answer
A	Polar coordinates
B	Elliptical coordinates
C	Faraday grid
D	Maidenhead grid

23. - E5D07

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

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

24. - E6A09

What is a depletion-mode FET?

Select	Answer
A	Any FET for which holes are the majority carriers
B	Any FET without a channel
C	An FET that exhibits a current flow between source and drain when no gate voltage is applied
D	An FET that has no current flow between source and drain when no gate voltage is applied

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. - E6C02

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

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

27. - E6D14

Which type of slug material decreases inductance when inserted into a coil?

Select	Answer
A	Brass
B	Powdered-iron
C	Ferrite
D	Ceramic

28. - E6E07

Which of the following is typically used to construct a MMIC-based microwave amplifier?

Select	Answer
A	Ground-plane construction
B	Wave-soldering construction
C	Point-to-point construction
D	Microstrip construction

29. - E6F06

Which of these materials is affected the most by photoconductivity?

Select	Answer
A	A crystalline semiconductor
B	A heavy metal
C	A liquid semiconductor
D	An ordinary metal

30. - E7A10

What is a truth table?

Select	Answer
A	A table of logic symbols that indicate the high logic states of an op-amp
B	A table of logic symbols that indicate the logic states of an op-amp
C	A diagram showing logic states when the digital device output is true
D	A list of inputs and corresponding outputs for a digital device

31. - E7B13

In Figure E7-2, what is the purpose of R?

Select	Answer
A	Fixed bias
B	Voltage regulation
C	Emitter load
D	Collector load

32. - E7C14

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

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

33. - E7D06

What is the purpose of Q1 in the circuit shown in Figure E7-3?

Select	Answer
A	It provides a constant load for the voltage source
B	It increases the current-handling capability of the regulator
C	It provides D1 with current
D	It provides negative feedback to improve regulation

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

35. - E7F07

What function can a Fast Fourier Transform perform?

Select	Answer
A	Converting digital signals from the time domain to the frequency domain
B	Converting analog signals to digital form
C	Converting 8-bit data to 16 bit data
D	Converting digital signals to analog form

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. - E7H02

Which describes a microphonic?

Select	Answer
A	Distortion caused by RF pickup on the microphone cable
B	An IC used for amplifying microphone signals
C	Excess loading of the microphone by an oscillator
D	Changes in oscillator frequency due to mechanical vibration

38. - E8A03

What type of wave does a Fourier analysis show to be made up of sine waves of a given fundamental frequency plus all of its harmonics?

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

39. - E8B07

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

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

40. - E8C02

What is the definition of symbol rate in a digital transmission?

Select	Answer
A	The number of control characters in a message packet
B	The duration of each bit in a message sent over the air
C	The number of characters carried per second by the station-to-station link
D	The rate at which the waveform of a transmitted signal changes to convey information

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

42. - E9A15

What is the effective radiated power relative to a dipole of a repeater station with 150 watts transmitter power output, 2 dB feed line loss, 2.2 dB duplexer loss, and 7 dBd antenna gain?

Select	Answer
A	1977 watts
B	78.7 watts
C	420 watts
D	286 watts

43. - E9B10

What is the principle of a Method of Moments analysis?

Select	Answer
A	A wire is modeled as a series of segments, each having a uniform value of current
B	A wire is modeled as a single sine-wave current generator
C	A wire is modeled as a series of segments, each having a distinct value of voltage across it
D	A wire is modeled as a series of points, each having a distinct location in space

44. - E9C13

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

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

45. - E9D01

How does the gain of an ideal parabolic dish antenna change when the operating frequency is doubled?

Select	Answer
A	Gain increases by 6 dB
B	Gain is multiplied by 0.707
C	Gain does not change
D	Gain increases by 3 dB

46. - E9E01

What system matches a higher impedance transmission line to a lower impedance antenna by connecting the line to the driven element in two places spaced a fraction of a wavelength each side of element center?

Select	Answer
A	The gamma matching system
B	The delta matching system
C	The stub matching system
D	The omega matching system

47. - E9F14

What impedance does a 1/2 wavelength transmission line present to a generator when the line is shorted 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 output impedance of the generator
D	Very low impedance

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	Resistance and reactance
D	Reactance and voltage

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	Low loss coax transmission line is essential for good performance
C	Atmospheric noise is so high that gain over a dipole is not important
D	All of these choices are correct

50. - E0A09

Which insulating material commonly used as a thermal conductor for some types of electronic devices is extremely toxic if broken or crushed and the particles are accidentally inhaled?

Select	Answer
A	Mica
B	Beryllium Oxide
C	Uranium Hexafluoride
D	Zinc oxide

Figure E6-3

Figure E7-2

Figure E7-3