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

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

2. - E1B07

What is the highest modulation index permitted at the highest modulation frequency for angle modulation below 29.0 MHz?

Select	Answer
A	2.0
B	3.0
C	1.0
D	0.5

3. - E1C04

What is meant by IARP?

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

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

5. - E1E12

What must the VE team do with the application form if the examinee does not pass the exam?

Select	Answer
A	Return the application document to the examinee
B	Destroy the application form
C	Send the application form to the FCC and inform the FCC of the grade
D	Maintain the application form with the VEC's records

6. - E1F02

What privileges are authorized in the U.S. to persons holding an amateur service license granted by the Government of Canada?

Select	Answer
A	None, they must obtain a U.S. license
B	Full privileges, up to and including those of the Extra Class License, on the 80, 40, 20, 15, and 10 meter bands
C	All privileges of the Extra Class license
D	The operating terms and conditions of the Canadian amateur service license, not to exceed U.S. Extra Class privileges

7. - E2A02

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

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

8. - E2B07

What is the name of the signal component that carries color information in NTSC video?

Select	Answer
A	Hue
B	Spectral Intensity
C	Luminance
D	Chroma

9. - E2C05

What is the function of a DX QSL Manager?

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

10. - E2D04

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

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

11. - E2E13

Which of the following is a possible reason that attempts to initiate contact with a digital station on a clear frequency are unsuccessful?

Select	Answer
A	All of these choices are correct
B	The protocol version you are using is not the supported by the digital station
C	Another station you are unable to hear is using the frequency
D	Your transmit frequency is incorrect

12. - E3A17

What is meant by circularly polarized electromagnetic waves?

Select	Answer
A	Waves produced by a loop antenna
B	Waves that circle the Earth
C	Waves with an electric field bent into a circular shape
D	Waves with a rotating electric field

13. - E3B13

Why is chordal hop propagation desirable?

Select	Answer
A	The MUF for chordal hop propagation is much lower than for normal skip propagation
B	The signal experiences less loss along the path compared to normal skip propagation
C	Signals travel faster along ionospheric chords
D	Atmospheric noise is lower in the direction of chordal hop propagation

14. - E3C14

Why does the radio-path horizon distance exceed the geometric horizon?

Select	Answer
A	E-region skip
B	Downward bending due to density variations in the atmosphere
C	D-region skip
D	Downward bending due to aurora refraction

15. - E4A02

Which of the following parameters would a spectrum analyzer display on the vertical and horizontal axes?

Select	Answer
A	SWR and time
B	RF amplitude and time
C	RF amplitude and frequency
D	SWR and frequency

16. - E4B14

What happens if a dip meter is too tightly coupled to a tuned circuit being checked?

Select	Answer
A	Harmonics are generated
B	Intermodulation distortion occurs
C	A less accurate reading results
D	Cross modulation occurs

17. - E4C09

Which of the following choices is a good reason for selecting a high frequency for the design of the IF in a conventional HF or VHF communications receiver?

Select	Answer
A	Reduced drift
B	Easier for front-end circuitry to eliminate image responses
C	Fewer components in the receiver
D	Improved receiver noise figure

18. - E4D05

What transmitter frequencies would cause an intermodulation-product signal in a receiver tuned to 146.70 MHz when a nearby station transmits on 146.52 MHz?

Select	Answer
A	146.10 MHz and 147.30 MHz
B	173.35 MHz and 139.40 MHz
C	146.88 MHz and 146.34 MHz
D	146.34 MHz and 146.61 MHz

19. - E4E16

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

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

20. - E5A08

What is the phase relationship between the current through and the voltage across a series resonant circuit at resonance?

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

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

22. - E5C04

Which of the following represents a capacitive reactance in polar coordinates?

Select	Answer
A	A negative real part
B	A negative phase angle
C	A positive real part
D	A positive phase angle

23. - E5D12

How many watts are consumed in a circuit having a power factor of 0.2 if the input is 100-VAC at 4 amperes?

Select	Answer
A	2000 watts
B	400 watts
C	50 watts
D	80 watts

24. - E6A05

What is the alpha of a bipolar junction transistor?

Select	Answer
A	The change of collector current with respect to emitter current
B	The change of collector current with respect to base current
C	The change of base current with respect to collector current
D	The change of collector current with respect to gate current

25. - E6B09

What is a common use for point contact diodes?

Select	Answer
A	As a constant current source
B	As a constant voltage source
C	As an RF detector
D	As a high voltage rectifier

26. - E6C08

In Figure E6-5, what is the schematic symbol for a NAND gate?

Select	Answer
A	3
B	1
C	4
D	2

27. - E6D11

How many turns will be required to produce a 1-mH inductor using a core that has an inductance index (A L) value of 523 millihenrys/1000 turns?

Select	Answer
A	229 turns
B	2 turns
C	4 turns
D	43 turns

28. - E6E06

What characteristics of the MMIC make it a popular choice for VHF through microwave circuits?

Select	Answer
A	Controlled gain, low noise figure, and constant input and output impedance over the specified frequency range
B	The ability to retrieve information from a single signal even in the presence of other strong signals
C	Plate current that is controlled by a control grid
D	Nearly infinite gain, very high input impedance, and very low output impedance

29. - E6F01

What is photoconductivity?

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

30. - E7A05

Which of the following is a circuit that continuously alternates between two states without an external clock?

Select	Answer
A	J-K flip-flop
B	Astable multivibrator
C	T flip-flop
D	Monostable multivibrator

31. - E7B14

Why are switching amplifiers more efficient than linear amplifiers?

Select	Answer
A	Linear amplifiers have high gain resulting in higher harmonic content
B	Switching amplifiers use push-pull circuits
C	The power transistor is at saturation or cut off most of the time, resulting in low power dissipation
D	Switching amplifiers operate at higher voltages

32. - E7C12

Which describes a Pi-L-network used for matching a vacuum tube final amplifier to a 50 ohm unbalanced output?

Select	Answer
A	A Phase Inverter Load network
B	A matching network in which all components are isolated from ground
C	A network with only three discrete parts
D	A Pi-network with an additional series inductor on the output

33. - E7D12

What is the drop-out voltage of an analog voltage regulator?

Select	Answer
A	Minimum input-to-output voltage required to maintain regulation
B	Maximum amount that the output voltage drops when the input voltage is varied over its specified range
C	Maximum amount that the output voltage may decrease at rated load
D	Minimum input voltage for rated power dissipation

34. - E7E11

Which type of detector is used for demodulating SSB signals?

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

35. - E7F01

What is meant by direct digital conversion as applied to software defined radios?

Select	Answer
A	A switching mixer is used to generate I and Q signals directly from the RF input
B	Incoming RF is digitized by an analog-to-digital converter without being mixed with a local oscillator signal
C	Software is converted from source code to object code during operation of the receiver
D	Incoming RF is converted to a control voltage for a voltage controlled oscillator

36. - E7G12

What is an integrated circuit operational amplifier?

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

37. - E7H05

How is positive feedback supplied in a Pierce oscillator?

Select	Answer
A	Through a quartz crystal
B	Through link coupling
C	Through a neutralizing capacitor
D	Through a tapped coil

38. - E8A01

What is the name of the process that shows that a square wave is made up of a sine wave plus all of its odd harmonics?

Select	Answer
A	Differential analysis
B	Fourier analysis
C	Numerical analysis
D	Vector analysis

39. - E8B08

What describes Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing?

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

40. - E8C04

What technique is used to minimize the bandwidth requirements of a PSK31 signal?

Select	Answer
A	Reed-Solomon character encoding
B	Use of trapezoidal data pulses
C	Use of sinusoidal data pulses
D	Zero-sum character encoding

41. - E8D07

What is a common cause of overmodulation of AFSK signals?

Select	Answer
A	Excessive numbers of retries
B	Bit errors in the modem
C	Excessive transmit audio levels
D	Ground loops

42. - E9A16

What is the effective radiated power relative to a dipole of a repeater station with 200 watts transmitter power output, 4 dB feed line loss, 3.2 dB duplexer loss, 0.8 dB circulator loss, and 10 dBd antenna gain?

Select	Answer
A	300 watts
B	2000 watts
C	317 watts
D	126 watts

43. - E9B06

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

Select	Answer
A	25 degrees
B	45 degrees
C	7.5 degrees
D	75 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	Cardioid
C	A Figure-8 broadside to the axis of the array
D	Omni-directional

45. - E9D02

How can linearly polarized Yagi antennas be used to produce circular polarization?

Select	Answer
A	Stack two Yagis fed in phase to form an array with the respective elements in parallel planes
B	Arrange two Yagis perpendicular to each other with the driven elements at the same point on the boom fed 90 degrees out of phase
C	Arrange two Yagis collinear to each other with the driven elements fed 180 degrees out of phase
D	Stack two Yagis fed 90 degrees out of phase to form an array with the respective elements in parallel planes

46. - E9E04

What is the purpose of the series capacitor in a gamma-type antenna matching network?

Select	Answer
A	To provide a rejection notch that prevents the radiation of harmonics
B	To transform the antenna impedance to a higher value
C	To cancel the inductive reactance of the matching network
D	To provide DC isolation between the feed line and the antenna

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

48. - E9G09

What third family of circles is often added to a Smith chart during the process of solving problems?

Select	Answer
A	Radiation-pattern circles
B	Coaxial-length circles
C	Standing wave ratio circles
D	Antenna-length circles

49. - E9H11

What characteristic of a cardioid pattern antenna is useful for direction finding?

Select	Answer
A	High-radiation angle
B	Broad band response
C	A very sharp single null
D	A very sharp peak

50. - E0A05

What is one of the potential hazards of using microwaves in the amateur radio bands?

Select	Answer
A	Microwaves are ionizing radiation
B	The extremely high frequency energy can damage the joints of antenna structures
C	The high gain antennas commonly used can result in high exposure levels
D	Microwaves often travel long distances by ionospheric reflection

Figure E6-5

Figure E9-2