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

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1. - E1A09

What is the first action you should take if your digital message forwarding station inadvertently forwards a communication that violates FCC rules?

Select	Answer
A	Notify the originating station that the communication does not comply with FCC rules
B	Discontinue forwarding the communication as soon as you become aware of it
C	Notify the nearest FCC Field Engineer's office
D	Discontinue forwarding all messages

2. - E1B09

Which amateur stations may be operated under RACES rules?

Select	Answer
A	Any FCC-licensed amateur station participating in the Military Auxiliary Radio System (MARS)
B	Any FCC-licensed amateur station certified by the responsible civil defense organization for the area served
C	Any FCC-licensed amateur station except a Technician class
D	Only those club stations licensed to Amateur Extra class operators

3. - E1C13

Which of the following is required in order to operate in accordance with CEPT rules in foreign countries where permitted?

Select	Answer
A	You must identify in the official language of the country in which you are operating
B	You must bring a copy of FCC Public Notice DA 11-221
C	The U.S. embassy must approve of your operation
D	You must append "/CEPT" to your call sign

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

5. - E1E01

What is the minimum number of qualified VEs required to administer an Element 4 amateur operator license examination?

Select	Answer
A	3
B	4
C	2
D	5

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

7. - E2A04

What is meant by the term mode as applied to an amateur radio satellite?

Select	Answer
A	The satellite's orientation with respect to the Earth
B	Whether the satellite is in a polar or equatorial orbit
C	The type of signals that can be relayed through the satellite
D	The satellite's uplink and downlink frequency bands

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

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 allocate frequencies for DXpeditions
D	To handle the receiving and sending of confirmation cards for a DX station

10. - E2D12

How does JT65 improve EME communications?

Select	Answer
A	All of these choices are correct
B	It controls the receiver to track Doppler shift
C	It can decode signals many dB below the noise floor using FEC
D	It supplies signals to guide the antenna to track the Moon

11. - E2E10

Which of these digital modes has the narrowest bandwidth?

Select	Answer
A	170 Hz shift, 45 baud RTTY
B	300-baud packet
C	PSK31
D	MFSK16

12. - E3A13

Which emission mode is best for aurora propagation?

Select	Answer
A	CW
B	SSB
C	RTTY
D	FM

13. - E3B12

What is the primary characteristic of chordal hop propagation?

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

14. - E3C05

What orientation of Bz (B sub z) increases the likelihood that incoming particles from the Sun will cause disturbed conditions?

Select	Answer
A	Westward
B	Eastward
C	Northward
D	Southward

15. - E4A06

What is the effect of aliasing in a digital or computer-based oscilloscope?

Select	Answer
A	False signals are displayed
B	False triggering occurs
C	Calibration of the vertical scale is no longer valid
D	All signals will have a DC offset

16. - E4B09

What is indicated if the current reading on an RF ammeter placed in series with the antenna feed line of a transmitter increases as the transmitter is tuned to resonance?

Select	Answer
A	The transmitter is not properly neutralized
B	There is an impedance mismatch between the antenna and feed line
C	There is possibly a short to ground in the feed line
D	There is more power going into the antenna

17. - E4C01

What is an effect of excessive phase noise in the local oscillator section of a receiver?

Select	Answer
A	It decreases receiver third-order intermodulation distortion dynamic range
B	It can cause strong signals on nearby frequencies to interfere with reception of weak signals
C	It limits the receiver's ability to receive strong signals
D	It reduces receiver sensitivity

18. - E4D04

Which of the following may reduce or eliminate intermodulation interference in a repeater caused by another transmitter operating in close proximity?

Select	Answer
A	A Class C final amplifier
B	A properly terminated circulator at the output of the transmitter
C	A band-pass filter in the feed line between the transmitter and receiver
D	A Class D final amplifier

19. - E4E10

What is a common characteristic of interference caused by a touch controlled electrical device?

Select	Answer
A	The interfering signal may drift slowly across the HF spectrum
B	All of these choices are correct
C	The interfering signal can be several kHz in width and usually repeats at regular intervals across a HF band
D	The interfering signal sounds like AC hum on an AM receiver or a carrier modulated by 60 Hz hum on a SSB or CW receiver

20. - E5A14

What is the resonant frequency of a series RLC circuit if R is 22 ohms, L is 50 microhenrys and C is 40 picofarads?

Select	Answer
A	44.72 MHz
B	3.56 MHz
C	22.36 MHz
D	1.78 MHz

21. - E5B05

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

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

22. - E5C01

Which of the following represents a capacitive reactance in rectangular notation?

Select	Answer
A	Omega
B	X
C	+jX
D	-jX

23. - E5D11

What is the power factor of an R-L circuit having a 60 degree phase angle between the voltage and the current?

Select	Answer
A	0.5
B	1.73
C	0.866
D	1.414

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 protect the substrate from excessive voltages
C	To provide a voltage reference for the correct amount of reverse-bias gate voltage
D	To keep the gate voltage within specifications and prevent the device from overheating

25. - E6B10

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

Select	Answer
A	1
B	5
C	7
D	6

26. - E6C12

What is BiCMOS logic?

Select	Answer
A	A FET logic family based on bimetallic semiconductors
B	An integrated circuit logic family using both bipolar and CMOS transistors
C	A logic family based on bismuth CMOS devices
D	A logic device with two CMOS circuits per package

27. - E6D14

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

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

28. - E6E09

Which of the following component package types would be most suitable for use at frequencies above the HF range?

Select	Answer
A	TO-220
B	Surface mount
C	Radial lead
D	Axial lead

29. - E6F12

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

Select	Answer
A	Holes
B	Electrons
C	Photons
D	Protons

30. - E7A12

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

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

31. - E7B04

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

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

32. - E7C13

What is one advantage of a Pi-matching network over an L-matching network consisting of a single inductor and a single capacitor?

Select	Answer
A	Pi-networks have fewer components
B	L-networks cannot perform impedance transformation
C	The Q of Pi-networks can be varied depending on the component values chosen
D	Pi-networks are designed for balanced input and output

33. - E7D03

What device is typically used as a stable reference voltage in a linear voltage regulator?

Select	Answer
A	A tunnel diode
B	A Zener diode
C	An SCR
D	A varactor diode

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 PM 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 AM signals

35. - E7F09

Why is an anti-aliasing digital filter required in a digital decimator?

Select	Answer
A	It peaks the response of the decimator, improving bandwidth
B	It notches out the sampling frequency to avoid sampling errors
C	It removes high-frequency signal components which would otherwise be reproduced as lower frequency components
D	It removes low frequency signal components to eliminate the need for DC restoration

36. - E7G02

What is the effect of ringing in a filter?

Select	Answer
A	An echo caused by a long time delay
B	Partial cancellation of the signal over a range of frequencies
C	A reduction in high frequency response
D	Undesired oscillations added to the desired signal

37. - E7H07

How can an oscillator's microphonic responses be reduced?

Select	Answer
A	Mechanically isolating the oscillator circuitry from its enclosure
B	Using the oscillator only for CW and digital signals
C	Use of NP0 capacitors
D	Eliminating noise on the oscillator's power supply

38. - E8A06

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

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

39. - E8B02

How does the modulation index of a phase-modulated emission vary with RF carrier frequency (the modulated frequency)?

Select	Answer
A	It varies with the square root of the RF carrier frequency
B	It decreases as the RF carrier frequency increases
C	It does not depend on the RF carrier frequency
D	It increases as the RF carrier frequency increases

40. - E8C04

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

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

41. - E8D07

What is a common cause of overmodulation of AFSK signals?

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

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	Take-off angle
C	The standing wave ratio
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	25 degrees
B	75 degrees
C	30 degrees
D	50 degrees

44. - E9C07

What is the approximate feed point impedance at the center of a two-wire folded dipole antenna?

Select	Answer
A	72 ohms
B	450 ohms
C	300 ohms
D	50 ohms

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

46. - E9E13

What is a use for a Wilkinson divider?

Select	Answer
A	It is used to feed high-impedance antennas from a low-impedance source
B	It is used to divide power equally between two 50 ohm loads while maintaining 50 ohm input impedance
C	It is used to feed low-impedance loads from a high-impedance source
D	It divides the operating frequency of a transmitter signal so it can be used on a lower frequency band

47. - E9F12

What impedance does a 1/4 wavelength transmission line present to a generator when the line is open at the far end?

Select	Answer
A	Very high impedance
B	The same as the input impedance to the generator
C	The same as the characteristic impedance of the line
D	Very low impedance

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	Smith chart
D	Azimuth angle radiation pattern chart

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

50. - E0A03

Which of the following would be a practical way to estimate whether the RF fields produced by an amateur radio station are within permissible MPE limits?

Select	Answer
A	Use a calibrated antenna analyzer
B	All of the choices are correct
C	Use a hand calculator plus Smith-chart equations to calculate the fields
D	Use an antenna modeling program to calculate field strength at accessible locations

Figure E6-3

Figure E9-1

Figure E9-3