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. - E1A11

Which of the following describes authorization or licensing required when operating an amateur station aboard a U.S.-registered vessel in international waters?

Select	Answer
A	Any FCC-issued amateur license
B	An unrestricted Radiotelephone Operator Permit
C	Only General class or higher amateur licenses
D	Any amateur license with an FCC Marine or Aircraft endorsement

2. - E1B04

What must be done before placing an amateur station within an officially designated wilderness area or wildlife preserve, or an area listed in the National Register of Historical Places?

Select	Answer
A	An Environmental Assessment must be submitted to the FCC
B	A form FSD-15 must be submitted to the Department of the Interior
C	A proposal must be submitted to the National Park Service
D	A letter of intent must be filed with the National Audubon Society

3. - E1C12

What types of communications may be transmitted to amateur stations in foreign countries?

Select	Answer
A	All of these choices are correct
B	Communications incidental to the purpose of the amateur service and remarks of a personal nature
C	Business-related messages for non-profit organizations
D	Messages intended for connection to users of the maritime satellite service

4. - E1D10

Which amateur stations are eligible to be telecommand stations?

Select	Answer
A	Any amateur station so designated by the space station licensee, subject to the privileges of the class of operator license held by the control operator
B	Any amateur station so designated by the ITU
C	Any amateur station designated by NASA
D	All of these choices are correct

5. - E1E06

Who is responsible for the proper conduct and necessary supervision during an amateur operator license examination session?

Select	Answer
A	The FCC
B	The VEC coordinating the session
C	Each administering VE
D	The VE session manager

6. - E1F07

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

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

7. - E2A13

What type of satellite appears to stay in one position in the sky?

Select	Answer
A	LEO
B	Geomagnetic
C	Geostationary
D	HEO

8. - E2B04

What is blanking in a video signal?

Select	Answer
A	Synchronization of the horizontal and vertical sync pulses
B	Turning off the scanning beam at the conclusion of a transmission
C	Turning off the scanning beam while it is traveling from right to left or from bottom to top
D	Transmitting a black and white test pattern

9. - E2C02

Which of the following best describes the term self-spotting in regards to HF contest operating?

Select	Answer
A	An automatic method for rapidly zero beating or tuning to a station's frequency before calling that station
B	The generally prohibited practice of posting one's own call sign and frequency on a spotting network
C	The acceptable practice of manually posting the call signs of stations on a spotting network
D	A manual technique for rapidly zero beating or tuning to a station's frequency before calling that station

10. - E2D12

How does JT65 improve EME communications?

Select	Answer
A	It controls the receiver to track Doppler shift
B	All of these choices are correct
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. - E2E01

Which type of modulation is common for data emissions below 30 MHz?

Select	Answer
A	FSK
B	Spread spectrum
C	DTMF tones modulating an FM signal
D	Pulse modulation

12. - E3A14

From the contiguous 48 states, in which approximate direction should an antenna be pointed to take maximum advantage of aurora propagation?

Select	Answer
A	North
B	West
C	East
D	South

13. - E3B10

What is the cause of gray-line propagation?

Select	Answer
A	At midday, the Sun super heats the ionosphere causing increased refraction of radio waves
B	At mid-afternoon, the Sun heats the ionosphere decreasing radio wave refraction and the MUF
C	At twilight and sunrise, D-layer absorption is low while E-layer and F-layer propagation remains high
D	In darkness, solar absorption drops greatly while atmospheric ionization remains steady

14. - E3C06

By how much does the VHF/UHF radio horizon distance exceed the geometric horizon?

Select	Answer
A	By approximately four times the distance
B	By approximately twice the distance
C	By approximately 15 percent of the distance
D	By approximately 50 percent of the distance

15. - E4A06

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

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

16. - E4B03

If a frequency counter with a specified accuracy of +/- 1.0 ppm reads 146,520,000 Hz, what is the most the actual frequency being measured could differ from the reading?

Select	Answer
A	165.2 Hz
B	14.652 kHz
C	146.52 Hz
D	1.4652 MHz

17. - E4C03

What is the term for the blocking of one FM phone signal by another, stronger FM phone signal?

Select	Answer
A	Desensitization
B	Capture effect
C	Frequency discrimination
D	Cross-modulation interference

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 1 mW input signals will produce a third-order intermodulation product which is 40 dB stronger than the input signal
C	Signals less than 40 dBm will not generate audible third-order intermodulation products
D	A pair of 40 dBm signals will theoretically generate a third-order intermodulation product with the same level as the input signals

19. - E4E01

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

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

20. - E5A17

What is the result of increasing the Q of an impedance-matching circuit?

Select	Answer
A	Matching bandwidth is increased
B	Matching bandwidth is decreased
C	Matching range is increased
D	It has no effect on impedance matching

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	It is shifted by 90 degrees
C	The susceptance phase angle is the inverse of the reactance phase angle
D	The sign is reversed

22. - E5C11

What do the two numbers that are used to define a point on a graph using rectangular coordinates represent?

Select	Answer
A	The magnitude and phase of the point
B	The sine and cosine values
C	The coordinate values along the horizontal and vertical axes
D	The tangent and cotangent values

23. - E5D05

Which parasitic characteristic increases with conductor length?

Select	Answer
A	Malleability
B	Permittivity
C	Inductance
D	Permeability

24. - E6A03

Why does a PN-junction diode not conduct current when reverse biased?

Select	Answer
A	Excess holes in P-type material combine with the electrons in N-type material, converting the entire diode into an insulator
B	Only N-type semiconductor material can conduct current
C	Holes in P-type material and electrons in the N-type material are separated by the applied voltage, widening the depletion region
D	Only P-type semiconductor material can conduct current

25. - E6B09

What is a common use for point contact diodes?

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

26. - E6C09

What is a Programmable Logic Device (PLD)?

Select	Answer
A	A programmable collection of logic gates and circuits in a single integrated circuit
B	A device to control industrial equipment
C	Programmable equipment used for testing digital logic integrated circuits
D	An algorithm for simulating logic functions during circuit design

27. - E6D04

Which materials are commonly used as a slug core in a variable inductor?

Select	Answer
A	Teflon and Delrin
B	Ferrite and brass
C	Cobalt and aluminum
D	Polystyrene and polyethylene

28. - E6E04

Which is the most common input and output impedance of circuits that use MMICs?

Select	Answer
A	300 ohms
B	450 ohms
C	10 ohms
D	50 ohms

29. - E6F13

What is a liquid crystal display (LCD)?

Select	Answer
A	A display that uses a glowing liquid to remain brightly lit in dim light
B	A display utilizing a crystalline liquid and polarizing filters which becomes opaque when voltage is applied
C	A modern replacement for a quartz crystal oscillator which displays its fundamental frequency
D	A frequency-determining unit for a transmitter or receiver

30. - E7A01

Which is a bi-stable circuit?

Select	Answer
A	A flip-flop
B	An "OR" gate
C	A clock
D	An "AND" gate

31. - E7B10

In Figure E7-1, what is the purpose of R1 and R2?

Select	Answer
A	Fixed bias
B	Feedback
C	Load resistors
D	Self bias

32. - E7C15

What is a crystal lattice filter?

Select	Answer
A	A filter with wide bandwidth and shallow skirts made using quartz crystals
B	An audio filter made with four quartz crystals that resonate at 1kHz intervals
C	A filter with narrow bandwidth and steep skirts made using quartz crystals
D	A power supply filter made with interlaced quartz crystals

33. - E7D16

When several electrolytic filter capacitors are connected in series to increase the operating voltage of a power supply filter circuit, why should resistors be connected across each capacitor?

Select	Answer
A	To equalize, as much as possible, the voltage drop across each capacitor
B	To provide a minimum load current to reduce voltage excursions at light loads
C	To provide a safety bleeder to discharge the capacitors when the supply is off
D	All of these choices are correct

34. - E7E02

What is the function of a reactance modulator?

Select	Answer
A	To produce PM signals by using an electrically variable resistance
B	To produce PM signals by using an electrically variable inductance or capacitance
C	To produce AM signals by using an electrically variable resistance
D	To produce AM signals by using an electrically variable inductance or capacitance

35. - E7F03

What type of digital signal processing filter is used to generate an SSB signal?

Select	Answer
A	A Hilbert-transform filter
B	An adaptive filter
C	A notch filter
D	An elliptical filter

36. - E7G08

How does the gain of an ideal operational amplifier vary with frequency?

Select	Answer
A	It does not vary with frequency
B	It increases linearly with increasing frequency
C	It decreases logarithmically with increasing frequency
D	It decreases linearly with increasing frequency

37. - E7H11

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

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

38. - E8A05

What would be the most accurate way of measuring the RMS voltage of a complex waveform?

Select	Answer
A	By using an absorption wave meter
B	By using a grid dip meter
C	By measuring the voltage with a D'Arsonval meter
D	By measuring the heating effect in a known resistor

39. - E8B01

What is the term for the ratio between the frequency deviation of an RF carrier wave and the modulating frequency of its corresponding FM-phone signal?

Select	Answer
A	Quieting index
B	FM compressibility
C	Percentage of modulation
D	Modulation index

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 increases security
C	It has more possible states than simple binary
D	It has more resolution than simple binary

41. - E8D08

What parameter might indicate that excessively high input levels are causing distortion in an AFSK signal?

Select	Answer
A	Baud rate
B	Repeat Request Rate (RRR)
C	Signal to noise ratio
D	Intermodulation Distortion (IMD)

42. - E9A05

What is included in the total resistance of an antenna system?

Select	Answer
A	Radiation resistance plus ohmic resistance
B	Transmission-line resistance plus radiation resistance
C	Radiation resistance plus space impedance
D	Radiation resistance plus transmission resistance

43. - E9B12

What is the far field of an antenna?

Select	Answer
A	The region where radiated field strengths are obstructed by objects of reflection
B	The region where radiated power dissipates over a specified time period
C	The region of the ionosphere where radiated power is not refracted
D	The region where the shape of the antenna pattern is independent of distance

44. - E9C12

Which of the following describes an extended double Zepp antenna?

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

45. - E9D07

What is an advantage of using top loading in a shortened HF vertical antenna?

Select	Answer
A	Improved radiation efficiency
B	Higher losses
C	Greater structural strength
D	Lower Q

46. - E9E08

Which of the following measurements is characteristic of a mismatched transmission line?

Select	Answer
A	A dielectric constant greater than 1
B	An SWR less than 1:1
C	An SWR greater than 1:1
D	A reflection coefficient greater than 1

47. - E9F15

What impedance does a 1/2 wavelength transmission line present to a generator when the line is open at the far end?

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

48. - E9G05

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

Select	Answer
A	Smith chart
B	Azimuth angle radiation pattern chart
C	Free space radiation directivity chart
D	Elevation 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	It should be one or more wavelengths long
B	It must be mounted more than 1 wavelength above ground
C	It should be configured as a four-sided loop
D	Its overall length must not exceed 1/4 wavelength

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	Zinc oxide
C	Beryllium Oxide
D	Uranium Hexafluoride

Figure E7-1

Figure E9-3