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

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1. - E1A04

With your transceiver displaying the carrier frequency of phone signals, you hear a DX station calling CQ on 3.601 MHz LSB. Is it legal to return the call using lower sideband on the same frequency?

Select	Answer
A	No, U.S. stations are not permitted to use phone emissions below 3.610 MHz
B	Yes, because the displayed frequency is within the 75 meter phone band segment
C	Yes, because the DX station initiated the contact
D	No, the sideband will extend beyond the edge of the phone band segment

2. - E1B02

Which of the following factors might cause the physical location of an amateur station apparatus or antenna structure to be restricted?

Select	Answer
A	The location is of environmental importance or significant in American history, architecture, or culture
B	The location is near an area of political conflict
C	The location is of geographical or horticultural importance
D	The location is in an ITU Zone designated for coordination with one or more foreign governments

3. - E1C04

What is meant by IARP?

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

4. - E1D02

What is the amateur satellite service?

Select	Answer
A	A radio communications service using amateur radio stations on satellites
B	A radio communications service using stations on Earth satellites for public service broadcast
C	A radio navigation service using satellites for the purpose of self training, intercommunication and technical studies carried out by amateurs
D	A spacecraft launching service for amateur-built satellites

5. - E1E10

What must the administering VEs do after the administration of a successful examination for an amateur operator license?

Select	Answer
A	They must submit the application document to the coordinating VEC according to the coordinating VEC instructions
B	They must collect and send the documents to the FCC according to instructions
C	They must collect and send the documents to the NCVEC for grading
D	They must collect and submit the documents to the coordinating VEC for grading

6. - E1F05

Amateur stations may not transmit in which of the following frequency segments if they are located in the contiguous 48 states and north of Line A?

Select	Answer
A	53 MHz - 54 MHz
B	440 MHz - 450 MHz
C	222 MHz - 223 MHz
D	420 MHz - 430 MHz

7. - E2A03

What is the orbital period of an Earth satellite?

Select	Answer
A	The point of maximum height of a satellite's orbit
B	The time it takes for a satellite to complete one revolution around the Earth
C	The time it takes for a satellite to travel from perigee to apogee
D	The point of minimum height of a satellite's orbit

8. - E2B11

What is the function of the Vertical Interval Signaling (VIS) code sent as part of an SSTV transmission?

Select	Answer
A	To lock the color burst oscillator in color SSTV images
B	To identify the SSTV mode being used
C	To identify the call sign of the station transmitting
D	To provide vertical synchronization

9. - E2C13

What indicator is required to be used by U.S.-licensed operators when operating a station via remote control where the transmitter is located in the U.S.?

Select	Answer
A	No additional indicator is required
B	The ARRL section of the remote station
C	/ followed by the USPS two letter abbreviation for the state in which the remote station is located
D	/R# where # is the district of the remote station

10. - E2D09

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

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

11. - E2E01

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

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

12. - E3A01

What is the approximate maximum separation measured along the surface of the Earth between two stations communicating by Moon bounce?

Select	Answer
A	12,000 miles, if the Moon is visible by both stations
B	2000 miles, if the Moon is at apogee
C	5000 miles, if the Moon is at perigee
D	500 miles, if the Moon is at perigee

13. - E3B04

What is meant by the terms extraordinary and ordinary waves?

Select	Answer
A	Refracted rays and reflected waves
B	Long path and short path waves
C	Extraordinary waves describe rare long skip propagation compared to ordinary waves which travel shorter distances
D	Independent waves created in the ionosphere that are elliptically polarized

14. - E3C08

What does the space weather term G5 mean?

Select	Answer
A	Very low solar activity
B	An extreme geomagnetic storm
C	Waning sunspot numbers
D	Moderate solar wind

15. - E4A08

Which of the following instrument would be best for measuring the SWR of a beam antenna?

Select	Answer
A	A spectrum analyzer
B	A Q meter
C	An ohmmeter
D	An antenna analyzer

16. - E4B11

How should an antenna analyzer be connected when measuring antenna resonance and feed point impedance?

Select	Answer
A	Loosely couple the analyzer near the antenna base
B	Connect the analyzer via a high-impedance transformer to the antenna
C	Loosely couple the antenna and a dummy load to the analyzer
D	Connect the antenna feed line directly to the analyzer's connector

17. - E4C07

What does the MDS of a receiver represent?

Select	Answer
A	The multiplex distortion stability
B	The meter display sensitivity
C	The minimum discernible signal
D	The maximum detectable spectrum

18. - E4D11

Why are third-order intermodulation products created within a receiver of particular interest compared to other products?

Select	Answer
A	The third-order product of two signals which are in the band of interest is also likely to be within the band
B	Third-order products are an indication of poor image rejection
C	The third-order intercept is much higher than other orders
D	Third-order intermodulation produces three products for every input signal within the band of interest

19. - E4E02

Which of the following types of receiver noise can often be reduced with a DSP noise filter?

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

20. - E5A03

What is the magnitude of the impedance of a series RLC circuit at resonance?

Select	Answer
A	Approximately equal to capacitive reactance
B	High, as compared to the circuit resistance
C	Approximately equal to circuit resistance
D	Approximately equal to inductive reactance

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

22. - E5C09

When using rectangular coordinates to graph the impedance of a circuit, what does the horizontal axis represent?

Select	Answer
A	Reactive component
B	Resistive component
C	The sum of the reactive and resistive components
D	The difference between the resistive and reactive components

23. - E5D01

What is the result of skin effect?

Select	Answer
A	As frequency decreases, RF current flows in a thinner layer of the conductor, closer to the surface
B	Thermal effects on the surface of the conductor decrease the impedance
C	As frequency increases, RF current flows in a thinner layer of the conductor, closer to the surface
D	Thermal effects on the surface of the conductor increase the impedance

24. - E6A16

What are the majority charge carriers in N-type semiconductor material?

Select	Answer
A	Free electrons
B	Free protons
C	Holes
D	Free neutrons

25. - E6B11

What is used to control the attenuation of RF signals by a PIN diode?

Select	Answer
A	Forward DC bias current
B	A sub-harmonic pump signal
C	Reverse voltage larger than the RF signal
D	Capacitance of an RF coupling capacitor

26. - E6C13

Which of the following is an advantage of BiCMOS logic?

Select	Answer
A	It is totally immune to electrostatic damage
B	It has the high input impedance of CMOS and the low output impedance of bipolar transistors
C	Its simplicity results in much less expensive devices than standard CMOS
D	All of these choices are correct

27. - E6D12

What is the definition of saturation in a ferrite core inductor?

Select	Answer
A	The inductor's voltage rating is exceeded causing a flashover
B	The ability of the inductor's core to store magnetic energy has been exceeded
C	The inductor windings are over coupled
D	Adjacent inductors become over-coupled

28. - E6E01

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

Select	Answer
A	It is a CMOS analog-to-digital converter
B	Its phase shift changes rapidly with frequency
C	It is used in a battery charger circuit
D	It samples an analog signal and passes it in stages from the input to the output

29. - E6F02

What happens to the conductivity of a photoconductive material when light shines on it?

Select	Answer
A	It decreases
B	It increases
C	It stays the same
D	It becomes unstable

30. - E7A07

What logical operation does a NAND gate perform?

Select	Answer
A	It produces logic "1" at its output only when all inputs are logic "1"
B	It produces logic "0" at its output only when all inputs are logic "0"
C	It produces logic "0" at its output only when all inputs are logic "1"
D	It produces logic "0" at its output if some but not all inputs are logic "1"

31. - E7B17

Why are odd-order rather than even-order intermodulation distortion products of concern in linear power amplifiers?

Select	Answer
A	Because they are relatively far in frequency from the desired signal
B	Because they are relatively close in frequency to the desired signal
C	Because they invert the sidebands causing distortion
D	Because they maintain the sidebands, thus causing multiple duplicate signals

32. - E7C03

What advantage does a Pi-L-network have over a regular Pi-network for impedance matching between the final amplifier of a vacuum-tube transmitter and an antenna?

Select	Answer
A	Lower losses
B	Higher efficiency
C	Greater transformation range
D	Greater harmonic suppression

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 bypasses hum around D1
D	It is a brute force filter for the output

34. - E7E07

What is meant by the term baseband in radio communications?

Select	Answer
A	The unmodulated bandwidth of the transmitted signal
B	The frequency components present in the modulating signal
C	The lowest frequency band that the transmitter or receiver covers
D	The basic oscillator frequency in an FM transmitter that is multiplied to increase the deviation and carrier frequency

35. - E7F07

What function can a Fast Fourier Transform perform?

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

36. - E7G09

What will be the output voltage of the circuit shown in Figure E7-4 if R1 is 1000 ohms, RF is 10,000 ohms, and 0.23 volts DC is applied to the input?

Select	Answer
A	2.3 volts
B	-0.23 volts
C	0.23 volts
D	-2.3 volts

37. - E7H13

Which of the following is a technique for providing highly accurate and stable oscillators needed for microwave transmission and reception?

Select	Answer
A	Use a temperature-controlled high Q dielectric resonator
B	All of these choices are correct
C	Use a rubidium stabilized reference oscillator
D	Use a GPS signal reference

38. - E8A10

What is the purpose of a low pass filter used in conjunction with a digital-to-analog converter?

Select	Answer
A	All of these choices are correct
B	Improve accuracy by removing out of sequence codes from the input
C	Remove harmonics from the output caused by the discrete analog levels generated
D	Lower the input bandwidth to increase the effective resolution

39. - E8B05

What is the deviation ratio of an FM-phone signal having a maximum frequency swing of plus-or-minus 5 kHz when the maximum modulation frequency is 3 kHz?

Select	Answer
A	0.6
B	1.67
C	0.167
D	60

40. - E8C06

What is the necessary bandwidth of a 170-hertz shift, 300-baud ASCII transmission?

Select	Answer
A	0.3 kHz
B	1.0 kHz
C	0.1 Hz
D	0.5 kHz

41. - E8D07

What is a common cause of overmodulation of AFSK signals?

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

42. - E9A03

Why would one need to know the feed point impedance of an antenna?

Select	Answer
A	To calculate the front-to-back ratio of the antenna
B	To match impedances in order to minimize standing wave ratio on the transmission line
C	To calculate the front-to-side ratio of the antenna
D	To measure the near-field radiation density from a transmitting antenna

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 the shape of the antenna pattern is independent of distance
C	The region of the ionosphere where radiated power is not refracted
D	The region where radiated power dissipates over a specified time period

44. - E9C13

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

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

45. - E9D09

What is the function of a loading coil used as part of an HF mobile antenna?

Select	Answer
A	To lower the Q
B	To lower the losses
C	To increase the SWR bandwidth
D	To cancel capacitive reactance

46. - E9E10

Which of these choices is an effective way to match an antenna with a 100 ohm feed point impedance to a 50 ohm coaxial cable feed line?

Select	Answer
A	Insert a 1/2 wavelength piece of 300 ohm twin-lead in series between the antenna terminals and the 50 ohm feed cable
B	Connect 1/2 wavelength shorted stub of 75 ohm cable in parallel with the 50 ohm cable where it attaches to the antenna
C	Insert a 1/4-wavelength piece of 75 ohm coaxial cable transmission line in series between the antenna terminals and the 50 ohm feed cable
D	Connect a 1/4-wavelength open stub of 300 ohm twin-lead in parallel with the coaxial feed line where it connects to the antenna

47. - E9F10

What impedance does a 1/8 wavelength transmission line present to a generator when the line is shorted at the far end?

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

48. - E9G09

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

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

49. - E9H05

What is the main drawback of a wire-loop antenna for direction finding?

Select	Answer
A	It is practical for use only on VHF bands
B	It is non-rotatable
C	It receives equally well in all directions
D	It has a bidirectional pattern

50. - E0A08

What does SAR measure?

Select	Answer
A	The rate at which RF energy is absorbed by the body
B	Synthetic Aperture Ratio of the human body
C	Signal Amplification Rating
D	The rate of RF energy reflected from stationary terrain

Figure E7-3

Figure E7-4