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

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1. - E1A12

With your transceiver displaying the carrier frequency of CW signals, you hear a DX station's CQ on 3.500 MHz. Is it legal to return the call using CW on the same frequency?

Select	Answer
A	No, U.S. stations are not permitted to use CW emissions below 3.525 MHz
B	Yes, the displayed frequency is within the 80 meter CW band segment
C	No, one of the sidebands of the CW signal will be out of the band
D	Yes, the DX station initiated the contact

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 letter of intent must be filed with the National Audubon Society
C	A form FSD-15 must be submitted to the Department of the Interior
D	A proposal must be submitted to the National Park Service

3. - E1C04

What is meant by IARP?

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

4. - E1D08

Which VHF amateur service bands have frequencies available for space stations?

Select	Answer
A	6 meters and 2 meters
B	2 meters and 1.25 meters
C	2 meters
D	6 meters, 2 meters, and 1.25 meters

5. - E1E04

Which of the following best describes the Volunteer Examiner accreditation process?

Select	Answer
A	The amateur operator applying must pass a VE examination administered by the FCC Enforcement Bureau
B	Each General, Advanced and Amateur Extra Class operator is automatically accredited as a VE when the license is granted
C	The procedure by which a VEC confirms that the VE applicant meets FCC requirements to serve as an examiner
D	The prospective VE obtains accreditation from the FCC

6. - E1F01

On what frequencies are spread spectrum transmissions permitted?

Select	Answer
A	Only on amateur frequencies above 222 MHz
B	Only on amateur frequencies above 50 MHz
C	Only on amateur frequencies above 420 MHz
D	Only on amateur frequencies above 144 MHz

7. - E2A14

What technology is used to track, in real time, balloons carrying amateur radio transmitters?

Select	Answer
A	Radar
B	APRS
C	Doppler shift of beacon signals
D	Bandwidth compressed LORAN

8. - E2B02

How many horizontal lines make up a fast-scan (NTSC) television frame?

Select	Answer
A	1080
B	525
C	30
D	60

9. - E2C10

Why might a DX station state that they are listening on another frequency?

Select	Answer
A	To separate the calling stations from the DX station
B	To improve operating efficiency by reducing interference
C	Because the DX station may be transmitting on a frequency that is prohibited to some responding stations
D	All of these choices are correct

10. - E2D14

What is one advantage of using JT65 coding?

Select	Answer
A	Permits fast-scan TV transmissions over narrow bandwidth
B	The ability to decode signals which have a very low signal to noise ratio
C	Easily copied by ear if necessary
D	Uses only a 65 Hz bandwidth

11. - E2E06

What is the most common data rate used for HF packet?

Select	Answer
A	48 baud
B	110 baud
C	300 baud
D	1200 baud

12. - E3A13

Which emission mode is best for aurora propagation?

Select	Answer
A	FM
B	SSB
C	RTTY
D	CW

13. - E3B02

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

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

14. - E3C11

What does VOACAP software model?

Select	Answer
A	AC voltage and impedance
B	VHF radio propagation
C	AC current and impedance
D	HF propagation

15. - E4A11

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

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

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 harmonically related audio frequencies and observe the RF output with a logic analyzer
C	Modulate the transmitter with two non-harmonically related radio frequencies and observe the RF output with a spectrum analyzer
D	Modulate the transmitter with two non-harmonically related audio frequencies and observe the RF output with a spectrum analyzer

17. - E4C04

How is the noise figure of a receiver defined?

Select	Answer
A	The ratio of thermal noise to atmospheric noise
B	The ratio of the noise bandwidth in Hertz to the theoretical bandwidth of a resistive network
C	The ratio in dB of the noise generated by the receiver to the theoretical minimum noise
D	The ratio of atmospheric noise to phase noise

18. - E4D01

What is meant by the blocking dynamic range of a receiver?

Select	Answer
A	The difference in dB between the noise floor and the level of an incoming signal which will cause 1 dB of gain compression
B	The minimum difference in dB between the levels of two FM signals which will cause one signal to block the other
C	The difference in dB between the noise floor and the third order intercept point
D	The minimum difference in dB between two signals which produce third order intermodulation products greater than the noise floor

19. - E4E07

How can you determine if line noise interference is being generated within your home?

Select	Answer
A	By observing the AC power line waveform with an oscilloscope
B	By checking the power line voltage with a time domain reflectometer
C	By turning off the AC power line main circuit breaker and listening on a battery operated radio
D	By observing the AC power line voltage with a spectrum analyzer

20. - E5A12

What is the half-power bandwidth of a parallel resonant circuit that has a resonant frequency of 3.7 MHz and a Q of 118?

Select	Answer
A	31.4 kHz
B	15.7 kHz
C	218.3 kHz
D	436.6 kHz

21. - E5B03

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

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

22. - E5C01

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

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

23. - E5D02

Why is it important to keep lead lengths short for components used in circuits for VHF and above?

Select	Answer
A	To avoid unwanted inductive reactance
B	To increase the thermal time constant
C	All of these choices are correct
D	To maintain component lifetime

24. - E6A17

What are the names of the three terminals of a field-effect transistor?

Select	Answer
A	Emitter, base, collector
B	Gate, drain, source
C	Emitter, base 1, base 2
D	Gate 1, gate 2, drain

25. - E6B04

What type of semiconductor device is designed for use as a voltage-controlled capacitor?

Select	Answer
A	Varactor diode
B	Zener diode
C	Tunnel diode
D	Silicon-controlled rectifier

26. - E6C14

What is the primary advantage of using a Programmable Gate Array (PGA) in a logic circuit?

Select	Answer
A	All of these choices are correct
B	A PGA contains its own internal power supply
C	Complex logic functions can be created in a single integrated circuit
D	Many similar gates are less expensive than a mixture of gate types

27. - E6D01

How many turns will be required to produce a 5-microhenry inductor using a powdered-iron toroidal core that has an inductance index (A L) value of 40 microhenrys/100 turns?

Select	Answer
A	79 turns
B	35 turns
C	141 turns
D	13 turns

28. - E6E08

How is voltage from a power supply normally furnished to the most common type of monolithic microwave integrated circuit (MMIC)?

Select	Answer
A	Through a capacitor and RF choke connected to the amplifier input lead
B	Through a resistor and/or RF choke connected to the amplifier output lead
C	Directly to the bias voltage (VCC IN) lead
D	MMICs require no operating bias

29. - E6F02

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

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

30. - E7A08

What logical operation does an OR gate perform?

Select	Answer
A	It produces logic "1" at its output if all inputs are logic "0"
B	It produces logic "0" at its output if all inputs are logic "1"
C	It produces logic "1" at its output if any or all inputs are logic "1"
D	It only produces logic "0" at its output when all inputs are logic "1"

31. - E7B18

What is a characteristic of a grounded-grid amplifier?

Select	Answer
A	High filament voltage
B	Low bandwidth
C	Low input impedance
D	High power gain

32. - E7C09

What is a Jones filter as used as part of an HF receiver IF stage?

Select	Answer
A	A filter that removes impulse noise E7C10 (B) Which of the following filters would be the best choice for use in a 2 meter repeater duplexer? A. A crystal filter B. A cavity filter C. A DSP filter D. An L-C filter
B	An automatic notch filter
C	A variable bandwidth crystal lattice filter
D	A special filter that emphasizes image responses

33. - E7D15

What is the purpose of a "step-start" circuit in a high voltage power supply?

Select	Answer
A	To allow for remote control of the power supply
B	To compensate for variations of the incoming line voltage
C	To provide a dual-voltage output for reduced power applications
D	To allow the filter capacitors to charge gradually

34. - E7E09

What occurs when an excessive amount of signal energy reaches a mixer circuit?

Select	Answer
A	A beat frequency is generated
B	Spurious mixer products are generated
C	Automatic limiting occurs
D	Mixer blanking occurs

35. - E7F12

What digital process is applied to I and Q signals in order to recover the baseband modulation information?

Select	Answer
A	Decimation
B	Quadrature mixing
C	Fast Fourier Transform
D	Signal conditioning

36. - E7G07

What magnitude of voltage gain can be expected from the circuit in Figure E7-4 when R1 is 10 ohms and RF is 470 ohms?

Select	Answer
A	94
B	47
C	24
D	0.21

37. - E7H02

Which describes a microphonic?

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

38. - E8A09

How many levels can an analog-to-digital converter with 8 bit resolution encode?

Select	Answer
A	8
B	8 multiplied by the gain of the input amplifier
C	256 divided by the gain of the input amplifier
D	256

39. - E8B03

What is the modulation index of an FM-phone signal having a maximum frequency deviation of 3000 Hz either side of the carrier frequency when the modulating frequency is 1000 Hz?

Select	Answer
A	1000
B	3000
C	0.3
D	3

40. - E8C07

What is the necessary bandwidth of a 4800-Hz frequency shift, 9600-baud ASCII FM transmission?

Select	Answer
A	15.36 kHz
B	9.6 kHz
C	4.8 kHz
D	5.76 kHz

41. - E8D01

Why are received spread spectrum signals resistant to interference?

Select	Answer
A	If interference is detected by the receiver it will signal the transmitter to change frequencies
B	The high power used by a spread spectrum transmitter keeps its signal from being easily overpowered
C	The receiver is always equipped with a digital blanker
D	Signals not using the spread spectrum algorithm are suppressed in the receiver

42. - E9A17

What is the effective radiated power of a repeater station with 200 watts transmitter power output, 2 dB feed line loss, 2.8 dB duplexer loss, 1.2 dB circulator loss, and 7 dBi antenna gain?

Select	Answer
A	63.2 watts
B	159 watts
C	252 watts
D	632 watts

43. - E9B03

In the antenna radiation pattern shown in Figure E9-1, what is the front-to-side ratio?

Select	Answer
A	18 dB
B	24 dB
C	14 dB
D	12 dB

44. - E9C04

What happens to the radiation pattern of an unterminated long wire antenna as the wire length is increased?

Select	Answer
A	The lobes align more in the direction of the wire
B	The vertical angle increases
C	The front-to-back ratio decreases
D	The lobes become more perpendicular to the wire

45. - E9D05

What is a disadvantage of using a multiband trapped antenna?

Select	Answer
A	It must be neutralized
B	It is too sharply directional at lower frequencies
C	It radiates the harmonics and fundamental equally well
D	It might radiate harmonics

46. - E9E13

What is a use for a Wilkinson divider?

Select	Answer
A	It divides the operating frequency of a transmitter signal so it can be used on a lower frequency band
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 high-impedance antennas from a low-impedance source
D	It is used to feed low-impedance loads from a high-impedance source

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. - E9G02

What type of coordinate system is used in a Smith chart?

Select	Answer
A	Resistance lines and reactance chords
B	Voltage circles and current arcs
C	Resistance circles and reactance arcs
D	Voltage lines and current chords

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 peak
D	A very sharp single null

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

Figure E7-4

Figure E9-1