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

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1. - E1A10

If an amateur station is installed aboard a ship or aircraft, what condition must be met before the station is operated?

Select	Answer
A	The amateur station must have a power supply that is completely independent of the main ship or aircraft power supply
B	Its operation must be approved by the master of the ship or the pilot in command of the aircraft
C	The amateur station operator must agree not to transmit when the main radio of the ship or aircraft is in use
D	The amateur operator must have an FCC Marine or Aircraft endorsement on his or her amateur license

2. - E1B07

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

Select	Answer
A	3.0
B	0.5
C	2.0
D	1.0

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	A forecast of intermittent aurora radio propagation
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 on the Earth's surface for communication with other Earth stations by means of Earth satellites
B	An amateur station that transmits communications to initiate, modify or terminate functions of a space station
C	An amateur station that transmits telemetry consisting of measurements of upper atmosphere
D	An amateur station located more than 50 km above the Earth's surface

5. - E1E05

What is the minimum passing score on amateur operator license examinations?

Select	Answer
A	Minimum passing score of 74%
B	Minimum passing score of 80%
C	Minimum passing score of 77%
D	Minimum passing score of 70%

6. - E1F09

Which of the following conditions apply when transmitting spread spectrum emission?

Select	Answer
A	A station transmitting SS emission must not cause harmful interference to other stations employing other authorized emissions
B	All of these choices are correct
C	The transmitting station must be in an area regulated by the FCC or in a country that permits SS emissions
D	The transmission must not be used to obscure the meaning of any communication

7. - E2A12

What is one way to predict the location of a satellite at a given time?

Select	Answer
A	By subtracting the mean anomaly from the orbital inclination
B	By calculations using the Keplerian elements for the specified satellite
C	By means of the Doppler data for the specified satellite
D	By adding the mean anomaly to the orbital inclination

8. - E2B14

What aspect of an amateur slow-scan television signal encodes the brightness of the picture?

Select	Answer
A	Sync frequency
B	Sync amplitude
C	Tone frequency
D	Tone amplitude

9. - E2C12

What might help to restore contact when DX signals become too weak to copy across an entire HF band a few hours after sunset?

Select	Answer
A	Switch to a lower frequency HF band
B	Wait 24 hours before attempting another communication on the band
C	Wait 90 minutes or so for the signal degradation to pass
D	Switch to a higher frequency HF band

10. - E2D03

Which of the following digital modes is especially useful for EME communications?

Select	Answer
A	PACTOR III
B	FSK441
C	JT65
D	Olivia

11. - E2E11

What is the difference between direct FSK and audio FSK?

Select	Answer
A	Audio FSK can be performed anywhere in the transmit chain
B	Direct FSK uses a DC-coupled data connection
C	Audio FSK has a superior frequency response
D	Direct FSK applies the data signal to the transmitter VFO

12. - E3A09

Which of the following frequency range is most suited for meteor scatter communications?

Select	Answer
A	1.8 MHz - 1.9 MHz
B	10 MHz - 14 MHz
C	28 MHz - 148 MHz
D	220 MHz - 450 MHz

13. - E3B06

Which of the following amateur bands most frequently provides long-path propagation?

Select	Answer
A	20 meters
B	80 meters
C	10 meters
D	6 meters

14. - E3C06

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

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

15. - E4A04

What determines the upper frequency limit for a computer soundcard-based oscilloscope program?

Select	Answer
A	Q of the interface of the interface circuit
B	Amount of memory on the soundcard
C	Analog-to-digital conversion speed of the soundcard
D	All of these choices are correct

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	1.4652 MHz
B	146.52 Hz
C	14.652 kHz
D	165.2 Hz

17. - E4C07

What does the MDS of a receiver represent?

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

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

19. - E4E06

What is a major cause of atmospheric static?

Select	Answer
A	Thunderstorms
B	Solar radio frequency emissions
C	Meteor showers
D	Geomagnetic storms

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	3.56 MHz
B	1.78 MHz
C	22.36 MHz
D	44.72 MHz

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

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 tangent and cotangent values
C	The sine and cosine values
D	The coordinate values along the horizontal and vertical axes

23. - E5D15

What is the power factor of an R-L circuit having a 45 degree phase angle between the voltage and the current?

Select	Answer
A	1.0
B	0.707
C	0.866
D	0.5

24. - E6A16

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

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

25. - E6B13

What type of bias is required for an LED to emit light?

Select	Answer
A	Inductive bias
B	Forward bias
C	Reverse bias
D	Zero bias

26. - E6C05

What is an advantage of CMOS logic devices over TTL devices?

Select	Answer
A	Immune to damage from static discharge
B	Differential output capability
C	Lower distortion
D	Lower power consumption

27. - E6D17

Why should core saturation of a conventional impedance matching transformer be avoided?

Select	Answer
A	Temporary changes of the core permeability could result
B	RF susceptance would increase
C	Harmonics and distortion could result
D	Magnetic flux would increase with frequency

28. - E6E01

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

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

29. - E6F08

Why are optoisolators often used in conjunction with solid state circuits when switching 120VAC?

Select	Answer
A	Optoisolators eliminate the effects of reflected light in the control circuit
B	Optoisolators provide impedance matching between the control circuit and power circuit
C	Optoisolators provide a low impedance link between a control circuit and a power circuit
D	Optoisolators provide a very high degree of electrical isolation between a control circuit and the circuit being switched

30. - E7A03

Which of the following can divide the frequency of a pulse train by 2?

Select	Answer
A	An OR gate
B	A flip-flop
C	A multiplexer
D	An XOR gate

31. - E7B15

What is one way to prevent thermal runaway in a bipolar transistor amplifier?

Select	Answer
A	Use a resistor in series with the emitter
B	Neutralization
C	Select transistors with high beta
D	All of these choices are correct

32. - E7C05

Which filter type is described as having ripple in the passband and a sharp cutoff?

Select	Answer
A	A Butterworth filter
B	A Chebyshev filter
C	A passive op-amp filter
D	An active LC filter

33. - E7D02

What is one characteristic of a switching electronic voltage regulator?

Select	Answer
A	The resistance of a control element is varied in direct proportion to the line voltage or load current
B	It gives a ramp voltage at its output
C	It is generally less efficient than a linear regulator
D	The controlled device's duty cycle is changed to produce a constant average output voltage

34. - E7E06

Why is de-emphasis commonly used in FM communications receivers?

Select	Answer
A	For compatibility with transmitters using phase modulation
B	For higher efficiency
C	To reduce impulse noise reception
D	To remove third-order distortion products

35. - E7F14

Which of the following would allow a digital signal processing filter to create a sharper filter response?

Select	Answer
A	Double-precision math routines
B	Higher data rate
C	Complex phasor representations
D	More taps

36. - E7G06

Which of the following is the most appropriate use of an op-amp active filter?

Select	Answer
A	As a low-pass filter used between a transmitter and a transmission line
B	As an audio filter in a receiver
C	As a high-pass filter used to block RFI at the input to receivers
D	For smoothing power supply output

37. - E7H02

Which describes a microphonic?

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

38. - E8A06

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

Select	Answer
A	2.5 to 1
B	1 to 1
C	25 to 1
D	100 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 increases as the RF carrier frequency increases
B	It varies with the square root of the RF carrier frequency
C	It does not depend on the RF carrier frequency
D	It decreases as the RF carrier frequency increases

40. - E8C02

What is the definition of symbol rate in a digital transmission?

Select	Answer
A	The number of control characters in a message packet
B	The number of characters carried per second by the station-to-station link
C	The rate at which the waveform of a transmitted signal changes to convey information
D	The duration of each bit in a message sent over the air

41. - E8D05

What is the most common method of reducing key clicks?

Select	Answer
A	Reduce keying waveform rise and fall times
B	Increase keying waveform rise and fall times
C	Low-pass filters at the transmitter output
D	High-pass filters at the transmitter output

42. - E9A02

What antenna has no gain in any direction?

Select	Answer
A	Yagi
B	Half-wave dipole
C	Quarter-wave vertical
D	Isotropic antenna

43. - E9B02

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

Select	Answer
A	14 dB
B	36 dB
C	18 dB
D	24 dB

44. - E9C01

What is the radiation pattern of two 1/4-wavelength vertical antennas spaced 1/2-wavelength apart and fed 180 degrees out of phase?

Select	Answer
A	Cardioid
B	Omni-directional
C	A figure-8 broadside to the axis of the array
D	A figure-8 oriented along the axis of the array

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. - E9E06

What is the equivalent lumped-constant network for a hairpin matching system of a 3-element Yagi?

Select	Answer
A	Pi-network
B	A shunt inductor
C	Pi-L-network
D	A series capacitor

47. - E9F08

What is the term for the ratio of the actual speed at which a signal travels through a transmission line to the speed of light in a vacuum?

Select	Answer
A	Velocity factor
B	Standing wave ratio
C	Surge impedance
D	Characteristic impedance

48. - E9G02

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

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

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

50. - E0A08

What does SAR measure?

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

Figure E9-1