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

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1. - E1A13

Who must be in physical control of the station apparatus of an amateur station aboard any vessel or craft that is documented or registered in the United States?

Select	Answer
A	Any person holding an FCC issued amateur license or who is authorized for alien reciprocal operation
B	Only a person with an FCC Marine Radio
C	Any person named in an amateur station license grant or a person holding an unrestricted Radiotelephone Operator Permit
D	Only a person named in an amateur station license grant

2. - E1B09

Which amateur stations may be operated under RACES rules?

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

3. - E1C05

When may an automatically controlled station originate third party communications?

Select	Answer
A	Never
B	When agreed upon by the sending or receiving station
C	Only when transmitting RTTY or data emissions
D	When approved by the National Telecommunication and Information Administration

4. - E1D11

Which amateur stations are eligible to operate as Earth stations?

Select	Answer
A	Only those of General, Advanced or Amateur Extra Class operators
B	Only those of Amateur Extra Class operators
C	Any amateur station whose licensee has filed a pre-space notification with the FCC's International Bureau
D	Any amateur station, subject to the privileges of the class of operator license held by the control operator

5. - E1E14

For which types of out-of-pocket expenses do the Part 97 rules state that VEs and VECs may be reimbursed?

Select	Answer
A	Teaching an amateur operator license examination preparation course
B	Providing amateur operator license examination preparation training materials
C	Preparing, processing, administering and coordinating an examination for an amateur radio license
D	No expenses are authorized for reimbursement

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 purchased in used condition from an amateur operator and is sold to another amateur operator for use at that operator's station
C	The equipment dealer assembled it from a kit
D	It was imported from a manufacturer in another country and was certificated by that country's government

7. - E2A11

What type of antenna can be used to minimize the effects of spin modulation and Faraday rotation?

Select	Answer
A	A circularly polarized antenna
B	A linearly polarized antenna
C	An isotropic antenna
D	A log-periodic dipole array

8. - E2B10

Which of the following is an acceptable bandwidth for Digital Radio Mondiale (DRM) based voice or SSTV digital transmissions made on the HF amateur bands?

Select	Answer
A	3 KHz
B	15 KHz
C	10 KHz
D	20 KHz

9. - E2C02

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

Select	Answer
A	A manual technique for rapidly zero beating or tuning to a station's frequency before calling that station
B	The acceptable practice of manually posting the call signs of stations on a spotting network
C	The generally prohibited practice of posting one's own call sign and frequency on a spotting network
D	An automatic method 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 supplies signals to guide the antenna to track the Moon
B	It can decode signals many dB below the noise floor using FEC
C	All of these choices are correct
D	It controls the receiver to track Doppler shift

11. - E2E06

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

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

12. - E3A07

Atmospheric ducts capable of propagating microwave signals often form over what geographic feature?

Select	Answer
A	Forests
B	Bodies of water
C	Urban areas
D	Mountain ranges

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	Propagation across the geomagnetic equator
D	Successive ionospheric reflections without an intermediate reflection from the ground

14. - E3C13

What type of polarization is best for ground-wave propagation?

Select	Answer
A	Vertical
B	Horizontal
C	Elliptical
D	Circular

15. - E4A14

What is the purpose of the prescaler function on a frequency counter?

Select	Answer
A	It divides a higher frequency signal so a low-frequency counter can display the input frequency
B	It amplifies low level signals for more accurate counting
C	It multiplies a higher frequency signal so a low-frequency counter can display the operating frequency
D	It prevents oscillation in a low-frequency counter circuit

16. - E4B06

How much power is being absorbed by the load when a directional power meter connected between a transmitter and a terminating load reads 100 watts forward power and 25 watts reflected power?

Select	Answer
A	100 watts
B	25 watts
C	125 watts
D	75 watts

17. - E4C11

Which of the following is a desirable amount of selectivity for an amateur SSB phone receiver?

Select	Answer
A	4.2 kHz
B	4.8 kHz
C	2.4 kHz
D	1 kHz

18. - E4D02

Which of the following describes two problems caused by poor dynamic range in a communications receiver?

Select	Answer
A	Cross-modulation of the desired signal and insufficient audio power to operate the speaker
B	Cross-modulation of the desired signal and desensitization from strong adjacent signals
C	Oscillator instability and severe audio distortion of all but the strongest received signals
D	Oscillator instability requiring frequent retuning and loss of ability to recover the opposite sideband

19. - E4E09

What undesirable effect can occur when using an IF noise blanker?

Select	Answer
A	Received audio in the speech range might have an echo effect
B	The audio frequency bandwidth of the received signal might be compressed
C	FM signals can no longer be demodulated
D	Nearby signals may appear to be excessively wide even if they meet emission standards

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	1.78 MHz
C	3.56 MHz
D	22.36 MHz

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	The sign is reversed
C	It is shifted by 90 degrees
D	It is unchanged

22. - E5C05

What is the name of the diagram used to show the phase relationship between impedances at a given frequency?

Select	Answer
A	Far field diagram
B	Phasor diagram
C	Venn diagram
D	Near field diagram

23. - E5D01

What is the result of skin effect?

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

24. - E6A11

In Figure E6-2, what is the schematic symbol for a P-channel junction FET?

Select	Answer
A	6
B	3
C	1
D	2

25. - E6B08

Which of the following describes a type of semiconductor diode?

Select	Answer
A	Electrolytic rectifier
B	CMOS-field effect
C	Thermionic emission diode
D	Metal-semiconductor junction

26. - E6C07

What best describes a pull-up or pull-down resistor?

Select	Answer
A	A resistor connected to the positive or negative supply line used to establish a voltage when an input or output is an open circuit
B	A resistor that insures that an oscillator frequency does not drive lower over time
C	A resistor in a keying circuit used to reduce key clicks
D	A resistor connected to an op-amp output that only functions when the logic output is false

27. - E6D02

What is the equivalent circuit of a quartz crystal?

Select	Answer
A	Motional inductance and loss resistance in series, paralleled with motional capacitance and a capacitor representing electrode and stray capacitance
B	Motional capacitance, motional inductance, loss resistance, and a capacitor representing electrode and stray capacitance all in parallel
C	Motional capacitance, motional inductance, loss resistance, and a capacitor representing electrode and stray capacitance all in series
D	Motional capacitance, motional inductance, and loss resistance in series, all in parallel with a shunt capacitor representing electrode and stray capacitance

28. - E6E12

Why are high-power RF amplifier ICs and transistors sometimes mounted in ceramic packages?

Select	Answer
A	Better dissipation of heat
B	To provide a low-pass frequency response
C	High-voltage insulating ability
D	Enhanced sensitivity to light

29. - E6F08

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

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

30. - E7A05

Which of the following is a circuit that continuously alternates between two states without an external clock?

Select	Answer
A	T flip-flop
B	Monostable multivibrator
C	J-K flip-flop
D	Astable multivibrator

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	At a point where the load line intersects the zero bias current curve
C	Approximately half-way between saturation and cutoff
D	At a point where the bias resistor equals the load resistor

32. - E7C12

Which describes a Pi-L-network used for matching a vacuum tube final amplifier to a 50 ohm unbalanced output?

Select	Answer
A	A matching network in which all components are isolated from ground
B	A Pi-network with an additional series inductor on the output
C	A network with only three discrete parts
D	A Phase Inverter Load network

33. - E7D09

What is the main reason to use a charge controller with a solar power system?

Select	Answer
A	Prevention of battery damage due to overcharge
B	Control of electrolyte levels during battery discharge
C	Prevention of battery undercharge
D	Matching of day and night charge rates

34. - E7E11

Which type of detector is used for demodulating SSB signals?

Select	Answer
A	Product detector
B	Phase comparator
C	Phase detector
D	Discriminator

35. - E7F11

What sets the minimum detectable signal level for an SDR in the absence of atmospheric or thermal noise?

Select	Answer
A	Data storage transfer rate
B	Missing codes and jitter
C	Reference voltage level and sample width in bits
D	Sample clock phase noise

36. - E7G12

What is an integrated circuit operational amplifier?

Select	Answer
A	A RF amplifier used in the UHF and microwave regions
B	A high-gain, direct-coupled differential amplifier with very high input impedance and very low output impedance
C	An amplifier used to increase the average output of frequency modulated amateur signals to the legal limit
D	A digital audio amplifier whose characteristics are determined by components external to the amplifier

37. - E7H05

How is positive feedback supplied in a Pierce oscillator?

Select	Answer
A	Through a quartz crystal
B	Through a tapped coil
C	Through a neutralizing capacitor
D	Through link coupling

38. - E8A08

Why would a direct or flash conversion analog-to-digital converter be useful for a software defined radio?

Select	Answer
A	Very low power consumption decreases frequency drift
B	Very high speed allows digitizing high frequencies
C	All of these choices are correct
D	Immunity to out of sequence coding reduces spurious responses

39. - E8B02

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

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

40. - E8C11

What is the relationship between symbol rate and baud?

Select	Answer
A	They are the same
B	Baud is only used for RTTY
C	Baud is twice the symbol rate
D	Symbol rate is only used for packet-based modes

41. - E8D11

What is one advantage of using ASCII code for data communications?

Select	Answer
A	It includes built in error correction features
B	It is possible to transmit both upper and lower case text
C	It contains fewer information bits per character than any other code
D	It uses one character as a shift code to send numeric and special characters

42. - E9A16

What is the effective radiated power relative to a dipole of a repeater station with 200 watts transmitter power output, 4 dB feed line loss, 3.2 dB duplexer loss, 0.8 dB circulator loss, and 10 dBd antenna gain?

Select	Answer
A	300 watts
B	126 watts
C	317 watts
D	2000 watts

43. - E9B07

How does the total amount of radiation emitted by a directional gain antenna compare with the total amount of radiation emitted from an isotropic antenna, assuming each is driven by the same amount of power?

Select	Answer
A	The total amount of radiation from the directional antenna is increased by the gain of the antenna
B	They are the same
C	The radiation from the isotropic antenna is 2.15 dB stronger than that from the directional antenna
D	The total amount of radiation from the directional antenna is stronger by its front-to-back ratio

44. - E9C02

What is the radiation pattern of two 1/4 wavelength vertical antennas spaced 1/4 wavelength apart and fed 90 degrees out of phase?

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

45. - E9D05

What is a disadvantage of using a multiband trapped antenna?

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

46. - E9E04

What is the purpose of the series capacitor in a gamma-type antenna matching network?

Select	Answer
A	To provide DC isolation between the feed line and the antenna
B	To transform the antenna impedance to a higher value
C	To provide a rejection notch that prevents the radiation of harmonics
D	To cancel the inductive reactance of the matching network

47. - E9F03

Why is the physical length of a coaxial cable transmission line shorter than its electrical length?

Select	Answer
A	Electrical signals move more slowly in a coaxial cable than in air
B	The characteristic impedance is higher in a parallel feed line
C	The surge impedance is higher in a parallel feed line
D	Skin effect is less pronounced in the coaxial cable

48. - E9G04

What are the two families of circles and arcs that make up a Smith chart?

Select	Answer
A	Reactance and voltage
B	Resistance and voltage
C	Voltage and impedance
D	Resistance and reactance

49. - E9H02

Which is generally true for low band (160 meter and 80 meter) receiving antennas?

Select	Answer
A	All of these choices are correct
B	Atmospheric noise is so high that gain over a dipole is not important
C	They must be erected at least 1/2 wavelength above the ground to attain good directivity
D	Low loss coax transmission line is essential for good performance

50. - E0A04

When evaluating a site with multiple transmitters operating at the same time, the operators and licensees of which transmitters are responsible for mitigating over-exposure situations?

Select	Answer
A	Only commercial transmitters
B	Only the most powerful transmitter
C	Each transmitter that produces 5 percent or more of its MPE limit at accessible locations
D	Each transmitter operating with a duty-cycle greater than 50 percent

Figure E6-2