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

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1. - E1A08

If a station in a message forwarding system inadvertently forwards a message that is in violation of FCC rules, who is primarily accountable for the rules violation?

Select	Answer
A	The control operator of the originating station
B	The control operators of all the stations in the system not authenticating the source from which they accept communications
C	The control operator of the packet bulletin board station
D	The control operators of all the stations in the system

2. - E1B05

What is the National Radio Quiet Zone?

Select	Answer
A	An area surrounding the National Radio Astronomy Observatory
B	An area in Florida surrounding Cape Canaveral
C	An area in New Mexico surrounding the White Sands Test Area
D	An area in Puerto Rico surrounding the Arecibo Radio Telescope

3. - E1C11

Which of the following operating arrangements allows an FCC-licensed U.S. citizen to operate in many European countries, and alien amateurs from many European countries to operate in the U.S.?

Select	Answer
A	IARP agreement
B	All of these choices are correct
C	ITU reciprocal license
D	CEPT agreement

4. - E1D05

What class of licensee is authorized to be the control operator of a space station?

Select	Answer
A	Only Amateur Extra Class
B	Any class with appropriate operator privileges
C	All except Technician Class
D	Only General, Advanced or Amateur Extra Class

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

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	The equipment dealer assembled it from a kit
B	It was imported from a manufacturer in another country and was certificated by that country's government
C	It was imported from a manufacturer in a country that does not require certification of RF power amplifiers
D	It was purchased in used condition from an amateur operator and is sold to another amateur operator for use at that operator's station

7. - E2A04

What is meant by the term mode as applied to an amateur radio satellite?

Select	Answer
A	The satellite's orientation with respect to the Earth
B	Whether the satellite is in a polar or equatorial orbit
C	The type of signals that can be relayed through the satellite
D	The satellite's uplink and downlink frequency bands

8. - E2B12

How are analog SSTV images typically transmitted on the HF bands?

Select	Answer
A	Varying tone frequencies representing the video are transmitted using PSK
B	Video is converted to equivalent ASCII representation
C	Varying tone frequencies representing the video are transmitted using single sideband
D	Video is converted to equivalent Baudot representation

9. - E2C09

What type of equipment is commonly used to implement a ham radio mesh network?

Select	Answer
A	A standard wireless router running custom software
B	A 2 meter VHF transceiver with a 1200 baud modem
C	A 440 MHz transceiver with a 9600 baud modem
D	An optical cable connection between the USB ports of 2 separate computers

10. - E2D04

What is the purpose of digital store-and-forward functions on an Amateur Radio satellite?

Select	Answer
A	To relay messages between satellites
B	To upload operational software for the transponder
C	To store digital messages in the satellite for later download by other stations
D	To delay download of telemetry between satellites

11. - E2E13

Which of the following is a possible reason that attempts to initiate contact with a digital station on a clear frequency are unsuccessful?

Select	Answer
A	All of these choices are correct
B	The protocol version you are using is not the supported by the digital station
C	Your transmit frequency is incorrect
D	Another station you are unable to hear is using the frequency

12. - E3A16

Which of the following best describes electromagnetic waves traveling in free space?

Select	Answer
A	Changing electric and magnetic fields propagate the energy
B	The waves are reflected by the ionosphere and return to their source
C	Electric and magnetic fields become aligned as they travel
D	The energy propagates through a medium with a high refractive index

13. - E3B13

Why is chordal hop propagation desirable?

Select	Answer
A	Atmospheric noise is lower in the direction of chordal hop propagation
B	The MUF for chordal hop propagation is much lower than for normal skip propagation
C	The signal experiences less loss along the path compared to normal skip propagation
D	Signals travel faster along ionospheric chords

14. - E3C05

What orientation of Bz (B sub z) increases the likelihood that incoming particles from the Sun will cause disturbed conditions?

Select	Answer
A	Eastward
B	Westward
C	Southward
D	Northward

15. - E4A07

Which of the following is an advantage of using an antenna analyzer compared to an SWR bridge to measure antenna SWR?

Select	Answer
A	Antenna analyzers do not need an external RF source
B	All of these choices are correct
C	Antenna analyzers display a time-varying representation of the modulation envelope
D	Antenna analyzers automatically tune your antenna for resonance

16. - E4B13

Which S parameter is equivalent to forward gain?

Select	Answer
A	S12
B	S11
C	S21
D	S22

17. - E4C04

How is the noise figure of a receiver defined?

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

18. - E4D06

What is the term for unwanted signals generated by the mixing of two or more signals?

Select	Answer
A	Adjacent channel interference
B	Neutralization
C	Amplifier desensitization
D	Intermodulation interference

19. - E4E14

What is one type of electrical interference that might be caused by the operation of a nearby personal computer?

Select	Answer
A	A loud AC hum in the audio output of your station receiver
B	A whining type noise that continually pulses off and on
C	A clicking noise at intervals of a few seconds
D	The appearance of unstable modulated or unmodulated signals at specific frequencies

20. - E5A13

What is an effect of increasing Q in a resonant circuit?

Select	Answer
A	Parasitic effects are minimized
B	Fewer components are needed for the same performance
C	Phase shift can become uncontrolled
D	Internal voltages and circulating currents increase

21. - E5B10

What is the relationship between the current through an inductor and the voltage across an inductor?

Select	Answer
A	Current leads voltage by 90 degrees
B	Voltage and current are 180 degrees out of phase
C	Voltage and current are in phase
D	Voltage leads current by 90 degrees

22. - E5C09

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

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

23. - E5D05

Which parasitic characteristic increases with conductor length?

Select	Answer
A	Malleability
B	Permeability
C	Permittivity
D	Inductance

24. - E6A17

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

Select	Answer
A	Emitter, base 1, base 2
B	Emitter, base, collector
C	Gate, drain, source
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	Tunnel diode
B	Zener diode
C	Varactor diode
D	Silicon-controlled rectifier

26. - E6C07

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

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

27. - E6D03

Which of the following is an aspect of the piezoelectric effect?

Select	Answer
A	Mechanical deformation of material by the application of a magnetic field
B	Generation of electrical energy in the presence of light
C	Increased conductivity in the presence of light
D	Mechanical deformation of material by the application of a voltage

28. - E6E07

Which of the following is typically used to construct a MMIC-based microwave amplifier?

Select	Answer
A	Ground-plane construction
B	Microstrip construction
C	Wave-soldering construction
D	Point-to-point construction

29. - E6F04

What is the photovoltaic effect?

Select	Answer
A	The conversion of electrical energy to mechanical energy
B	The conversion of light to electrical energy
C	The conversion of voltage to current when exposed to light
D	The tendency of a battery to discharge when used outside

30. - E7A03

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

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

31. - E7B16

What is the effect of intermodulation products in a linear power amplifier?

Select	Answer
A	Transmission of spurious signals
B	All of these choices are correct
C	Creation of parasitic oscillations
D	Low efficiency

32. - E7C02

Which of the following is a property of a T-network with series capacitors and a parallel shunt inductor?

Select	Answer
A	It is a low-pass filter
B	It is a notch filter
C	It is a high-pass filter
D	It is a band-pass filter

33. - E7D09

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

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

34. - E7E09

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

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

35. - E7F03

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

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

36. - E7G12

What is an integrated circuit operational amplifier?

Select	Answer
A	A digital audio amplifier whose characteristics are determined by components external to the amplifier
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 RF amplifier used in the UHF and microwave regions

37. - E7H11

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

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

38. - E8A07

What determines the PEP-to-average power ratio of a single-sideband phone signal?

Select	Answer
A	The amplifier gain
B	The frequency of the modulating signal
C	The characteristics of the modulating signal
D	The degree of carrier suppression

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	0.167
C	1.67
D	60

40. - E8C02

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

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

41. - E8D01

Why are received spread spectrum signals resistant to interference?

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

42. - E9A06

How does the beamwidth of an antenna vary as the gain is increased?

Select	Answer
A	It is essentially unaffected
B	It decreases
C	It increases arithmetically
D	It increases geometrically

43. - E9B11

What is a disadvantage of decreasing the number of wire segments in an antenna model below the guideline of 10 segments per half-wavelength?

Select	Answer
A	Ground conductivity will not be accurately modeled
B	The resulting design will favor radiation of harmonic energy
C	The computed feed point impedance may be incorrect
D	The antenna will become mechanically unstable

44. - E9C05

What is an OCFD antenna?

Select	Answer
A	An eight band dipole antenna using octophase filters
B	A remotely tunable dipole antenna using orthogonally controlled frequency diversity
C	A dipole feed approximately 1/3 the way from one end with a 4:1 balun to provide multiband operation
D	A multiband dipole antenna using one-way circular polarization for frequency diversity

45. - E9D13

What usually occurs if a Yagi antenna is designed solely for maximum forward gain?

Select	Answer
A	The front-to-back ratio increases
B	The front-to-back ratio decreases
C	The frequency response is widened over the whole frequency band
D	The SWR is reduced

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 cancel the inductive reactance of the matching network
C	To transform the antenna impedance to a higher value
D	To provide a rejection notch that prevents the radiation of harmonics

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

48. - E9G03

Which of the following is often determined using a Smith chart?

Select	Answer
A	Impedance and SWR values in transmission lines
B	Beam headings and radiation patterns
C	Satellite azimuth and elevation bearings
D	Trigonometric functions

49. - E9H04

What is an advantage of using a shielded loop antenna for direction finding?

Select	Answer
A	It allows stations to communicate without giving away their position
B	It automatically cancels ignition noise in mobile installations
C	It is electro statically balanced against ground, giving better nulls
D	It eliminates tracking errors caused by strong out-of-band signals

50. - E0A11

Which of the following injuries can result from using high-power UHF or microwave transmitters?

Select	Answer
A	Ingestion of ozone gas from the cooling system
B	Blood clotting from the intense magnetic field
C	Localized heating of the body from RF exposure in excess of the MPE limits
D	Hearing loss caused by high voltage corona discharge