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

2. - E1B05

What is the National Radio Quiet Zone?

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

3. - E1C04

What is meant by IARP?

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

4. - E1D04

What is an Earth station in the amateur satellite service?

Select	Answer
A	An amateur station that transmits telemetry consisting of measurement of upper atmosphere
B	Any amateur station on the surface of the Earth
C	An amateur station within 50 km of the Earth's surface intended for communications with amateur stations by means of objects in space
D	An amateur station that is not able to communicate using amateur satellites

5. - E1E08

To which of the following examinees may a VE not administer an examination?

Select	Answer
A	Relatives of the VE as listed in the FCC rules
B	Employees of the VE
C	Friends of the VE
D	All of these choices are correct

6. - E1F11

Which of the following best describes one of the standards that must be met by an external RF power amplifier if it is to qualify for a grant of FCC certification?

Select	Answer
A	It must satisfy the FCC's spurious emission standards when operated at the lesser of 1500 watts or its full output power
B	It must produce full legal output when driven by not more than 5 watts of mean RF input power
C	It must be capable of external RF switching between its input and output networks
D	It must exhibit a gain of 0 dB or less over its full output range

7. - E2A12

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

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

8. - E2B15

What signals SSTV receiving equipment to begin a new picture line?

Select	Answer
A	Elapsed time
B	A two-tone signal
C	Specific tone frequencies
D	Specific tone amplitudes

9. - E2C01

Which of the following is true about contest operating?

Select	Answer
A	Operators are permitted to make contacts even if they do not submit a log
B	Every contest requires a signal report in the exchange
C	It is mandatory to transmit the call sign of the station being worked as part of every transmission to that station
D	Interference to other amateurs is unavoidable and therefore acceptable

10. - E2D13

What type of modulation is used for JT65 contacts?

Select	Answer
A	PSK
B	IEEE 802.11
C	RTTY
D	Multi-tone AFSK

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. - E3A08

When a meteor strikes the Earth's atmosphere, a cylindrical region of free electrons is formed at what layer of the ionosphere?

Select	Answer
A	The E layer
B	The F2 layer
C	The F1 layer
D	The D layer

13. - E3B06

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

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

14. - E3C07

Which of the following descriptors indicates the greatest solar flare intensity?

Select	Answer
A	Class B
B	Class M
C	Class A
D	Class X

15. - E4A15

What is an advantage of a period-measuring frequency counter over a direct-count type?

Select	Answer
A	It does not require an expensive high-precision time base
B	It can directly measure the modulation index of an FM transmitter
C	It can run on battery power for remote measurements
D	It provides improved resolution of low-frequency signals within a comparable time period

16. - E4B16

Which S parameter represents return loss or SWR?

Select	Answer
A	S21
B	S11
C	S22
D	S12

17. - E4C13

How does a narrow-band roofing filter affect receiver performance?

Select	Answer
A	All of these choices are correct
B	It improves intelligibility by using low Q circuitry to reduce ringing
C	It improves sensitivity by reducing front end noise
D	It improves dynamic range by attenuating strong signals near the receive frequency

18. - E4D13

Which of the following can cause receiver desensitization?

Select	Answer
A	Strong adjacent channel signals
B	Squelch gain misadjusted
C	Audio bias adjusted too high
D	Audio gain adjusted too low

19. - E4E16

What current flows equally on all conductors of an unshielded multi-conductor cable?

Select	Answer
A	Return current
B	Common-mode current
C	Differential-mode current
D	Reactive current only

20. - E5A04

What is the magnitude of the impedance of a circuit with a resistor, an inductor and a capacitor all in parallel, at resonance?

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

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

22. - E5C03

Which of the following represents an inductive reactance in polar coordinates?

Select	Answer
A	A negative real part
B	A positive phase angle
C	A positive real part
D	A negative phase angle

23. - E5D09

What happens to reactive power in an AC circuit that has both ideal inductors and ideal capacitors?

Select	Answer
A	It is dissipated in the formation of inductive and capacitive fields
B	It is repeatedly exchanged between the associated magnetic and electric fields, but is not dissipated
C	It is dissipated as heat in the circuit
D	It is dissipated as kinetic energy in the circuit

24. - E6A15

Which semiconductor material contains excess holes in the outer shell of electrons?

Select	Answer
A	P-type
B	Superconductor-type
C	N-type
D	Bipolar-type

25. - E6B06

Which of the following is a common use of a hot-carrier diode?

Select	Answer
A	As a variable capacitance in an automatic frequency control circuit
B	As balanced mixers in FM generation
C	As a VHF/UHF mixer or detector
D	As a constant voltage reference in a power supply

26. - E6C02

What happens when the level of a comparator's input signal crosses the threshold?

Select	Answer
A	The feedback loop becomes unstable
B	The IC input can be damaged
C	The comparator changes its output state
D	The comparator enters latch-up

27. - E6D13

What is the primary cause of inductor self-resonance?

Select	Answer
A	The skin effect
B	Inductive kickback
C	Non-linear core hysteresis
D	Inter-turn capacitance

28. - E6E12

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

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

29. - E6F13

What is a liquid crystal display (LCD)?

Select	Answer
A	A display utilizing a crystalline liquid and polarizing filters which becomes opaque when voltage is applied
B	A modern replacement for a quartz crystal oscillator which displays its fundamental frequency
C	A display that uses a glowing liquid to remain brightly lit in dim light
D	A frequency-determining unit for a transmitter or receiver

30. - E7A09

What logical operation is performed by an exclusive NOR gate?

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

31. - E7B02

What is a Class D amplifier?

Select	Answer
A	A type of amplifier that uses switching technology to achieve high efficiency
B	A frequency doubling amplifier
C	An amplifier that uses drift-mode FETs for high efficiency
D	A low power amplifier that uses a differential amplifier for improved linearity

32. - E7C14

Which mode is most affected by non-linear phase response in a receiver IF filter?

Select	Answer
A	Meteor scatter
B	Digital
C	Single-Sideband voice
D	Video

33. - E7D10

What is the primary reason that a high-frequency switching type high voltage power supply can be both less expensive and lighter in weight than a conventional power supply?

Select	Answer
A	It uses a large power factor compensation capacitor to create free power from the unused portion of the AC cycle
B	It uses a diode bridge rectifier for increased output
C	The inverter design does not require any output filtering
D	The high frequency inverter design uses much smaller transformers and filter components for an equivalent power output

34. - E7E11

Which type of detector is used for demodulating SSB signals?

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

35. - E7F14

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

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

36. - E7G12

What is an integrated circuit operational amplifier?

Select	Answer
A	A high-gain, direct-coupled differential amplifier with very high input impedance and very low output impedance
B	A RF amplifier used in the UHF and microwave regions
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. - E7H11

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

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

38. - E8A12

What is an advantage of using digital signals instead of analog signals to convey the same information?

Select	Answer
A	Digital signals always occupy a narrower bandwidth
B	All of these choices are correct
C	Digital signals can be regenerated multiple times without error
D	Less complex circuitry is required for digital signal generation and detection

39. - E8B02

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

Select	Answer
A	It decreases 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 increases as the RF carrier frequency increases

40. - E8C01

How is Forward Error Correction implemented?

Select	Answer
A	By varying the frequency shift of the transmitted signal according to a predefined algorithm
B	By the receiving station repeating each block of three data characters
C	By transmitting extra data that may be used to detect and correct transmission errors
D	By transmitting a special algorithm to the receiving station along with the data characters

41. - E8D02

What spread spectrum communications technique uses a high speed binary bit stream to shift the phase of an RF carrier?

Select	Answer
A	Direct sequence
B	Frequency hopping
C	Phase compandored spread spectrum
D	Binary phase-shift keying

42. - E9A14

What is meant by the radiation resistance of an antenna?

Select	Answer
A	The combined losses of the antenna elements and feed line
B	The value of a resistance that would dissipate the same amount of power as that radiated from an antenna
C	The specific impedance of the antenna
D	The resistance in the atmosphere that an antenna must overcome to be able to radiate a signal

43. - E9B06

What is the elevation angle of peak response in the antenna radiation pattern shown in Figure E9-2?

Select	Answer
A	25 degrees
B	7.5 degrees
C	75 degrees
D	45 degrees

44. - E9C15

How does the radiation pattern of a horizontally polarized 3-element beam antenna vary with its height above ground?

Select	Answer
A	The main lobe takeoff angle increases with increasing height
B	The main lobe takeoff angle decreases with increasing height
C	The horizontal beam width decreases with height
D	The horizontal beam width increases with height

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 might radiate harmonics
D	It radiates the harmonics and fundamental equally well

46. - E9E04

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

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

47. - E9F15

What impedance does a 1/2 wavelength transmission line present to a generator when the line is open at the far end?

Select	Answer
A	The same as the characteristic impedance of the line
B	Very high impedance
C	Very low impedance
D	The same as the output impedance of the generator

48. - E9G07

On the Smith chart shown in Figure E9-3, what is the only straight line shown?

Select	Answer
A	The resistance axis
B	The voltage axis
C	The reactance axis
D	The current axis

49. - E9H07

Why is it advisable to use an RF attenuator on a receiver being used for direction finding?

Select	Answer
A	It prevents receiver overload which could make it difficult to determine peaks or nulls
B	It compensates for the effects of an isotropic antenna, thereby improving directivity
C	It narrows the bandwidth of the received signal to improve signal to noise ratio
D	It reduces loss of received signals caused by antenna pattern nulls, thereby increasing sensitivity

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

Figure E9-2

Figure E9-3