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

2. - E1B03

Within what distance must an amateur station protect an FCC monitoring facility from harmful interference?

Select	Answer
A	30 miles
B	3 miles
C	10 miles
D	1 mile

3. - E1C01

What is a remotely controlled station?

Select	Answer
A	A station operating under automatic control
B	A station operated away from its regular home location
C	A station controlled indirectly through a control link
D	A station controlled by someone other than the licensee

4. - E1D09

Which UHF amateur service bands have frequencies available for a space station?

Select	Answer
A	70 cm only
B	70 cm and 33 cm
C	33 cm and 13 cm
D	70 cm and 13 cm

5. - E1E07

What should a VE do if a candidate fails to comply with the examiner's instructions during an amateur operator license examination?

Select	Answer
A	Warn the candidate that continued failure to comply will result in termination of the examination
B	Immediately terminate the candidate's examination
C	Immediately terminate everyone's examination and close the session
D	Allow the candidate to complete the examination, but invalidate the results

6. - E1F12

Who may be the control operator of an auxiliary station?

Select	Answer
A	Only Amateur Extra Class operators
B	Any licensed amateur operator
C	Only General, Advanced or Amateur Extra Class operators
D	Only Technician, General, Advanced or Amateur Extra Class operators

7. - E2A02

What is the direction of a descending pass for an amateur satellite?

Select	Answer
A	From west to east
B	From south to north
C	From east to west
D	From north to south

8. - E2B09

What hardware, other than a receiver with SSB capability and a suitable computer, is needed to decode SSTV using Digital Radio Mondiale (DRM)?

Select	Answer
A	A special IF converter
B	A special front end limiter
C	No other hardware is needed
D	A special notch filter to remove synchronization pulses

9. - E2C07

What is the Cabrillo format?

Select	Answer
A	The rules of order for meetings between contest sponsors
B	A standard for submission of electronic contest logs
C	The most common set of contest rules
D	A method of exchanging information during a contest QSO

10. - E2D05

Which of the following techniques is normally used by low Earth orbiting digital satellites to relay messages around the world?

Select	Answer
A	Digipeating
B	Store-and-forward
C	Multi-satellite relaying
D	Node hopping

11. - E2E04

What is indicated when one of the ellipses in an FSK crossed-ellipse display suddenly disappears?

Select	Answer
A	One of the signal filters is saturated
B	Selective fading has occurred
C	The receiver has drifted 5 kHz from the desired receive frequency
D	The mark and space signal have been inverted

12. - E3A09

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

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

13. - E3B12

What is the primary characteristic of chordal hop propagation?

Select	Answer
A	Successive ionospheric reflections without an intermediate reflection from the ground
B	Propagation away from the great circle bearing between stations
C	Signals reflected back toward the transmitting station
D	Propagation across the geomagnetic equator

14. - E3C11

What does VOACAP software model?

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

15. - E4A05

What might be an advantage of a digital vs an analog oscilloscope?

Select	Answer
A	Manipulation of time base after trace capture
B	Automatic amplitude and frequency numerical readout
C	All of these choices are correct
D	Storage of traces for future reference

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	14.652 kHz
B	1.4652 MHz
C	165.2 Hz
D	146.52 Hz

17. - E4C10

Which of the following is a desirable amount of selectivity for an amateur RTTY HF receiver?

Select	Answer
A	300 Hz
B	100 Hz
C	6000 Hz
D	2400 Hz

18. - E4D01

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

Select	Answer
A	The minimum difference in dB between the levels of two FM signals which will cause one signal to block the other
B	The difference in dB between the noise floor and the level of an incoming signal which will cause 1 dB of gain compression
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. - E4E08

What type of signal is picked up by electrical wiring near a radio antenna?

Select	Answer
A	A common-mode signal at the frequency of the radio transmitter
B	Harmonics of the AC power line frequency
C	A differential-mode signal at the AC power line frequency
D	An electrical-sparking signal

20. - E5A16

What is the resonant frequency of a parallel RLC circuit if R is 33 ohms, L is 50 microhenrys and C is 10 picofarads?

Select	Answer
A	23.5 kHz
B	7.12 kHz
C	23.5 MHz
D	7.12 MHz

21. - E5B13

What letter is commonly used to represent susceptance?

Select	Answer
A	X
B	B
C	G
D	Y

22. - E5C08

What coordinate system is often used to display the phase angle of a circuit containing resistance, inductive and/or capacitive reactance?

Select	Answer
A	Maidenhead grid
B	Faraday grid
C	Elliptical coordinates
D	Polar coordinates

23. - E5D04

Why are short connections necessary at microwave frequencies?

Select	Answer
A	Because of ground reflections
B	To reduce noise figure
C	To increase neutralizing resistance
D	To reduce phase shift along the connection

24. - E6A03

Why does a PN-junction diode not conduct current when reverse biased?

Select	Answer
A	Only P-type semiconductor material can conduct current
B	Holes in P-type material and electrons in the N-type material are separated by the applied voltage, widening the depletion region
C	Only N-type semiconductor material can conduct current
D	Excess holes in P-type material combine with the electrons in N-type material, converting the entire diode into an insulator

25. - E6B06

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

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

26. - E6C13

Which of the following is an advantage of BiCMOS logic?

Select	Answer
A	It has the high input impedance of CMOS and the low output impedance of bipolar transistors
B	All of these choices are correct
C	Its simplicity results in much less expensive devices than standard CMOS
D	It is totally immune to electrostatic damage

27. - E6D04

Which materials are commonly used as a slug core in a variable inductor?

Select	Answer
A	Teflon and Delrin
B	Cobalt and aluminum
C	Ferrite and brass
D	Polystyrene and polyethylene

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	Better dissipation of heat
C	High-voltage insulating ability
D	Enhanced sensitivity to light

29. - E6F05

Which describes an optical shaft encoder?

Select	Answer
A	A device which measures the strength of a beam of light using analog to digital conversion
B	A device which detects rotation of a control by interrupting a light source with a patterned wheel
C	A digital encryption device often used to encrypt spacecraft control signals
D	A device for generating RTTY signals by means of a rotating light source

30. - E7A03

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

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

31. - E7B02

What is a Class D amplifier?

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

32. - E7C07

What kind of filter would you use to attenuate an interfering carrier signal while receiving an SSB transmission?

Select	Answer
A	A notch filter
B	A Pi-network filter
C	A band-pass filter
D	An all-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 damage due to overcharge
B	Matching of day and night charge rates
C	Prevention of battery undercharge
D	Control of electrolyte levels during battery discharge

34. - E7E10

How does a diode detector function?

Select	Answer
A	By mixing signals with noise in the transition region of the diode
B	By sensing the change of reactance in the diode with respect to frequency
C	By rectification and filtering of RF signals
D	By breakdown of the Zener voltage

35. - E7F17

What do the letters I and Q in I/Q Modulation represent?

Select	Answer
A	In-phase and Quadrature
B	Instantaneous and Quenched
C	Inactive and Quiescent
D	Instantaneous and Quasi-stable

36. - E7G11

What absolute voltage gain can be expected from the circuit in Figure E7-4 when R1 is 3300 ohms and RF is 47 kilohms?

Select	Answer
A	28
B	7
C	0.07
D	14

37. - E7H01

What are three oscillator circuits used in Amateur Radio equipment?

Select	Answer
A	Taft, Hartley and Pierce
B	Colpitts, Hartley and Pierce
C	Taft, Pierce and negative feedback
D	Pierce, Fenner and Beane

38. - E8A07

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

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

39. - E8B06

What is the deviation ratio of an FM-phone signal having a maximum frequency swing of plus or minus 7.5 kHz when the maximum modulation frequency is 3.5 kHz?

Select	Answer
A	0.214
B	47
C	2.14
D	0.47

40. - E8C10

What is an advantage of Gray code in digital communications where symbols are transmitted as multiple bits

Select	Answer
A	It increases security
B	It has more possible states than simple binary
C	It facilitates error detection
D	It has more resolution than simple binary

41. - E8D09

What is considered a good minimum IMD level for an idling PSK signal?

Select	Answer
A	+10 dB
B	-30 dB
C	-20 dB
D	+15 dB

42. - E9A10

Which of the following choices is a way to improve the efficiency of a ground-mounted quarter-wave vertical antenna?

Select	Answer
A	Shorten the radiating element
B	Reduce the diameter of the radiating element
C	Isolate the coax shield from ground
D	Install a good radial system

43. - E9B15

What is the front-to-back ratio of the radiation pattern shown in Figure E9-2?

Select	Answer
A	28 dB
B	3 dB
C	24 dB
D	15 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 become more perpendicular to the wire
B	The vertical angle increases
C	The lobes align more in the direction of the wire
D	The front-to-back ratio decreases

45. - E9D03

Where should a high Q loading coil be placed to minimize losses in a shortened vertical antenna?

Select	Answer
A	As close to the transmitter as possible
B	As low as possible on the vertical radiator
C	Near the center of the vertical radiator
D	At a voltage node

46. - E9E08

Which of the following measurements is characteristic of a mismatched transmission line?

Select	Answer
A	A dielectric constant greater than 1
B	An SWR greater than 1:1
C	A reflection coefficient greater than 1
D	An SWR less than 1:1

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 surge impedance is higher in a parallel feed line
C	Skin effect is less pronounced in the coaxial cable
D	The characteristic impedance is higher in a parallel feed line

48. - E9G10

What do the arcs on a Smith chart represent?

Select	Answer
A	Points with constant resistance
B	SWR
C	Frequency
D	Points with constant reactance

49. - E9H06

What is the triangulation method of direction finding?

Select	Answer
A	Antenna headings from several different receiving locations are used to locate the signal source
B	The geometric angles of sky waves from the source are used to determine its position
C	A fixed receiving station plots three headings to the signal source
D	A fixed receiving station uses three different antennas to plot the location of the signal source

50. - E0A05

What is one of the potential hazards of using microwaves in the amateur radio bands?

Select	Answer
A	The extremely high frequency energy can damage the joints of antenna structures
B	The high gain antennas commonly used can result in high exposure levels
C	Microwaves are ionizing radiation
D	Microwaves often travel long distances by ionospheric reflection

Figure E7-4

Figure E9-2