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

2. - E1B09

Which amateur stations may be operated under RACES rules?

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

3. - E1C13

Which of the following is required in order to operate in accordance with CEPT rules in foreign countries where permitted?

Select	Answer
A	The U.S. embassy must approve of your operation
B	You must identify in the official language of the country in which you are operating
C	You must append "/CEPT" to your call sign
D	You must bring a copy of FCC Public Notice DA 11-221

4. - E1D06

Which of the following is a requirement of a space station?

Select	Answer
A	The space station must be capable of changing its orbit whenever such a change is ordered by NASA
B	The space station must cease all transmissions after 5 years
C	All of these choices are correct
D	The space station must be capable of terminating transmissions by telecommand when directed by the FCC

5. - E1E06

Who is responsible for the proper conduct and necessary supervision during an amateur operator license examination session?

Select	Answer
A	The VEC coordinating the session
B	The VE session manager
C	Each administering VE
D	The FCC

6. - E1F04

Which of the following geographic descriptions approximately describes "Line A"?

Select	Answer
A	A line roughly parallel to and south of the U.S.-Canadian border
B	A line roughly parallel to and west of the U.S. Atlantic coastline
C	A line roughly parallel to and east of the U.S. Pacific coastline
D	A line roughly parallel to and north of the U.S.-Mexican border and Gulf coastline

7. - E2A06

On what band would a satellite receive signals if it were operating in mode U/V?

Select	Answer
A	435 MHz - 438 MHz
B	50.0 MHz - 50.2 MHz
C	144 MHz - 146 MHz
D	29.5 MHz - 29.7 MHz

8. - E2B12

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

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

9. - E2C13

What indicator is required to be used by U.S.-licensed operators when operating a station via remote control where the transmitter is located in the U.S.?

Select	Answer
A	/ followed by the USPS two letter abbreviation for the state in which the remote station is located
B	/R# where # is the district of the remote station
C	The ARRL section of the remote station
D	No additional indicator is required

10. - E2D08

What type of packet frame is used to transmit APRS beacon data?

Select	Answer
A	Unnumbered Information
B	Disconnect
C	Acknowledgement
D	Connect

11. - E2E12

Which type of control is used by stations using the Automatic Link Enable (ALE) protocol?

Select	Answer
A	Local
B	Remote
C	ALE can use any type of control
D	Automatic

12. - E3A06

Which of the following is required for microwave propagation via rain scatter?

Select	Answer
A	All of these choices are correct
B	The rain must be within radio range of both stations
C	Rain droplets must be within the E layer
D	Rain droplets must be electrically charged

13. - E3B06

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

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

14. - E3C07

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

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

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

16. - E4B15

Which of the following can be used as a relative measurement of the Q for a series-tuned circuit?

Select	Answer
A	The inductance to capacitance ratio
B	The resonant frequency of the circuit
C	The frequency shift
D	The bandwidth of the circuit's frequency response

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 dynamic range by attenuating strong signals near the receive frequency
D	It improves sensitivity by reducing front end noise

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

19. - E4E14

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

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

20. - E5A03

What is the magnitude of the impedance of a series RLC circuit at resonance?

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

21. - E5B07

What is the phase angle between the voltage across and the current through a series RLC circuit if XC is 500 ohms, R is 1 kilohm, and XL is 250 ohms?

Select	Answer
A	68.2 degrees with the voltage leading the current
B	14.0 degrees with the voltage leading the current
C	68.2 degrees with the voltage lagging the current
D	14.0 degrees with the voltage lagging the current

22. - E5C04

Which of the following represents a capacitive reactance in polar coordinates?

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

23. - E5D01

What is the result of skin effect?

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

24. - E6A05

What is the alpha of a bipolar junction transistor?

Select	Answer
A	The change of collector current with respect to gate current
B	The change of collector current with respect to emitter current
C	The change of base current with respect to collector current
D	The change of collector current with respect to base current

25. - E6B08

Which of the following describes a type of semiconductor diode?

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

26. - E6C10

In Figure E6-5, what is the schematic symbol for a NOR gate?

Select	Answer
A	1
B	3
C	4
D	2

27. - E6D05

What is one reason for using ferrite cores rather than powdered-iron in an inductor?

Select	Answer
A	Ferrite toroids generally have lower initial permeability
B	Ferrite toroids are easier to use with surface mount technology
C	Ferrite toroids generally have better temperature stability
D	Ferrite toroids generally require fewer turns to produce a given inductance value

28. - E6E04

Which is the most common input and output impedance of circuits that use MMICs?

Select	Answer
A	10 ohms
B	450 ohms
C	50 ohms
D	300 ohms

29. - E6F13

What is a liquid crystal display (LCD)?

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

30. - E7A02

What is the function of a decade counter digital IC?

Select	Answer
A	It produces one output pulse for every ten input pulses
B	It decodes a decimal number for display on a seven segment LED display
C	It produces ten output pulses for every input pulse
D	It adds two decimal numbers together

31. - E7B16

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

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

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

33. - E7D14

What is one purpose of a "bleeder" resistor in a conventional unregulated power supply?

Select	Answer
A	To improve output voltage regulation
B	To balance the low-voltage filament windings
C	To boost the amount of output current
D	To cut down on waste heat generated by the power supply

34. - E7E12

What is a frequency discriminator stage in a FM receiver?

Select	Answer
A	A circuit for detecting FM signals
B	An FM generator circuit
C	An automatic band-switching circuit
D	A circuit for filtering two closely adjacent signals

35. - E7F03

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

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

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	For smoothing power supply output
C	As an audio filter in a receiver
D	As a high-pass filter used to block RFI at the input to receivers

37. - E7H10

What information is contained in the lookup table of a direct digital frequency synthesizer?

Select	Answer
A	The phase relationship between a voltage-controlled oscillator and the output waveform
B	The synthesizer frequency limits and frequency values stored in the radio memories
C	The amplitude values that represent a sine-wave output
D	The phase relationship between a reference oscillator and the output waveform

38. - E8A09

How many levels can an analog-to-digital converter with 8 bit resolution encode?

Select	Answer
A	256
B	8 multiplied by the gain of the input amplifier
C	256 divided by the gain of the input amplifier
D	8

39. - E8B04

What is the modulation index of an FM-phone signal having a maximum carrier deviation of plus or minus 6 kHz when modulated with a 2 kHz modulating frequency?

Select	Answer
A	2000
B	3
C	1/3
D	6000

40. - E8C03

When performing phase shift keying, why is it advantageous to shift phase precisely at the zero crossing of the RF carrier?

Select	Answer
A	This results in the least possible transmitted bandwidth for the particular mode
B	It improves carrier suppression
C	All of these choices are correct
D	It is easier to demodulate with a conventional, non-synchronous detector

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	Phase compandored spread spectrum
C	Binary phase-shift keying
D	Frequency hopping

42. - E9A04

Which of the following factors may affect the feed point impedance of an antenna?

Select	Answer
A	Antenna height, conductor length/diameter ratio and location of nearby conductive objects
B	The settings of an antenna tuner at the transmitter
C	Sunspot activity and time of day
D	Transmission-line length

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

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

45. - E9D13

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

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

46. - E9E02

What is the name of an antenna matching system that matches an unbalanced feed line to an antenna by feeding the driven element both at the center of the element and at a fraction of a wavelength to one side of center?

Select	Answer
A	The stub match
B	The delta match
C	The epsilon match
D	The gamma match

47. - E9F05

What is the approximate physical length of a solid polyethylene dielectric coaxial transmission line that is electrically one-quarter wavelength long at 14.1 MHz?

Select	Answer
A	2.3 meters
B	3.5 meters
C	0.2 meters
D	20 meters

48. - E9G10

What do the arcs on a Smith chart represent?

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

49. - E9H07

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

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

50. - E0A06

Why are there separate electric (E) and magnetic (H) field MPE limits?

Select	Answer
A	All of these choices are correct
B	Ground reflections and scattering make the field impedance vary with location
C	The body reacts to electromagnetic radiation from both the E and H fields
D	E field and H field radiation intensity peaks can occur at different locations

Figure E6-5