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

Logging in (or registering) will help the system to select questions that you need to focus on.

1. - E1A02

When using a transceiver that displays the carrier frequency of phone signals, which of the following displayed frequencies represents the lowest frequency at which a properly adjusted LSB emission will be totally within the band?

Select	Answer
A	300 Hz above the lower band edge
B	The exact lower band edge
C	1 kHz above the lower band edge
D	3 kHz above the lower band edge

2. - E1B11

What is the permitted mean power of any spurious emission relative to the mean power of the fundamental emission from a station transmitter or external RF amplifier installed after January 1, 2003 and transmitting on a frequency below 30 MHZ?

Select	Answer
A	At least 43 dB below
B	At least 63 dB below
C	At least 73 dB below
D	At least 53 dB below

3. - E1C09

Which of these ranges of frequencies is available for an automatically controlled repeater operating below 30 MHz?

Select	Answer
A	10.100 MHz - 10.150 MHz
B	29.500 MHz - 29.700 MHz
C	18.110 MHz - 18.168 MHz
D	24.940 MHz - 24.990 MHz

4. - E1D01

What is the definition of the term telemetry?

Select	Answer
A	One-way transmission that initiates, modifies, or terminates the functions of a device at a distance
B	Two-way single channel transmissions of data
C	Two-way radiotelephone transmissions in excess of 1000 feet
D	One-way transmission of measurements at a distance from the measuring instrument

5. - E1E04

Which of the following best describes the Volunteer Examiner accreditation process?

Select	Answer
A	Each General, Advanced and Amateur Extra Class operator is automatically accredited as a VE when the license is granted
B	The amateur operator applying must pass a VE examination administered by the FCC Enforcement Bureau
C	The procedure by which a VEC confirms that the VE applicant meets FCC requirements to serve as an examiner
D	The prospective VE obtains accreditation from the FCC

6. - E1F07

When may an amateur station send a message to a business?

Select	Answer
A	When neither the amateur nor his or her employer has a pecuniary interest in the communications
B	When the control operator is employed by the FCC or another government agency
C	When transmitting international third-party communications
D	When the total money involved does not exceed $25

7. - E2A06

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

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

8. - E2B17

What is the approximate bandwidth of a slow-scan TV signal?

Select	Answer
A	2 MHz
B	3 kHz
C	6 MHz
D	600 Hz

9. - E2C01

Which of the following is true about contest operating?

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

10. - E2D07

What digital protocol is used by APRS?

Select	Answer
A	AX.25
B	AMTOR
C	PACTOR
D	802.11

11. - E2E05

Which type of digital mode does not support keyboard-to-keyboard operation?

Select	Answer
A	MFSK
B	RTTY
C	PSK31
D	Winlink

12. - E3A10

Which type of atmospheric structure can create a path for microwave propagation?

Select	Answer
A	Wind shear
B	Temperature inversion
C	The jet stream
D	Dust devil

13. - E3B03

What is the best time of day for transequatorial propagation?

Select	Answer
A	Afternoon or early evening
B	Noon
C	Late at night
D	Morning

14. - E3C01

What does the term ray tracing describe in regard to radio communications?

Select	Answer
A	Evaluating high voltage sources for X-Rays
B	Modeling a radio wave's path through the ionosphere
C	Determining the radiation pattern from an array of antennas
D	The process in which an electronic display presents a pattern

15. - E4A15

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

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

16. - E4B07

What do the subscripts of S parameters represent?

Select	Answer
A	The relative time between measurements
B	Relative quality of the data
C	Frequency order of the measurements
D	The port or ports at which measurements are made

17. - E4C14

What transmit frequency might generate an image response signal in a receiver tuned to 14.300 MHz and which uses a 455 kHz IF frequency?

Select	Answer
A	13.845 MHz
B	14.755 MHz
C	14.445 MHz
D	15.210 MHz

18. - E4D02

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

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

19. - E4E11

Which is the most likely cause if you are hearing combinations of local AM broadcast signals within one or more of the MF or HF ham bands?

Select	Answer
A	The broadcast station is transmitting an over-modulated signal
B	You are receiving sky wave signals from a distant station
C	Your station receiver IF amplifier stage is defective
D	Nearby corroded metal joints are mixing and re-radiating the broadcast signals

20. - E5A10

How is the Q of an RLC series resonant circuit calculated?

Select	Answer
A	Reactance of the inductance times the reactance of the capacitance
B	Resistance divided by the reactance of either the inductance or capacitance
C	Reactance of either the inductance or capacitance times the resistance
D	Reactance of either the inductance or capacitance divided by the resistance

21. - E5B08

What is the phase angle between the voltage across and the current through a series RLC circuit if XC is 100 ohms, R is 100 ohms, and XL is 75 ohms?

Select	Answer
A	76 degrees with the voltage lagging the current
B	14 degrees with the voltage lagging the current
C	14 degrees with the voltage leading the current
D	76 degrees with the voltage leading the current

22. - E5C06

What does the impedance 50-j25 represent?

Select	Answer
A	25 ohms resistance in series with 50 ohms inductive reactance
B	50 ohms resistance in series with 25 ohms capacitive reactance
C	50 ohms resistance in series with 25 ohms inductive reactance
D	25 ohms resistance in series with 50 ohms capacitive reactance

23. - E5D08

What type of energy is stored in an electromagnetic or electrostatic field?

Select	Answer
A	Potential energy
B	Electromechanical energy
C	Kinetic energy
D	Thermodynamic energy

24. - E6A17

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

Select	Answer
A	Gate, drain, source
B	Emitter, base 1, base 2
C	Gate 1, gate 2, drain
D	Emitter, base, collector

25. - E6B01

What is the most useful characteristic of a Zener diode?

Select	Answer
A	A constant current drop under conditions of varying voltage
B	A constant voltage drop under conditions of varying current
C	An internal capacitance that varies with the applied voltage
D	A negative resistance region

26. - E6C01

What is the function of hysteresis in a comparator?

Select	Answer
A	To prevent input noise from causing unstable output signals
B	To allow the comparator to be used with AC input signal
C	To cause the output to change states continually
D	To increase the sensitivity

27. - E6D14

Which type of slug material decreases inductance when inserted into a coil?

Select	Answer
A	Ferrite
B	Ceramic
C	Brass
D	Powdered-iron

28. - E6E01

Which of the following is true of a charge-coupled device (CCD)?

Select	Answer
A	It is a CMOS analog-to-digital converter
B	It is used in a battery charger circuit
C	Its phase shift changes rapidly with frequency
D	It samples an analog signal and passes it in stages from the input to the output

29. - E6F14

Which of the following is true of LCD displays?

Select	Answer
A	They may be hard view through polarized lenses
B	They are hard to view in high ambient light conditions
C	All of these choices are correct
D	They only display alphanumeric symbols

30. - E7A03

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

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

31. - E7B15

What is one way to prevent thermal runaway in a bipolar transistor amplifier?

Select	Answer
A	All of these choices are correct
B	Neutralization
C	Select transistors with high beta
D	Use a resistor in series with the emitter

32. - E7C14

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

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

33. - E7D01

What is one characteristic of a linear electronic voltage regulator?

Select	Answer
A	It eliminates the need for a pass transistor
B	It has a ramp voltage as its output
C	The conduction of a control element is varied to maintain a constant output voltage
D	The control element duty cycle is proportional to the line or load conditions

34. - E7E08

What are the principal frequencies that appear at the output of a mixer circuit?

Select	Answer
A	The two input frequencies along with their sum and difference frequencies
B	The sum, difference and square root of the input frequencies
C	1.414 and 0.707 times the input frequency
D	Two and four times the original frequency

35. - E7F10

What aspect of receiver analog-to-digital conversion determines the maximum receive bandwidth of a Direct Digital Conversion SDR?

Select	Answer
A	Sample width in bits
B	Sample rate
C	Processor latency
D	Sample clock phase noise

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	A digital audio amplifier whose characteristics are determined by components external to the amplifier
D	An amplifier used to increase the average output of frequency modulated amateur signals to the legal limit

37. - E7H12

Which of the following must be done to insure that a crystal oscillator provides the frequency specified by the crystal manufacturer?

Select	Answer
A	Bias the crystal at a specified current
B	Bias the crystal at a specified voltage
C	Provide the crystal with a specified parallel capacitance
D	Provide the crystal with a specified parallel inductance

38. - E8A11

What type of information can be conveyed using digital waveforms?

Select	Answer
A	Human speech
B	Video signals
C	All of these choices are correct
D	Data

39. - E8B07

Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing is a technique used for which type of amateur communication?

Select	Answer
A	High speed digital modes
B	EME
C	Extremely low-power contacts
D	OFDM signals are not allowed on amateur bands

40. - E8C01

How is Forward Error Correction implemented?

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

41. - E8D09

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

Select	Answer
A	+15 dB
B	-20 dB
C	-30 dB
D	+10 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	Reduce the diameter of the radiating element
B	Isolate the coax shield from ground
C	Shorten the radiating element
D	Install a good radial system

43. - E9B03

In the antenna radiation pattern shown in Figure E9-1, what is the front-to-side ratio?

Select	Answer
A	24 dB
B	14 dB
C	18 dB
D	12 dB

44. - E9C05

What is an OCFD antenna?

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

45. - E9D08

What happens as the Q of an antenna increases?

Select	Answer
A	More common-mode current is present on the feed line
B	SWR bandwidth increases
C	SWR bandwidth decreases
D	Gain is reduced

46. - E9E12

What is the primary purpose of a phasing line when used with an antenna having multiple driven elements?

Select	Answer
A	It allows single-band antennas to operate on other bands
B	It ensures that each driven element operates in concert with the others to create the desired antenna pattern
C	It makes sure the antenna has a low-angle radiation pattern
D	It prevents reflected power from traveling back down the feed line and causing harmonic radiation from the transmitter

47. - E9F12

What impedance does a 1/4 wavelength transmission line present to a generator when the line is open at the far end?

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

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 reactance
C	Voltage and impedance
D	Resistance and voltage

49. - E9H08

What is the function of a sense antenna?

Select	Answer
A	It provides diversity reception that cancels multipath signals
B	It increases the sensitivity of a DF antenna array
C	It modifies the pattern of a DF antenna array to provide a null in one direction
D	It allows DF antennas to receive signals at different vertical angles

50. - E0A03

Which of the following would be a practical way to estimate whether the RF fields produced by an amateur radio station are within permissible MPE limits?

Select	Answer
A	Use an antenna modeling program to calculate field strength at accessible locations
B	All of the choices are correct
C	Use a calibrated antenna analyzer
D	Use a hand calculator plus Smith-chart equations to calculate the fields

Figure E9-1