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

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1. - E1A01

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

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

2. - E1B10

What frequencies are authorized to an amateur station operating under RACES rules?

Select	Answer
A	Military Auxiliary Radio System (MARS) channels
B	All amateur service frequencies authorized to the control operator
C	Specific segments in the amateur service MF, HF, VHF and UHF bands
D	Specific local government channels

3. - E1C05

When may an automatically controlled station originate third party communications?

Select	Answer
A	Only when transmitting RTTY or data emissions
B	When approved by the National Telecommunication and Information Administration
C	Never
D	When agreed upon by the sending or receiving station

4. - E1D06

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

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

5. - E1E04

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

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

6. - E1F02

What privileges are authorized in the U.S. to persons holding an amateur service license granted by the Government of Canada?

Select	Answer
A	Full privileges, up to and including those of the Extra Class License, on the 80, 40, 20, 15, and 10 meter bands
B	None, they must obtain a U.S. license
C	All privileges of the Extra Class license
D	The operating terms and conditions of the Canadian amateur service license, not to exceed U.S. Extra Class privileges

7. - E2A02

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

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

8. - E2B10

Which of the following is an acceptable bandwidth for Digital Radio Mondiale (DRM) based voice or SSTV digital transmissions made on the HF amateur bands?

Select	Answer
A	15 KHz
B	3 KHz
C	20 KHz
D	10 KHz

9. - E2C05

What is the function of a DX QSL Manager?

Select	Answer
A	To allocate frequencies for DXpeditions
B	To relay calls to and from a DX station
C	To run a net to allow many stations to contact a rare DX station
D	To handle the receiving and sending of confirmation cards for a DX station

10. - E2D02

Which of the following is a good technique for making meteor scatter contacts?

Select	Answer
A	Use of high speed CW or digital modes
B	Short transmission with rapidly repeated call signs and signal reports
C	15 second timed transmission sequences with stations alternating based on location
D	All of these choices are correct

11. - E2E08

Which of the following HF digital modes can be used to transfer binary files?

Select	Answer
A	Hellschreiber
B	RTTY
C	PACTOR
D	AMTOR

12. - E3A10

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

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

13. - E3B07

Which of the following could account for hearing an echo on the received signal of a distant station?

Select	Answer
A	Meteor scatter
B	Receipt of a signal by more than one path
C	Transmit frequency is higher than the MUF
D	High D layer absorption

14. - E3C09

How does the intensity of an X3 flare compare to that of an X2 flare?

Select	Answer
A	50 percent greater
B	Four times as great
C	Twice as great
D	10 percent greater

15. - E4A03

Which of the following test instrument is used to display spurious signals and/or intermodulation distortion products in an SSB transmitter?

Select	Answer
A	A wattmeter
B	A spectrum analyzer
C	A logic analyzer
D	A time-domain reflectometer

16. - E4B16

Which S parameter represents return loss or SWR?

Select	Answer
A	S11
B	S22
C	S21
D	S12

17. - E4C16

Which of the following is caused by missing codes in an SDR receiver's analog-to-digital converter?

Select	Answer
A	Loss of sensitivity
B	Distortion
C	Overload
D	Excess output level

18. - E4D03

How can intermodulation interference between two repeaters occur?

Select	Answer
A	When the signals from the transmitters are reflected out of phase from airplanes passing overhead
B	When the signals from the transmitters are reflected in phase from airplanes passing overhead
C	When the repeaters are in close proximity and the signals mix in the final amplifier of one or both transmitters
D	When the repeaters are in close proximity and the signals cause feedback in the final amplifier of one or both transmitters

19. - E4E06

What is a major cause of atmospheric static?

Select	Answer
A	Geomagnetic storms
B	Meteor showers
C	Thunderstorms
D	Solar radio frequency emissions

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	7.12 kHz
B	23.5 MHz
C	23.5 kHz
D	7.12 MHz

21. - E5B11

What is the phase angle between the voltage across and the current through a series RLC circuit if XC is 25 ohms, R is 100 ohms, and XL is 50 ohms?

Select	Answer
A	76 degrees with the voltage leading the current
B	76 degrees with the voltage lagging the current
C	14 degrees with the voltage leading the current
D	14 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 real part
B	A negative phase angle
C	A positive phase angle
D	A negative real part

23. - E5D11

What is the power factor of an R-L circuit having a 60 degree phase angle between the voltage and the current?

Select	Answer
A	0.5
B	1.414
C	0.866
D	1.73

24. - E6A13

What do the initials CMOS stand for?

Select	Answer
A	Complementary Metal-Oxide Semiconductor
B	Common Mode Organic Silicon
C	Common Mode Oscillating System
D	Complementary Mica-Oxide Silicon

25. - E6B02

What is an important characteristic of a Schottky diode as compared to an ordinary silicon diode when used as a power supply rectifier?

Select	Answer
A	Controlled reverse avalanche voltage
B	Less forward voltage drop
C	Enhanced carrier retention time
D	Much higher reverse voltage breakdown

26. - E6C13

Which of the following is an advantage of BiCMOS logic?

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

27. - E6D10

What is a primary advantage of using a toroidal core instead of a solenoidal core in an inductor?

Select	Answer
A	Toroidal cores have lower Q characteristics
B	Toroidal cores confine most of the magnetic field within the core material
C	Toroidal cores make it easier to couple the magnetic energy into other components
D	Toroidal cores exhibit greater hysteresis

28. - E6E12

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

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

29. - E6F04

What is the photovoltaic effect?

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

30. - E7A02

What is the function of a decade counter digital IC?

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

31. - E7B12

What type of amplifier circuit is shown in Figure E7-1?

Select	Answer
A	Common collector
B	Common base
C	Emitter follower
D	Common emitter

32. - E7C13

What is one advantage of a Pi-matching network over an L-matching network consisting of a single inductor and a single capacitor?

Select	Answer
A	The Q of Pi-networks can be varied depending on the component values chosen
B	Pi-networks have fewer components
C	L-networks cannot perform impedance transformation
D	Pi-networks are designed for balanced input and output

33. - E7D11

What circuit element is controlled by a series analog voltage regulator to maintain a constant output voltage?

Select	Answer
A	Switching inductance
B	Reference voltage
C	Pass transistor
D	Error amplifier

34. - E7E11

Which type of detector is used for demodulating SSB signals?

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

35. - E7F16

How might the sampling rate of an existing digital signal be adjusted by a factor of 3/4?

Select	Answer
A	Interpolate by a factor of three, then decimate by a factor of four
B	Change the gain by a factor of 3/4
C	Add 3 to each input value and subtract 4 from each output value
D	Multiply each sample value by a factor of 3/4

36. - E7G08

How does the gain of an ideal operational amplifier vary with frequency?

Select	Answer
A	It decreases linearly with increasing frequency
B	It increases linearly with increasing frequency
C	It decreases logarithmically with increasing frequency
D	It does not vary with frequency

37. - E7H01

What are three oscillator circuits used in Amateur Radio equipment?

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

38. - E8A06

What is the approximate ratio of PEP-to-average power in a typical single-sideband phone signal?

Select	Answer
A	25 to 1
B	1 to 1
C	100 to 1
D	2.5 to 1

39. - E8B02

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

Select	Answer
A	It does not depend on the RF carrier frequency
B	It decreases as the RF carrier frequency increases
C	It increases as the RF carrier frequency increases
D	It varies with the square root of the RF carrier frequency

40. - E8C09

Which is the name of a digital code where each preceding or following character changes by only one bit?

Select	Answer
A	Binary Coded Decimal Code
B	Extended Binary Coded Decimal Interchange Code
C	Gray code
D	Excess 3 code

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

42. - E9A16

What is the effective radiated power relative to a dipole of a repeater station with 200 watts transmitter power output, 4 dB feed line loss, 3.2 dB duplexer loss, 0.8 dB circulator loss, and 10 dBd antenna gain?

Select	Answer
A	300 watts
B	2000 watts
C	317 watts
D	126 watts

43. - E9B08

How can the approximate beam-width in a given plane of a directional antenna be determined?

Select	Answer
A	Measure the ratio of the signal strengths of the radiated power lobes from the front and side of the antenna
B	Note the two points where the signal strength of the antenna is 3 dB less than maximum and compute the angular difference
C	Draw two imaginary lines through the ends of the elements and measure the angle between the lines
D	Measure the ratio of the signal strengths of the radiated power lobes from the front and rear of the antenna

44. - E9C10

Which of the following describes a Zepp antenna?

Select	Answer
A	An end fed dipole antenna
B	A dipole constructed from zip cord
C	An omni-directional antenna commonly used for satellite communications
D	A vertical array capable of quickly changing the direction of maximum radiation by changing phasing lines

45. - E9D09

What is the function of a loading coil used as part of an HF mobile antenna?

Select	Answer
A	To cancel capacitive reactance
B	To lower the losses
C	To lower the Q
D	To increase the SWR bandwidth

46. - E9E11

What is an effective way of matching a feed line to a VHF or UHF antenna when the impedances of both the antenna and feed line are unknown?

Select	Answer
A	Use the universal stub matching technique
B	Use a 50 ohm 1:1 balun between the antenna and feed line
C	Connect a series-resonant LC network across the antenna feed terminals
D	Connect a parallel-resonant LC network across the antenna feed terminals

47. - E9F03

Why is the physical length of a coaxial cable transmission line shorter than its electrical length?

Select	Answer
A	Skin effect is less pronounced in the coaxial cable
B	The characteristic impedance is higher in a parallel feed line
C	Electrical signals move more slowly in a coaxial cable than in air
D	The surge impedance is higher in a parallel feed line

48. - E9G01

Which of the following can be calculated using a Smith chart?

Select	Answer
A	Antenna radiation pattern
B	Impedance along transmission lines
C	Radio propagation
D	Radiation resistance

49. - E9H09

Which of the following describes the construction of a receiving loop antenna?

Select	Answer
A	A small coil of wire tightly wound around a toroidal ferrite core
B	A vertical antenna coupled to a feed line through an inductive loop of wire
C	One or more turns of wire wound in the shape of a large open coil
D	A large circularly polarized antenna

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	Use a hand calculator plus Smith-chart equations to calculate the fields
C	All of the choices are correct
D	Use a calibrated antenna analyzer

Figure E7-1