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

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1. - E1A07

Which amateur band requires transmission on specific channels rather than on a range of frequencies?

Select	Answer
A	12 meter band
B	17 meter band
C	60 meter band
D	30 meter band

2. - E1B05

What is the National Radio Quiet Zone?

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

3. - E1C01

What is a remotely controlled station?

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

4. - E1D02

What is the amateur satellite service?

Select	Answer
A	A spacecraft launching service for amateur-built satellites
B	A radio communications service using stations on Earth satellites for public service broadcast
C	A radio communications service using amateur radio stations on satellites
D	A radio navigation service using satellites for the purpose of self training, intercommunication and technical studies carried out by amateurs

5. - E1E11

What must the VE team do if an examinee scores a passing grade on all examination elements needed for an upgrade or new license?

Select	Answer
A	Issue the examinee the new or upgrade license
B	All these choices are correct
C	Photocopy all examination documents and forward them to the FCC for processing
D	Three VEs must certify that the examinee is qualified for the license grant and that they have complied with the administering VE requirements

6. - E1F06

Under what circumstances might the FCC issue a Special Temporary Authority (STA) to an amateur station?

Select	Answer
A	To provide temporary operation while awaiting normal licensing
B	To allow regular operation on Land Mobile channels
C	To provide for experimental amateur communications
D	To provide additional spectrum for personal use

7. - E2A05

What do the letters in a satellite's mode designator specify?

Select	Answer
A	The location of the ground control station
B	The polarization of uplink and downlink signals
C	The uplink and downlink frequency ranges
D	Power limits for uplink and downlink transmissions

8. - E2B06

What is vestigial sideband modulation?

Select	Answer
A	A type of modulation in which one sideband is inverted
B	Spread spectrum modulation achieved by applying FM modulation following single sideband amplitude modulation
C	Amplitude modulation in which one complete sideband and a portion of the other are transmitted
D	Narrow-band FM modulation achieved by filtering one sideband from the audio before frequency modulating the carrier

9. - E2C08

Which of the following contacts may be confirmed through the U.S. QSL bureau system?

Select	Answer
A	Contacts between a U.S. station and a non-U.S. station
B	Contacts using tactical call signs
C	Repeater contacts between U.S. club members
D	Special event contacts between stations in the U.S.

10. - E2D07

What digital protocol is used by APRS?

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

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 mark and space signal have been inverted
D	The receiver has drifted 5 kHz from the desired receive frequency

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 D layer
B	The F1 layer
C	The E layer
D	The F2 layer

13. - E3B09

At what time of year is Sporadic E propagation most likely to occur?

Select	Answer
A	Around the solstices, especially the summer solstice
B	Around the solstices, especially the winter solstice
C	Around the equinoxes, especially the spring equinox
D	Around the equinoxes, especially the fall equinox

14. - E3C15

What might a sudden rise in radio background noise indicate?

Select	Answer
A	A solar flare has occurred
B	A meteor ping
C	Increased transequatorial propagation likely
D	Long-path propagation is occurring

15. - E4A12

Which of the following procedures is an important precaution to follow when connecting a spectrum analyzer to a transmitter output?

Select	Answer
A	Use high quality double shielded coaxial cables to reduce signal losses
B	Match the antenna to the load
C	Attenuate the transmitter output going to the spectrum analyzer
D	All of these choices are correct

16. - E4B11

How should an antenna analyzer be connected when measuring antenna resonance and feed point impedance?

Select	Answer
A	Loosely couple the analyzer near the antenna base
B	Connect the antenna feed line directly to the analyzer's connector
C	Connect the analyzer via a high-impedance transformer to the antenna
D	Loosely couple the antenna and a dummy load to the analyzer

17. - E4C10

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

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

18. - E4D01

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

Select	Answer
A	The difference in dB between the noise floor and the level of an incoming signal which will cause 1 dB of gain compression
B	The minimum difference in dB between two signals which produce third order intermodulation products greater than the noise floor
C	The difference in dB between the noise floor and the third order intercept point
D	The minimum difference in dB between the levels of two FM signals which will cause one signal to block the other

19. - E4E14

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

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

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	High, as compared to the circuit resistance
D	Approximately equal to circuit resistance

21. - E5B04

What is the time constant of a circuit having two 220 microfarad capacitors and two 1 megohm resistors, all in parallel?

Select	Answer
A	110 seconds
B	55 seconds
C	440 seconds
D	220 seconds

22. - E5C17

Which point on Figure E5-2 best represents the impedance of a series circuit consisting of a 300 ohm resistor, a 0.64-microhenry inductor and an 85-picofarad capacitor at 24.900 MHz?

Select	Answer
A	Point 1
B	Point 3
C	Point 8
D	Point 5

23. - E5D04

Why are short connections necessary at microwave frequencies?

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

24. - E6A03

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

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

25. - E6B08

Which of the following describes a type of semiconductor diode?

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

26. - E6C07

What best describes a pull-up or pull-down resistor?

Select	Answer
A	A resistor that insures that an oscillator frequency does not drive lower over time
B	A resistor connected to an op-amp output that only functions when the logic output is false
C	A resistor in a keying circuit used to reduce key clicks
D	A resistor connected to the positive or negative supply line used to establish a voltage when an input or output is an open circuit

27. - E6D17

Why should core saturation of a conventional impedance matching transformer be avoided?

Select	Answer
A	RF susceptance would increase
B	Harmonics and distortion could result
C	Magnetic flux would increase with frequency
D	Temporary changes of the core permeability could result

28. - E6E08

How is voltage from a power supply normally furnished to the most common type of monolithic microwave integrated circuit (MMIC)?

Select	Answer
A	MMICs require no operating bias
B	Through a resistor and/or RF choke connected to the amplifier output lead
C	Through a capacitor and RF choke connected to the amplifier input lead
D	Directly to the bias voltage (VCC IN) lead

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. - E7A08

What logical operation does an OR gate perform?

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

31. - E7B07

Which of the following is a likely result when a Class C amplifier is used to amplify a single-sideband phone signal?

Select	Answer
A	Reduced intermodulation products
B	Signal distortion and excessive bandwidth
C	Increased overall intelligibility
D	Signal inversion

32. - E7C07

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

Select	Answer
A	A band-pass filter
B	An all-pass filter
C	A notch filter
D	A Pi-network filter

33. - E7D06

What is the purpose of Q1 in the circuit shown in Figure E7-3?

Select	Answer
A	It provides a constant load for the voltage source
B	It increases the current-handling capability of the regulator
C	It provides D1 with current
D	It provides negative feedback to improve regulation

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. - E7F05

How frequently must an analog signal be sampled by an analog-to-digital converter so that the signal can be accurately reproduced?

Select	Answer
A	At twice the rate of the highest frequency component of the signal
B	At four times the rate of the highest frequency component of the signal
C	At the same rate as the highest frequency component of the signal
D	At half the rate of the highest frequency component of the signal

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. - E7H15

Which of these functions can be performed by a phase-locked loop?

Select	Answer
A	Comparison of two digital input signals, digital pulse counter
B	Wide-band AF and RF power amplification
C	Photovoltaic conversion, optical coupling
D	Frequency synthesis, FM demodulation

38. - E8A03

What type of wave does a Fourier analysis show to be made up of sine waves of a given fundamental frequency plus all of its harmonics?

Select	Answer
A	A sawtooth wave
B	A sine wave
C	A square wave
D	A cosine wave

39. - E8B10

What describes frequency division multiplexing?

Select	Answer
A	Two or more information streams are merged into a digital combiner, which then pulse position modulates the transmitter
B	The transmitted signal jumps from band to band at a predetermined rate
C	Two or more information streams are merged into a baseband, which then modulates the transmitter
D	The transmitted signal is divided into packets of information

40. - E8C08

How does ARQ accomplish error correction?

Select	Answer
A	Special polynomial codes provide automatic correction
B	If errors are detected, redundant data is substituted
C	If errors are detected, a retransmission is requested
D	Special binary codes provide automatic correction

41. - E8D10

What are some of the differences between the Baudot digital code and ASCII?

Select	Answer
A	Baudot uses 4 data bits per character, ASCII uses 7 or 8; Baudot uses 1 character as a letters/figures shift code, ASCII has no letters/figures code
B	Baudot uses 5 data bits per character, ASCII uses 7 or 8; Baudot uses 2 characters as letters/figures shift codes, ASCII has no letters/figures shift code
C	Baudot uses 6 data bits per character, ASCII uses 7 or 8; Baudot has no letters/figures shift code, ASCII uses 2 letters/figures shift codes
D	Baudot uses 7 data bits per character, ASCII uses 8; Baudot has no letters/figures shift code, ASCII uses 2 letters/figures shift codes

42. - E9A14

What is meant by the radiation resistance of an antenna?

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

43. - E9B06

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

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

44. - E9C07

What is the approximate feed point impedance at the center of a two-wire folded dipole antenna?

Select	Answer
A	50 ohms
B	300 ohms
C	72 ohms
D	450 ohms

45. - E9D01

How does the gain of an ideal parabolic dish antenna change when the operating frequency is doubled?

Select	Answer
A	Gain increases by 6 dB
B	Gain is multiplied by 0.707
C	Gain increases by 3 dB
D	Gain does not change

46. - E9E07

What term best describes the interactions at the load end of a mismatched transmission line?

Select	Answer
A	Dielectric constant
B	Velocity factor
C	Characteristic impedance
D	Reflection coefficient

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

48. - E9G02

What type of coordinate system is used in a Smith chart?

Select	Answer
A	Voltage lines and current chords
B	Resistance lines and reactance chords
C	Resistance circles and reactance arcs
D	Voltage circles and current arcs

49. - E9H06

What is the triangulation method of direction finding?

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

50. - E0A07

How may dangerous levels of carbon monoxide from an emergency generator be detected?

Select	Answer
A	Any ordinary smoke detector can be used
B	By the yellowish appearance of the gas
C	By the odor
D	Only with a carbon monoxide detector

Figure E5-2

Figure E7-3

Figure E7-4

Figure E9-2