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

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1. - E1A09

What is the first action you should take if your digital message forwarding station inadvertently forwards a communication that violates FCC rules?

Select	Answer
A	Discontinue forwarding all messages
B	Notify the nearest FCC Field Engineer's office
C	Notify the originating station that the communication does not comply with FCC rules
D	Discontinue forwarding the communication as soon as you become aware of it

2. - E1B06

Which of the following additional rules apply if you are installing an amateur station antenna at a site at or near a public use airport?

Select	Answer
A	You may have to notify the Federal Aviation Administration and register it with the FCC as required by Part 17 of FCC rules
B	No special rules apply if your antenna structure will be less than 300 feet in height
C	You must obtain a construction permit from the airport zoning authority
D	You must file an Environmental Impact Statement with the EPA before construction begins

3. - E1C01

What is a remotely controlled station?

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

4. - E1D07

Which amateur service HF bands have frequencies authorized for space stations?

Select	Answer
A	Only the 40 m, 20 m, 17 m, 15 m and 10 m bands
B	Only the 40 m, 20 m, 17 m, 15 m, 12 m and 10 m bands
C	All HF bands
D	Only the 40 m, 30 m, 20 m, 15 m, 12 m and 10 m bands

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

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. - E2A09

What do the terms L band and S band specify with regard to satellite communications?

Select	Answer
A	The 23 centimeter and 13 centimeter bands
B	The 2 meter and 70 centimeter bands
C	Which sideband to use
D	FM and Digital Store-and-Forward systems

8. - E2B17

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

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

9. - E2C07

What is the Cabrillo format?

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

10. - E2D08

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

Select	Answer
A	Acknowledgement
B	Unnumbered Information
C	Connect
D	Disconnect

11. - E2E11

What is the difference between direct FSK and audio FSK?

Select	Answer
A	Direct FSK applies the data signal to the transmitter VFO
B	Audio FSK has a superior frequency response
C	Audio FSK can be performed anywhere in the transmit chain
D	Direct FSK uses a DC-coupled data connection

12. - E3A09

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

Select	Answer
A	28 MHz - 148 MHz
B	1.8 MHz - 1.9 MHz
C	10 MHz - 14 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 across the geomagnetic equator
C	Propagation away from the great circle bearing between stations
D	Signals reflected back toward the transmitting station

14. - E3C03

Which of the following signal paths is most likely to experience high levels of absorption when the A index or K index is elevated?

Select	Answer
A	Sporadic-E
B	Polar paths
C	Transequatorial propagation
D	NVIS

15. - E4A10

Which of the following displays multiple digital signal states simultaneously?

Select	Answer
A	Logic analyzer
B	Modulation monitor
C	Bit error rate tester
D	Network analyzer

16. - E4B11

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

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

17. - E4C06

A CW receiver with the AGC off has an equivalent input noise power density of -174 dBm/Hz. What would be the level of an unmodulated carrier input to this receiver that would yield an audio output SNR of 0 dB in a 400 Hz noise bandwidth?

Select	Answer
A	-148 dBm
B	-164 dBm
C	-155 dBm
D	-174 dBm

18. - E4D13

Which of the following can cause receiver desensitization?

Select	Answer
A	Audio bias adjusted too high
B	Strong adjacent channel signals
C	Audio gain adjusted too low
D	Squelch gain misadjusted

19. - E4E07

How can you determine if line noise interference is being generated within your home?

Select	Answer
A	By observing the AC power line voltage with a spectrum analyzer
B	By turning off the AC power line main circuit breaker and listening on a battery operated radio
C	By observing the AC power line waveform with an oscilloscope
D	By checking the power line voltage with a time domain reflectometer

20. - E5A12

What is the half-power bandwidth of a parallel resonant circuit that has a resonant frequency of 3.7 MHz and a Q of 118?

Select	Answer
A	436.6 kHz
B	15.7 kHz
C	218.3 kHz
D	31.4 kHz

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	220 seconds
B	440 seconds
C	110 seconds
D	55 seconds

22. - E5C05

What is the name of the diagram used to show the phase relationship between impedances at a given frequency?

Select	Answer
A	Venn diagram
B	Phasor diagram
C	Far field diagram
D	Near field diagram

23. - E5D09

What happens to reactive power in an AC circuit that has both ideal inductors and ideal capacitors?

Select	Answer
A	It is dissipated as heat in the circuit
B	It is dissipated in the formation of inductive and capacitive fields
C	It is dissipated as kinetic energy in the circuit
D	It is repeatedly exchanged between the associated magnetic and electric fields, but is not dissipated

24. - E6A07

Which of the following indicates that a silicon NPN junction transistor is biased on?

Select	Answer
A	Base-to-emitter resistance of approximately 6 to 7 ohms
B	Base-to-emitter voltage of approximately 6 to 7 volts
C	Base-to-emitter resistance of approximately 0.6 to 0.7 ohms
D	Base-to-emitter voltage of approximately 0.6 to 0.7 volts

25. - E6B01

What is the most useful characteristic of a Zener diode?

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

26. - E6C13

Which of the following is an advantage of BiCMOS logic?

Select	Answer
A	Its simplicity results in much less expensive devices than standard CMOS
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	It is totally immune to electrostatic damage

27. - E6D13

What is the primary cause of inductor self-resonance?

Select	Answer
A	Inductive kickback
B	Non-linear core hysteresis
C	Inter-turn capacitance
D	The skin effect

28. - E6E10

What is the packaging technique in which leadless components are soldered directly to circuit boards?

Select	Answer
A	Stripped lead
B	Surface mount
C	Direct soldering
D	Virtual lead mounting

29. - E6F14

Which of the following is true of LCD displays?

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

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

31. - E7B13

In Figure E7-2, what is the purpose of R?

Select	Answer
A	Voltage regulation
B	Fixed bias
C	Collector load
D	Emitter load

32. - E7C11

Which of the following is the common name for a filter network which is equivalent to two L-networks connected back-to-back with the two inductors in series and the capacitors in shunt at the input and output?

Select	Answer
A	Cascode
B	Omega
C	Pi
D	Pi-L

33. - E7D15

What is the purpose of a "step-start" circuit in a high voltage power supply?

Select	Answer
A	To allow the filter capacitors to charge gradually
B	To provide a dual-voltage output for reduced power applications
C	To allow for remote control of the power supply
D	To compensate for variations of the incoming line voltage

34. - E7E06

Why is de-emphasis commonly used in FM communications receivers?

Select	Answer
A	For higher efficiency
B	To reduce impulse noise reception
C	To remove third-order distortion products
D	For compatibility with transmitters using phase modulation

35. - E7F17

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

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

36. - E7G07

What magnitude of voltage gain can be expected from the circuit in Figure E7-4 when R1 is 10 ohms and RF is 470 ohms?

Select	Answer
A	0.21
B	24
C	47
D	94

37. - E7H08

Which of the following components can be used to reduce thermal drift in crystal oscillators?

Select	Answer
A	Non-inductive resistors
B	Toroidal inductors
C	NP0 capacitors
D	Wirewound resistors

38. - E8A05

What would be the most accurate way of measuring the RMS voltage of a complex waveform?

Select	Answer
A	By measuring the heating effect in a known resistor
B	By using a grid dip meter
C	By measuring the voltage with a D'Arsonval meter
D	By using an absorption wave meter

39. - E8B01

What is the term for the ratio between the frequency deviation of an RF carrier wave and the modulating frequency of its corresponding FM-phone signal?

Select	Answer
A	Quieting index
B	Modulation index
C	FM compressibility
D	Percentage of modulation

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

41. - E8D09

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

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

42. - E9A14

What is meant by the radiation resistance of an antenna?

Select	Answer
A	The specific impedance of the 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 value of a resistance that would dissipate the same amount of power as that radiated from an antenna

43. - E9B16

How many elevation lobes appear in the forward direction of the antenna radiation pattern shown in Figure E9-2?

Select	Answer
A	3
B	4
C	7
D	1

44. - E9C14

How does the performance of a horizontally polarized antenna mounted on the side of a hill compare with the same antenna mounted on flat ground?

Select	Answer
A	The main lobe takeoff angle decreases in the downhill direction
B	The horizontal beam width increases in the uphill direction
C	The horizontal beam width decreases in the downhill direction
D	The main lobe takeoff angle increases in the downhill direction

45. - E9D10

What happens to feed point impedance at the base of a fixed length HF mobile antenna as the frequency of operation is lowered?

Select	Answer
A	The radiation resistance increases and the capacitive reactance increases
B	The radiation resistance decreases and the capacitive reactance decreases
C	The radiation resistance increases and the capacitive reactance decreases
D	The radiation resistance decreases and the capacitive reactance increases

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. - E9F15

What impedance does a 1/2 wavelength transmission line present to a generator when the line is open at the far end?

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

48. - E9G04

What are the two families of circles and arcs that make up a Smith chart?

Select	Answer
A	Voltage and impedance
B	Resistance and voltage
C	Reactance and voltage
D	Resistance and reactance

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

50. - E0A11

Which of the following injuries can result from using high-power UHF or microwave transmitters?

Select	Answer
A	Ingestion of ozone gas from the cooling system
B	Localized heating of the body from RF exposure in excess of the MPE limits
C	Blood clotting from the intense magnetic field
D	Hearing loss caused by high voltage corona discharge

Figure E7-2

Figure E7-4

Figure E9-2