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

2. - E1B04

What must be done before placing an amateur station within an officially designated wilderness area or wildlife preserve, or an area listed in the National Register of Historical Places?

Select	Answer
A	A form FSD-15 must be submitted to the Department of the Interior
B	A proposal must be submitted to the National Park Service
C	A letter of intent must be filed with the National Audubon Society
D	An Environmental Assessment must be submitted to the FCC

3. - E1C05

When may an automatically controlled station originate third party communications?

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

4. - E1D10

Which amateur stations are eligible to be telecommand stations?

Select	Answer
A	Any amateur station so designated by the space station licensee, subject to the privileges of the class of operator license held by the control operator
B	All of these choices are correct
C	Any amateur station designated by NASA
D	Any amateur station so designated by the ITU

5. - E1E14

For which types of out-of-pocket expenses do the Part 97 rules state that VEs and VECs may be reimbursed?

Select	Answer
A	No expenses are authorized for reimbursement
B	Preparing, processing, administering and coordinating an examination for an amateur radio license
C	Teaching an amateur operator license examination preparation course
D	Providing amateur operator license examination preparation training materials

6. - E1F05

Amateur stations may not transmit in which of the following frequency segments if they are located in the contiguous 48 states and north of Line A?

Select	Answer
A	222 MHz - 223 MHz
B	420 MHz - 430 MHz
C	53 MHz - 54 MHz
D	440 MHz - 450 MHz

7. - E2A13

What type of satellite appears to stay in one position in the sky?

Select	Answer
A	HEO
B	LEO
C	Geomagnetic
D	Geostationary

8. - E2B15

What signals SSTV receiving equipment to begin a new picture line?

Select	Answer
A	Elapsed time
B	Specific tone frequencies
C	A two-tone signal
D	Specific tone amplitudes

9. - E2C12

What might help to restore contact when DX signals become too weak to copy across an entire HF band a few hours after sunset?

Select	Answer
A	Wait 90 minutes or so for the signal degradation to pass
B	Wait 24 hours before attempting another communication on the band
C	Switch to a higher frequency HF band
D	Switch to a lower frequency HF band

10. - E2D05

Which of the following techniques is normally used by low Earth orbiting digital satellites to relay messages around the world?

Select	Answer
A	Node hopping
B	Digipeating
C	Multi-satellite relaying
D	Store-and-forward

11. - E2E01

Which type of modulation is common for data emissions below 30 MHz?

Select	Answer
A	FSK
B	Pulse modulation
C	Spread spectrum
D	DTMF tones modulating an FM signal

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

13. - E3B03

What is the best time of day for transequatorial propagation?

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

14. - E3C05

What orientation of Bz (B sub z) increases the likelihood that incoming particles from the Sun will cause disturbed conditions?

Select	Answer
A	Northward
B	Southward
C	Eastward
D	Westward

15. - E4A13

How is the compensation of an oscilloscope probe typically adjusted?

Select	Answer
A	A DC voltage standard is displayed and the probe is adjusted until the displayed voltage is accurate
B	A frequency standard is displayed and the probe is adjusted until the deflection time is accurate
C	A high frequency sine wave is displayed and the probe is adjusted for maximum amplitude
D	A square wave is displayed and the probe is adjusted until the horizontal portions of the displayed wave are as nearly flat as possible

16. - E4B12

What is the significance of voltmeter sensitivity expressed in ohms per volt?

Select	Answer
A	When used as an ammeter, the full scale reading in amps divided by ohms per volt rating will determine the size of shunt needed
B	When used as an ohmmeter, the reading in ohms divided by the ohms per volt rating will determine the voltage applied to the circuit
C	The full scale reading of the voltmeter multiplied by its ohms per volt rating will indicate the input impedance of the voltmeter
D	When used as a galvanometer, the reading in volts multiplied by the ohms per volt rating will determine the power drawn by the device under test

17. - E4C07

What does the MDS of a receiver represent?

Select	Answer
A	The multiplex distortion stability
B	The meter display sensitivity
C	The minimum discernible signal
D	The maximum detectable spectrum

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

19. - E4E10

What is a common characteristic of interference caused by a touch controlled electrical device?

Select	Answer
A	The interfering signal may drift slowly across the HF spectrum
B	The interfering signal can be several kHz in width and usually repeats at regular intervals across a HF band
C	The interfering signal sounds like AC hum on an AM receiver or a carrier modulated by 60 Hz hum on a SSB or CW receiver
D	All of these choices are correct

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	23.5 MHz
B	7.12 kHz
C	23.5 kHz
D	7.12 MHz

21. - E5B02

What is the term for the time it takes for a charged capacitor in an RC circuit to discharge to 36.8% of its initial voltage?

Select	Answer
A	An exponential discharge rate of one
B	One time constant
C	A discharge factor of one
D	One discharge period

22. - E5C14

Which point on Figure E5-2 best represents the impedance of a series circuit consisting of a 400 ohm resistor and a 38 picofarad capacitor at 14 MHz?

Select	Answer
A	Point 4
B	Point 2
C	Point 5
D	Point 6

23. - E5D08

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

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

24. - E6A10

In Figure E6-2, what is the schematic symbol for an N-channel dual-gate MOSFET?

Select	Answer
A	2
B	6
C	4
D	5

25. - E6B08

Which of the following describes a type of semiconductor diode?

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

26. - E6C10

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

Select	Answer
A	2
B	3
C	4
D	1

27. - E6D03

Which of the following is an aspect of the piezoelectric effect?

Select	Answer
A	Mechanical deformation of material by the application of a magnetic field
B	Mechanical deformation of material by the application of a voltage
C	Generation of electrical energy in the presence of light
D	Increased conductivity in the presence of light

28. - E6E07

Which of the following is typically used to construct a MMIC-based microwave amplifier?

Select	Answer
A	Ground-plane construction
B	Wave-soldering construction
C	Point-to-point construction
D	Microstrip construction

29. - E6F06

Which of these materials is affected the most by photoconductivity?

Select	Answer
A	A crystalline semiconductor
B	A heavy metal
C	An ordinary metal
D	A liquid semiconductor

30. - E7A06

What is a characteristic of a monostable multivibrator?

Select	Answer
A	It maintains a constant output voltage, regardless of variations in the input voltage
B	It stores one bit of data in either a 0 or 1 state
C	It switches momentarily to the opposite binary state and then returns to its original state after a set time
D	It produces a continuous square wave oscillating between 1 and 0

31. - E7B02

What is a Class D amplifier?

Select	Answer
A	A type of amplifier that uses switching technology to achieve high efficiency
B	A low power amplifier that uses a differential amplifier for improved linearity
C	A frequency doubling amplifier
D	An amplifier that uses drift-mode FETs for high efficiency

32. - E7C15

What is a crystal lattice filter?

Select	Answer
A	An audio filter made with four quartz crystals that resonate at 1kHz intervals
B	A filter with wide bandwidth and shallow skirts made using quartz crystals
C	A filter with narrow bandwidth and steep skirts made using quartz crystals
D	A power supply filter made with interlaced quartz crystals

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 negative feedback to improve regulation
D	It provides D1 with current

34. - E7E09

What occurs when an excessive amount of signal energy reaches a mixer circuit?

Select	Answer
A	Mixer blanking occurs
B	Automatic limiting occurs
C	Spurious mixer products are generated
D	A beat frequency is generated

35. - E7F01

What is meant by direct digital conversion as applied to software defined radios?

Select	Answer
A	Incoming RF is digitized by an analog-to-digital converter without being mixed with a local oscillator signal
B	Incoming RF is converted to a control voltage for a voltage controlled oscillator
C	Software is converted from source code to object code during operation of the receiver
D	A switching mixer is used to generate I and Q signals directly from the RF input

36. - E7G01

What is the typical output impedance of an integrated circuit op-amp?

Select	Answer
A	Very low
B	100 ohms
C	Very high
D	1000 ohms

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	Provide the crystal with a specified parallel inductance
C	Bias the crystal at a specified voltage
D	Provide the crystal with a specified parallel capacitance

38. - E8A08

Why would a direct or flash conversion analog-to-digital converter be useful for a software defined radio?

Select	Answer
A	All of these choices are correct
B	Very high speed allows digitizing high frequencies
C	Very low power consumption decreases frequency drift
D	Immunity to out of sequence coding reduces spurious responses

39. - E8B02

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

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

40. - E8C06

What is the necessary bandwidth of a 170-hertz shift, 300-baud ASCII transmission?

Select	Answer
A	0.1 Hz
B	1.0 kHz
C	0.3 kHz
D	0.5 kHz

41. - E8D05

What is the most common method of reducing key clicks?

Select	Answer
A	Increase keying waveform rise and fall times
B	Reduce keying waveform rise and fall times
C	High-pass filters at the transmitter output
D	Low-pass filters at the transmitter output

42. - E9A05

What is included in the total resistance of an antenna system?

Select	Answer
A	Radiation resistance plus space impedance
B	Radiation resistance plus ohmic resistance
C	Transmission-line resistance plus radiation resistance
D	Radiation resistance plus transmission resistance

43. - E9B12

What is the far field of an antenna?

Select	Answer
A	The region where the shape of the antenna pattern is independent of distance
B	The region where radiated field strengths are obstructed by objects of reflection
C	The region of the ionosphere where radiated power is not refracted
D	The region where radiated power dissipates over a specified time period

44. - E9C08

What is a folded dipole antenna?

Select	Answer
A	A type of ground-plane antenna
B	A dipole configured to provide forward gain
C	A dipole one-quarter wavelength long
D	A dipole consisting of one wavelength of wire forming a very thin loop

45. - E9D01

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

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

46. - E9E09

Which of these matching systems is an effective method of connecting a 50 ohm coaxial cable feed line to a grounded tower so it can be used as a vertical antenna?

Select	Answer
A	Hairpin match
B	All of these choices are correct
C	Double-bazooka match
D	Gamma match

47. - E9F03

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

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

48. - E9G05

What type of chart is shown in Figure E9-3?

Select	Answer
A	Smith chart
B	Free space radiation directivity chart
C	Azimuth angle radiation pattern chart
D	Elevation angle radiation pattern chart

49. - E9H07

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

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

50. - E0A10

What toxic material may be present in some electronic components such as high voltage capacitors and transformers?

Select	Answer
A	Polytetrafluroethylene
B	Polychlorinated Biphenyls
C	Polyethylene
D	Polymorphic silicon

Figure E5-2

Figure E6-2

Figure E6-5

Figure E7-3

Figure E9-3