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

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1. - E1A08

If a station in a message forwarding system inadvertently forwards a message that is in violation of FCC rules, who is primarily accountable for the rules violation?

Select	Answer
A	The control operators of all the stations in the system
B	The control operators of all the stations in the system not authenticating the source from which they accept communications
C	The control operator of the packet bulletin board station
D	The control operator of the originating station

2. - E1B09

Which amateur stations may be operated under RACES rules?

Select	Answer
A	Any FCC-licensed amateur station certified by the responsible civil defense organization for the area served
B	Any FCC-licensed amateur station except a Technician class
C	Only those club stations licensed to Amateur Extra class operators
D	Any FCC-licensed amateur station participating in the Military Auxiliary Radio System (MARS)

3. - E1C07

What is meant by local control?

Select	Answer
A	Direct manipulation of the transmitter by a control operator
B	Controlling a repeater using a portable handheld transceiver
C	Automatically manipulating local station controls
D	Controlling a station through a local auxiliary link

4. - E1D08

Which VHF amateur service bands have frequencies available for space stations?

Select	Answer
A	2 meters
B	2 meters and 1.25 meters
C	6 meters and 2 meters
D	6 meters, 2 meters, and 1.25 meters

5. - E1E02

Where are the questions for all written U.S. amateur license examinations listed?

Select	Answer
A	In the appropriate FCC Report and Order
B	In a question pool maintained by the FCC
C	In a question pool maintained by all the VECs
D	In FCC Part 97

6. - E1F10

What is the maximum permitted transmitter peak envelope power for an amateur station transmitting spread spectrum communications?

Select	Answer
A	1 W
B	1.5 kW
C	1.5 W
D	10 W

7. - E2A12

What is one way to predict the location of a satellite at a given time?

Select	Answer
A	By subtracting the mean anomaly from the orbital inclination
B	By calculations using the Keplerian elements for the specified satellite
C	By adding the mean anomaly to the orbital inclination
D	By means of the Doppler data for the specified satellite

8. - E2B08

Which of the following is a common method of transmitting accompanying audio with amateur fast-scan television?

Select	Answer
A	All of these choices are correct
B	Frequency modulation of the video carrier
C	A separate VHF or UHF audio link
D	Frequency-modulated sub-carrier

9. - E2C04

What type of transmission is most often used for a ham radio mesh network?

Select	Answer
A	Frequency division multiplex in the 24 GHz band
B	Multiple Frequency Shift Keying in the 10 GHz band
C	Spread spectrum in the 2.4 GHz band
D	Store and forward on the 440 MHz band

10. - E2D01

Which of the following digital modes is especially designed for use for meteor scatter signals?

Select	Answer
A	WSPR
B	Hellschreiber
C	APRS
D	FSK441

11. - E2E10

Which of these digital modes has the narrowest bandwidth?

Select	Answer
A	300-baud packet
B	170 Hz shift, 45 baud RTTY
C	MFSK16
D	PSK31

12. - E3A07

Atmospheric ducts capable of propagating microwave signals often form over what geographic feature?

Select	Answer
A	Forests
B	Mountain ranges
C	Bodies of water
D	Urban areas

13. - E3B13

Why is chordal hop propagation desirable?

Select	Answer
A	The signal experiences less loss along the path compared to normal skip propagation
B	The MUF for chordal hop propagation is much lower than for normal skip propagation
C	Atmospheric noise is lower in the direction of chordal hop propagation
D	Signals travel faster along ionospheric chords

14. - E3C14

Why does the radio-path horizon distance exceed the geometric horizon?

Select	Answer
A	Downward bending due to aurora refraction
B	E-region skip
C	Downward bending due to density variations in the atmosphere
D	D-region skip

15. - E4A14

What is the purpose of the prescaler function on a frequency counter?

Select	Answer
A	It amplifies low level signals for more accurate counting
B	It prevents oscillation in a low-frequency counter circuit
C	It multiplies a higher frequency signal so a low-frequency counter can display the operating frequency
D	It divides a higher frequency signal so a low-frequency counter can display the input frequency

16. - E4B04

If a frequency counter with a specified accuracy of +/- 0.1 ppm reads 146,520,000 Hz, what is the most the actual frequency being measured could differ from the reading?

Select	Answer
A	0.1 MHz
B	1.4652 Hz
C	1.4652 kHz
D	14.652 Hz

17. - E4C01

What is an effect of excessive phase noise in the local oscillator section of a receiver?

Select	Answer
A	It limits the receiver's ability to receive strong signals
B	It can cause strong signals on nearby frequencies to interfere with reception of weak signals
C	It reduces receiver sensitivity
D	It decreases receiver third-order intermodulation distortion dynamic range

18. - E4D02

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

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

19. - E4E05

How can noise from an electric motor be suppressed?

Select	Answer
A	By using a ground-fault current interrupter in the circuit used to power the motor
B	By installing a brute-force AC-line filter in series with the motor leads
C	By installing a high pass filter in series with the motor's power leads
D	By installing a bypass capacitor in series with the motor leads

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	31.4 kHz
B	15.7 kHz
C	218.3 kHz
D	436.6 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	440 seconds
B	220 seconds
C	110 seconds
D	55 seconds

22. - E5C04

Which of the following represents a capacitive reactance in polar coordinates?

Select	Answer
A	A positive phase angle
B	A negative real part
C	A negative phase angle
D	A positive real part

23. - E5D03

What is microstrip?

Select	Answer
A	Short lengths of coax mounted on printed circuit boards to minimize time delay between microwave circuits
B	Precision printed circuit conductors above a ground plane that provide constant impedance interconnects at microwave frequencies
C	Lightweight transmission line made of common zip cord
D	Miniature coax used for low power applications

24. - E6A09

What is a depletion-mode FET?

Select	Answer
A	Any FET without a channel
B	An FET that exhibits a current flow between source and drain when no gate voltage is applied
C	Any FET for which holes are the majority carriers
D	An FET that has no current flow between source and drain when no gate voltage is applied

25. - E6B04

What type of semiconductor device is designed for use as a voltage-controlled capacitor?

Select	Answer
A	Tunnel diode
B	Zener diode
C	Silicon-controlled rectifier
D	Varactor diode

26. - E6C12

What is BiCMOS logic?

Select	Answer
A	An integrated circuit logic family using both bipolar and CMOS transistors
B	A logic family based on bismuth CMOS devices
C	A FET logic family based on bimetallic semiconductors
D	A logic device with two CMOS circuits per package

27. - E6D11

How many turns will be required to produce a 1-mH inductor using a core that has an inductance index (A L) value of 523 millihenrys/1000 turns?

Select	Answer
A	229 turns
B	2 turns
C	4 turns
D	43 turns

28. - E6E07

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

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

29. - E6F03

What is the most common configuration of an optoisolator or optocoupler?

Select	Answer
A	An LED and a phototransistor
B	A frequency modulated helium-neon laser
C	An amplitude modulated helium-neon laser
D	A lens and a photomultiplier

30. - E7A05

Which of the following is a circuit that continuously alternates between two states without an external clock?

Select	Answer
A	T flip-flop
B	Monostable multivibrator
C	Astable multivibrator
D	J-K flip-flop

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	Increased overall intelligibility
C	Signal inversion
D	Signal distortion and excessive bandwidth

32. - E7C09

What is a Jones filter as used as part of an HF receiver IF stage?

Select	Answer
A	An automatic notch filter
B	A variable bandwidth crystal lattice filter
C	A special filter that emphasizes image responses
D	A filter that removes impulse noise E7C10 (B) Which of the following filters would be the best choice for use in a 2 meter repeater duplexer? A. A crystal filter B. A cavity filter C. A DSP filter D. An L-C filter

33. - E7D11

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

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

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. - E7F06

What is the minimum number of bits required for an analog-to-digital converter to sample a signal with a range of 1 volt at a resolution of 1 millivolt?

Select	Answer
A	8 bits
B	6 bits
C	10 bits
D	4 bits

36. - E7G08

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

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

37. - E7H07

How can an oscillator's microphonic responses be reduced?

Select	Answer
A	Mechanically isolating the oscillator circuitry from its enclosure
B	Using the oscillator only for CW and digital signals
C	Eliminating noise on the oscillator's power supply
D	Use of NP0 capacitors

38. - E8A09

How many levels can an analog-to-digital converter with 8 bit resolution encode?

Select	Answer
A	8 multiplied by the gain of the input amplifier
B	256 divided by the gain of the input amplifier
C	256
D	8

39. - E8B11

What is digital time division multiplexing?

Select	Answer
A	Two or more signals are arranged to share discrete time slots of a data transmission
B	Two or more signals are quadrature modulated to increase bandwidth efficiency
C	Two or more data streams share the same channel by transmitting time of transmission as the sub-carrier
D	Two or more data streams are assigned to discrete sub-carriers on an FM transmitter

40. - E8C11

What is the relationship between symbol rate and baud?

Select	Answer
A	Baud is twice the symbol rate
B	Baud is only used for RTTY
C	They are the same
D	Symbol rate is only used for packet-based modes

41. - E8D07

What is a common cause of overmodulation of AFSK signals?

Select	Answer
A	Excessive transmit audio levels
B	Ground loops
C	Excessive numbers of retries
D	Bit errors in the modem

42. - E9A07

What is meant by antenna gain?

Select	Answer
A	The final amplifier gain minus the transmission line losses
B	The ratio of the amount of power radiated by an antenna compared to the transmitter output power
C	The ratio of the radiated signal strength of an antenna in the direction of maximum radiation to that of a reference antenna
D	The ratio of the signal in the forward direction to that in the opposite direction

43. - E9B15

What is the front-to-back ratio of the radiation pattern shown in Figure E9-2?

Select	Answer
A	15 dB
B	3 dB
C	28 dB
D	24 dB

44. - E9C11

How is the far-field elevation pattern of a vertically polarized antenna affected by being mounted over seawater versus rocky ground?

Select	Answer
A	The low-angle radiation increases
B	Both the high-angle and low-angle radiation decrease
C	The low-angle radiation decreases
D	The high-angle radiation increases

45. - E9D05

What is a disadvantage of using a multiband trapped antenna?

Select	Answer
A	It must be neutralized
B	It might radiate harmonics
C	It radiates the harmonics and fundamental equally well
D	It is too sharply directional at lower frequencies

46. - E9E08

Which of the following measurements is characteristic of a mismatched transmission line?

Select	Answer
A	A dielectric constant greater than 1
B	A reflection coefficient greater than 1
C	An SWR less than 1:1
D	An SWR greater than 1:1

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	The characteristic impedance is higher in a parallel feed line
C	Skin effect is less pronounced in the coaxial cable
D	The surge impedance is higher in a parallel feed line

48. - E9G07

On the Smith chart shown in Figure E9-3, what is the only straight line shown?

Select	Answer
A	The current axis
B	The resistance axis
C	The voltage axis
D	The reactance axis

49. - E9H04

What is an advantage of using a shielded loop antenna for direction finding?

Select	Answer
A	It allows stations to communicate without giving away their position
B	It eliminates tracking errors caused by strong out-of-band signals
C	It automatically cancels ignition noise in mobile installations
D	It is electro statically balanced against ground, giving better nulls

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 E9-2

Figure E9-3