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	The exact upper band edge
B	3 kHz below the upper band edge
C	1 kHz below the upper band edge
D	300 Hz 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	An Environmental Assessment must be submitted to the FCC
C	A letter of intent must be filed with the National Audubon Society
D	A proposal must be submitted to the National Park Service

3. - E1C09

Which of these ranges of frequencies is available for an automatically controlled repeater operating below 30 MHz?

Select	Answer
A	24.940 MHz - 24.990 MHz
B	18.110 MHz - 18.168 MHz
C	10.100 MHz - 10.150 MHz
D	29.500 MHz - 29.700 MHz

4. - E1D03

What is a telecommand station in the amateur satellite service?

Select	Answer
A	An amateur station that transmits telemetry consisting of measurements of upper atmosphere
B	An amateur station that transmits communications to initiate, modify or terminate functions of a space station
C	An amateur station located on the Earth's surface for communication with other Earth stations by means of Earth satellites
D	An amateur station located more than 50 km above the Earth's surface

5. - E1E05

What is the minimum passing score on amateur operator license examinations?

Select	Answer
A	Minimum passing score of 77%
B	Minimum passing score of 74%
C	Minimum passing score of 70%
D	Minimum passing score of 80%

6. - E1F09

Which of the following conditions apply when transmitting spread spectrum emission?

Select	Answer
A	The transmitting station must be in an area regulated by the FCC or in a country that permits SS emissions
B	All of these choices are correct
C	A station transmitting SS emission must not cause harmful interference to other stations employing other authorized emissions
D	The transmission must not be used to obscure the meaning of any communication

7. - E2A06

On what band would a satellite receive signals if it were operating in mode U/V?

Select	Answer
A	29.5 MHz - 29.7 MHz
B	144 MHz - 146 MHz
C	50.0 MHz - 50.2 MHz
D	435 MHz - 438 MHz

8. - E2B03

How is an interlaced scanning pattern generated in a fast-scan (NTSC) television system?

Select	Answer
A	By scanning lines from left to right in one field and right to left in the next
B	By scanning each field from bottom to top
C	By scanning odd numbered lines in one field and even numbered lines in the next
D	By scanning two fields simultaneously

9. - E2C09

What type of equipment is commonly used to implement a ham radio mesh network?

Select	Answer
A	A 2 meter VHF transceiver with a 1200 baud modem
B	A 440 MHz transceiver with a 9600 baud modem
C	A standard wireless router running custom software
D	An optical cable connection between the USB ports of 2 separate computers

10. - E2D03

Which of the following digital modes is especially useful for EME communications?

Select	Answer
A	Olivia
B	FSK441
C	JT65
D	PACTOR III

11. - E2E02

What do the letters FEC mean as they relate to digital operation?

Select	Answer
A	Final Error Correction
B	Forward Error Correction
C	Fatal Error Correction
D	First Error Correction

12. - E3A12

What is the cause of auroral activity?

Select	Answer
A	The interaction in the E layer of charged particles from the Sun with the Earth's magnetic field
B	The interaction in the F2 layer between the solar wind and the Van Allen belt
C	Meteor showers concentrated in the extreme northern and southern latitudes
D	A low sunspot level combined with tropospheric ducting

13. - E3B10

What is the cause of gray-line propagation?

Select	Answer
A	At mid-afternoon, the Sun heats the ionosphere decreasing radio wave refraction and the MUF
B	At twilight and sunrise, D-layer absorption is low while E-layer and F-layer propagation remains high
C	In darkness, solar absorption drops greatly while atmospheric ionization remains steady
D	At midday, the Sun super heats the ionosphere causing increased refraction of radio waves

14. - E3C12

How does the maximum distance of ground-wave propagation change when the signal frequency is increased?

Select	Answer
A	It peaks at roughly 14 MHz
B	It increases
C	It decreases
D	It stays the same

15. - E4A14

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

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

16. - E4B16

Which S parameter represents return loss or SWR?

Select	Answer
A	S11
B	S12
C	S22
D	S21

17. - E4C11

Which of the following is a desirable amount of selectivity for an amateur SSB phone receiver?

Select	Answer
A	1 kHz
B	4.8 kHz
C	2.4 kHz
D	4.2 kHz

18. - E4D07

Which describes the most significant effect of an off-frequency signal when it is causing cross-modulation interference to a desired signal?

Select	Answer
A	A reduction in apparent signal strength
B	The off-frequency unwanted signal is heard in addition to the desired signal
C	A large increase in background noise
D	The desired signal can no longer be heard

19. - E4E05

How can noise from an electric motor be suppressed?

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

20. - E5A17

What is the result of increasing the Q of an impedance-matching circuit?

Select	Answer
A	Matching range is increased
B	Matching bandwidth is decreased
C	It has no effect on impedance matching
D	Matching bandwidth is increased

21. - E5B07

What is the phase angle between the voltage across and the current through a series RLC circuit if XC is 500 ohms, R is 1 kilohm, and XL is 250 ohms?

Select	Answer
A	68.2 degrees with the voltage lagging the current
B	68.2 degrees with the voltage leading the current
C	14.0 degrees with the voltage lagging the current
D	14.0 degrees with the voltage leading the current

22. - E5C01

Which of the following represents a capacitive reactance in rectangular notation?

Select	Answer
A	X
B	Omega
C	+jX
D	-jX

23. - E5D18

How many watts are consumed in a circuit having a power factor of 0.71 if the apparent power is 500VA?

Select	Answer
A	704 W
B	252 W
C	355 W
D	1.42 mW

24. - E6A10

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

Select	Answer
A	4
B	6
C	5
D	2

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

26. - E6C06

Why do CMOS digital integrated circuits have high immunity to noise on the input signal or power supply?

Select	Answer
A	Larger bypass capacitors are used in CMOS circuit design
B	The input switching threshold is about two times the power supply voltage
C	The input switching threshold is about one-half the power supply voltage
D	Input signals are stronger

27. - E6D06

What core material property determines the inductance of a toroidal inductor?

Select	Answer
A	Thermal impedance
B	Reactivity
C	Resistance
D	Permeability

28. - E6E11

What is a characteristic of DIP packaging used for integrated circuits?

Select	Answer
A	Low leakage doubly insulated package
B	A total of two rows of connecting pins placed on opposite sides of the package (Dual In-line Package)
C	Two chips in each package (Dual In Package)
D	Package mounts in a direct inverted position

29. - E6F02

What happens to the conductivity of a photoconductive material when light shines on it?

Select	Answer
A	It becomes unstable
B	It increases
C	It decreases
D	It stays the same

30. - E7A02

What is the function of a decade counter digital IC?

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

31. - E7B03

Which of the following components form the output of a class D amplifier circuit?

Select	Answer
A	A high-pass filter to compensate for low gain at low frequencies
B	A low-pass filter to remove switching signal components
C	A temperature compensating load resistor to improve linearity
D	A matched load resistor to prevent damage by switching transients

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 narrow bandwidth and steep skirts made using quartz crystals
C	A filter with wide bandwidth and shallow skirts made using quartz crystals
D	A power supply filter made with interlaced quartz crystals

33. - E7D02

What is one characteristic of a switching electronic voltage regulator?

Select	Answer
A	The controlled device's duty cycle is changed to produce a constant average output voltage
B	The resistance of a control element is varied in direct proportion to the line voltage or load current
C	It is generally less efficient than a linear regulator
D	It gives a ramp voltage at its output

34. - E7E01

Which of the following can be used to generate FM phone emissions?

Select	Answer
A	A reactance modulator on the oscillator
B	A balanced modulator on the audio amplifier
C	A reactance modulator on the final amplifier
D	A balanced modulator on the oscillator

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 the same rate as the highest frequency component of the signal
C	At half the rate of the highest frequency component of the signal
D	At four times the rate of the highest frequency component of the signal

36. - E7G09

What will be the output voltage of the circuit shown in Figure E7-4 if R1 is 1000 ohms, RF is 10,000 ohms, and 0.23 volts DC is applied to the input?

Select	Answer
A	-2.3 volts
B	-0.23 volts
C	0.23 volts
D	2.3 volts

37. - E7H13

Which of the following is a technique for providing highly accurate and stable oscillators needed for microwave transmission and reception?

Select	Answer
A	Use a GPS signal reference
B	All of these choices are correct
C	Use a temperature-controlled high Q dielectric resonator
D	Use a rubidium stabilized reference oscillator

38. - E8A08

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

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

39. - E8B03

What is the modulation index of an FM-phone signal having a maximum frequency deviation of 3000 Hz either side of the carrier frequency when the modulating frequency is 1000 Hz?

Select	Answer
A	1000
B	3000
C	0.3
D	3

40. - E8C09

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

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

41. - E8D07

What is a common cause of overmodulation of AFSK signals?

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

42. - E9A17

What is the effective radiated power of a repeater station with 200 watts transmitter power output, 2 dB feed line loss, 2.8 dB duplexer loss, 1.2 dB circulator loss, and 7 dBi antenna gain?

Select	Answer
A	63.2 watts
B	252 watts
C	159 watts
D	632 watts

43. - E9B07

How does the total amount of radiation emitted by a directional gain antenna compare with the total amount of radiation emitted from an isotropic antenna, assuming each is driven by the same amount of power?

Select	Answer
A	The radiation from the isotropic antenna is 2.15 dB stronger than that from the directional antenna
B	The total amount of radiation from the directional antenna is increased by the gain of the antenna
C	They are the same
D	The total amount of radiation from the directional antenna is stronger by its front-to-back ratio

44. - E9C02

What is the radiation pattern of two 1/4 wavelength vertical antennas spaced 1/4 wavelength apart and fed 90 degrees out of phase?

Select	Answer
A	Cardioid
B	A figure-8 broadside to the axis of the array
C	Omni-directional
D	A figure-8 end-fire along the axis of the array

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 does not change
C	Gain is multiplied by 0.707
D	Gain increases by 3 dB

46. - E9E04

What is the purpose of the series capacitor in a gamma-type antenna matching network?

Select	Answer
A	To transform the antenna impedance to a higher value
B	To provide DC isolation between the feed line and the antenna
C	To provide a rejection notch that prevents the radiation of harmonics
D	To cancel the inductive reactance of the matching network

47. - E9F11

What impedance does a 1/8 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	The same as the input impedance of the final generator stage
C	An inductive reactance
D	A capacitive reactance

48. - E9G08

What is the process of normalization with regard to a Smith chart?

Select	Answer
A	Reassigning resistance values with regard to the reactance axis
B	Reassigning reactance values with regard to the resistance axis
C	Reassigning prime center with regard to the reactance axis
D	Reassigning impedance values with regard to the prime center

49. - E9H04

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

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

50. - E0A11

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

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

Figure E6-2

Figure E7-4