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

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1. - E1A10

If an amateur station is installed aboard a ship or aircraft, what condition must be met before the station is operated?

Select	Answer
A	Its operation must be approved by the master of the ship or the pilot in command of the aircraft
B	The amateur station must have a power supply that is completely independent of the main ship or aircraft power supply
C	The amateur operator must have an FCC Marine or Aircraft endorsement on his or her amateur license
D	The amateur station operator must agree not to transmit when the main radio of the ship or aircraft is in use

2. - E1B09

Which amateur stations may be operated under RACES rules?

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

3. - E1C04

What is meant by IARP?

Select	Answer
A	The internal amateur radio practices policy of the FCC
B	A forecast of intermittent aurora radio propagation
C	An indication of increased antenna reflected power
D	An international amateur radio permit that allows U.S. amateurs to operate in certain countries of the Americas

4. - E1D07

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

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

5. - E1E13

Which of these choices is an acceptable method for monitoring the applicants if a VEC opts to conduct an exam session remotely?

Select	Answer
A	Use a real-time video link and the Internet to connect the exam session to the observing VEs
B	The exam proctor observes the applicants and reports any violations
C	Record the exam session on video tape for later review by the VE team
D	Have each applicant sign an affidavit stating that all session rules were followed

6. - E1F02

What privileges are authorized in the U.S. to persons holding an amateur service license granted by the Government of Canada?

Select	Answer
A	Full privileges, up to and including those of the Extra Class License, on the 80, 40, 20, 15, and 10 meter bands
B	All privileges of the Extra Class license
C	The operating terms and conditions of the Canadian amateur service license, not to exceed U.S. Extra Class privileges
D	None, they must obtain a U.S. license

7. - E2A14

What technology is used to track, in real time, balloons carrying amateur radio transmitters?

Select	Answer
A	Doppler shift of beacon signals
B	Bandwidth compressed LORAN
C	APRS
D	Radar

8. - E2B05

Which of the following is an advantage of using vestigial sideband for standard fast- scan TV transmissions?

Select	Answer
A	The vestigial sideband carries the audio information
B	The vestigial sideband contains chroma information
C	Vestigial sideband reduces bandwidth while allowing for simple video detector circuitry
D	Vestigial sideband provides high frequency emphasis to sharpen the picture

9. - E2C01

Which of the following is true about contest operating?

Select	Answer
A	Interference to other amateurs is unavoidable and therefore acceptable
B	It is mandatory to transmit the call sign of the station being worked as part of every transmission to that station
C	Operators are permitted to make contacts even if they do not submit a log
D	Every contest requires a signal report in the exchange

10. - E2D09

Which of these digital modes has the fastest data throughput under clear communication conditions?

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

11. - E2E06

What is the most common data rate used for HF packet?

Select	Answer
A	48 baud
B	1200 baud
C	300 baud
D	110 baud

12. - E3A17

What is meant by circularly polarized electromagnetic waves?

Select	Answer
A	Waves produced by a loop antenna
B	Waves with an electric field bent into a circular shape
C	Waves with a rotating electric field
D	Waves that circle the Earth

13. - E3B04

What is meant by the terms extraordinary and ordinary waves?

Select	Answer
A	Refracted rays and reflected waves
B	Long path and short path waves
C	Independent waves created in the ionosphere that are elliptically polarized
D	Extraordinary waves describe rare long skip propagation compared to ordinary waves which travel shorter distances

14. - E3C12

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

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

15. - E4A15

What is an advantage of a period-measuring frequency counter over a direct-count type?

Select	Answer
A	It can run on battery power for remote measurements
B	It does not require an expensive high-precision time base
C	It can directly measure the modulation index of an FM transmitter
D	It provides improved resolution of low-frequency signals within a comparable time period

16. - E4B08

Which of the following is a characteristic of a good DC voltmeter?

Select	Answer
A	Low reluctance input
B	High impedance input
C	High reluctance input
D	Low impedance input

17. - E4C13

How does a narrow-band roofing filter affect receiver performance?

Select	Answer
A	It improves sensitivity by reducing front end noise
B	It improves intelligibility by using low Q circuitry to reduce ringing
C	All of these choices are correct
D	It improves dynamic range by attenuating strong signals near the receive frequency

18. - E4D09

What is the purpose of the preselector in a communications receiver?

Select	Answer
A	To allow selection of the optimum RF amplifier device
B	To provide a range of AGC time constants
C	To increase rejection of unwanted signals
D	To store often-used frequencies

19. - E4E06

What is a major cause of atmospheric static?

Select	Answer
A	Solar radio frequency emissions
B	Thunderstorms
C	Meteor showers
D	Geomagnetic storms

20. - E5A09

How is the Q of an RLC parallel resonant circuit calculated?

Select	Answer
A	Reactance of the inductance multiplied by the reactance of the capacitance
B	Reactance of either the inductance or capacitance multiplied by the resistance
C	Reactance of either the inductance or capacitance divided by the resistance
D	Resistance divided by the reactance of either the inductance or capacitance

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

22. - E5C15

Which point in Figure E5-2 best represents the impedance of a series circuit consisting of a 300 ohm resistor and an 18 microhenry inductor at 3.505 MHz?

Select	Answer
A	Point 3
B	Point 7
C	Point 1
D	Point 8

23. - E5D17

How many watts are consumed in a circuit having a power factor of 0.6 if the input is 200VAC at 5 amperes?

Select	Answer
A	1600 watts
B	600 watts
C	1000 watts
D	200 watts

24. - E6A07

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

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

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	Much higher reverse voltage breakdown
C	Controlled reverse avalanche voltage
D	Enhanced carrier retention time

26. - E6C03

What is tri-state logic?

Select	Answer
A	Logic devices with 0, 1, and high impedance output states
B	Logic devices that utilize ternary math
C	Proprietary logic devices manufactured by Tri-State Devices
D	Low power logic devices designed to operate at 3 volts

27. - E6D12

What is the definition of saturation in a ferrite core inductor?

Select	Answer
A	The ability of the inductor's core to store magnetic energy has been exceeded
B	The inductor windings are over coupled
C	The inductor's voltage rating is exceeded causing a flashover
D	Adjacent inductors become over-coupled

28. - E6E04

Which is the most common input and output impedance of circuits that use MMICs?

Select	Answer
A	300 ohms
B	10 ohms
C	50 ohms
D	450 ohms

29. - E6F13

What is a liquid crystal display (LCD)?

Select	Answer
A	A display utilizing a crystalline liquid and polarizing filters which becomes opaque when voltage is applied
B	A frequency-determining unit for a transmitter or receiver
C	A modern replacement for a quartz crystal oscillator which displays its fundamental frequency
D	A display that uses a glowing liquid to remain brightly lit in dim light

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 "0" at its output if all inputs are logic "1"
D	It produces logic "1" at its output if any or 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	Signal inversion
B	Signal distortion and excessive bandwidth
C	Increased overall intelligibility
D	Reduced intermodulation products

32. - E7C08

Which of the following factors has the greatest effect in helping determine the bandwidth and response shape of a crystal ladder filter?

Select	Answer
A	The relative frequencies of the individual crystals
B	The gain of the RF stage preceding the filter
C	The amplitude of the signals passing through the filter
D	The DC voltage applied to the quartz crystal

33. - E7D08

What type of circuit is shown in Figure E7-3?

Select	Answer
A	Grounded emitter amplifier
B	Emitter follower
C	Switching voltage regulator
D	Linear voltage regulator

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 balanced modulator on the oscillator
D	A reactance modulator on the final amplifier

35. - E7F15

Which of the following is an advantage of a Finite Impulse Response (FIR) filter vs an Infinite Impulse Response (IIR) digital filter?

Select	Answer
A	FIR filters are easier to implement for a given set of passband rolloff requirements
B	FIR filters delay all frequency components of the signal by the same amount
C	FIR filters can respond faster to impulses
D	All of these choices are correct

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	-2.3 volts
C	0.23 volts
D	-0.23 volts

37. - E7H11

What are the major spectral impurity components of direct digital synthesizers?

Select	Answer
A	Spurious signals at discrete frequencies
B	Nyquist limit noise
C	Broadband noise
D	Digital conversion noise

38. - E8A06

What is the approximate ratio of PEP-to-average power in a typical single-sideband phone signal?

Select	Answer
A	1 to 1
B	25 to 1
C	100 to 1
D	2.5 to 1

39. - E8B05

What is the deviation ratio of an FM-phone signal having a maximum frequency swing of plus-or-minus 5 kHz when the maximum modulation frequency is 3 kHz?

Select	Answer
A	0.167
B	60
C	0.6
D	1.67

40. - E8C09

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

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

41. - E8D07

What is a common cause of overmodulation of AFSK signals?

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

42. - E9A13

How much gain does an antenna have compared to a 1/2-wavelength dipole when it has 12 dB gain over an isotropic antenna?

Select	Answer
A	14.15 dB
B	6.17 dB
C	9.85 dB
D	12.5 dB

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	1
D	7

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

45. - E9D04

Why should an HF mobile antenna loading coil have a high ratio of reactance to resistance?

Select	Answer
A	To minimize the Q
B	To maximize losses
C	To swamp out harmonics
D	To minimize losses

46. - E9E01

What system matches a higher impedance transmission line to a lower impedance antenna by connecting the line to the driven element in two places spaced a fraction of a wavelength each side of element center?

Select	Answer
A	The delta matching system
B	The omega matching system
C	The stub matching system
D	The gamma matching system

47. - E9F14

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

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

48. - E9G10

What do the arcs on a Smith chart represent?

Select	Answer
A	Frequency
B	SWR
C	Points with constant resistance
D	Points with constant reactance

49. - E9H09

Which of the following describes the construction of a receiving loop antenna?

Select	Answer
A	One or more turns of wire wound in the shape of a large open coil
B	A large circularly polarized antenna
C	A vertical antenna coupled to a feed line through an inductive loop of wire
D	A small coil of wire tightly wound around a toroidal ferrite core

50. - E0A05

What is one of the potential hazards of using microwaves in the amateur radio bands?

Select	Answer
A	Microwaves often travel long distances by ionospheric reflection
B	The extremely high frequency energy can damage the joints of antenna structures
C	The high gain antennas commonly used can result in high exposure levels
D	Microwaves are ionizing radiation

Figure E5-2

Figure E7-3

Figure E7-4

Figure E9-2