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

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1. - E1A14

What is the maximum bandwidth for a data emission on 60 meters?

Select	Answer
A	1.5 kHz
B	170 Hz
C	2.8 kHz
D	60 Hz

2. - E1B01

Which of the following constitutes a spurious emission?

Select	Answer
A	An amateur station transmission made at random without the proper call sign identification
B	Any transmitted signal that unintentionally interferes with another licensed radio station
C	An emission outside its necessary bandwidth that can be reduced or eliminated without affecting the information transmitted
D	A signal transmitted to prevent its detection by any station other than the intended recipient

3. - E1C12

What types of communications may be transmitted to amateur stations in foreign countries?

Select	Answer
A	Communications incidental to the purpose of the amateur service and remarks of a personal nature
B	All of these choices are correct
C	Business-related messages for non-profit organizations
D	Messages intended for connection to users of the maritime satellite service

4. - E1D11

Which amateur stations are eligible to operate as Earth stations?

Select	Answer
A	Any amateur station whose licensee has filed a pre-space notification with the FCC's International Bureau
B	Only those of Amateur Extra Class operators
C	Any amateur station, subject to the privileges of the class of operator license held by the control operator
D	Only those of General, Advanced or Amateur Extra Class operators

5. - E1E01

What is the minimum number of qualified VEs required to administer an Element 4 amateur operator license examination?

Select	Answer
A	4
B	5
C	3
D	2

6. - E1F03

Under what circumstances may a dealer sell an external RF power amplifier capable of operation below 144 MHz if it has not been granted FCC certification?

Select	Answer
A	It was purchased in used condition from an amateur operator and is sold to another amateur operator for use at that operator's station
B	It was imported from a manufacturer in a country that does not require certification of RF power amplifiers
C	It was imported from a manufacturer in another country and was certificated by that country's government
D	The equipment dealer assembled it from a kit

7. - E2A06

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

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

8. - E2B03

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

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

9. - E2C06

During a VHF/UHF contest, in which band segment would you expect to find the highest level of activity?

Select	Answer
A	In the middle of the band, usually 25 kHz above the national calling frequency
B	At the top of each band, usually in a segment reserved for contests
C	In the weak signal segment of the band, with most of the activity near the calling frequency
D	In the middle of each band, usually on the national calling frequency

10. - E2D14

What is one advantage of using JT65 coding?

Select	Answer
A	The ability to decode signals which have a very low signal to noise ratio
B	Permits fast-scan TV transmissions over narrow bandwidth
C	Uses only a 65 Hz bandwidth
D	Easily copied by ear if necessary

11. - E2E07

What is the typical bandwidth of a properly modulated MFSK16 signal?

Select	Answer
A	550 Hz
B	316 Hz
C	31 Hz
D	2.16 kHz

12. - E3A06

Which of the following is required for microwave propagation via rain scatter?

Select	Answer
A	The rain must be within radio range of both stations
B	All of these choices are correct
C	Rain droplets must be electrically charged
D	Rain droplets must be within the E layer

13. - E3B03

What is the best time of day for transequatorial propagation?

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

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	Southward
B	Eastward
C	Northward
D	Westward

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 can directly measure the modulation index of an FM transmitter
C	It does not require an expensive high-precision time base
D	It provides improved resolution of low-frequency signals within a comparable time period

16. - E4B11

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

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

17. - E4C07

What does the MDS of a receiver represent?

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

18. - E4D14

Which of the following is a way to reduce the likelihood of receiver desensitization?

Select	Answer
A	Decrease the RF bandwidth of the receiver
B	Raise the receiver IF frequency
C	Increase the receiver front end gain
D	Switch from fast AGC to slow AGC

19. - E4E15

Which of the following can cause shielded cables to radiate or receive interference?

Select	Answer
A	Tying all ground connections to a common point resulting in differential mode currents in the shield
B	Common mode currents on the shield and conductors
C	Use of braided shielding material
D	Low inductance ground connections at both ends of the shield

20. - E5A10

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

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

21. - E5B09

What is the relationship between the current through a capacitor and the voltage across a capacitor?

Select	Answer
A	Current leads voltage by 90 degrees
B	Voltage and current are in phase
C	Voltage and current are 180 degrees out of phase
D	Voltage leads current by 90 degrees

22. - E5C16

Which point on Figure E5-2 best represents the impedance of a series circuit consisting of a 300 ohm resistor and a 19 picofarad capacitor at 21.200 MHz?

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

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	355 W
B	704 W
C	252 W
D	1.42 mW

24. - E6A16

What are the majority charge carriers in N-type semiconductor material?

Select	Answer
A	Holes
B	Free protons
C	Free neutrons
D	Free electrons

25. - E6B05

What characteristic of a PIN diode makes it useful as an RF switch or attenuator?

Select	Answer
A	A large region of intrinsic material
B	Ability to dissipate large amounts of power
C	Reverse bias controls its forward voltage drop
D	Extremely high reverse breakdown voltage

26. - E6C11

In Figure E6-5, what is the schematic symbol for the NOT operation (inverter)?

Select	Answer
A	2
B	4
C	6
D	5

27. - E6D06

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

Select	Answer
A	Thermal impedance
B	Permeability
C	Reactivity
D	Resistance

28. - E6E06

What characteristics of the MMIC make it a popular choice for VHF through microwave circuits?

Select	Answer
A	The ability to retrieve information from a single signal even in the presence of other strong signals
B	Nearly infinite gain, very high input impedance, and very low output impedance
C	Plate current that is controlled by a control grid
D	Controlled gain, low noise figure, and constant input and output impedance over the specified frequency range

29. - E6F05

Which describes an optical shaft encoder?

Select	Answer
A	A device which detects rotation of a control by interrupting a light source with a patterned wheel
B	A digital encryption device often used to encrypt spacecraft control signals
C	A device which measures the strength of a beam of light using analog to digital conversion
D	A device for generating RTTY signals by means of a rotating light source

30. - E7A02

What is the function of a decade counter digital IC?

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

31. - E7B02

What is a Class D amplifier?

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

32. - E7C03

What advantage does a Pi-L-network have over a regular Pi-network for impedance matching between the final amplifier of a vacuum-tube transmitter and an antenna?

Select	Answer
A	Higher efficiency
B	Greater transformation range
C	Greater harmonic suppression
D	Lower losses

33. - E7D14

What is one purpose of a "bleeder" resistor in a conventional unregulated power supply?

Select	Answer
A	To boost the amount of output current
B	To balance the low-voltage filament windings
C	To improve output voltage regulation
D	To cut down on waste heat generated by the power supply

34. - E7E08

What are the principal frequencies that appear at the output of a mixer circuit?

Select	Answer
A	Two and four times the original frequency
B	The two input frequencies along with their sum and difference frequencies
C	The sum, difference and square root of the input frequencies
D	1.414 and 0.707 times the input frequency

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	4 bits
D	10 bits

36. - E7G12

What is an integrated circuit operational amplifier?

Select	Answer
A	A high-gain, direct-coupled differential amplifier with very high input impedance and very low output impedance
B	A RF amplifier used in the UHF and microwave regions
C	An amplifier used to increase the average output of frequency modulated amateur signals to the legal limit
D	A digital audio amplifier whose characteristics are determined by components external to the amplifier

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

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 low power consumption decreases frequency drift
C	All of these choices are correct
D	Very high speed allows digitizing high frequencies

39. - E8B09

What is meant by deviation ratio?

Select	Answer
A	The ratio of the carrier center frequency to the audio modulating frequency
B	The ratio of the audio modulating frequency to the center carrier frequency
C	The ratio of the highest audio modulating frequency to the average audio modulating frequency
D	The ratio of the maximum carrier frequency deviation to the highest audio modulating frequency

40. - E8C08

How does ARQ accomplish error correction?

Select	Answer
A	Special binary codes provide automatic correction
B	If errors are detected, a retransmission is requested
C	If errors are detected, redundant data is substituted
D	Special polynomial codes provide automatic correction

41. - E8D08

What parameter might indicate that excessively high input levels are causing distortion in an AFSK signal?

Select	Answer
A	Signal to noise ratio
B	Intermodulation Distortion (IMD)
C	Repeat Request Rate (RRR)
D	Baud rate

42. - E9A09

How is antenna efficiency calculated?

Select	Answer
A	(radiation resistance / transmission resistance) x 100 per cent
B	(effective radiated power / transmitter output) x 100 percent
C	(total resistance / radiation resistance) x 100 per cent
D	(radiation resistance / total resistance) x 100 per cent

43. - E9B02

In the antenna radiation pattern shown in Figure E9-1, what is the front-to-back ratio?

Select	Answer
A	14 dB
B	36 dB
C	18 dB
D	24 dB

44. - E9C03

What is the radiation pattern of two 1/4 wavelength vertical antennas spaced a 1/2 wavelength apart and fed in phase?

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

45. - E9D04

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

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

46. - E9E11

What is an effective way of matching a feed line to a VHF or UHF antenna when the impedances of both the antenna and feed line are unknown?

Select	Answer
A	Connect a parallel-resonant LC network across the antenna feed terminals
B	Use a 50 ohm 1:1 balun between the antenna and feed line
C	Use the universal stub matching technique
D	Connect a series-resonant LC network across the antenna feed terminals

47. - E9F16

Which of the following is a significant difference between foam dielectric coaxial cable and solid dielectric cable, assuming all other parameters are the same?

Select	Answer
A	All of these choices are correct
B	Foam dielectric has higher velocity factor
C	Foam dielectric has lower safe operating voltage limits
D	Foam dielectric has lower loss per unit of length

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 automatically cancels ignition noise in mobile installations
B	It allows stations to communicate without giving away their position
C	It eliminates tracking errors caused by strong out-of-band signals
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	By the yellowish appearance of the gas
B	Only with a carbon monoxide detector
C	By the odor
D	Any ordinary smoke detector can be used

Figure E5-2

Figure E6-5

Figure E9-1