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

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1. - E1A13

Who must be in physical control of the station apparatus of an amateur station aboard any vessel or craft that is documented or registered in the United States?

Select	Answer
A	Only a person with an FCC Marine Radio
B	Only a person named in an amateur station license grant
C	Any person named in an amateur station license grant or a person holding an unrestricted Radiotelephone Operator Permit
D	Any person holding an FCC issued amateur license or who is authorized for alien reciprocal operation

2. - E1B07

What is the highest modulation index permitted at the highest modulation frequency for angle modulation below 29.0 MHz?

Select	Answer
A	2.0
B	1.0
C	3.0
D	0.5

3. - E1C11

Which of the following operating arrangements allows an FCC-licensed U.S. citizen to operate in many European countries, and alien amateurs from many European countries to operate in the U.S.?

Select	Answer
A	ITU reciprocal license
B	All of these choices are correct
C	CEPT agreement
D	IARP agreement

4. - E1D06

Which of the following is a requirement of a space station?

Select	Answer
A	The space station must cease all transmissions after 5 years
B	The space station must be capable of changing its orbit whenever such a change is ordered by NASA
C	The space station must be capable of terminating transmissions by telecommand when directed by the FCC
D	All of these choices are correct

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 all the VECs
C	In FCC Part 97
D	In a question pool maintained by the FCC

6. - E1F11

Which of the following best describes one of the standards that must be met by an external RF power amplifier if it is to qualify for a grant of FCC certification?

Select	Answer
A	It must satisfy the FCC's spurious emission standards when operated at the lesser of 1500 watts or its full output power
B	It must be capable of external RF switching between its input and output networks
C	It must produce full legal output when driven by not more than 5 watts of mean RF input power
D	It must exhibit a gain of 0 dB or less over its full output range

7. - E2A03

What is the orbital period of an Earth satellite?

Select	Answer
A	The time it takes for a satellite to complete one revolution around the Earth
B	The time it takes for a satellite to travel from perigee to apogee
C	The point of minimum height of a satellite's orbit
D	The point of maximum height of a satellite's orbit

8. - E2B19

What special operating frequency restrictions are imposed on slow scan TV transmissions?

Select	Answer
A	They are restricted to phone band segments and their bandwidth can be no greater than that of a voice signal of the same modulation type
B	They are not permitted above 54 MHz
C	None; they are allowed on all amateur frequencies
D	They are restricted to 7.245 MHz, 14.245 MHz, 21.345 MHz, and 28.945 MHz

9. - E2C05

What is the function of a DX QSL Manager?

Select	Answer
A	To allocate frequencies for DXpeditions
B	To run a net to allow many stations to contact a rare DX station
C	To handle the receiving and sending of confirmation cards for a DX station
D	To relay calls to and from a DX station

10. - E2D10

How can an APRS station be used to help support a public service communications activity?

Select	Answer
A	An APRS station with a GPS unit can automatically transmit information to show a mobile station's position during the event
B	All of these choices are correct
C	APRS stations with General Personnel Scanners can automatically relay the participant numbers and time as they pass the check points
D	An APRS station with an emergency medical technician can automatically transmit medical data to the nearest hospital

11. - E2E07

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

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

12. - E3A12

What is the cause of auroral activity?

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

13. - E3B07

Which of the following could account for hearing an echo on the received signal of a distant station?

Select	Answer
A	Receipt of a signal by more than one path
B	Transmit frequency is higher than the MUF
C	Meteor scatter
D	High D layer absorption

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	Westward
D	Northward

15. - E4A13

How is the compensation of an oscilloscope probe typically adjusted?

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

16. - E4B05

If a frequency counter with a specified accuracy of +/- 10 ppm reads 146,520,000 Hz, what is the most the actual frequency being measured could differ from the reading?

Select	Answer
A	146.52 kHz
B	146.52 Hz
C	1465.20 Hz
D	10 Hz

17. - E4C04

How is the noise figure of a receiver defined?

Select	Answer
A	The ratio of the noise bandwidth in Hertz to the theoretical bandwidth of a resistive network
B	The ratio in dB of the noise generated by the receiver to the theoretical minimum noise
C	The ratio of thermal noise to atmospheric noise
D	The ratio of atmospheric noise to phase noise

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

19. - E4E12

What is one disadvantage of using some types of automatic DSP notch-filters when attempting to copy CW signals?

Select	Answer
A	Received CW signals will appear to be modulated at the DSP clock frequency
B	Any nearby signal passing through the DSP system will overwhelm the desired signal
C	Ringing in the DSP filter will completely remove the spaces between the CW characters
D	A DSP filter can remove the desired signal at the same time as it removes interfering signals

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 divided by the resistance
C	Reactance of either the inductance or capacitance multiplied by the resistance
D	Resistance divided by the reactance of either the inductance or capacitance

21. - E5B05

What happens to the magnitude of a reactance when it is converted to a susceptance?

Select	Answer
A	The magnitude of the susceptance is the reciprocal of the magnitude of the reactance
B	It is unchanged
C	It is shifted by 90 degrees
D	The sign is reversed

22. - E5C04

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

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

23. - E5D14

What is reactive power?

Select	Answer
A	Power consumed in circuit Q
B	Power lost because of capacitor leakage
C	Power consumed in wire resistance in an inductor
D	Wattless, nonproductive power

24. - E6A15

Which semiconductor material contains excess holes in the outer shell of electrons?

Select	Answer
A	Bipolar-type
B	P-type
C	N-type
D	Superconductor-type

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

26. - E6C04

What is the primary advantage of tri-state logic?

Select	Answer
A	Ability to connect many device outputs to a common bus
B	Low power consumption
C	More efficient arithmetic operations
D	High speed operation

27. - E6D06

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

Select	Answer
A	Reactivity
B	Thermal impedance
C	Resistance
D	Permeability

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	Controlled gain, low noise figure, and constant input and output impedance over the specified frequency range
C	Plate current that is controlled by a control grid
D	Nearly infinite gain, very high input impedance, and very low output impedance

29. - E6F02

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

Select	Answer
A	It increases
B	It becomes unstable
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. - E7B18

What is a characteristic of a grounded-grid amplifier?

Select	Answer
A	Low input impedance
B	High power gain
C	High filament voltage
D	Low bandwidth

32. - E7C04

How does an impedance-matching circuit transform a complex impedance to a resistive impedance?

Select	Answer
A	Network resistances are substituted for load resistances and reactances are matched to the resistances
B	It introduces transconductance to cancel the reactive part of impedance
C	It introduces negative resistance to cancel the resistive part of impedance
D	It cancels the reactive part of the impedance and changes the resistive part to a desired value

33. - E7D07

What is the purpose of C2 in the circuit shown in Figure E7-3?

Select	Answer
A	It bypasses hum around D1
B	To provide fixed DC bias for Q1
C	It is a brute force filter for the output
D	To self-resonate at the hum frequency

34. - E7E09

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

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

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

36. - E7G07

What magnitude of voltage gain can be expected from the circuit in Figure E7-4 when R1 is 10 ohms and RF is 470 ohms?

Select	Answer
A	0.21
B	47
C	94
D	24

37. - E7H02

Which describes a microphonic?

Select	Answer
A	Changes in oscillator frequency due to mechanical vibration
B	Distortion caused by RF pickup on the microphone cable
C	An IC used for amplifying microphone signals
D	Excess loading of the microphone by an oscillator

38. - E8A06

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

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

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	3
B	0.3
C	3000
D	1000

40. - E8C02

What is the definition of symbol rate in a digital transmission?

Select	Answer
A	The rate at which the waveform of a transmitted signal changes to convey information
B	The number of control characters in a message packet
C	The duration of each bit in a message sent over the air
D	The number of characters carried per second by the station-to-station link

41. - E8D05

What is the most common method of reducing key clicks?

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

42. - E9A08

What is meant by antenna bandwidth?

Select	Answer
A	The frequency range over which an antenna satisfies a performance requirement
B	The angle formed between two imaginary lines drawn through the element ends
C	The angle between the half-power radiation points
D	Antenna length divided by the number of elements

43. - E9B01

In the antenna radiation pattern shown in Figure E9-1, what is the 3 dB beam-width?

Select	Answer
A	75 degrees
B	25 degrees
C	30 degrees
D	50 degrees

44. - E9C08

What is a folded dipole antenna?

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

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 3 dB
B	Gain is multiplied by 0.707
C	Gain increases by 6 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	Gamma match
B	Hairpin match
C	Double-bazooka match
D	All of these choices are correct

47. - E9F05

What is the approximate physical length of a solid polyethylene dielectric coaxial transmission line that is electrically one-quarter wavelength long at 14.1 MHz?

Select	Answer
A	3.5 meters
B	20 meters
C	0.2 meters
D	2.3 meters

48. - E9G03

Which of the following is often determined using a Smith chart?

Select	Answer
A	Satellite azimuth and elevation bearings
B	Impedance and SWR values in transmission lines
C	Beam headings and radiation patterns
D	Trigonometric functions

49. - E9H11

What characteristic of a cardioid pattern antenna is useful for direction finding?

Select	Answer
A	High-radiation angle
B	A very sharp single null
C	A very sharp peak
D	Broad band response

50. - E0A10

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

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

Figure E7-3

Figure E7-4

Figure E9-1