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

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1. - E1A05

What is the maximum power output permitted on the 60 meter band?

Select	Answer
A	100 watts PEP effective radiated power relative to an isotropic radiator
B	100 watts PEP effective radiated power relative to the gain of a half-wave dipole
C	50 watts PEP effective radiated power relative to a dipole
D	50 watts PEP effective radiated power relative to an isotropic radiator

2. - E1B01

Which of the following constitutes a spurious emission?

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

3. - E1C09

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

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

4. - E1D02

What is the amateur satellite service?

Select	Answer
A	A radio navigation service using satellites for the purpose of self training, intercommunication and technical studies carried out by amateurs
B	A spacecraft launching service for amateur-built satellites
C	A radio communications service using stations on Earth satellites for public service broadcast
D	A radio communications service using amateur radio stations on satellites

5. - E1E11

What must the VE team do if an examinee scores a passing grade on all examination elements needed for an upgrade or new license?

Select	Answer
A	Three VEs must certify that the examinee is qualified for the license grant and that they have complied with the administering VE requirements
B	Photocopy all examination documents and forward them to the FCC for processing
C	All these choices are correct
D	Issue the examinee the new or upgrade license

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

7. - E2A02

What is the direction of a descending pass for an amateur satellite?

Select	Answer
A	From west to east
B	From east to west
C	From north to south
D	From south to north

8. - E2B19

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

Select	Answer
A	None; they are allowed on all amateur frequencies
B	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
C	They are restricted to 7.245 MHz, 14.245 MHz, 21.345 MHz, and 28.945 MHz
D	They are not permitted above 54 MHz

9. - E2C05

What is the function of a DX QSL Manager?

Select	Answer
A	To relay calls to and from a DX station
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 allocate frequencies for DXpeditions

10. - E2D03

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

Select	Answer
A	Olivia
B	JT65
C	FSK441
D	PACTOR III

11. - E2E09

Which of the following HF digital modes uses variable-length coding for bandwidth efficiency?

Select	Answer
A	PSK31
B	MT63
C	RTTY
D	PACTOR

12. - E3A14

From the contiguous 48 states, in which approximate direction should an antenna be pointed to take maximum advantage of aurora propagation?

Select	Answer
A	North
B	South
C	West
D	East

13. - E3B13

Why is chordal hop propagation desirable?

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

14. - E3C06

By how much does the VHF/UHF radio horizon distance exceed the geometric horizon?

Select	Answer
A	By approximately 15 percent of the distance
B	By approximately four times the distance
C	By approximately 50 percent of the distance
D	By approximately twice the distance

15. - E4A10

Which of the following displays multiple digital signal states simultaneously?

Select	Answer
A	Modulation monitor
B	Network analyzer
C	Bit error rate tester
D	Logic analyzer

16. - E4B14

What happens if a dip meter is too tightly coupled to a tuned circuit being checked?

Select	Answer
A	Cross modulation occurs
B	Harmonics are generated
C	Intermodulation distortion occurs
D	A less accurate reading results

17. - E4C10

Which of the following is a desirable amount of selectivity for an amateur RTTY HF receiver?

Select	Answer
A	100 Hz
B	300 Hz
C	6000 Hz
D	2400 Hz

18. - E4D01

What is meant by the blocking dynamic range of a receiver?

Select	Answer
A	The difference in dB between the noise floor and the level of an incoming signal which will cause 1 dB of gain compression
B	The difference in dB between the noise floor and the third order intercept point
C	The minimum difference in dB between two signals which produce third order intermodulation products greater than the noise floor
D	The minimum difference in dB between the levels of two FM signals which will cause one signal to block the other

19. - E4E05

How can noise from an electric motor be suppressed?

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

20. - E5A08

What is the phase relationship between the current through and the voltage across a series resonant circuit at resonance?

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

21. - E5B06

What is susceptance?

Select	Answer
A	The ratio of magnetic field to electric field
B	The magnetic impedance of a circuit
C	The inverse of reactance
D	A measure of the efficiency of a transformer

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 8
C	Point 7
D	Point 3

23. - E5D04

Why are short connections necessary at microwave frequencies?

Select	Answer
A	To reduce phase shift along the connection
B	To reduce noise figure
C	Because of ground reflections
D	To increase neutralizing resistance

24. - E6A14

How does DC input impedance at the gate of a field-effect transistor compare with the DC input impedance of a bipolar transistor?

Select	Answer
A	They are both high impedance
B	An FET has high input impedance; a bipolar transistor has low input impedance
C	They are both low impedance
D	An FET has low input impedance; a bipolar transistor has high input impedance

25. - E6B04

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

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

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	Input signals are stronger
C	The input switching threshold is about one-half the power supply voltage
D	The input switching threshold is about two times the power supply voltage

27. - E6D08

What is one reason for using powdered-iron cores rather than ferrite cores in an inductor?

Select	Answer
A	Powdered-iron cores generally require fewer turns to produce a given inductance
B	Powdered-iron cores generally have greater initial permeability
C	Powdered-iron cores generally maintain their characteristics at higher currents
D	Powdered-iron cores use smaller diameter wire for the same inductance

28. - E6E12

Why are high-power RF amplifier ICs and transistors sometimes mounted in ceramic packages?

Select	Answer
A	To provide a low-pass frequency response
B	Better dissipation of heat
C	Enhanced sensitivity to light
D	High-voltage insulating ability

29. - E6F08

Why are optoisolators often used in conjunction with solid state circuits when switching 120VAC?

Select	Answer
A	Optoisolators provide impedance matching between the control circuit and power circuit
B	Optoisolators provide a low impedance link between a control circuit and a power circuit
C	Optoisolators eliminate the effects of reflected light in the control circuit
D	Optoisolators provide a very high degree of electrical isolation between a control circuit and the circuit being switched

30. - E7A11

What type of logic defines "1" as a high voltage?

Select	Answer
A	Assertive Logic
B	Positive Logic
C	Negative logic
D	Reverse Logic

31. - E7B17

Why are odd-order rather than even-order intermodulation distortion products of concern in linear power amplifiers?

Select	Answer
A	Because they maintain the sidebands, thus causing multiple duplicate signals
B	Because they invert the sidebands causing distortion
C	Because they are relatively close in frequency to the desired signal
D	Because they are relatively far in frequency from the desired signal

32. - E7C06

What are the distinguishing features of an elliptical filter?

Select	Answer
A	Extremely sharp cutoff with one or more notches in the stop band
B	Extremely flat response over its pass band with gradually rounded stop band corners
C	Gradual passband rolloff with extreme stop band ripple
D	Gradual passband rolloff with minimal stop band ripple

33. - E7D11

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

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

34. - E7E12

What is a frequency discriminator stage in a FM receiver?

Select	Answer
A	A circuit for detecting FM signals
B	An FM generator circuit
C	A circuit for filtering two closely adjacent signals
D	An automatic band-switching circuit

35. - E7F10

What aspect of receiver analog-to-digital conversion determines the maximum receive bandwidth of a Direct Digital Conversion SDR?

Select	Answer
A	Sample width in bits
B	Processor latency
C	Sample rate
D	Sample clock phase noise

36. - E7G08

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

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

37. - E7H08

Which of the following components can be used to reduce thermal drift in crystal oscillators?

Select	Answer
A	Non-inductive resistors
B	Toroidal inductors
C	NP0 capacitors
D	Wirewound resistors

38. - E8A05

What would be the most accurate way of measuring the RMS voltage of a complex waveform?

Select	Answer
A	By using a grid dip meter
B	By measuring the heating effect in a known resistor
C	By measuring the voltage with a D'Arsonval meter
D	By using an absorption wave meter

39. - E8B04

What is the modulation index of an FM-phone signal having a maximum carrier deviation of plus or minus 6 kHz when modulated with a 2 kHz modulating frequency?

Select	Answer
A	2000
B	3
C	6000
D	1/3

40. - E8C11

What is the relationship between symbol rate and baud?

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

41. - E8D07

What is a common cause of overmodulation of AFSK signals?

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

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	12.5 dB
B	9.85 dB
C	14.15 dB
D	6.17 dB

43. - E9B02

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

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

44. - E9C09

What is a G5RV antenna?

Select	Answer
A	A multi-band dipole antenna fed with coax and a balun through a selected length of open wire transmission line
B	A multi-band trap antenna
C	A phased array antenna consisting of multiple loops
D	A wide band dipole using shorted coaxial cable for the radiating elements and fed with a 4:1 balun

45. - E9D02

How can linearly polarized Yagi antennas be used to produce circular polarization?

Select	Answer
A	Arrange two Yagis collinear to each other with the driven elements fed 180 degrees out of phase
B	Arrange two Yagis perpendicular to each other with the driven elements at the same point on the boom fed 90 degrees out of phase
C	Stack two Yagis fed in phase to form an array with the respective elements in parallel planes
D	Stack two Yagis fed 90 degrees out of phase to form an array with the respective elements in parallel planes

46. - E9E10

Which of these choices is an effective way to match an antenna with a 100 ohm feed point impedance to a 50 ohm coaxial cable feed line?

Select	Answer
A	Connect a 1/4-wavelength open stub of 300 ohm twin-lead in parallel with the coaxial feed line where it connects to the antenna
B	Insert a 1/2 wavelength piece of 300 ohm twin-lead in series between the antenna terminals and the 50 ohm feed cable
C	Connect 1/2 wavelength shorted stub of 75 ohm cable in parallel with the 50 ohm cable where it attaches to the antenna
D	Insert a 1/4-wavelength piece of 75 ohm coaxial cable transmission line in series between the antenna terminals and the 50 ohm feed cable

47. - E9F08

What is the term for the ratio of the actual speed at which a signal travels through a transmission line to the speed of light in a vacuum?

Select	Answer
A	Characteristic impedance
B	Velocity factor
C	Surge impedance
D	Standing wave ratio

48. - E9G03

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

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

49. - E9H06

What is the triangulation method of direction finding?

Select	Answer
A	Antenna headings from several different receiving locations are used to locate the signal source
B	A fixed receiving station plots three headings to the signal source
C	The geometric angles of sky waves from the source are used to determine its position
D	A fixed receiving station uses three different antennas to plot the location of the signal source

50. - E0A11

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

Select	Answer
A	Blood clotting from the intense magnetic field
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	Hearing loss caused by high voltage corona discharge

Figure E5-2

Figure E9-1