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

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1. - E1A06

Where must the carrier frequency of a CW signal be set to comply with FCC rules for 60 meter operation?

Select	Answer
A	At the center frequency of the channel
B	At the lowest frequency of the channel
C	On any frequency where the signal's sidebands are within the channel
D	At the highest frequency of the channel

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 letter of intent must be filed with the National Audubon Society
B	An Environmental Assessment must be submitted to the FCC
C	A proposal must be submitted to the National Park Service
D	A form FSD-15 must be submitted to the Department of the Interior

3. - E1C05

When may an automatically controlled station originate third party communications?

Select	Answer
A	Never
B	When agreed upon by the sending or receiving station
C	When approved by the National Telecommunication and Information Administration
D	Only when transmitting RTTY or data emissions

4. - E1D06

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

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

5. - E1E06

Who is responsible for the proper conduct and necessary supervision during an amateur operator license examination session?

Select	Answer
A	Each administering VE
B	The FCC
C	The VE session manager
D	The VEC coordinating the session

6. - E1F06

Under what circumstances might the FCC issue a Special Temporary Authority (STA) to an amateur station?

Select	Answer
A	To provide for experimental amateur communications
B	To provide additional spectrum for personal use
C	To allow regular operation on Land Mobile channels
D	To provide temporary operation while awaiting normal licensing

7. - E2A13

What type of satellite appears to stay in one position in the sky?

Select	Answer
A	Geostationary
B	Geomagnetic
C	LEO
D	HEO

8. - E2B07

What is the name of the signal component that carries color information in NTSC video?

Select	Answer
A	Chroma
B	Spectral Intensity
C	Luminance
D	Hue

9. - E2C11

How should you generally identify your station when attempting to contact a DX station during a contest or in a pileup?

Select	Answer
A	Send your full call sign once or twice
B	Send your full call sign and grid square
C	Send the call sign of the DX station three times, the words "this is", then your call sign three times
D	Send only the last two letters of your call sign until you make contact

10. - E2D12

How does JT65 improve EME communications?

Select	Answer
A	It controls the receiver to track Doppler shift
B	It can decode signals many dB below the noise floor using FEC
C	It supplies signals to guide the antenna to track the Moon
D	All of these choices are correct

11. - E2E11

What is the difference between direct FSK and audio FSK?

Select	Answer
A	Direct FSK applies the data signal to the transmitter VFO
B	Audio FSK can be performed anywhere in the transmit chain
C	Audio FSK has a superior frequency response
D	Direct FSK uses a DC-coupled data connection

12. - E3A03

When scheduling EME contacts, which of these conditions will generally result in the least path loss?

Select	Answer
A	When the Moon is at apogee
B	When the Moon is full
C	When the Moon is at perigee
D	When the MUF is above 30 MHz

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. - E3C11

What does VOACAP software model?

Select	Answer
A	VHF radio propagation
B	AC current and impedance
C	HF propagation
D	AC voltage and impedance

15. - E4A13

How is the compensation of an oscilloscope probe typically adjusted?

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

16. - E4B09

What is indicated if the current reading on an RF ammeter placed in series with the antenna feed line of a transmitter increases as the transmitter is tuned to resonance?

Select	Answer
A	There is more power going into the antenna
B	There is an impedance mismatch between the antenna and feed line
C	The transmitter is not properly neutralized
D	There is possibly a short to ground in the feed line

17. - E4C11

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

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

18. - E4D06

What is the term for unwanted signals generated by the mixing of two or more signals?

Select	Answer
A	Adjacent channel interference
B	Intermodulation interference
C	Amplifier desensitization
D	Neutralization

19. - E4E14

What is one type of electrical interference that might be caused by the operation of a nearby personal computer?

Select	Answer
A	A whining type noise that continually pulses off and on
B	The appearance of unstable modulated or unmodulated signals at specific frequencies
C	A clicking noise at intervals of a few seconds
D	A loud AC hum in the audio output of your station receiver

20. - E5A15

Which of the following can increase Q for inductors and capacitors?

Select	Answer
A	Lower self-resonant frequency
B	Lower losses
C	Higher self-resonant frequency
D	Lower reactance

21. - E5B08

What is the phase angle between the voltage across and the current through a series RLC circuit if XC is 100 ohms, R is 100 ohms, and XL is 75 ohms?

Select	Answer
A	76 degrees with the voltage lagging the current
B	76 degrees with the voltage leading the current
C	14 degrees with the voltage leading the current
D	14 degrees with the voltage lagging the current

22. - E5C14

Which point on Figure E5-2 best represents the impedance of a series circuit consisting of a 400 ohm resistor and a 38 picofarad capacitor at 14 MHz?

Select	Answer
A	Point 6
B	Point 4
C	Point 5
D	Point 2

23. - E5D10

How can the true power be determined in an AC circuit where the voltage and current are out of phase?

Select	Answer
A	By multiplying the apparent power times the power factor
B	By dividing the reactive power by the power factor
C	By dividing the apparent power by the power factor
D	By multiplying the reactive power times the power factor

24. - E6A08

What term indicates the frequency at which the grounded-base current gain of a transistor has decreased to 0.7 of the gain obtainable at 1 kHz?

Select	Answer
A	Corner frequency
B	Alpha cutoff frequency
C	Alpha rejection frequency
D	Beta cutoff frequency

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	Much higher reverse voltage breakdown
D	Enhanced carrier retention time

26. - E6C02

What happens when the level of a comparator's input signal crosses the threshold?

Select	Answer
A	The feedback loop becomes unstable
B	The comparator enters latch-up
C	The comparator changes its output state
D	The IC input can be damaged

27. - E6D05

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

Select	Answer
A	Ferrite toroids generally have lower initial permeability
B	Ferrite toroids generally have better temperature stability
C	Ferrite toroids generally require fewer turns to produce a given inductance value
D	Ferrite toroids are easier to use with surface mount technology

28. - E6E06

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

Select	Answer
A	Controlled gain, low noise figure, and constant input and output impedance over the specified frequency range
B	The ability to retrieve information from a single signal even in the presence of other strong signals
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 becomes unstable
B	It decreases
C	It stays the same
D	It increases

30. - E7A03

Which of the following can divide the frequency of a pulse train by 2?

Select	Answer
A	An XOR gate
B	A multiplexer
C	A flip-flop
D	An OR gate

31. - E7B04

Where on the load line of a Class A common emitter amplifier would bias normally be set?

Select	Answer
A	At a point where the bias resistor equals the load resistor
B	Where the load line intersects the voltage axis
C	Approximately half-way between saturation and cutoff
D	At a point where the load line intersects the zero bias current curve

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 harmonic suppression
C	Lower losses
D	Greater transformation range

33. - E7D01

What is one characteristic of a linear electronic voltage regulator?

Select	Answer
A	The control element duty cycle is proportional to the line or load conditions
B	It has a ramp voltage as its output
C	The conduction of a control element is varied to maintain a constant output voltage
D	It eliminates the need for a pass transistor

34. - E7E10

How does a diode detector function?

Select	Answer
A	By rectification and filtering of RF signals
B	By sensing the change of reactance in the diode with respect to frequency
C	By breakdown of the Zener voltage
D	By mixing signals with noise in the transition region of the diode

35. - E7F04

What is a common method of generating an SSB signal using digital signal processing?

Select	Answer
A	Mixing products are converted to voltages and subtracted by adder circuits
B	Emulation of quartz crystal filter characteristics
C	Combine signals with a quadrature phase relationship
D	A frequency synthesizer removes the unwanted sidebands

36. - E7G02

What is the effect of ringing in a filter?

Select	Answer
A	Undesired oscillations added to the desired signal
B	A reduction in high frequency response
C	Partial cancellation of the signal over a range of frequencies
D	An echo caused by a long time delay

37. - E7H14

What is a phase-locked loop circuit?

Select	Answer
A	An electronic circuit also known as a monostable multivibrator
B	An electronic circuit consisting of a precision push-pull amplifier with a differential input
C	An electronic servo loop consisting of a phase detector, a low-pass filter, a voltage-controlled oscillator, and a stable reference oscillator
D	An electronic servo loop consisting of a ratio detector, reactance modulator, and voltage-controlled oscillator

38. - E8A02

What type of wave has a rise time significantly faster than its fall time (or vice versa)?

Select	Answer
A	A sine wave
B	A cosine wave
C	A sawtooth wave
D	A square wave

39. - E8B08

What describes Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing?

Select	Answer
A	A digital mode for narrow band, slow speed transmissions
B	A frequency modulation technique which uses non-harmonically related frequencies
C	A bandwidth compression technique using Fourier transforms
D	A digital modulation technique using subcarriers at frequencies chosen to avoid intersymbol interference

40. - E8C11

What is the relationship between symbol rate and baud?

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

41. - E8D06

Which of the following indicates likely overmodulation of an AFSK signal such as PSK or MFSK?

Select	Answer
A	Strong ALC action
B	Rapid signal fading
C	High reflected power
D	Harmonics on higher bands

42. - E9A03

Why would one need to know the feed point impedance of an antenna?

Select	Answer
A	To calculate the front-to-side ratio of the antenna
B	To measure the near-field radiation density from a transmitting antenna
C	To match impedances in order to minimize standing wave ratio on the transmission line
D	To calculate the front-to-back ratio of the antenna

43. - E9B05

What type of antenna pattern over real ground is shown in Figure E9-2?

Select	Answer
A	Radiation resistance
B	Azimuth
C	Elevation
D	Polarization

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

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

46. - E9E03

What is the name of the matching system that uses a section of transmission line connected in parallel with the feed line at or near the feed point?

Select	Answer
A	The omega match
B	The delta match
C	The stub match
D	The gamma match

47. - E9F15

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

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

48. - E9G04

What are the two families of circles and arcs that make up a Smith chart?

Select	Answer
A	Resistance and reactance
B	Reactance and voltage
C	Voltage and impedance
D	Resistance and voltage

49. - E9H11

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

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

50. - E0A08

What does SAR measure?

Select	Answer
A	Signal Amplification Rating
B	Synthetic Aperture Ratio of the human body
C	The rate of RF energy reflected from stationary terrain
D	The rate at which RF energy is absorbed by the body

Figure E5-2

Figure E9-2