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

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1. - E1A12

With your transceiver displaying the carrier frequency of CW signals, you hear a DX station's CQ on 3.500 MHz. Is it legal to return the call using CW on the same frequency?

Select	Answer
A	Yes, the DX station initiated the contact
B	No, U.S. stations are not permitted to use CW emissions below 3.525 MHz
C	Yes, the displayed frequency is within the 80 meter CW band segment
D	No, one of the sidebands of the CW signal will be out of the band

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	Any FCC-licensed amateur station except a Technician class
C	Only those club stations licensed to Amateur Extra class operators
D	Any FCC-licensed amateur station certified by the responsible civil defense organization for the area served

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	IARP agreement
D	CEPT agreement

4. - E1D09

Which UHF amateur service bands have frequencies available for a space station?

Select	Answer
A	33 cm and 13 cm
B	70 cm only
C	70 cm and 33 cm
D	70 cm and 13 cm

5. - E1E01

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

Select	Answer
A	3
B	4
C	2
D	5

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	The operating terms and conditions of the Canadian amateur service license, not to exceed U.S. Extra Class privileges
B	Full privileges, up to and including those of the Extra Class License, on the 80, 40, 20, 15, and 10 meter bands
C	All privileges of the Extra Class license
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	APRS
B	Radar
C	Bandwidth compressed LORAN
D	Doppler shift of beacon signals

8. - E2B16

Which is a video standard used by North American Fast Scan ATV stations?

Select	Answer
A	NTSC
B	Scottie
C	PAL
D	DRM

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 allocate frequencies for DXpeditions
C	To run a net to allow many stations to contact a rare DX station
D	To handle the receiving and sending of confirmation cards for a DX station

10. - E2D01

Which of the following digital modes is especially designed for use for meteor scatter signals?

Select	Answer
A	Hellschreiber
B	FSK441
C	WSPR
D	APRS

11. - E2E13

Which of the following is a possible reason that attempts to initiate contact with a digital station on a clear frequency are unsuccessful?

Select	Answer
A	The protocol version you are using is not the supported by the digital station
B	Your transmit frequency is incorrect
C	Another station you are unable to hear is using the frequency
D	All of these choices are correct

12. - E3A07

Atmospheric ducts capable of propagating microwave signals often form over what geographic feature?

Select	Answer
A	Forests
B	Mountain ranges
C	Urban areas
D	Bodies of water

13. - E3B03

What is the best time of day for transequatorial propagation?

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

14. - E3C12

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

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

15. - E4A11

Which of the following is good practice when using an oscilloscope probe?

Select	Answer
A	All of these choices are correct
B	Never use a high impedance probe to measure a low impedance circuit
C	Never use a DC-coupled probe to measure an AC circuit
D	Keep the signal ground connection of the probe as short as possible

16. - E4B17

What three test loads are used to calibrate a standard RF vector network analyzer?

Select	Answer
A	50 ohms, 75 ohms, and 90 ohms
B	Short circuit, open circuit, and resonant circuit
C	Short circuit, open circuit, and 50 ohms
D	50 ohms through 1/8 wavelength, 1/4 wavelength, and 1/2 wavelength of coaxial cable

17. - E4C01

What is an effect of excessive phase noise in the local oscillator section of a receiver?

Select	Answer
A	It decreases receiver third-order intermodulation distortion dynamic range
B	It reduces receiver sensitivity
C	It can cause strong signals on nearby frequencies to interfere with reception of weak signals
D	It limits the receiver's ability to receive strong signals

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. - E4E04

How can conducted and radiated noise caused by an automobile alternator be suppressed?

Select	Answer
A	By installing a high-pass filter in series with the radio's power lead and a low-pass filter in parallel with the field lead
B	By installing a noise suppression resistor and a blocking capacitor in both leads
C	By installing filter capacitors in series with the DC power lead and a blocking capacitor in the field lead
D	By connecting the radio's power leads directly to the battery and by installing coaxial capacitors in line with the alternator leads

20. - E5A10

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

Select	Answer
A	Reactance of either the inductance or capacitance times the resistance
B	Resistance divided by the reactance of either the inductance or capacitance
C	Reactance of either the inductance or capacitance divided by the resistance
D	Reactance of the inductance times the reactance of the 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 lagging the current
B	14.0 degrees with the voltage leading the current
C	68.2 degrees with the voltage leading the current
D	68.2 degrees with the voltage lagging the current

22. - E5C10

When using rectangular coordinates to graph the impedance of a circuit, what does the vertical axis represent?

Select	Answer
A	Reactive component
B	The difference between the resistive and reactive components
C	Resistive component
D	The sum of the reactive and resistive components

23. - E5D12

How many watts are consumed in a circuit having a power factor of 0.2 if the input is 100-VAC at 4 amperes?

Select	Answer
A	80 watts
B	400 watts
C	2000 watts
D	50 watts

24. - E6A10

In Figure E6-2, what is the schematic symbol for an N-channel dual-gate MOSFET?

Select	Answer
A	4
B	6
C	5
D	2

25. - E6B09

What is a common use for point contact diodes?

Select	Answer
A	As a constant current source
B	As an RF detector
C	As a constant voltage source
D	As a high voltage rectifier

26. - E6C11

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

Select	Answer
A	4
B	6
C	5
D	2

27. - E6D17

Why should core saturation of a conventional impedance matching transformer be avoided?

Select	Answer
A	Harmonics and distortion could result
B	Magnetic flux would increase with frequency
C	Temporary changes of the core permeability could result
D	RF susceptance would increase

28. - E6E07

Which of the following is typically used to construct a MMIC-based microwave amplifier?

Select	Answer
A	Wave-soldering construction
B	Microstrip construction
C	Point-to-point construction
D	Ground-plane construction

29. - E6F12

What absorbs the energy from light falling on a photovoltaic cell?

Select	Answer
A	Electrons
B	Holes
C	Photons
D	Protons

30. - E7A07

What logical operation does a NAND gate perform?

Select	Answer
A	It produces logic "0" at its output only when all inputs are logic "1"
B	It produces logic "0" at its output if some but not all inputs are logic "1"
C	It produces logic "1" at its output only when all inputs are logic "1"
D	It produces logic "0" at its output only when all inputs are logic "0"

31. - E7B01

For what portion of a signal cycle does a Class AB amplifier operate?

Select	Answer
A	Exactly 180 degrees
B	The entire cycle
C	More than 180 degrees but less than 360 degrees
D	Less than 180 degrees

32. - E7C13

What is one advantage of a Pi-matching network over an L-matching network consisting of a single inductor and a single capacitor?

Select	Answer
A	L-networks cannot perform impedance transformation
B	Pi-networks have fewer components
C	The Q of Pi-networks can be varied depending on the component values chosen
D	Pi-networks are designed for balanced input and output

33. - E7D06

What is the purpose of Q1 in the circuit shown in Figure E7-3?

Select	Answer
A	It provides a constant load for the voltage source
B	It increases the current-handling capability of the regulator
C	It provides D1 with current
D	It provides negative feedback to improve regulation

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 mixing signals with noise in the transition region of the diode
D	By breakdown of the Zener voltage

35. - E7F05

How frequently must an analog signal be sampled by an analog-to-digital converter so that the signal can be accurately reproduced?

Select	Answer
A	At four times the rate of the highest frequency component of the signal
B	At half the rate of the highest frequency component of the signal
C	At the same rate as the highest frequency component of the signal
D	At twice the rate of the highest frequency component of the signal

36. - E7G01

What is the typical output impedance of an integrated circuit op-amp?

Select	Answer
A	1000 ohms
B	Very low
C	100 ohms
D	Very high

37. - E7H13

Which of the following is a technique for providing highly accurate and stable oscillators needed for microwave transmission and reception?

Select	Answer
A	Use a GPS signal reference
B	Use a temperature-controlled high Q dielectric resonator
C	All of these choices are correct
D	Use a rubidium stabilized reference oscillator

38. - E8A12

What is an advantage of using digital signals instead of analog signals to convey the same information?

Select	Answer
A	Digital signals can be regenerated multiple times without error
B	Less complex circuitry is required for digital signal generation and detection
C	Digital signals always occupy a narrower bandwidth
D	All of these choices are correct

39. - E8B08

What describes Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing?

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

40. - E8C06

What is the necessary bandwidth of a 170-hertz shift, 300-baud ASCII transmission?

Select	Answer
A	0.1 Hz
B	1.0 kHz
C	0.3 kHz
D	0.5 kHz

41. - E8D01

Why are received spread spectrum signals resistant to interference?

Select	Answer
A	The receiver is always equipped with a digital blanker
B	The high power used by a spread spectrum transmitter keeps its signal from being easily overpowered
C	If interference is detected by the receiver it will signal the transmitter to change frequencies
D	Signals not using the spread spectrum algorithm are suppressed in the receiver

42. - E9A10

Which of the following choices is a way to improve the efficiency of a ground-mounted quarter-wave vertical antenna?

Select	Answer
A	Reduce the diameter of the radiating element
B	Install a good radial system
C	Shorten the radiating element
D	Isolate the coax shield from ground

43. - E9B12

What is the far field of an antenna?

Select	Answer
A	The region of the ionosphere where radiated power is not refracted
B	The region where the shape of the antenna pattern is independent of distance
C	The region where radiated field strengths are obstructed by objects of reflection
D	The region where radiated power dissipates over a specified time period

44. - E9C05

What is an OCFD antenna?

Select	Answer
A	An eight band dipole antenna using octophase filters
B	A dipole feed approximately 1/3 the way from one end with a 4:1 balun to provide multiband operation
C	A multiband dipole antenna using one-way circular polarization for frequency diversity
D	A remotely tunable dipole antenna using orthogonally controlled frequency diversity

45. - E9D02

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

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

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 omega matching system
B	The delta matching system
C	The stub matching system
D	The gamma matching system

47. - E9F06

What is the approximate physical length of an air-insulated, parallel conductor transmission line that is electrically one-half wavelength long at 14.10 MHz?

Select	Answer
A	15 meters
B	20 meters
C	10 meters
D	71 meters

48. - E9G08

What is the process of normalization with regard to a Smith chart?

Select	Answer
A	Reassigning prime center with regard to the reactance axis
B	Reassigning reactance values with regard to the resistance axis
C	Reassigning resistance values with regard to the reactance axis
D	Reassigning impedance values with regard to the prime center

49. - E9H01

When constructing a Beverage antenna, which of the following factors should be included in the design to achieve good performance at the desired frequency?

Select	Answer
A	Its overall length must not exceed 1/4 wavelength
B	It must be mounted more than 1 wavelength above ground
C	It should be one or more wavelengths long
D	It should be configured as a four-sided loop

50. - E0A11

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

Select	Answer
A	Ingestion of ozone gas from the cooling system
B	Hearing loss caused by high voltage corona discharge
C	Blood clotting from the intense magnetic field
D	Localized heating of the body from RF exposure in excess of the MPE limits

Figure E6-2

Figure E6-5

Figure E7-3