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

2. - E1B09

Which amateur stations may be operated under RACES rules?

Select	Answer
A	Only those club stations licensed to Amateur Extra class operators
B	Any FCC-licensed amateur station participating in the Military Auxiliary Radio System (MARS)
C	Any FCC-licensed amateur station except a Technician class
D	Any FCC-licensed amateur station certified by the responsible civil defense organization for the area served

3. - E1C10

What types of amateur stations may automatically retransmit the radio signals of other amateur stations?

Select	Answer
A	Only beacon, repeater or space stations
B	Only auxiliary, beacon or space stations
C	Only auxiliary, repeater or space stations
D	Only earth stations, repeater stations or model craft

4. - E1D08

Which VHF amateur service bands have frequencies available for space stations?

Select	Answer
A	6 meters, 2 meters, and 1.25 meters
B	2 meters and 1.25 meters
C	2 meters
D	6 meters and 2 meters

5. - E1E13

Which of these choices is an acceptable method for monitoring the applicants if a VEC opts to conduct an exam session remotely?

Select	Answer
A	The exam proctor observes the applicants and reports any violations
B	Have each applicant sign an affidavit stating that all session rules were followed
C	Use a real-time video link and the Internet to connect the exam session to the observing VEs
D	Record the exam session on video tape for later review by the VE team

6. - E1F12

Who may be the control operator of an auxiliary station?

Select	Answer
A	Only General, Advanced or Amateur Extra Class operators
B	Any licensed amateur operator
C	Only Technician, General, Advanced or Amateur Extra Class operators
D	Only Amateur Extra Class operators

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 point of minimum height of a satellite's orbit
C	The point of maximum height of a satellite's orbit
D	The time it takes for a satellite to travel from perigee to apogee

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. - E2C13

What indicator is required to be used by U.S.-licensed operators when operating a station via remote control where the transmitter is located in the U.S.?

Select	Answer
A	No additional indicator is required
B	/R# where # is the district of the remote station
C	The ARRL section of the remote station
D	/ followed by the USPS two letter abbreviation for the state in which the remote station is located

10. - E2D09

Which of these digital modes has the fastest data throughput under clear communication conditions?

Select	Answer
A	AMTOR
B	300 baud packet
C	PSK31
D	170 Hz shift, 45 baud RTTY

11. - E2E09

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

Select	Answer
A	RTTY
B	MT63
C	PACTOR
D	PSK31

12. - E3A09

Which of the following frequency range is most suited for meteor scatter communications?

Select	Answer
A	1.8 MHz - 1.9 MHz
B	220 MHz - 450 MHz
C	10 MHz - 14 MHz
D	28 MHz - 148 MHz

13. - E3B14

What happens to linearly polarized radio waves that split into ordinary and extraordinary waves in the ionosphere?

Select	Answer
A	They become elliptically polarized
B	Their polarization is randomly modified
C	They become phase-locked
D	They are bent toward the magnetic poles

14. - E3C12

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

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

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 Hz
B	1465.20 Hz
C	146.52 kHz
D	10 Hz

17. - E4C03

What is the term for the blocking of one FM phone signal by another, stronger FM phone signal?

Select	Answer
A	Capture effect
B	Cross-modulation interference
C	Frequency discrimination
D	Desensitization

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

19. - E4E15

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

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

20. - E5A16

What is the resonant frequency of a parallel RLC circuit if R is 33 ohms, L is 50 microhenrys and C is 10 picofarads?

Select	Answer
A	23.5 kHz
B	23.5 MHz
C	7.12 MHz
D	7.12 kHz

21. - E5B09

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

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

22. - E5C11

What do the two numbers that are used to define a point on a graph using rectangular coordinates represent?

Select	Answer
A	The sine and cosine values
B	The coordinate values along the horizontal and vertical axes
C	The tangent and cotangent values
D	The magnitude and phase of the point

23. - E5D05

Which parasitic characteristic increases with conductor length?

Select	Answer
A	Permeability
B	Permittivity
C	Inductance
D	Malleability

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	Beta cutoff frequency
C	Alpha rejection frequency
D	Alpha cutoff frequency

25. - E6B11

What is used to control the attenuation of RF signals by a PIN diode?

Select	Answer
A	A sub-harmonic pump signal
B	Capacitance of an RF coupling capacitor
C	Forward DC bias current
D	Reverse voltage larger than the RF signal

26. - E6C02

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

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

27. - E6D05

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

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

28. - E6E01

Which of the following is true of a charge-coupled device (CCD)?

Select	Answer
A	It samples an analog signal and passes it in stages from the input to the output
B	Its phase shift changes rapidly with frequency
C	It is used in a battery charger circuit
D	It is a CMOS analog-to-digital converter

29. - E6F13

What is a liquid crystal display (LCD)?

Select	Answer
A	A frequency-determining unit for a transmitter or receiver
B	A display that uses a glowing liquid to remain brightly lit in dim light
C	A display utilizing a crystalline liquid and polarizing filters which becomes opaque when voltage is applied
D	A modern replacement for a quartz crystal oscillator which displays its fundamental frequency

30. - E7A08

What logical operation does an OR gate perform?

Select	Answer
A	It produces logic "1" at its output if any or all inputs are logic "1"
B	It produces logic "1" at its output if all inputs are logic "0"
C	It only produces logic "0" at its output when all inputs are logic "1"
D	It produces logic "0" at its output if all inputs are logic "1"

31. - E7B13

In Figure E7-2, what is the purpose of R?

Select	Answer
A	Fixed bias
B	Voltage regulation
C	Emitter load
D	Collector load

32. - E7C05

Which filter type is described as having ripple in the passband and a sharp cutoff?

Select	Answer
A	A passive op-amp filter
B	An active LC filter
C	A Butterworth filter
D	A Chebyshev filter

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 cut down on waste heat generated by the power supply
C	To improve output voltage regulation
D	To balance the low-voltage filament windings

34. - E7E06

Why is de-emphasis commonly used in FM communications receivers?

Select	Answer
A	To remove third-order distortion products
B	For compatibility with transmitters using phase modulation
C	To reduce impulse noise reception
D	For higher efficiency

35. - E7F14

Which of the following would allow a digital signal processing filter to create a sharper filter response?

Select	Answer
A	Higher data rate
B	Complex phasor representations
C	Double-precision math routines
D	More taps

36. - E7G10

What absolute voltage gain can be expected from the circuit in Figure E7-4 when R1 is 1800 ohms and RF is 68 kilohms?

Select	Answer
A	76
B	0.03
C	1
D	38

37. - E7H01

What are three oscillator circuits used in Amateur Radio equipment?

Select	Answer
A	Pierce, Fenner and Beane
B	Taft, Pierce and negative feedback
C	Taft, Hartley and Pierce
D	Colpitts, Hartley and Pierce

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	100 to 1
C	25 to 1
D	1 to 1

39. - E8B01

What is the term for the ratio between the frequency deviation of an RF carrier wave and the modulating frequency of its corresponding FM-phone signal?

Select	Answer
A	Modulation index
B	Percentage of modulation
C	Quieting index
D	FM compressibility

40. - E8C03

When performing phase shift keying, why is it advantageous to shift phase precisely at the zero crossing of the RF carrier?

Select	Answer
A	It improves carrier suppression
B	This results in the least possible transmitted bandwidth for the particular mode
C	All of these choices are correct
D	It is easier to demodulate with a conventional, non-synchronous detector

41. - E8D02

What spread spectrum communications technique uses a high speed binary bit stream to shift the phase of an RF carrier?

Select	Answer
A	Direct sequence
B	Frequency hopping
C	Phase compandored spread spectrum
D	Binary phase-shift keying

42. - E9A14

What is meant by the radiation resistance of an antenna?

Select	Answer
A	The combined losses of the antenna elements and feed line
B	The value of a resistance that would dissipate the same amount of power as that radiated from an antenna
C	The resistance in the atmosphere that an antenna must overcome to be able to radiate a signal
D	The specific impedance of the antenna

43. - E9B08

How can the approximate beam-width in a given plane of a directional antenna be determined?

Select	Answer
A	Measure the ratio of the signal strengths of the radiated power lobes from the front and side of the antenna
B	Draw two imaginary lines through the ends of the elements and measure the angle between the lines
C	Note the two points where the signal strength of the antenna is 3 dB less than maximum and compute the angular difference
D	Measure the ratio of the signal strengths of the radiated power lobes from the front and rear of the antenna

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

45. - E9D12

Which of the following would provide the best RF ground for your station?

Select	Answer
A	An electrically short connection to 3 or 4 interconnected ground rods driven into the Earth
B	An electrically short connection to 3 or 4 interconnected ground rods via a series RF choke
C	An electrically short connection to a metal water pipe
D	A 50 ohm resistor connected to ground

46. - E9E07

What term best describes the interactions at the load end of a mismatched transmission line?

Select	Answer
A	Dielectric constant
B	Reflection coefficient
C	Velocity factor
D	Characteristic impedance

47. - E9F11

What impedance does a 1/8 wavelength transmission line present to a generator when the line is open at the far end?

Select	Answer
A	A capacitive reactance
B	The same as the characteristic impedance of the line
C	The same as the input impedance of the final generator stage
D	An inductive reactance

48. - E9G03

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

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

49. - E9H05

What is the main drawback of a wire-loop antenna for direction finding?

Select	Answer
A	It is practical for use only on VHF bands
B	It receives equally well in all directions
C	It is non-rotatable
D	It has a bidirectional pattern

50. - E0A02

When evaluating RF exposure levels from your station at a neighbor's home, what must you do?

Select	Answer
A	Make sure signals from your station are less than the controlled MPE limits
B	Make sure signals from your station are less than the uncontrolled MPE limits
C	Advise your neighbors of the results of your tests
D	You need only evaluate exposure levels on your own property

Figure E7-2

Figure E7-4