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	Any person holding an FCC issued amateur license or who is authorized for alien reciprocal operation
B	Only a person named in an amateur station license grant
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	Any FCC-licensed amateur station participating in the Military Auxiliary Radio System (MARS)
B	Only those club stations licensed to Amateur Extra class operators
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. - E1C07

What is meant by local control?

Select	Answer
A	Direct manipulation of the transmitter by a control operator
B	Automatically manipulating local station controls
C	Controlling a repeater using a portable handheld transceiver
D	Controlling a station through a local auxiliary link

4. - E1D07

Which amateur service HF bands have frequencies authorized for space stations?

Select	Answer
A	All HF bands
B	Only the 40 m, 30 m, 20 m, 15 m, 12 m and 10 m bands
C	Only the 40 m, 20 m, 17 m, 15 m, 12 m and 10 m bands
D	Only the 40 m, 20 m, 17 m, 15 m and 10 m bands

5. - E1E07

What should a VE do if a candidate fails to comply with the examiner's instructions during an amateur operator license examination?

Select	Answer
A	Allow the candidate to complete the examination, but invalidate the results
B	Immediately terminate everyone's examination and close the session
C	Immediately terminate the candidate's examination
D	Warn the candidate that continued failure to comply will result in termination of the examination

6. - E1F06

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

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

7. - E2A14

What technology is used to track, in real time, balloons carrying amateur radio transmitters?

Select	Answer
A	Bandwidth compressed LORAN
B	Radar
C	Doppler shift of beacon signals
D	APRS

8. - E2B02

How many horizontal lines make up a fast-scan (NTSC) television frame?

Select	Answer
A	1080
B	30
C	60
D	525

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

10. - E2D07

What digital protocol is used by APRS?

Select	Answer
A	AMTOR
B	PACTOR
C	802.11
D	AX.25

11. - E2E07

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

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

12. - E3A05

Tropospheric propagation of microwave signals often occurs along what weather related structure?

Select	Answer
A	Lightning discharges
B	Gray-line
C	Sprites and jets
D	Warm and cold fronts

13. - E3B01

What is transequatorial propagation?

Select	Answer
A	Propagation between two mid-latitude points at approximately the same distance north and south of the magnetic equator
B	Propagation between two stations at the same latitude
C	Propagation between any two points located on the magnetic equator
D	Propagation between two continents by way of ducts along the magnetic equator

14. - E3C01

What does the term ray tracing describe in regard to radio communications?

Select	Answer
A	Evaluating high voltage sources for X-Rays
B	The process in which an electronic display presents a pattern
C	Modeling a radio wave's path through the ionosphere
D	Determining the radiation pattern from an array of antennas

15. - E4A10

Which of the following displays multiple digital signal states simultaneously?

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

16. - E4B06

How much power is being absorbed by the load when a directional power meter connected between a transmitter and a terminating load reads 100 watts forward power and 25 watts reflected power?

Select	Answer
A	75 watts
B	125 watts
C	25 watts
D	100 watts

17. - E4C08

An SDR receiver is overloaded when input signals exceed what level?

Select	Answer
A	The maximum count value of the analog-to-digital converter
B	One-half the maximum sampling buffer size
C	One-half the maximum sample rate
D	The reference voltage of the analog-to-digital converter

18. - E4D03

How can intermodulation interference between two repeaters occur?

Select	Answer
A	When the signals from the transmitters are reflected in phase from airplanes passing overhead
B	When the signals from the transmitters are reflected out of phase from airplanes passing overhead
C	When the repeaters are in close proximity and the signals mix in the final amplifier of one or both transmitters
D	When the repeaters are in close proximity and the signals cause feedback in the final amplifier of one or both transmitters

19. - E4E15

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

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

20. - E5A10

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

Select	Answer
A	Reactance of either the inductance or capacitance divided by the resistance
B	Resistance divided by the reactance of either the inductance or capacitance
C	Reactance of the inductance times the reactance of the capacitance
D	Reactance of either the inductance or capacitance times the resistance

21. - E5B02

What is the term for the time it takes for a charged capacitor in an RC circuit to discharge to 36.8% of its initial voltage?

Select	Answer
A	One discharge period
B	A discharge factor of one
C	An exponential discharge rate of one
D	One time constant

22. - E5C13

What coordinate system is often used to display the resistive, inductive, and/or capacitive reactance components of impedance?

Select	Answer
A	Elliptical coordinates
B	Maidenhead grid
C	Rectangular coordinates
D	Faraday grid

23. - E5D11

What is the power factor of an R-L circuit having a 60 degree phase angle between the voltage and the current?

Select	Answer
A	0.5
B	1.414
C	1.73
D	0.866

24. - E6A10

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

Select	Answer
A	6
B	2
C	4
D	5

25. - E6B01

What is the most useful characteristic of a Zener diode?

Select	Answer
A	A constant voltage drop under conditions of varying current
B	A negative resistance region
C	A constant current drop under conditions of varying voltage
D	An internal capacitance that varies with the applied voltage

26. - E6C08

In Figure E6-5, what is the schematic symbol for a NAND gate?

Select	Answer
A	1
B	4
C	3
D	2

27. - E6D13

What is the primary cause of inductor self-resonance?

Select	Answer
A	The skin effect
B	Inter-turn capacitance
C	Non-linear core hysteresis
D	Inductive kickback

28. - E6E06

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

Select	Answer
A	Plate current that is controlled by a control grid
B	Controlled gain, low noise figure, and constant input and output impedance over the specified frequency range
C	The ability to retrieve information from a single signal even in the presence of other strong signals
D	Nearly infinite gain, very high input impedance, and very low output impedance

29. - E6F08

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

Select	Answer
A	Optoisolators provide a very high degree of electrical isolation between a control circuit and the circuit being switched
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 impedance matching between the control circuit and power circuit

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 "0"
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 "1"

31. - E7B03

Which of the following components form the output of a class D amplifier circuit?

Select	Answer
A	A high-pass filter to compensate for low gain at low frequencies
B	A matched load resistor to prevent damage by switching transients
C	A low-pass filter to remove switching signal components
D	A temperature compensating load resistor to improve linearity

32. - E7C04

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

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

33. - E7D04

Which of the following types of linear voltage regulator usually make the most efficient use of the primary power source?

Select	Answer
A	A series current source
B	A shunt current source
C	A shunt regulator
D	A series regulator

34. - E7E10

How does a diode detector function?

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

35. - E7F13

What is the function of taps in a digital signal processing filter?

Select	Answer
A	To reduce excess signal pressure levels
B	Provide access for debugging software
C	Provide incremental signal delays for filter algorithms
D	Select the point at which baseband signals are generated

36. - E7G06

Which of the following is the most appropriate use of an op-amp active filter?

Select	Answer
A	As a high-pass filter used to block RFI at the input to receivers
B	For smoothing power supply output
C	As a low-pass filter used between a transmitter and a transmission line
D	As an audio filter in a receiver

37. - E7H07

How can an oscillator's microphonic responses be reduced?

Select	Answer
A	Mechanically isolating the oscillator circuitry from its enclosure
B	Use of NP0 capacitors
C	Eliminating noise on the oscillator's power supply
D	Using the oscillator only for CW and digital signals

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	1 to 1
D	100 to 1

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	6000
B	2000
C	3
D	1/3

40. - E8C01

How is Forward Error Correction implemented?

Select	Answer
A	By transmitting a special algorithm to the receiving station along with the data characters
B	By the receiving station repeating each block of three data characters
C	By varying the frequency shift of the transmitted signal according to a predefined algorithm
D	By transmitting extra data that may be used to detect and correct transmission errors

41. - E8D07

What is a common cause of overmodulation of AFSK signals?

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

42. - E9A04

Which of the following factors may affect the feed point impedance of an antenna?

Select	Answer
A	Transmission-line length
B	Antenna height, conductor length/diameter ratio and location of nearby conductive objects
C	Sunspot activity and time of day
D	The settings of an antenna tuner at the transmitter

43. - E9B01

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

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

44. - E9C11

How is the far-field elevation pattern of a vertically polarized antenna affected by being mounted over seawater versus rocky ground?

Select	Answer
A	The high-angle radiation increases
B	The low-angle radiation decreases
C	The low-angle radiation increases
D	Both the high-angle and low-angle radiation decrease

45. - E9D01

How does the gain of an ideal parabolic dish antenna change when the operating frequency is doubled?

Select	Answer
A	Gain is multiplied by 0.707
B	Gain does not change
C	Gain increases by 3 dB
D	Gain increases by 6 dB

46. - E9E11

What is an effective way of matching a feed line to a VHF or UHF antenna when the impedances of both the antenna and feed line are unknown?

Select	Answer
A	Use the universal stub matching technique
B	Use a 50 ohm 1:1 balun between the antenna and feed line
C	Connect a series-resonant LC network across the antenna feed terminals
D	Connect a parallel-resonant LC network across the antenna feed terminals

47. - E9F02

Which of the following determines the velocity factor of a transmission line?

Select	Answer
A	The center conductor resistivity
B	The termination impedance
C	Dielectric materials used in the line
D	The line length

48. - E9G03

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

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

49. - E9H11

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

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

50. - E0A07

How may dangerous levels of carbon monoxide from an emergency generator be detected?

Select	Answer
A	By the yellowish appearance of the gas
B	Only with a carbon monoxide detector
C	By the odor
D	Any ordinary smoke detector can be used

Figure E6-2

Figure E6-5

Figure E9-1