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 highest frequency of the channel
C	At the lowest frequency of the channel
D	On any frequency where the signal's sidebands are within the channel

2. - E1B11

What is the permitted mean power of any spurious emission relative to the mean power of the fundamental emission from a station transmitter or external RF amplifier installed after January 1, 2003 and transmitting on a frequency below 30 MHZ?

Select	Answer
A	At least 43 dB below
B	At least 53 dB below
C	At least 63 dB below
D	At least 73 dB below

3. - E1C12

What types of communications may be transmitted to amateur stations in foreign countries?

Select	Answer
A	Business-related messages for non-profit organizations
B	All of these choices are correct
C	Communications incidental to the purpose of the amateur service and remarks of a personal nature
D	Messages intended for connection to users of the maritime satellite service

4. - E1D10

Which amateur stations are eligible to be telecommand stations?

Select	Answer
A	Any amateur station so designated by the ITU
B	Any amateur station designated by NASA
C	All of these choices are correct
D	Any amateur station so designated by the space station licensee, subject to the privileges of the class of operator license held by the control operator

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

6. - E1F10

What is the maximum permitted transmitter peak envelope power for an amateur station transmitting spread spectrum communications?

Select	Answer
A	1.5 kW
B	1.5 W
C	1 W
D	10 W

7. - E2A01

What is the direction of an ascending pass for an amateur satellite?

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

8. - E2B05

Which of the following is an advantage of using vestigial sideband for standard fast- scan TV transmissions?

Select	Answer
A	The vestigial sideband carries the audio information
B	Vestigial sideband reduces bandwidth while allowing for simple video detector circuitry
C	Vestigial sideband provides high frequency emphasis to sharpen the picture
D	The vestigial sideband contains chroma information

9. - E2C10

Why might a DX station state that they are listening on another frequency?

Select	Answer
A	All of these choices are correct
B	Because the DX station may be transmitting on a frequency that is prohibited to some responding stations
C	To improve operating efficiency by reducing interference
D	To separate the calling stations from the DX station

10. - E2D03

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

Select	Answer
A	JT65
B	PACTOR III
C	FSK441
D	Olivia

11. - E2E06

What is the most common data rate used for HF packet?

Select	Answer
A	300 baud
B	110 baud
C	48 baud
D	1200 baud

12. - E3A09

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

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

13. - E3B10

What is the cause of gray-line propagation?

Select	Answer
A	At twilight and sunrise, D-layer absorption is low while E-layer and F-layer propagation remains high
B	In darkness, solar absorption drops greatly while atmospheric ionization remains steady
C	At midday, the Sun super heats the ionosphere causing increased refraction of radio waves
D	At mid-afternoon, the Sun heats the ionosphere decreasing radio wave refraction and the MUF

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. - E4A03

Which of the following test instrument is used to display spurious signals and/or intermodulation distortion products in an SSB transmitter?

Select	Answer
A	A time-domain reflectometer
B	A wattmeter
C	A logic analyzer
D	A spectrum analyzer

16. - E4B17

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

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

17. - E4C14

What transmit frequency might generate an image response signal in a receiver tuned to 14.300 MHz and which uses a 455 kHz IF frequency?

Select	Answer
A	15.210 MHz
B	14.445 MHz
C	14.755 MHz
D	13.845 MHz

18. - E4D11

Why are third-order intermodulation products created within a receiver of particular interest compared to other products?

Select	Answer
A	Third-order products are an indication of poor image rejection
B	The third-order intercept is much higher than other orders
C	Third-order intermodulation produces three products for every input signal within the band of interest
D	The third-order product of two signals which are in the band of interest is also likely to be within the band

19. - E4E13

What might be the cause of a loud roaring or buzzing AC line interference that comes and goes at intervals?

Select	Answer
A	Arcing contacts in a thermostatically controlled device
B	A defective doorbell or doorbell transformer inside a nearby residence
C	A malfunctioning illuminated advertising display
D	All of these choices are correct

20. - E5A12

What is the half-power bandwidth of a parallel resonant circuit that has a resonant frequency of 3.7 MHz and a Q of 118?

Select	Answer
A	15.7 kHz
B	31.4 kHz
C	436.6 kHz
D	218.3 kHz

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 leading the current
B	14.0 degrees with the voltage lagging 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	The difference between the resistive and reactive components
B	Resistive component
C	Reactive component
D	The sum of the reactive and resistive components

23. - E5D06

In what direction is the magnetic field oriented about a conductor in relation to the direction of electron flow?

Select	Answer
A	In the same direction as the current
B	In a direction determined by the left-hand rule
C	In all directions; omni-directional
D	In a direction opposite to the current

24. - E6A16

What are the majority charge carriers in N-type semiconductor material?

Select	Answer
A	Free electrons
B	Free protons
C	Holes
D	Free neutrons

25. - E6B07

What is the failure mechanism when a junction diode fails due to excessive current?

Select	Answer
A	Excessive inverse voltage
B	Excessive junction temperature
C	Insufficient forward voltage
D	Charge carrier depletion

26. - E6C12

What is BiCMOS logic?

Select	Answer
A	A logic device with two CMOS circuits per package
B	A FET logic family based on bimetallic semiconductors
C	An integrated circuit logic family using both bipolar and CMOS transistors
D	A logic family based on bismuth CMOS devices

27. - E6D07

What is the usable frequency range of inductors that use toroidal cores, assuming a correct selection of core material for the frequency being used?

Select	Answer
A	From less than 20 Hz to approximately 300 MHz
B	From approximately 10 Hz to no more than 3000 kHz
C	From about 100 kHz to at least 1000 GHz
D	From a few kHz to no more than 30 MHz

28. - E6E06

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

Select	Answer
A	Nearly infinite gain, very high input impedance, and very low output impedance
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	Controlled gain, low noise figure, and constant input and output impedance over the specified frequency range

29. - E6F13

What is a liquid crystal display (LCD)?

Select	Answer
A	A display that uses a glowing liquid to remain brightly lit in dim light
B	A frequency-determining unit for a transmitter or receiver
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. - E7A01

Which is a bi-stable circuit?

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

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

33. - E7D16

When several electrolytic filter capacitors are connected in series to increase the operating voltage of a power supply filter circuit, why should resistors be connected across each capacitor?

Select	Answer
A	All of these choices are correct
B	To equalize, as much as possible, the voltage drop across each capacitor
C	To provide a safety bleeder to discharge the capacitors when the supply is off
D	To provide a minimum load current to reduce voltage excursions at light loads

34. - E7E08

What are the principal frequencies that appear at the output of a mixer circuit?

Select	Answer
A	The two input frequencies along with their sum and difference frequencies
B	The sum, difference and square root of the input frequencies
C	1.414 and 0.707 times the input frequency
D	Two and four times the original frequency

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 twice the rate of the highest frequency component of the signal
B	At four times 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 half 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	Very low
B	1000 ohms
C	100 ohms
D	Very high

37. - E7H06

Which of the following oscillator circuits are commonly used in VFOs?

Select	Answer
A	Pierce and Zener
B	Negative feedback and balanced feedback
C	Colpitts and Hartley
D	Armstrong and deForest

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 square wave
D	A sawtooth wave

39. - E8B08

What describes Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing?

Select	Answer
A	A digital mode for narrow band, slow speed transmissions
B	A digital modulation technique using subcarriers at frequencies chosen to avoid intersymbol interference
C	A bandwidth compression technique using Fourier transforms
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	0.5 kHz
B	0.3 kHz
C	1.0 kHz
D	0.1 Hz

41. - E8D06

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

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

42. - E9A12

How much gain does an antenna have compared to a 1/2-wavelength dipole when it has 6 dB gain over an isotropic antenna?

Select	Answer
A	8.15 dB
B	3.85 dB
C	6.0 dB
D	2.79 dB

43. - E9B04

What may occur when a directional antenna is operated at different frequencies within the band for which it was designed?

Select	Answer
A	The gain may change depending on frequency
B	The E-field and H-field patterns may reverse
C	Element spacing limits could be exceeded
D	Feed point impedance may become negative

44. - E9C10

Which of the following describes a Zepp antenna?

Select	Answer
A	An end fed dipole antenna
B	An omni-directional antenna commonly used for satellite communications
C	A dipole constructed from zip cord
D	A vertical array capable of quickly changing the direction of maximum radiation by changing phasing lines

45. - E9D08

What happens as the Q of an antenna increases?

Select	Answer
A	Gain is reduced
B	SWR bandwidth increases
C	SWR bandwidth decreases
D	More common-mode current is present on the feed line

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

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

48. - E9G11

How are the wavelength scales on a Smith chart calibrated?

Select	Answer
A	In fractions of transmission line electrical wavelength
B	In fractions of transmission line electrical frequency
C	In fractions of antenna electrical wavelength
D	In fractions of antenna electrical frequency

49. - E9H02

Which is generally true for low band (160 meter and 80 meter) receiving antennas?

Select	Answer
A	Atmospheric noise is so high that gain over a dipole is not important
B	All of these choices are correct
C	Low loss coax transmission line is essential for good performance
D	They must be erected at least 1/2 wavelength above the ground to attain good directivity

50. - E0A06

Why are there separate electric (E) and magnetic (H) field MPE limits?

Select	Answer
A	The body reacts to electromagnetic radiation from both the E and H fields
B	Ground reflections and scattering make the field impedance vary with location
C	All of these choices are correct
D	E field and H field radiation intensity peaks can occur at different locations