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

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1. - E1A07

Which amateur band requires transmission on specific channels rather than on a range of frequencies?

Select	Answer
A	12 meter band
B	60 meter band
C	30 meter band
D	17 meter band

2. - E1B10

What frequencies are authorized to an amateur station operating under RACES rules?

Select	Answer
A	Specific local government channels
B	All amateur service frequencies authorized to the control operator
C	Military Auxiliary Radio System (MARS) channels
D	Specific segments in the amateur service MF, HF, VHF and UHF bands

3. - E1C03

How do the control operator responsibilities of a station under automatic control differ from one under local control?

Select	Answer
A	Under local control there is no control operator
B	Under local control a control operator is not required to be present at a control point
C	Under automatic control the control operator is not required to be present at the control point
D	Under automatic control there is no control operator

4. - E1D01

What is the definition of the term telemetry?

Select	Answer
A	One-way transmission that initiates, modifies, or terminates the functions of a device at a distance
B	Two-way radiotelephone transmissions in excess of 1000 feet
C	One-way transmission of measurements at a distance from the measuring instrument
D	Two-way single channel transmissions of data

5. - E1E02

Where are the questions for all written U.S. amateur license examinations listed?

Select	Answer
A	In a question pool maintained by the FCC
B	In FCC Part 97
C	In the appropriate FCC Report and Order
D	In a question pool maintained by all the VECs

6. - E1F04

Which of the following geographic descriptions approximately describes "Line A"?

Select	Answer
A	A line roughly parallel to and west of the U.S. Atlantic coastline
B	A line roughly parallel to and north of the U.S.-Mexican border and Gulf coastline
C	A line roughly parallel to and east of the U.S. Pacific coastline
D	A line roughly parallel to and south of the U.S.-Canadian border

7. - E2A11

What type of antenna can be used to minimize the effects of spin modulation and Faraday rotation?

Select	Answer
A	A linearly polarized antenna
B	An isotropic antenna
C	A circularly polarized antenna
D	A log-periodic dipole array

8. - E2B17

What is the approximate bandwidth of a slow-scan TV signal?

Select	Answer
A	2 MHz
B	3 kHz
C	6 MHz
D	600 Hz

9. - E2C06

During a VHF/UHF contest, in which band segment would you expect to find the highest level of activity?

Select	Answer
A	In the middle of the band, usually 25 kHz above the national calling frequency
B	In the middle of each band, usually on the national calling frequency
C	At the top of each band, usually in a segment reserved for contests
D	In the weak signal segment of the band, with most of the activity near the calling frequency

10. - E2D02

Which of the following is a good technique for making meteor scatter contacts?

Select	Answer
A	Use of high speed CW or digital modes
B	Short transmission with rapidly repeated call signs and signal reports
C	15 second timed transmission sequences with stations alternating based on location
D	All of these choices are correct

11. - E2E08

Which of the following HF digital modes can be used to transfer binary files?

Select	Answer
A	Hellschreiber
B	PACTOR
C	AMTOR
D	RTTY

12. - E3A16

Which of the following best describes electromagnetic waves traveling in free space?

Select	Answer
A	Changing electric and magnetic fields propagate the energy
B	The waves are reflected by the ionosphere and return to their source
C	The energy propagates through a medium with a high refractive index
D	Electric and magnetic fields become aligned as they travel

13. - E3B10

What is the cause of gray-line propagation?

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

14. - E3C03

Which of the following signal paths is most likely to experience high levels of absorption when the A index or K index is elevated?

Select	Answer
A	Transequatorial propagation
B	NVIS
C	Sporadic-E
D	Polar paths

15. - E4A13

How is the compensation of an oscilloscope probe typically adjusted?

Select	Answer
A	A DC voltage standard is displayed and the probe is adjusted until the displayed voltage is accurate
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 high frequency sine wave is displayed and the probe is adjusted for maximum amplitude

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	1465.20 Hz
B	146.52 Hz
C	146.52 kHz
D	10 Hz

17. - E4C16

Which of the following is caused by missing codes in an SDR receiver's analog-to-digital converter?

Select	Answer
A	Loss of sensitivity
B	Distortion
C	Excess output level
D	Overload

18. - E4D02

Which of the following describes two problems caused by poor dynamic range in a communications receiver?

Select	Answer
A	Oscillator instability requiring frequent retuning and loss of ability to recover the opposite sideband
B	Oscillator instability and severe audio distortion of all but the strongest received signals
C	Cross-modulation of the desired signal and desensitization from strong adjacent signals
D	Cross-modulation of the desired signal and insufficient audio power to operate the speaker

19. - E4E06

What is a major cause of atmospheric static?

Select	Answer
A	Geomagnetic storms
B	Solar radio frequency emissions
C	Thunderstorms
D	Meteor showers

20. - E5A04

What is the magnitude of the impedance of a circuit with a resistor, an inductor and a capacitor all in parallel, at resonance?

Select	Answer
A	Approximately equal to circuit resistance
B	Approximately equal to inductive reactance
C	Approximately equal to capacitive reactance
D	Low, as compared to the circuit resistance

21. - E5B06

What is susceptance?

Select	Answer
A	The magnetic impedance of a circuit
B	A measure of the efficiency of a transformer
C	The ratio of magnetic field to electric field
D	The inverse of reactance

22. - E5C03

Which of the following represents an inductive reactance in polar coordinates?

Select	Answer
A	A negative real part
B	A negative phase angle
C	A positive real part
D	A positive phase angle

23. - E5D09

What happens to reactive power in an AC circuit that has both ideal inductors and ideal capacitors?

Select	Answer
A	It is dissipated as kinetic energy in the circuit
B	It is dissipated in the formation of inductive and capacitive fields
C	It is dissipated as heat in the circuit
D	It is repeatedly exchanged between the associated magnetic and electric fields, but is not dissipated

24. - E6A02

Which of the following semiconductor materials contains excess free electrons?

Select	Answer
A	Bipolar
B	Insulated gate
C	N-type
D	P-type

25. - E6B12

What is one common use for PIN diodes?

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

26. - E6C09

What is a Programmable Logic Device (PLD)?

Select	Answer
A	A programmable collection of logic gates and circuits in a single integrated circuit
B	Programmable equipment used for testing digital logic integrated circuits
C	An algorithm for simulating logic functions during circuit design
D	A device to control industrial equipment

27. - E6D12

What is the definition of saturation in a ferrite core inductor?

Select	Answer
A	The inductor windings are over coupled
B	Adjacent inductors become over-coupled
C	The inductor's voltage rating is exceeded causing a flashover
D	The ability of the inductor's core to store magnetic energy has been exceeded

28. - E6E02

Which of the following device packages is a through-hole type?

Select	Answer
A	PLCC
B	DIP
C	SOT
D	Ball grid array

29. - E6F09

What is the efficiency of a photovoltaic cell?

Select	Answer
A	The open-circuit voltage divided by the short-circuit current under full illumination
B	The effective payback period
C	The relative fraction of light that is converted to current
D	The output RF power divided by the input DC power

30. - E7A09

What logical operation is performed by an exclusive NOR gate?

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

31. - E7B17

Why are odd-order rather than even-order intermodulation distortion products of concern in linear power amplifiers?

Select	Answer
A	Because they maintain the sidebands, thus causing multiple duplicate signals
B	Because they invert the sidebands causing distortion
C	Because they are relatively far in frequency from the desired signal
D	Because they are relatively close in frequency to the desired signal

32. - E7C01

How are the capacitors and inductors of a low-pass filter Pi-network arranged between the network's input and output?

Select	Answer
A	Two capacitors are in series between the input and output, and an inductor is connected between the two capacitors and ground
B	An inductor is connected between the input and ground, another inductor is connected between the output and ground, and a capacitor is connected between the input and output
C	A capacitor is connected between the input and ground, another capacitor is connected between the output and ground, and an inductor is connected between input and output
D	Two inductors are in series between the input and output, and a capacitor is connected between the two inductors and ground

33. - E7D12

What is the drop-out voltage of an analog voltage regulator?

Select	Answer
A	Minimum input voltage for rated power dissipation
B	Minimum input-to-output voltage required to maintain regulation
C	Maximum amount that the output voltage may decrease at rated load
D	Maximum amount that the output voltage drops when the input voltage is varied over its specified range

34. - E7E04

What is one way a single-sideband phone signal can be generated?

Select	Answer
A	By using a loop modulator followed by a mixer
B	By driving a product detector with a DSB signal
C	By using a balanced modulator followed by a filter
D	By using a reactance modulator followed by a mixer

35. - E7F16

How might the sampling rate of an existing digital signal be adjusted by a factor of 3/4?

Select	Answer
A	Change the gain by a factor of 3/4
B	Add 3 to each input value and subtract 4 from each output value
C	Multiply each sample value by a factor of 3/4
D	Interpolate by a factor of three, then decimate by a factor of four

36. - E7G12

What is an integrated circuit operational amplifier?

Select	Answer
A	An amplifier used to increase the average output of frequency modulated amateur signals to the legal limit
B	A high-gain, direct-coupled differential amplifier with very high input impedance and very low output impedance
C	A digital audio amplifier whose characteristics are determined by components external to the amplifier
D	A RF amplifier used in the UHF and microwave regions

37. - E7H15

Which of these functions can be performed by a phase-locked loop?

Select	Answer
A	Frequency synthesis, FM demodulation
B	Wide-band AF and RF power amplification
C	Photovoltaic conversion, optical coupling
D	Comparison of two digital input signals, digital pulse counter

38. - E8A13

Which of these methods is commonly used to convert analog signals to digital signals?

Select	Answer
A	Harmonic regeneration
B	Level shifting
C	Phase reversal
D	Sequential sampling

39. - E8B03

What is the modulation index of an FM-phone signal having a maximum frequency deviation of 3000 Hz either side of the carrier frequency when the modulating frequency is 1000 Hz?

Select	Answer
A	3
B	3000
C	0.3
D	1000

40. - E8C02

What is the definition of symbol rate in a digital transmission?

Select	Answer
A	The duration of each bit in a message sent over the air
B	The rate at which the waveform of a transmitted signal changes to convey information
C	The number of control characters in a message packet
D	The number of characters carried per second by the station-to-station link

41. - E8D09

What is considered a good minimum IMD level for an idling PSK signal?

Select	Answer
A	-30 dB
B	+10 dB
C	+15 dB
D	-20 dB

42. - E9A11

Which of the following factors determines ground losses for a ground-mounted vertical antenna operating in the 3 MHz to 30 MHz range?

Select	Answer
A	Take-off angle
B	Soil conductivity
C	The standing wave ratio
D	Distance from the transmitter

43. - E9B15

What is the front-to-back ratio of the radiation pattern shown in Figure E9-2?

Select	Answer
A	28 dB
B	3 dB
C	15 dB
D	24 dB

44. - E9C15

How does the radiation pattern of a horizontally polarized 3-element beam antenna vary with its height above ground?

Select	Answer
A	The horizontal beam width decreases with height
B	The main lobe takeoff angle decreases with increasing height
C	The horizontal beam width increases with height
D	The main lobe takeoff angle increases with increasing height

45. - E9D11

Which of the following types of conductors would be best for minimizing losses in a station's RF ground system?

Select	Answer
A	A single 12 gauge or 10 gauge stainless steel wire
B	A resistive wire, such as spark plug wire
C	A cable with six or seven 18 gauge conductors in parallel
D	A wide flat copper strap

46. - E9E04

What is the purpose of the series capacitor in a gamma-type antenna matching network?

Select	Answer
A	To transform the antenna impedance to a higher value
B	To cancel the inductive reactance of the matching network
C	To provide a rejection notch that prevents the radiation of harmonics
D	To provide DC isolation between the feed line and the antenna

47. - E9F09

What is the approximate physical length of a solid polyethylene dielectric coaxial transmission line that is electrically one-quarter wavelength long at 7.2 MHz?

Select	Answer
A	6.9 meters
B	50 meters
C	24 meters
D	10 meters

48. - E9G06

On the Smith chart shown in Figure E9-3, what is the name for the large outer circle on which the reactance arcs terminate?

Select	Answer
A	Reactance axis
B	Impedance axis
C	Polar axis
D	Prime axis

49. - E9H07

Why is it advisable to use an RF attenuator on a receiver being used for direction finding?

Select	Answer
A	It prevents receiver overload which could make it difficult to determine peaks or nulls
B	It compensates for the effects of an isotropic antenna, thereby improving directivity
C	It reduces loss of received signals caused by antenna pattern nulls, thereby increasing sensitivity
D	It narrows the bandwidth of the received signal to improve signal to noise ratio

50. - E0A03

Which of the following would be a practical way to estimate whether the RF fields produced by an amateur radio station are within permissible MPE limits?

Select	Answer
A	Use a calibrated antenna analyzer
B	Use an antenna modeling program to calculate field strength at accessible locations
C	Use a hand calculator plus Smith-chart equations to calculate the fields
D	All of the choices are correct

Figure E9-2

Figure E9-3