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

Logging in (or registering) will help the system to select questions that you need to focus on.

1. - E1A10

If an amateur station is installed aboard a ship or aircraft, what condition must be met before the station is operated?

Select	Answer
A	Its operation must be approved by the master of the ship or the pilot in command of the aircraft
B	The amateur station operator must agree not to transmit when the main radio of the ship or aircraft is in use
C	The amateur station must have a power supply that is completely independent of the main ship or aircraft power supply
D	The amateur operator must have an FCC Marine or Aircraft endorsement on his or her amateur license

2. - E1B03

Within what distance must an amateur station protect an FCC monitoring facility from harmful interference?

Select	Answer
A	3 miles
B	1 mile
C	10 miles
D	30 miles

3. - E1C09

Which of these ranges of frequencies is available for an automatically controlled repeater operating below 30 MHz?

Select	Answer
A	24.940 MHz - 24.990 MHz
B	10.100 MHz - 10.150 MHz
C	29.500 MHz - 29.700 MHz
D	18.110 MHz - 18.168 MHz

4. - E1D09

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

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

5. - E1E05

What is the minimum passing score on amateur operator license examinations?

Select	Answer
A	Minimum passing score of 70%
B	Minimum passing score of 80%
C	Minimum passing score of 74%
D	Minimum passing score of 77%

6. - E1F04

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

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

7. - E2A13

What type of satellite appears to stay in one position in the sky?

Select	Answer
A	Geomagnetic
B	HEO
C	Geostationary
D	LEO

8. - E2B11

What is the function of the Vertical Interval Signaling (VIS) code sent as part of an SSTV transmission?

Select	Answer
A	To provide vertical synchronization
B	To identify the SSTV mode being used
C	To lock the color burst oscillator in color SSTV images
D	To identify the call sign of the station transmitting

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

10. - E2D11

Which of the following data are used by the APRS network to communicate your location?

Select	Answer
A	Latitude and longitude
B	Time and frequency
C	Polar coordinates
D	Radio direction finding spectrum analysis

11. - E2E11

What is the difference between direct FSK and audio FSK?

Select	Answer
A	Direct FSK applies the data signal to the transmitter VFO
B	Audio FSK has a superior frequency response
C	Audio FSK can be performed anywhere in the transmit chain
D	Direct FSK uses a DC-coupled data connection

12. - E3A12

What is the cause of auroral activity?

Select	Answer
A	Meteor showers concentrated in the extreme northern and southern latitudes
B	The interaction in the F2 layer between the solar wind and the Van Allen belt
C	A low sunspot level combined with tropospheric ducting
D	The interaction in the E layer of charged particles from the Sun with the Earth's magnetic field

13. - E3B04

What is meant by the terms extraordinary and ordinary waves?

Select	Answer
A	Refracted rays and reflected waves
B	Extraordinary waves describe rare long skip propagation compared to ordinary waves which travel shorter distances
C	Independent waves created in the ionosphere that are elliptically polarized
D	Long path and short path waves

14. - E3C09

How does the intensity of an X3 flare compare to that of an X2 flare?

Select	Answer
A	Twice as great
B	50 percent greater
C	10 percent greater
D	Four times as great

15. - E4A04

What determines the upper frequency limit for a computer soundcard-based oscilloscope program?

Select	Answer
A	Q of the interface of the interface circuit
B	All of these choices are correct
C	Analog-to-digital conversion speed of the soundcard
D	Amount of memory on the soundcard

16. - E4B07

What do the subscripts of S parameters represent?

Select	Answer
A	Frequency order of the measurements
B	The port or ports at which measurements are made
C	Relative quality of the data
D	The relative time between measurements

17. - E4C08

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

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

18. - E4D13

Which of the following can cause receiver desensitization?

Select	Answer
A	Audio bias adjusted too high
B	Audio gain adjusted too low
C	Squelch gain misadjusted
D	Strong adjacent channel signals

19. - E4E08

What type of signal is picked up by electrical wiring near a radio antenna?

Select	Answer
A	A common-mode signal at the frequency of the radio transmitter
B	Harmonics of the AC power line frequency
C	A differential-mode signal at the AC power line frequency
D	An electrical-sparking signal

20. - E5A09

How is the Q of an RLC parallel 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 multiplied by the reactance of the capacitance
D	Reactance of either the inductance or capacitance multiplied by the resistance

21. - E5B08

What is the phase angle between the voltage across and the current through a series RLC circuit if XC is 100 ohms, R is 100 ohms, and XL is 75 ohms?

Select	Answer
A	76 degrees with the voltage leading the current
B	14 degrees with the voltage leading the current
C	14 degrees with the voltage lagging the current
D	76 degrees with the voltage lagging the current

22. - E5C16

Which point on Figure E5-2 best represents the impedance of a series circuit consisting of a 300 ohm resistor and a 19 picofarad capacitor at 21.200 MHz?

Select	Answer
A	Point 1
B	Point 8
C	Point 3
D	Point 7

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

24. - E6A07

Which of the following indicates that a silicon NPN junction transistor is biased on?

Select	Answer
A	Base-to-emitter resistance of approximately 0.6 to 0.7 ohms
B	Base-to-emitter voltage of approximately 6 to 7 volts
C	Base-to-emitter voltage of approximately 0.6 to 0.7 volts
D	Base-to-emitter resistance of approximately 6 to 7 ohms

25. - E6B02

What is an important characteristic of a Schottky diode as compared to an ordinary silicon diode when used as a power supply rectifier?

Select	Answer
A	Much higher reverse voltage breakdown
B	Less forward voltage drop
C	Enhanced carrier retention time
D	Controlled reverse avalanche voltage

26. - E6C07

What best describes a pull-up or pull-down resistor?

Select	Answer
A	A resistor in a keying circuit used to reduce key clicks
B	A resistor that insures that an oscillator frequency does not drive lower over time
C	A resistor connected to the positive or negative supply line used to establish a voltage when an input or output is an open circuit
D	A resistor connected to an op-amp output that only functions when the logic output is false

27. - E6D03

Which of the following is an aspect of the piezoelectric effect?

Select	Answer
A	Mechanical deformation of material by the application of a voltage
B	Generation of electrical energy in the presence of light
C	Increased conductivity in the presence of light
D	Mechanical deformation of material by the application of a magnetic field

28. - E6E10

What is the packaging technique in which leadless components are soldered directly to circuit boards?

Select	Answer
A	Surface mount
B	Virtual lead mounting
C	Stripped lead
D	Direct soldering

29. - E6F10

What is the most common type of photovoltaic cell used for electrical power generation?

Select	Answer
A	Cadmium Sulfide
B	Selenium
C	Silicon
D	Copper oxide

30. - E7A03

Which of the following can divide the frequency of a pulse train by 2?

Select	Answer
A	An XOR gate
B	A flip-flop
C	An OR gate
D	A multiplexer

31. - E7B18

What is a characteristic of a grounded-grid amplifier?

Select	Answer
A	High filament voltage
B	High power gain
C	Low input impedance
D	Low bandwidth

32. - E7C08

Which of the following factors has the greatest effect in helping determine the bandwidth and response shape of a crystal ladder filter?

Select	Answer
A	The DC voltage applied to the quartz crystal
B	The amplitude of the signals passing through the filter
C	The relative frequencies of the individual crystals
D	The gain of the RF stage preceding the 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 improve output voltage regulation
C	To balance the low-voltage filament windings
D	To cut down on waste heat generated by the power supply

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 reactance modulator followed by a mixer
D	By using a balanced modulator followed by a filter

35. - E7F11

What sets the minimum detectable signal level for an SDR in the absence of atmospheric or thermal noise?

Select	Answer
A	Data storage transfer rate
B	Sample clock phase noise
C	Missing codes and jitter
D	Reference voltage level and sample width in bits

36. - E7G09

What will be the output voltage of the circuit shown in Figure E7-4 if R1 is 1000 ohms, RF is 10,000 ohms, and 0.23 volts DC is applied to the input?

Select	Answer
A	0.23 volts
B	2.3 volts
C	-2.3 volts
D	-0.23 volts

37. - E7H15

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

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

38. - E8A12

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

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

39. - E8B08

What describes Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing?

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

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

41. - E8D05

What is the most common method of reducing key clicks?

Select	Answer
A	High-pass filters at the transmitter output
B	Low-pass filters at the transmitter output
C	Reduce keying waveform rise and fall times
D	Increase keying waveform rise and fall times

42. - E9A17

What is the effective radiated power of a repeater station with 200 watts transmitter power output, 2 dB feed line loss, 2.8 dB duplexer loss, 1.2 dB circulator loss, and 7 dBi antenna gain?

Select	Answer
A	159 watts
B	632 watts
C	252 watts
D	63.2 watts

43. - E9B03

In the antenna radiation pattern shown in Figure E9-1, what is the front-to-side ratio?

Select	Answer
A	12 dB
B	14 dB
C	24 dB
D	18 dB

44. - E9C02

What is the radiation pattern of two 1/4 wavelength vertical antennas spaced 1/4 wavelength apart and fed 90 degrees out of phase?

Select	Answer
A	A figure-8 end-fire along the axis of the array
B	Cardioid
C	Omni-directional
D	A figure-8 broadside to the axis of the array

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. - 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	Connect a parallel-resonant LC network across the antenna feed terminals
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	Use the universal stub matching technique

47. - E9F01

What is the velocity factor of a transmission line?

Select	Answer
A	The ratio of the characteristic impedance of the line to the terminating impedance
B	The velocity of the wave in the transmission line divided by the velocity of light in a vacuum
C	The index of shielding for coaxial cable
D	The velocity of the wave in the transmission line multiplied by the velocity of light in a vacuum

48. - E9G11

How are the wavelength scales on a Smith chart calibrated?

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

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. - E0A07

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

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

Figure E5-2

Figure E7-4

Figure E9-1