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

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1. - E1A08

If a station in a message forwarding system inadvertently forwards a message that is in violation of FCC rules, who is primarily accountable for the rules violation?

Select	Answer
A	The control operator of the packet bulletin board station
B	The control operators of all the stations in the system not authenticating the source from which they accept communications
C	The control operator of the originating station
D	The control operators of all the stations in the system

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	Any FCC-licensed amateur station except a Technician class
C	Only those club stations licensed to Amateur Extra class operators
D	Any FCC-licensed amateur station certified by the responsible civil defense organization for the area served

3. - E1C02

What is meant by automatic control of a station?

Select	Answer
A	The use of devices and procedures for control so that the control operator does not have to be present at a control point
B	A station operating with its output power controlled automatically
C	Remotely controlling a station's antenna pattern through a directional control link
D	The use of a control link between a control point and a locally controlled station

4. - E1D05

What class of licensee is authorized to be the control operator of a space station?

Select	Answer
A	All except Technician Class
B	Any class with appropriate operator privileges
C	Only General, Advanced or Amateur Extra Class
D	Only Amateur Extra Class

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

6. - E1F05

Amateur stations may not transmit in which of the following frequency segments if they are located in the contiguous 48 states and north of Line A?

Select	Answer
A	222 MHz - 223 MHz
B	53 MHz - 54 MHz
C	420 MHz - 430 MHz
D	440 MHz - 450 MHz

7. - E2A12

What is one way to predict the location of a satellite at a given time?

Select	Answer
A	By means of the Doppler data for the specified satellite
B	By subtracting the mean anomaly from the orbital inclination
C	By adding the mean anomaly to the orbital inclination
D	By calculations using the Keplerian elements for the specified satellite

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

9. - E2C11

How should you generally identify your station when attempting to contact a DX station during a contest or in a pileup?

Select	Answer
A	Send the call sign of the DX station three times, the words "this is", then your call sign three times
B	Send your full call sign and grid square
C	Send your full call sign once or twice
D	Send only the last two letters of your call sign until you make contact

10. - E2D03

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

Select	Answer
A	Olivia
B	JT65
C	PACTOR III
D	FSK441

11. - E2E09

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

Select	Answer
A	RTTY
B	MT63
C	PSK31
D	PACTOR

12. - E3A01

What is the approximate maximum separation measured along the surface of the Earth between two stations communicating by Moon bounce?

Select	Answer
A	2000 miles, if the Moon is at apogee
B	12,000 miles, if the Moon is visible by both stations
C	5000 miles, if the Moon is at perigee
D	500 miles, if the Moon is at perigee

13. - E3B06

Which of the following amateur bands most frequently provides long-path propagation?

Select	Answer
A	80 meters
B	10 meters
C	20 meters
D	6 meters

14. - E3C12

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

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

15. - E4A15

What is an advantage of a period-measuring frequency counter over a direct-count type?

Select	Answer
A	It provides improved resolution of low-frequency signals within a comparable time period
B	It can run on battery power for remote measurements
C	It does not require an expensive high-precision time base
D	It can directly measure the modulation index of an FM transmitter

16. - E4B03

If a frequency counter with a specified accuracy of +/- 1.0 ppm reads 146,520,000 Hz, what is the most the actual frequency being measured could differ from the reading?

Select	Answer
A	165.2 Hz
B	1.4652 MHz
C	146.52 Hz
D	14.652 kHz

17. - E4C10

Which of the following is a desirable amount of selectivity for an amateur RTTY HF receiver?

Select	Answer
A	2400 Hz
B	100 Hz
C	300 Hz
D	6000 Hz

18. - E4D03

How can intermodulation interference between two repeaters occur?

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

19. - E4E02

Which of the following types of receiver noise can often be reduced with a DSP noise filter?

Select	Answer
A	Power line noise
B	Broadband white noise
C	Ignition noise
D	All of these choices are correct

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

21. - E5B13

What letter is commonly used to represent susceptance?

Select	Answer
A	G
B	Y
C	X
D	B

22. - E5C07

What is a vector?

Select	Answer
A	The inverse of the tangent function
B	A quantity with both magnitude and an angular component
C	The value of a quantity that changes over time
D	The inverse of the sine function

23. - E5D15

What is the power factor of an R-L circuit having a 45 degree phase angle between the voltage and the current?

Select	Answer
A	0.866
B	0.5
C	0.707
D	1.0

24. - E6A12

Why do many MOSFET devices have internally connected Zener diodes on the gates?

Select	Answer
A	To reduce the chance of the gate insulation being punctured by static discharges or excessive voltages
B	To provide a voltage reference for the correct amount of reverse-bias gate voltage
C	To protect the substrate from excessive voltages
D	To keep the gate voltage within specifications and prevent the device from overheating

25. - E6B07

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

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

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	An algorithm for simulating logic functions during circuit design
C	Programmable equipment used for testing digital logic integrated circuits
D	A device to control industrial equipment

27. - E6D10

What is a primary advantage of using a toroidal core instead of a solenoidal core in an inductor?

Select	Answer
A	Toroidal cores confine most of the magnetic field within the core material
B	Toroidal cores exhibit greater hysteresis
C	Toroidal cores have lower Q characteristics
D	Toroidal cores make it easier to couple the magnetic energy into other components

28. - E6E09

Which of the following component package types would be most suitable for use at frequencies above the HF range?

Select	Answer
A	Radial lead
B	Surface mount
C	TO-220
D	Axial lead

29. - E6F12

What absorbs the energy from light falling on a photovoltaic cell?

Select	Answer
A	Electrons
B	Protons
C	Holes
D	Photons

30. - E7A06

What is a characteristic of a monostable multivibrator?

Select	Answer
A	It produces a continuous square wave oscillating between 1 and 0
B	It maintains a constant output voltage, regardless of variations in the input voltage
C	It stores one bit of data in either a 0 or 1 state
D	It switches momentarily to the opposite binary state and then returns to its original state after a set time

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 bias resistor equals the load resistor
B	Where the load line intersects the voltage axis
C	At a point where the load line intersects the zero bias current curve
D	Approximately half-way between saturation and cutoff

32. - E7C11

Which of the following is the common name for a filter network which is equivalent to two L-networks connected back-to-back with the two inductors in series and the capacitors in shunt at the input and output?

Select	Answer
A	Omega
B	Cascode
C	Pi-L
D	Pi

33. - E7D03

What device is typically used as a stable reference voltage in a linear voltage regulator?

Select	Answer
A	A Zener diode
B	An SCR
C	A varactor diode
D	A tunnel diode

34. - E7E03

How does an analog phase modulator function?

Select	Answer
A	By varying the tuning of a microphone preamplifier to produce AM signals
B	By varying the tuning of an amplifier tank circuit to produce PM signals
C	By varying the tuning of an amplifier tank circuit to produce AM signals
D	By varying the tuning of a microphone preamplifier to produce PM signals

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	More taps
C	Double-precision math routines
D	Complex phasor representations

36. - E7G05

How can unwanted ringing and audio instability be prevented in a multi-section op-amp RC audio filter circuit?

Select	Answer
A	Restrict gain but increase Q
B	Restrict Q but increase gain
C	Increase both gain and Q
D	Restrict both gain and Q

37. - E7H01

What are three oscillator circuits used in Amateur Radio equipment?

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

38. - E8A11

What type of information can be conveyed using digital waveforms?

Select	Answer
A	Data
B	All of these choices are correct
C	Video signals
D	Human speech

39. - E8B11

What is digital time division multiplexing?

Select	Answer
A	Two or more data streams share the same channel by transmitting time of transmission as the sub-carrier
B	Two or more data streams are assigned to discrete sub-carriers on an FM transmitter
C	Two or more signals are arranged to share discrete time slots of a data transmission
D	Two or more signals are quadrature modulated to increase bandwidth efficiency

40. - E8C08

How does ARQ accomplish error correction?

Select	Answer
A	Special polynomial codes provide automatic correction
B	Special binary codes provide automatic correction
C	If errors are detected, redundant data is substituted
D	If errors are detected, a retransmission is requested

41. - E8D10

What are some of the differences between the Baudot digital code and ASCII?

Select	Answer
A	Baudot uses 7 data bits per character, ASCII uses 8; Baudot has no letters/figures shift code, ASCII uses 2 letters/figures shift codes
B	Baudot uses 6 data bits per character, ASCII uses 7 or 8; Baudot has no letters/figures shift code, ASCII uses 2 letters/figures shift codes
C	Baudot uses 4 data bits per character, ASCII uses 7 or 8; Baudot uses 1 character as a letters/figures shift code, ASCII has no letters/figures code
D	Baudot uses 5 data bits per character, ASCII uses 7 or 8; Baudot uses 2 characters as letters/figures shift codes, ASCII has no letters/figures shift code

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	6.0 dB
B	3.85 dB
C	8.15 dB
D	2.79 dB

43. - E9B13

What does the abbreviation NEC stand for when applied to antenna modeling programs?

Select	Answer
A	National Electrical Code
B	Numeric Electrical Computation
C	Numerical Electromagnetic Code
D	Next Element Comparison

44. - E9C12

Which of the following describes an extended double Zepp antenna?

Select	Answer
A	A center fed 1.25 wavelength antenna (two 5/8 wave elements in phase)
B	A wideband vertical antenna constructed from precisely tapered aluminum tubing
C	A portable antenna erected using two push support poles
D	An end fed folded dipole antenna

45. - E9D07

What is an advantage of using top loading in a shortened HF vertical antenna?

Select	Answer
A	Higher losses
B	Greater structural strength
C	Improved radiation efficiency
D	Lower Q

46. - E9E04

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

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

47. - E9F16

Which of the following is a significant difference between foam dielectric coaxial cable and solid dielectric cable, assuming all other parameters are the same?

Select	Answer
A	Foam dielectric has lower loss per unit of length
B	Foam dielectric has higher velocity factor
C	Foam dielectric has lower safe operating voltage limits
D	All of these choices are correct

48. - E9G11

How are the wavelength scales on a Smith chart calibrated?

Select	Answer
A	In fractions of antenna electrical wavelength
B	In fractions of transmission line electrical frequency
C	In fractions of antenna electrical frequency
D	In fractions of transmission line 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	It should be configured as a four-sided loop
B	It must be mounted more than 1 wavelength above ground
C	Its overall length must not exceed 1/4 wavelength
D	It should be one or more wavelengths long

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	All of the choices are correct
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	Use a calibrated antenna analyzer