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. - E1A04

With your transceiver displaying the carrier frequency of phone signals, you hear a DX station calling CQ on 3.601 MHz LSB. Is it legal to return the call using lower sideband on the same frequency?

Select	Answer
A	No, U.S. stations are not permitted to use phone emissions below 3.610 MHz
B	No, the sideband will extend beyond the edge of the phone band segment
C	Yes, because the DX station initiated the contact
D	Yes, because the displayed frequency is within the 75 meter phone band segment

2. - E1B05

What is the National Radio Quiet Zone?

Select	Answer
A	An area in Puerto Rico surrounding the Arecibo Radio Telescope
B	An area surrounding the National Radio Astronomy Observatory
C	An area in Florida surrounding Cape Canaveral
D	An area in New Mexico surrounding the White Sands Test Area

3. - E1C01

What is a remotely controlled station?

Select	Answer
A	A station operating under automatic control
B	A station controlled by someone other than the licensee
C	A station controlled indirectly through a control link
D	A station operated away from its regular home location

4. - E1D04

What is an Earth station in the amateur satellite service?

Select	Answer
A	An amateur station within 50 km of the Earth's surface intended for communications with amateur stations by means of objects in space
B	An amateur station that transmits telemetry consisting of measurement of upper atmosphere
C	An amateur station that is not able to communicate using amateur satellites
D	Any amateur station on the surface of the Earth

5. - E1E08

To which of the following examinees may a VE not administer an examination?

Select	Answer
A	All of these choices are correct
B	Employees of the VE
C	Relatives of the VE as listed in the FCC rules
D	Friends of the VE

6. - E1F08

Which of the following types of amateur station communications are prohibited?

Select	Answer
A	Communications transmitted for hire or material compensation, except as otherwise provided in the rules
B	Communications that have a religious content
C	Communications that have a political content, except as allowed by the Fairness Doctrine
D	Communications in a language other than English

7. - E2A04

What is meant by the term mode as applied to an amateur radio satellite?

Select	Answer
A	The satellite's orientation with respect to the Earth
B	The satellite's uplink and downlink frequency bands
C	Whether the satellite is in a polar or equatorial orbit
D	The type of signals that can be relayed through the satellite

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 identify the call sign of the station transmitting
D	To lock the color burst oscillator in color SSTV images

9. - E2C01

Which of the following is true about contest operating?

Select	Answer
A	Interference to other amateurs is unavoidable and therefore acceptable
B	It is mandatory to transmit the call sign of the station being worked as part of every transmission to that station
C	Every contest requires a signal report in the exchange
D	Operators are permitted to make contacts even if they do not submit a log

10. - E2D07

What digital protocol is used by APRS?

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

11. - E2E13

Which of the following is a possible reason that attempts to initiate contact with a digital station on a clear frequency are unsuccessful?

Select	Answer
A	Your transmit frequency is incorrect
B	All of these choices are correct
C	Another station you are unable to hear is using the frequency
D	The protocol version you are using is not the supported by the digital station

12. - E3A12

What is the cause of auroral activity?

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

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	At midday, the Sun super heats the ionosphere causing increased refraction of radio waves
C	At mid-afternoon, the Sun heats the ionosphere decreasing radio wave refraction and the MUF
D	In darkness, solar absorption drops greatly while atmospheric ionization remains steady

14. - E3C12

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

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

15. - E4A09

When using a computer's soundcard input to digitize signals, what is the highest frequency signal that can be digitized without aliasing?

Select	Answer
A	It depends on how the data is stored internally
B	The same as the sample rate
C	One-tenth the sample rate
D	One-half the sample rate

16. - E4B14

What happens if a dip meter is too tightly coupled to a tuned circuit being checked?

Select	Answer
A	A less accurate reading results
B	Intermodulation distortion occurs
C	Harmonics are generated
D	Cross modulation occurs

17. - E4C02

Which of the following portions of a receiver can be effective in eliminating image signal interference?

Select	Answer
A	A notch filter
B	A properly adjusted product detector
C	A front-end filter or pre-selector
D	A narrow IF filter

18. - E4D08

What causes intermodulation in an electronic circuit?

Select	Answer
A	Lack of neutralization
B	Nonlinear circuits or devices
C	Positive feedback
D	Too little gain

19. - E4E02

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

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

20. - E5A05

What is the magnitude of the current at the input of a series RLC circuit as the frequency goes through resonance?

Select	Answer
A	R/L
B	Minimum
C	L/R
D	Maximum

21. - E5B03

What happens to the phase angle of a reactance when it is converted to a susceptance?

Select	Answer
A	The sign is reversed
B	It is unchanged
C	It is shifted by 90 degrees
D	The susceptance phase angle is the inverse of the reactance phase angle

22. - E5C11

What do the two numbers that are used to define a point on a graph using rectangular coordinates represent?

Select	Answer
A	The sine and cosine values
B	The coordinate values along the horizontal and vertical axes
C	The tangent and cotangent values
D	The magnitude and phase of the point

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	1.414
B	1.73
C	0.866
D	0.5

24. - E6A14

How does DC input impedance at the gate of a field-effect transistor compare with the DC input impedance of a bipolar transistor?

Select	Answer
A	An FET has low input impedance; a bipolar transistor has high input impedance
B	They are both high impedance
C	An FET has high input impedance; a bipolar transistor has low input impedance
D	They are both low impedance

25. - E6B06

Which of the following is a common use of a hot-carrier diode?

Select	Answer
A	As a constant voltage reference in a power supply
B	As balanced mixers in FM generation
C	As a variable capacitance in an automatic frequency control circuit
D	As a VHF/UHF mixer or detector

26. - E6C09

What is a Programmable Logic Device (PLD)?

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

27. - E6D17

Why should core saturation of a conventional impedance matching transformer be avoided?

Select	Answer
A	Temporary changes of the core permeability could result
B	RF susceptance would increase
C	Harmonics and distortion could result
D	Magnetic flux would increase with frequency

28. - E6E05

Which of the following noise figure values is typical of a low-noise UHF preamplifier?

Select	Answer
A	-20 dBm
B	44 dBm
C	-10 dB
D	2 dB

29. - E6F05

Which describes an optical shaft encoder?

Select	Answer
A	A digital encryption device often used to encrypt spacecraft control signals
B	A device for generating RTTY signals by means of a rotating light source
C	A device which detects rotation of a control by interrupting a light source with a patterned wheel
D	A device which measures the strength of a beam of light using analog to digital conversion

30. - E7A05

Which of the following is a circuit that continuously alternates between two states without an external clock?

Select	Answer
A	Monostable multivibrator
B	J-K flip-flop
C	T flip-flop
D	Astable multivibrator

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. - E7C05

Which filter type is described as having ripple in the passband and a sharp cutoff?

Select	Answer
A	An active LC filter
B	A Chebyshev filter
C	A passive op-amp filter
D	A Butterworth filter

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

34. - E7E10

How does a diode detector function?

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

35. - E7F04

What is a common method of generating an SSB signal using digital signal processing?

Select	Answer
A	Mixing products are converted to voltages and subtracted by adder circuits
B	Combine signals with a quadrature phase relationship
C	Emulation of quartz crystal filter characteristics
D	A frequency synthesizer removes the unwanted sidebands

36. - E7G03

What is the typical input impedance of an integrated circuit op-amp?

Select	Answer
A	Very high
B	Very low
C	100 ohms
D	1000 ohms

37. - E7H08

Which of the following components can be used to reduce thermal drift in crystal oscillators?

Select	Answer
A	Toroidal inductors
B	Non-inductive resistors
C	Wirewound resistors
D	NP0 capacitors

38. - E8A13

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

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

39. - E8B05

What is the deviation ratio of an FM-phone signal having a maximum frequency swing of plus-or-minus 5 kHz when the maximum modulation frequency is 3 kHz?

Select	Answer
A	60
B	0.167
C	0.6
D	1.67

40. - E8C07

What is the necessary bandwidth of a 4800-Hz frequency shift, 9600-baud ASCII FM transmission?

Select	Answer
A	5.76 kHz
B	4.8 kHz
C	9.6 kHz
D	15.36 kHz

41. - E8D09

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

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

42. - E9A15

What is the effective radiated power relative to a dipole of a repeater station with 150 watts transmitter power output, 2 dB feed line loss, 2.2 dB duplexer loss, and 7 dBd antenna gain?

Select	Answer
A	420 watts
B	1977 watts
C	78.7 watts
D	286 watts

43. - E9B13

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

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

44. - E9C09

What is a G5RV antenna?

Select	Answer
A	A multi-band dipole antenna fed with coax and a balun through a selected length of open wire transmission line
B	A multi-band trap antenna
C	A phased array antenna consisting of multiple loops
D	A wide band dipole using shorted coaxial cable for the radiating elements and fed with a 4:1 balun

45. - E9D02

How can linearly polarized Yagi antennas be used to produce circular polarization?

Select	Answer
A	Stack two Yagis fed 90 degrees out of phase to form an array with the respective elements in parallel planes
B	Arrange two Yagis perpendicular to each other with the driven elements at the same point on the boom fed 90 degrees out of phase
C	Stack two Yagis fed in phase to form an array with the respective elements in parallel planes
D	Arrange two Yagis collinear to each other with the driven elements fed 180 degrees out of phase

46. - E9E03

What is the name of the matching system that uses a section of transmission line connected in parallel with the feed line at or near the feed point?

Select	Answer
A	The omega match
B	The stub match
C	The delta match
D	The gamma match

47. - E9F14

What impedance does a 1/2 wavelength transmission line present to a generator when the line is shorted at the far end?

Select	Answer
A	Very high impedance
B	Very low impedance
C	The same as the output impedance of the generator
D	The same as the characteristic impedance of the line

48. - E9G08

What is the process of normalization with regard to a Smith chart?

Select	Answer
A	Reassigning resistance values with regard to the reactance axis
B	Reassigning prime center with regard to the reactance axis
C	Reassigning reactance values with regard to the resistance axis
D	Reassigning impedance values with regard to the prime center

49. - E9H07

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

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

50. - E0A08

What does SAR measure?

Select	Answer
A	The rate at which RF energy is absorbed by the body
B	The rate of RF energy reflected from stationary terrain
C	Synthetic Aperture Ratio of the human body
D	Signal Amplification Rating