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

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1. - E1A12

With your transceiver displaying the carrier frequency of CW signals, you hear a DX station's CQ on 3.500 MHz. Is it legal to return the call using CW on the same frequency?

Select	Answer
A	Yes, the DX station initiated the contact
B	Yes, the displayed frequency is within the 80 meter CW band segment
C	No, one of the sidebands of the CW signal will be out of the band
D	No, U.S. stations are not permitted to use CW emissions below 3.525 MHz

2. - E1B03

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

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

3. - E1C12

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

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

4. - E1D07

Which amateur service HF bands have frequencies authorized for space stations?

Select	Answer
A	Only the 40 m, 20 m, 17 m, 15 m and 10 m bands
B	Only the 40 m, 20 m, 17 m, 15 m, 12 m and 10 m bands
C	All HF bands
D	Only the 40 m, 30 m, 20 m, 15 m, 12 m and 10 m bands

5. - E1E04

Which of the following best describes the Volunteer Examiner accreditation process?

Select	Answer
A	The amateur operator applying must pass a VE examination administered by the FCC Enforcement Bureau
B	The procedure by which a VEC confirms that the VE applicant meets FCC requirements to serve as an examiner
C	Each General, Advanced and Amateur Extra Class operator is automatically accredited as a VE when the license is granted
D	The prospective VE obtains accreditation from the FCC

6. - E1F03

Under what circumstances may a dealer sell an external RF power amplifier capable of operation below 144 MHz if it has not been granted FCC certification?

Select	Answer
A	It was purchased in used condition from an amateur operator and is sold to another amateur operator for use at that operator's station
B	It was imported from a manufacturer in a country that does not require certification of RF power amplifiers
C	It was imported from a manufacturer in another country and was certificated by that country's government
D	The equipment dealer assembled it from a kit

7. - E2A01

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

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

8. - E2B08

Which of the following is a common method of transmitting accompanying audio with amateur fast-scan television?

Select	Answer
A	All of these choices are correct
B	Frequency-modulated sub-carrier
C	A separate VHF or UHF audio link
D	Frequency modulation of the video carrier

9. - E2C12

What might help to restore contact when DX signals become too weak to copy across an entire HF band a few hours after sunset?

Select	Answer
A	Wait 24 hours before attempting another communication on the band
B	Switch to a lower frequency HF band
C	Wait 90 minutes or so for the signal degradation to pass
D	Switch to a higher frequency HF band

10. - E2D13

What type of modulation is used for JT65 contacts?

Select	Answer
A	RTTY
B	Multi-tone AFSK
C	PSK
D	IEEE 802.11

11. - E2E02

What do the letters FEC mean as they relate to digital operation?

Select	Answer
A	Fatal Error Correction
B	Final Error Correction
C	First Error Correction
D	Forward Error Correction

12. - E3A06

Which of the following is required for microwave propagation via rain scatter?

Select	Answer
A	Rain droplets must be within the E layer
B	The rain must be within radio range of both stations
C	All of these choices are correct
D	Rain droplets must be electrically charged

13. - E3B01

What is transequatorial propagation?

Select	Answer
A	Propagation between two continents by way of ducts along the magnetic equator
B	Propagation between any two points located on the magnetic equator
C	Propagation between two stations at the same latitude
D	Propagation between two mid-latitude points at approximately the same distance north and south of the magnetic equator

14. - E3C08

What does the space weather term G5 mean?

Select	Answer
A	Waning sunspot numbers
B	Very low solar activity
C	An extreme geomagnetic storm
D	Moderate solar wind

15. - E4A13

How is the compensation of an oscilloscope probe typically adjusted?

Select	Answer
A	A high frequency sine wave is displayed and the probe is adjusted for maximum amplitude
B	A square wave is displayed and the probe is adjusted until the horizontal portions of the displayed wave are as nearly flat as possible
C	A DC voltage standard is displayed and the probe is adjusted until the displayed voltage is accurate
D	A frequency standard is displayed and the probe is adjusted until the deflection time is accurate

16. - E4B15

Which of the following can be used as a relative measurement of the Q for a series-tuned circuit?

Select	Answer
A	The inductance to capacitance ratio
B	The resonant frequency of the circuit
C	The bandwidth of the circuit's frequency response
D	The frequency shift

17. - E4C07

What does the MDS of a receiver represent?

Select	Answer
A	The minimum discernible signal
B	The maximum detectable spectrum
C	The meter display sensitivity
D	The multiplex distortion stability

18. - E4D10

What does a third-order intercept level of 40 dBm mean with respect to receiver performance?

Select	Answer
A	The receiver can tolerate signals up to 40 dB above the noise floor without producing third-order intermodulation products
B	Signals less than 40 dBm will not generate audible third-order intermodulation products
C	A pair of 1 mW input signals will produce a third-order intermodulation product which is 40 dB stronger than the input signal
D	A pair of 40 dBm signals will theoretically generate a third-order intermodulation product with the same level as the input signals

19. - E4E12

What is one disadvantage of using some types of automatic DSP notch-filters when attempting to copy CW signals?

Select	Answer
A	Received CW signals will appear to be modulated at the DSP clock frequency
B	Ringing in the DSP filter will completely remove the spaces between the CW characters
C	Any nearby signal passing through the DSP system will overwhelm the desired signal
D	A DSP filter can remove the desired signal at the same time as it removes interfering signals

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. - E5B04

What is the time constant of a circuit having two 220 microfarad capacitors and two 1 megohm resistors, all in parallel?

Select	Answer
A	440 seconds
B	220 seconds
C	55 seconds
D	110 seconds

22. - E5C07

What is a vector?

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

23. - E5D01

What is the result of skin effect?

Select	Answer
A	As frequency increases, RF current flows in a thinner layer of the conductor, closer to the surface
B	Thermal effects on the surface of the conductor decrease the impedance
C	As frequency decreases, RF current flows in a thinner layer of the conductor, closer to the surface
D	Thermal effects on the surface of the conductor increase the impedance

24. - E6A09

What is a depletion-mode FET?

Select	Answer
A	An FET that has no current flow between source and drain when no gate voltage is applied
B	An FET that exhibits a current flow between source and drain when no gate voltage is applied
C	Any FET without a channel
D	Any FET for which holes are the majority carriers

25. - E6B11

What is used to control the attenuation of RF signals by a PIN diode?

Select	Answer
A	Capacitance of an RF coupling capacitor
B	A sub-harmonic pump signal
C	Forward DC bias current
D	Reverse voltage larger than the RF signal

26. - E6C13

Which of the following is an advantage of BiCMOS logic?

Select	Answer
A	All of these choices are correct
B	It is totally immune to electrostatic damage
C	Its simplicity results in much less expensive devices than standard CMOS
D	It has the high input impedance of CMOS and the low output impedance of bipolar transistors

27. - E6D14

Which type of slug material decreases inductance when inserted into a coil?

Select	Answer
A	Brass
B	Powdered-iron
C	Ferrite
D	Ceramic

28. - E6E10

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

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

29. - E6F03

What is the most common configuration of an optoisolator or optocoupler?

Select	Answer
A	A frequency modulated helium-neon laser
B	An LED and a phototransistor
C	An amplitude modulated helium-neon laser
D	A lens and a photomultiplier

30. - E7A10

What is a truth table?

Select	Answer
A	A table of logic symbols that indicate the high logic states of an op-amp
B	A table of logic symbols that indicate the logic states of an op-amp
C	A diagram showing logic states when the digital device output is true
D	A list of inputs and corresponding outputs for a digital device

31. - E7B16

What is the effect of intermodulation products in a linear power amplifier?

Select	Answer
A	Creation of parasitic oscillations
B	All of these choices are correct
C	Transmission of spurious signals
D	Low efficiency

32. - E7C05

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

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

33. - E7D07

What is the purpose of C2 in the circuit shown in Figure E7-3?

Select	Answer
A	It is a brute force filter for the output
B	To provide fixed DC bias for Q1
C	It bypasses hum around D1
D	To self-resonate at the hum frequency

34. - E7E11

Which type of detector is used for demodulating SSB signals?

Select	Answer
A	Phase comparator
B	Discriminator
C	Product detector
D	Phase detector

35. - E7F12

What digital process is applied to I and Q signals in order to recover the baseband modulation information?

Select	Answer
A	Signal conditioning
B	Fast Fourier Transform
C	Quadrature mixing
D	Decimation

36. - E7G03

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

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

37. - E7H03

How is positive feedback supplied in a Hartley oscillator?

Select	Answer
A	Through a neutralizing capacitor
B	Through a capacitive divider
C	Through a tapped coil
D	Through link coupling

38. - E8A12

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

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

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	1000
B	3
C	3000
D	0.3

40. - E8C05

What is the necessary bandwidth of a 13-WPM international Morse code transmission?

Select	Answer
A	Approximately 104 Hz
B	Approximately 13 Hz
C	Approximately 26 Hz
D	Approximately 52 Hz

41. - E8D06

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

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

42. - E9A14

What is meant by the radiation resistance of an antenna?

Select	Answer
A	The value of a resistance that would dissipate the same amount of power as that radiated from an antenna
B	The combined losses of the antenna elements and feed line
C	The resistance in the atmosphere that an antenna must overcome to be able to radiate a signal
D	The specific impedance of the antenna

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

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 vertical array capable of quickly changing the direction of maximum radiation by changing phasing lines
D	A dipole constructed from zip cord

45. - E9D13

What usually occurs if a Yagi antenna is designed solely for maximum forward gain?

Select	Answer
A	The front-to-back ratio decreases
B	The SWR is reduced
C	The front-to-back ratio increases
D	The frequency response is widened over the whole frequency band

46. - E9E02

What is the name of an antenna matching system that matches an unbalanced feed line to an antenna by feeding the driven element both at the center of the element and at a fraction of a wavelength to one side of center?

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

47. - E9F10

What impedance does a 1/8 wavelength transmission line present to a generator when the line is shorted at the far end?

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

48. - E9G04

What are the two families of circles and arcs that make up a Smith chart?

Select	Answer
A	Resistance and reactance
B	Voltage and impedance
C	Reactance and voltage
D	Resistance and voltage

49. - E9H05

What is the main drawback of a wire-loop antenna for direction finding?

Select	Answer
A	It receives equally well in all directions
B	It is non-rotatable
C	It is practical for use only on VHF bands
D	It has a bidirectional pattern

50. - E0A01

What is the primary function of an external earth connection or ground rod?

Select	Answer
A	Reduce RFI to telephones and home entertainment systems
B	Lightning protection
C	Reduce RF current flow between pieces of equipment
D	Reduce received noise

Figure E7-3