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. - E1A05

What is the maximum power output permitted on the 60 meter band?

Select	Answer
A	100 watts PEP effective radiated power relative to an isotropic radiator
B	100 watts PEP effective radiated power relative to the gain of a half-wave dipole
C	50 watts PEP effective radiated power relative to a dipole
D	50 watts PEP effective radiated power relative to an isotropic radiator

2. - E1B08

What limitations may the FCC place on an amateur station if its signal causes interference to domestic broadcast reception, assuming that the receivers involved are of good engineering design?

Select	Answer
A	The amateur station must avoid transmitting during certain hours on frequencies that cause the interference
B	The amateur station must cease operation on all frequencies below 30 MHz
C	The amateur station must cease operation on all frequencies above 30 MHz
D	The amateur station must cease operation

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	Communications incidental to the purpose of the amateur service and remarks of a personal nature
D	Business-related messages for non-profit organizations

4. - E1D06

Which of the following is a requirement of a space station?

Select	Answer
A	The space station must be capable of changing its orbit whenever such a change is ordered by NASA
B	All of these choices are correct
C	The space station must cease all transmissions after 5 years
D	The space station must be capable of terminating transmissions by telecommand when directed by the FCC

5. - E1E05

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

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

6. - E1F06

Under what circumstances might the FCC issue a Special Temporary Authority (STA) to an amateur station?

Select	Answer
A	To provide additional spectrum for personal use
B	To allow regular operation on Land Mobile channels
C	To provide for experimental amateur communications
D	To provide temporary operation while awaiting normal licensing

7. - E2A13

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

Select	Answer
A	LEO
B	HEO
C	Geostationary
D	Geomagnetic

8. - E2B09

What hardware, other than a receiver with SSB capability and a suitable computer, is needed to decode SSTV using Digital Radio Mondiale (DRM)?

Select	Answer
A	A special front end limiter
B	A special notch filter to remove synchronization pulses
C	A special IF converter
D	No other hardware is needed

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

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	All of these choices are correct
D	15 second timed transmission sequences with stations alternating based on location

11. - E2E07

What is the typical bandwidth of a properly modulated MFSK16 signal?

Select	Answer
A	2.16 kHz
B	550 Hz
C	31 Hz
D	316 Hz

12. - E3A05

Tropospheric propagation of microwave signals often occurs along what weather related structure?

Select	Answer
A	Sprites and jets
B	Warm and cold fronts
C	Lightning discharges
D	Gray-line

13. - E3B13

Why is chordal hop propagation desirable?

Select	Answer
A	Signals travel faster along ionospheric chords
B	The signal experiences less loss along the path compared to normal skip propagation
C	Atmospheric noise is lower in the direction of chordal hop propagation
D	The MUF for chordal hop propagation is much lower than for normal skip propagation

14. - E3C15

What might a sudden rise in radio background noise indicate?

Select	Answer
A	Long-path propagation is occurring
B	A meteor ping
C	Increased transequatorial propagation likely
D	A solar flare has occurred

15. - E4A06

What is the effect of aliasing in a digital or computer-based oscilloscope?

Select	Answer
A	Calibration of the vertical scale is no longer valid
B	False triggering occurs
C	All signals will have a DC offset
D	False signals are displayed

16. - E4B01

Which of the following factors most affects the accuracy of a frequency counter?

Select	Answer
A	Decade divider accuracy
B	Temperature coefficient of the logic
C	Input attenuator accuracy
D	Time base accuracy

17. - E4C06

A CW receiver with the AGC off has an equivalent input noise power density of -174 dBm/Hz. What would be the level of an unmodulated carrier input to this receiver that would yield an audio output SNR of 0 dB in a 400 Hz noise bandwidth?

Select	Answer
A	-155 dBm
B	-148 dBm
C	-174 dBm
D	-164 dBm

18. - E4D04

Which of the following may reduce or eliminate intermodulation interference in a repeater caused by another transmitter operating in close proximity?

Select	Answer
A	A Class C final amplifier
B	A band-pass filter in the feed line between the transmitter and receiver
C	A Class D final amplifier
D	A properly terminated circulator at the output of the transmitter

19. - E4E16

What current flows equally on all conductors of an unshielded multi-conductor cable?

Select	Answer
A	Return current
B	Common-mode current
C	Reactive current only
D	Differential-mode current

20. - E5A13

What is an effect of increasing Q in a resonant circuit?

Select	Answer
A	Parasitic effects are minimized
B	Internal voltages and circulating currents increase
C	Fewer components are needed for the same performance
D	Phase shift can become uncontrolled

21. - E5B13

What letter is commonly used to represent susceptance?

Select	Answer
A	X
B	B
C	G
D	Y

22. - E5C09

When using rectangular coordinates to graph the impedance of a circuit, what does the horizontal axis represent?

Select	Answer
A	Reactive component
B	The sum of the reactive and resistive components
C	The difference between the resistive and reactive components
D	Resistive component

23. - E5D03

What is microstrip?

Select	Answer
A	Lightweight transmission line made of common zip cord
B	Precision printed circuit conductors above a ground plane that provide constant impedance interconnects at microwave frequencies
C	Miniature coax used for low power applications
D	Short lengths of coax mounted on printed circuit boards to minimize time delay between microwave circuits

24. - E6A15

Which semiconductor material contains excess holes in the outer shell of electrons?

Select	Answer
A	Bipolar-type
B	Superconductor-type
C	P-type
D	N-type

25. - E6B09

What is a common use for point contact diodes?

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

26. - E6C02

What happens when the level of a comparator's input signal crosses the threshold?

Select	Answer
A	The comparator changes its output state
B	The feedback loop becomes unstable
C	The comparator enters latch-up
D	The IC input can be damaged

27. - E6D07

What is the usable frequency range of inductors that use toroidal cores, assuming a correct selection of core material for the frequency being used?

Select	Answer
A	From a few kHz to no more than 30 MHz
B	From about 100 kHz to at least 1000 GHz
C	From less than 20 Hz to approximately 300 MHz
D	From approximately 10 Hz to no more than 3000 kHz

28. - E6E05

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

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

29. - E6F12

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

Select	Answer
A	Electrons
B	Photons
C	Holes
D	Protons

30. - E7A09

What logical operation is performed by an exclusive NOR gate?

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

31. - E7B14

Why are switching amplifiers more efficient than linear amplifiers?

Select	Answer
A	Linear amplifiers have high gain resulting in higher harmonic content
B	Switching amplifiers operate at higher voltages
C	Switching amplifiers use push-pull circuits
D	The power transistor is at saturation or cut off most of the time, resulting in low power dissipation

32. - E7C07

What kind of filter would you use to attenuate an interfering carrier signal while receiving an SSB transmission?

Select	Answer
A	A notch filter
B	A Pi-network filter
C	An all-pass filter
D	A band-pass filter

33. - E7D06

What is the purpose of Q1 in the circuit shown in Figure E7-3?

Select	Answer
A	It provides negative feedback to improve regulation
B	It provides a constant load for the voltage source
C	It increases the current-handling capability of the regulator
D	It provides D1 with current

34. - E7E12

What is a frequency discriminator stage in a FM receiver?

Select	Answer
A	A circuit for filtering two closely adjacent signals
B	An FM generator circuit
C	A circuit for detecting FM signals
D	An automatic band-switching circuit

35. - E7F11

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

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

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	-2.3 volts
B	-0.23 volts
C	2.3 volts
D	0.23 volts

37. - E7H12

Which of the following must be done to insure that a crystal oscillator provides the frequency specified by the crystal manufacturer?

Select	Answer
A	Bias the crystal at a specified voltage
B	Provide the crystal with a specified parallel capacitance
C	Bias the crystal at a specified current
D	Provide the crystal with a specified parallel inductance

38. - E8A04

What is "dither" with respect to analog to digital converters?

Select	Answer
A	A method of decimation by randomly skipping samples
B	An error caused by irregular quantization step size
C	An abnormal condition where the converter cannot settle on a value to represent the signal
D	A small amount of noise added to the input signal to allow more precise representation of a signal over time

39. - E8B08

What describes Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing?

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

40. - E8C09

Which is the name of a digital code where each preceding or following character changes by only one bit?

Select	Answer
A	Binary Coded Decimal Code
B	Gray code
C	Excess 3 code
D	Extended Binary Coded Decimal Interchange Code

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	High reflected power
C	Harmonics on higher bands
D	Strong ALC action

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	63.2 watts
B	252 watts
C	159 watts
D	632 watts

43. - E9B07

How does the total amount of radiation emitted by a directional gain antenna compare with the total amount of radiation emitted from an isotropic antenna, assuming each is driven by the same amount of power?

Select	Answer
A	The total amount of radiation from the directional antenna is increased by the gain of the antenna
B	The radiation from the isotropic antenna is 2.15 dB stronger than that from the directional antenna
C	They are the same
D	The total amount of radiation from the directional antenna is stronger by its front-to-back ratio

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

45. - E9D01

How does the gain of an ideal parabolic dish antenna change when the operating frequency is doubled?

Select	Answer
A	Gain increases by 3 dB
B	Gain increases by 6 dB
C	Gain does not change
D	Gain is multiplied by 0.707

46. - E9E12

What is the primary purpose of a phasing line when used with an antenna having multiple driven elements?

Select	Answer
A	It makes sure the antenna has a low-angle radiation pattern
B	It prevents reflected power from traveling back down the feed line and causing harmonic radiation from the transmitter
C	It ensures that each driven element operates in concert with the others to create the desired antenna pattern
D	It allows single-band antennas to operate on other bands

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

48. - E9G01

Which of the following can be calculated using a Smith chart?

Select	Answer
A	Antenna radiation pattern
B	Impedance along transmission lines
C	Radiation resistance
D	Radio propagation

49. - E9H05

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

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

50. - E0A11

Which of the following injuries can result from using high-power UHF or microwave transmitters?

Select	Answer
A	Ingestion of ozone gas from the cooling system
B	Blood clotting from the intense magnetic field
C	Localized heating of the body from RF exposure in excess of the MPE limits
D	Hearing loss caused by high voltage corona discharge

Figure E7-3

Figure E7-4