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

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1. - E1A05

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

Select	Answer
A	50 watts PEP effective radiated power relative to an isotropic radiator
B	50 watts PEP effective radiated power relative to a dipole
C	100 watts PEP effective radiated power relative to the gain of a half-wave dipole
D	100 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 cease operation on all frequencies below 30 MHz
B	The amateur station must cease operation
C	The amateur station must avoid transmitting during certain hours on frequencies that cause the interference
D	The amateur station must cease operation on all frequencies above 30 MHz

3. - E1C09

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

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

4. - E1D07

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

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

5. - E1E07

What should a VE do if a candidate fails to comply with the examiner's instructions during an amateur operator license examination?

Select	Answer
A	Immediately terminate the candidate's examination
B	Immediately terminate everyone's examination and close the session
C	Allow the candidate to complete the examination, but invalidate the results
D	Warn the candidate that continued failure to comply will result in termination of the examination

6. - E1F08

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

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

7. - E2A02

What is the direction of a descending pass for an amateur satellite?

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

8. - E2B02

How many horizontal lines make up a fast-scan (NTSC) television frame?

Select	Answer
A	30
B	525
C	1080
D	60

9. - E2C06

During a VHF/UHF contest, in which band segment would you expect to find the highest level of activity?

Select	Answer
A	In the middle of each band, usually on the national calling frequency
B	At the top of each band, usually in a segment reserved for contests
C	In the middle of the band, usually 25 kHz above the national calling frequency
D	In the weak signal segment of the band, with most of the activity near the calling frequency

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	All of these choices are correct
C	Short transmission with rapidly repeated call signs and signal reports
D	15 second timed transmission sequences with stations alternating based on location

11. - E2E06

What is the most common data rate used for HF packet?

Select	Answer
A	110 baud
B	1200 baud
C	300 baud
D	48 baud

12. - E3A10

Which type of atmospheric structure can create a path for microwave propagation?

Select	Answer
A	The jet stream
B	Temperature inversion
C	Wind shear
D	Dust devil

13. - E3B11

At what time of day is Sporadic-E propagation most likely to occur?

Select	Answer
A	Around sunset
B	Around sunrise
C	Early evening
D	Any time

14. - E3C03

Which of the following signal paths is most likely to experience high levels of absorption when the A index or K index is elevated?

Select	Answer
A	Sporadic-E
B	NVIS
C	Transequatorial propagation
D	Polar paths

15. - E4A10

Which of the following displays multiple digital signal states simultaneously?

Select	Answer
A	Bit error rate tester
B	Network analyzer
C	Logic analyzer
D	Modulation monitor

16. - E4B13

Which S parameter is equivalent to forward gain?

Select	Answer
A	S11
B	S21
C	S12
D	S22

17. - E4C13

How does a narrow-band roofing filter affect receiver performance?

Select	Answer
A	It improves dynamic range by attenuating strong signals near the receive frequency
B	All of these choices are correct
C	It improves intelligibility by using low Q circuitry to reduce ringing
D	It improves sensitivity by reducing front end noise

18. - E4D01

What is meant by the blocking dynamic range of a receiver?

Select	Answer
A	The minimum difference in dB between two signals which produce third order intermodulation products greater than the noise floor
B	The difference in dB between the noise floor and the third order intercept point
C	The difference in dB between the noise floor and the level of an incoming signal which will cause 1 dB of gain compression
D	The minimum difference in dB between the levels of two FM signals which will cause one signal to block the other

19. - E4E03

Which of the following signals might a receiver noise blanker be able to remove from desired signals?

Select	Answer
A	Signals which have a sharply peaked frequency distribution
B	Signals which are constant at all IF levels
C	Signals which appear at one IF but not another
D	Signals which appear across a wide bandwidth

20. - E5A08

What is the phase relationship between the current through and the voltage across a series resonant circuit at resonance?

Select	Answer
A	The current leads the voltage by 90 degrees
B	The voltage and current are 180 degrees out of phase
C	The voltage leads the current by 90 degrees
D	The voltage and current are in phase

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	55 seconds
C	220 seconds
D	110 seconds

22. - E5C14

Which point on Figure E5-2 best represents the impedance of a series circuit consisting of a 400 ohm resistor and a 38 picofarad capacitor at 14 MHz?

Select	Answer
A	Point 4
B	Point 5
C	Point 2
D	Point 6

23. - E5D14

What is reactive power?

Select	Answer
A	Power lost because of capacitor leakage
B	Wattless, nonproductive power
C	Power consumed in wire resistance in an inductor
D	Power consumed in circuit Q

24. - E6A12

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

Select	Answer
A	To keep the gate voltage within specifications and prevent the device from overheating
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 reduce the chance of the gate insulation being punctured by static discharges or excessive voltages

25. - E6B04

What type of semiconductor device is designed for use as a voltage-controlled capacitor?

Select	Answer
A	Tunnel diode
B	Varactor diode
C	Zener diode
D	Silicon-controlled rectifier

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. - E6D17

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

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

28. - E6E10

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

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

29. - E6F08

Why are optoisolators often used in conjunction with solid state circuits when switching 120VAC?

Select	Answer
A	Optoisolators provide a low impedance link between a control circuit and a power circuit
B	Optoisolators eliminate the effects of reflected light in the control circuit
C	Optoisolators provide impedance matching between the control circuit and power circuit
D	Optoisolators provide a very high degree of electrical isolation between a control circuit and the circuit being switched

30. - E7A08

What logical operation does an OR gate perform?

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

31. - E7B10

In Figure E7-1, what is the purpose of R1 and R2?

Select	Answer
A	Load resistors
B	Feedback
C	Self bias
D	Fixed bias

32. - E7C12

Which describes a Pi-L-network used for matching a vacuum tube final amplifier to a 50 ohm unbalanced output?

Select	Answer
A	A matching network in which all components are isolated from ground
B	A Phase Inverter Load network
C	A network with only three discrete parts
D	A Pi-network with an additional series inductor on the output

33. - E7D05

Which of the following types of linear voltage regulator places a constant load on the unregulated voltage source?

Select	Answer
A	A constant current source
B	A series regulator
C	A shunt regulator
D	A shunt current source

34. - E7E11

Which type of detector is used for demodulating SSB signals?

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

35. - E7F07

What function can a Fast Fourier Transform perform?

Select	Answer
A	Converting analog signals to digital form
B	Converting digital signals from the time domain to the frequency domain
C	Converting digital signals to analog form
D	Converting 8-bit data to 16 bit data

36. - E7G11

What absolute voltage gain can be expected from the circuit in Figure E7-4 when R1 is 3300 ohms and RF is 47 kilohms?

Select	Answer
A	7
B	14
C	28
D	0.07

37. - E7H07

How can an oscillator's microphonic responses be reduced?

Select	Answer
A	Using the oscillator only for CW and digital signals
B	Mechanically isolating the oscillator circuitry from its enclosure
C	Eliminating noise on the oscillator's power supply
D	Use of NP0 capacitors

38. - E8A04

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

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

39. - E8B10

What describes frequency division multiplexing?

Select	Answer
A	Two or more information streams are merged into a baseband, which then modulates the transmitter
B	The transmitted signal jumps from band to band at a predetermined rate
C	Two or more information streams are merged into a digital combiner, which then pulse position modulates the transmitter
D	The transmitted signal is divided into packets of information

40. - E8C06

What is the necessary bandwidth of a 170-hertz shift, 300-baud ASCII transmission?

Select	Answer
A	0.1 Hz
B	0.5 kHz
C	1.0 kHz
D	0.3 kHz

41. - E8D11

What is one advantage of using ASCII code for data communications?

Select	Answer
A	It includes built in error correction features
B	It uses one character as a shift code to send numeric and special characters
C	It is possible to transmit both upper and lower case text
D	It contains fewer information bits per character than any other 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	2.79 dB
B	3.85 dB
C	6.0 dB
D	8.15 dB

43. - E9B03

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

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

44. - E9C11

How is the far-field elevation pattern of a vertically polarized antenna affected by being mounted over seawater versus rocky ground?

Select	Answer
A	Both the high-angle and low-angle radiation decrease
B	The low-angle radiation decreases
C	The high-angle radiation increases
D	The low-angle radiation increases

45. - E9D12

Which of the following would provide the best RF ground for your station?

Select	Answer
A	An electrically short connection to 3 or 4 interconnected ground rods via a series RF choke
B	A 50 ohm resistor connected to ground
C	An electrically short connection to a metal water pipe
D	An electrically short connection to 3 or 4 interconnected ground rods driven into the Earth

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 stub match
B	The epsilon match
C	The delta match
D	The gamma 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	A capacitive reactance
C	The same as the characteristic impedance of the line
D	An inductive reactance

48. - E9G04

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

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

49. - E9H09

Which of the following describes the construction of a receiving loop antenna?

Select	Answer
A	A small coil of wire tightly wound around a toroidal ferrite core
B	One or more turns of wire wound in the shape of a large open coil
C	A large circularly polarized antenna
D	A vertical antenna coupled to a feed line through an inductive loop of wire

50. - E0A02

When evaluating RF exposure levels from your station at a neighbor's home, what must you do?

Select	Answer
A	Advise your neighbors of the results of your tests
B	Make sure signals from your station are less than the controlled MPE limits
C	Make sure signals from your station are less than the uncontrolled MPE limits
D	You need only evaluate exposure levels on your own property

Figure E5-2

Figure E7-1

Figure E7-4

Figure E9-1