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

2. - E1B05

What is the National Radio Quiet Zone?

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

3. - E1C08

What is the maximum permissible duration of a remotely controlled station's transmissions if its control link malfunctions?

Select	Answer
A	30 seconds
B	3 minutes
C	5 minutes
D	10 minutes

4. - E1D07

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

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

5. - E1E03

What is a Volunteer Examiner Coordinator?

Select	Answer
A	A person who has volunteered to administer amateur operator license examinations
B	A person who has volunteered to prepare amateur operator license examinations
C	The person who has entered into an agreement with the FCC to be the VE session manager
D	An organization that has entered into an agreement with the FCC to coordinate amateur operator license examinations

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	The equipment dealer assembled it from a kit
C	It was imported from a manufacturer in another country and was certificated by that country's government
D	It was imported from a manufacturer in a country that does not require certification of RF power amplifiers

7. - E2A02

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

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

8. - E2B10

Which of the following is an acceptable bandwidth for Digital Radio Mondiale (DRM) based voice or SSTV digital transmissions made on the HF amateur bands?

Select	Answer
A	15 KHz
B	3 KHz
C	10 KHz
D	20 KHz

9. - E2C06

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

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

10. - E2D02

Which of the following is a good technique for making meteor scatter contacts?

Select	Answer
A	15 second timed transmission sequences with stations alternating based on location
B	All of these choices are correct
C	Use of high speed CW or digital modes
D	Short transmission with rapidly repeated call signs and signal reports

11. - E2E05

Which type of digital mode does not support keyboard-to-keyboard operation?

Select	Answer
A	MFSK
B	RTTY
C	PSK31
D	Winlink

12. - E3A14

From the contiguous 48 states, in which approximate direction should an antenna be pointed to take maximum advantage of aurora propagation?

Select	Answer
A	East
B	West
C	South
D	North

13. - E3B09

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

Select	Answer
A	Around the solstices, especially the summer solstice
B	Around the equinoxes, especially the spring equinox
C	Around the equinoxes, especially the fall equinox
D	Around the solstices, especially the winter solstice

14. - E3C07

Which of the following descriptors indicates the greatest solar flare intensity?

Select	Answer
A	Class X
B	Class A
C	Class M
D	Class B

15. - E4A03

Which of the following test instrument is used to display spurious signals and/or intermodulation distortion products in an SSB transmitter?

Select	Answer
A	A logic analyzer
B	A wattmeter
C	A time-domain reflectometer
D	A spectrum analyzer

16. - E4B05

If a frequency counter with a specified accuracy of +/- 10 ppm reads 146,520,000 Hz, what is the most the actual frequency being measured could differ from the reading?

Select	Answer
A	10 Hz
B	146.52 Hz
C	146.52 kHz
D	1465.20 Hz

17. - E4C16

Which of the following is caused by missing codes in an SDR receiver's analog-to-digital converter?

Select	Answer
A	Overload
B	Loss of sensitivity
C	Distortion
D	Excess output level

18. - E4D10

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

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

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 appear at one IF but not another
C	Signals which appear across a wide bandwidth
D	Signals which are constant at all IF levels

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	Maximum
B	R/L
C	L/R
D	Minimum

21. - E5B09

What is the relationship between the current through a capacitor and the voltage across a capacitor?

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

22. - E5C01

Which of the following represents a capacitive reactance in rectangular notation?

Select	Answer
A	-jX
B	X
C	Omega
D	+jX

23. - E5D10

How can the true power be determined in an AC circuit where the voltage and current are out of phase?

Select	Answer
A	By dividing the reactive power by the power factor
B	By dividing the apparent power by the power factor
C	By multiplying the apparent power times the power factor
D	By multiplying the reactive power times the power factor

24. - E6A10

In Figure E6-2, what is the schematic symbol for an N-channel dual-gate MOSFET?

Select	Answer
A	2
B	5
C	6
D	4

25. - E6B12

What is one common use for PIN diodes?

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

26. - E6C11

In Figure E6-5, what is the schematic symbol for the NOT operation (inverter)?

Select	Answer
A	4
B	2
C	5
D	6

27. - E6D12

What is the definition of saturation in a ferrite core inductor?

Select	Answer
A	Adjacent inductors become over-coupled
B	The ability of the inductor's core to store magnetic energy has been exceeded
C	The inductor's voltage rating is exceeded causing a flashover
D	The inductor windings are over coupled

28. - E6E11

What is a characteristic of DIP packaging used for integrated circuits?

Select	Answer
A	Two chips in each package (Dual In Package)
B	A total of two rows of connecting pins placed on opposite sides of the package (Dual In-line Package)
C	Low leakage doubly insulated package
D	Package mounts in a direct inverted position

29. - E6F04

What is the photovoltaic effect?

Select	Answer
A	The conversion of voltage to current when exposed to light
B	The conversion of electrical energy to mechanical energy
C	The tendency of a battery to discharge when used outside
D	The conversion of light to electrical energy

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	Astable multivibrator
C	J-K flip-flop
D	T flip-flop

31. - E7B04

Where on the load line of a Class A common emitter amplifier would bias normally be set?

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

32. - E7C01

How are the capacitors and inductors of a low-pass filter Pi-network arranged between the network's input and output?

Select	Answer
A	An inductor is connected between the input and ground, another inductor is connected between the output and ground, and a capacitor is connected between the input and output
B	Two capacitors are in series between the input and output, and an inductor is connected between the two capacitors and ground
C	A capacitor is connected between the input and ground, another capacitor is connected between the output and ground, and an inductor is connected between input and output
D	Two inductors are in series between the input and output, and a capacitor is connected between the two inductors and ground

33. - E7D10

What is the primary reason that a high-frequency switching type high voltage power supply can be both less expensive and lighter in weight than a conventional power supply?

Select	Answer
A	The inverter design does not require any output filtering
B	It uses a diode bridge rectifier for increased output
C	It uses a large power factor compensation capacitor to create free power from the unused portion of the AC cycle
D	The high frequency inverter design uses much smaller transformers and filter components for an equivalent power output

34. - E7E11

Which type of detector is used for demodulating SSB signals?

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

35. - E7F03

What type of digital signal processing filter is used to generate an SSB signal?

Select	Answer
A	A notch filter
B	A Hilbert-transform filter
C	An adaptive filter
D	An elliptical filter

36. - E7G12

What is an integrated circuit operational amplifier?

Select	Answer
A	A RF amplifier used in the UHF and microwave regions
B	A digital audio amplifier whose characteristics are determined by components external to the amplifier
C	A high-gain, direct-coupled differential amplifier with very high input impedance and very low output impedance
D	An amplifier used to increase the average output of frequency modulated amateur signals to the legal limit

37. - E7H11

What are the major spectral impurity components of direct digital synthesizers?

Select	Answer
A	Digital conversion noise
B	Nyquist limit noise
C	Spurious signals at discrete frequencies
D	Broadband noise

38. - E8A13

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

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

39. - E8B04

What is the modulation index of an FM-phone signal having a maximum carrier deviation of plus or minus 6 kHz when modulated with a 2 kHz modulating frequency?

Select	Answer
A	3
B	2000
C	1/3
D	6000

40. - E8C11

What is the relationship between symbol rate and baud?

Select	Answer
A	They are the same
B	Baud is twice the symbol rate
C	Baud is only used for RTTY
D	Symbol rate is only used for packet-based modes

41. - E8D08

What parameter might indicate that excessively high input levels are causing distortion in an AFSK signal?

Select	Answer
A	Repeat Request Rate (RRR)
B	Baud rate
C	Signal to noise ratio
D	Intermodulation Distortion (IMD)

42. - E9A08

What is meant by antenna bandwidth?

Select	Answer
A	The frequency range over which an antenna satisfies a performance requirement
B	The angle between the half-power radiation points
C	The angle formed between two imaginary lines drawn through the element ends
D	Antenna length divided by the number of elements

43. - E9B15

What is the front-to-back ratio of the radiation pattern shown in Figure E9-2?

Select	Answer
A	15 dB
B	24 dB
C	28 dB
D	3 dB

44. - E9C08

What is a folded dipole antenna?

Select	Answer
A	A dipole configured to provide forward gain
B	A type of ground-plane antenna
C	A dipole consisting of one wavelength of wire forming a very thin loop
D	A dipole one-quarter wavelength long

45. - E9D12

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

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

46. - E9E13

What is a use for a Wilkinson divider?

Select	Answer
A	It is used to feed high-impedance antennas from a low-impedance source
B	It is used to feed low-impedance loads from a high-impedance source
C	It divides the operating frequency of a transmitter signal so it can be used on a lower frequency band
D	It is used to divide power equally between two 50 ohm loads while maintaining 50 ohm input impedance

47. - E9F02

Which of the following determines the velocity factor of a transmission line?

Select	Answer
A	The termination impedance
B	The line length
C	The center conductor resistivity
D	Dielectric materials used in the line

48. - E9G03

Which of the following is often determined using a Smith chart?

Select	Answer
A	Trigonometric functions
B	Beam headings and radiation patterns
C	Impedance and SWR values in transmission lines
D	Satellite azimuth and elevation bearings

49. - E9H02

Which is generally true for low band (160 meter and 80 meter) receiving antennas?

Select	Answer
A	Atmospheric noise is so high that gain over a dipole is not important
B	Low loss coax transmission line is essential for good performance
C	They must be erected at least 1/2 wavelength above the ground to attain good directivity
D	All of these choices are correct

50. - E0A04

When evaluating a site with multiple transmitters operating at the same time, the operators and licensees of which transmitters are responsible for mitigating over-exposure situations?

Select	Answer
A	Each transmitter operating with a duty-cycle greater than 50 percent
B	Only commercial transmitters
C	Only the most powerful transmitter
D	Each transmitter that produces 5 percent or more of its MPE limit at accessible locations

Figure E6-2

Figure E6-5

Figure E9-2