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

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1. - E1A03

With your transceiver displaying the carrier frequency of phone signals, you hear a station calling CQ on 14.349 MHz USB. Is it legal to return the call using upper sideband on the same frequency?

Select	Answer
A	No, the sideband will extend beyond the band edge
B	Yes, because the displayed frequency is within the 20 meter band
C	Yes, because you were not the station calling CQ
D	No, U.S. stations are not permitted to use phone emissions above 14.340 MHz

2. - E1B06

Which of the following additional rules apply if you are installing an amateur station antenna at a site at or near a public use airport?

Select	Answer
A	No special rules apply if your antenna structure will be less than 300 feet in height
B	You may have to notify the Federal Aviation Administration and register it with the FCC as required by Part 17 of FCC rules
C	You must file an Environmental Impact Statement with the EPA before construction begins
D	You must obtain a construction permit from the airport zoning authority

3. - E1C03

How do the control operator responsibilities of a station under automatic control differ from one under local control?

Select	Answer
A	Under local control a control operator is not required to be present at a control point
B	Under automatic control there is no control operator
C	Under automatic control the control operator is not required to be present at the control point
D	Under local control there is no control operator

4. - E1D01

What is the definition of the term telemetry?

Select	Answer
A	Two-way single channel transmissions of data
B	Two-way radiotelephone transmissions in excess of 1000 feet
C	One-way transmission that initiates, modifies, or terminates the functions of a device at a distance
D	One-way transmission of measurements at a distance from the measuring instrument

5. - E1E02

Where are the questions for all written U.S. amateur license examinations listed?

Select	Answer
A	In the appropriate FCC Report and Order
B	In FCC Part 97
C	In a question pool maintained by the FCC
D	In a question pool maintained by all the VECs

6. - E1F04

Which of the following geographic descriptions approximately describes "Line A"?

Select	Answer
A	A line roughly parallel to and east of the U.S. Pacific coastline
B	A line roughly parallel to and north of the U.S.-Mexican border and Gulf coastline
C	A line roughly parallel to and south of the U.S.-Canadian border
D	A line roughly parallel to and west of the U.S. Atlantic coastline

7. - E2A05

What do the letters in a satellite's mode designator specify?

Select	Answer
A	Power limits for uplink and downlink transmissions
B	The polarization of uplink and downlink signals
C	The location of the ground control station
D	The uplink and downlink frequency ranges

8. - E2B17

What is the approximate bandwidth of a slow-scan TV signal?

Select	Answer
A	2 MHz
B	3 kHz
C	6 MHz
D	600 Hz

9. - E2C03

From which of the following bands is amateur radio contesting generally excluded?

Select	Answer
A	30 m
B	33 cm
C	2 m
D	6 m

10. - E2D05

Which of the following techniques is normally used by low Earth orbiting digital satellites to relay messages around the world?

Select	Answer
A	Node hopping
B	Store-and-forward
C	Digipeating
D	Multi-satellite relaying

11. - E2E09

Which of the following HF digital modes uses variable-length coding for bandwidth efficiency?

Select	Answer
A	PSK31
B	MT63
C	PACTOR
D	RTTY

12. - E3A02

What characterizes libration fading of an EME signal?

Select	Answer
A	A fluttery irregular fading
B	The returning echo is several Hertz lower in frequency than the transmitted signal
C	A gradual loss of signal as the Sun rises
D	A slow change in the pitch of the CW signal

13. - E3B01

What is transequatorial propagation?

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

14. - E3C14

Why does the radio-path horizon distance exceed the geometric horizon?

Select	Answer
A	Downward bending due to aurora refraction
B	D-region skip
C	E-region skip
D	Downward bending due to density variations in the atmosphere

15. - E4A12

Which of the following procedures is an important precaution to follow when connecting a spectrum analyzer to a transmitter output?

Select	Answer
A	All of these choices are correct
B	Attenuate the transmitter output going to the spectrum analyzer
C	Match the antenna to the load
D	Use high quality double shielded coaxial cables to reduce signal losses

16. - E4B09

What is indicated if the current reading on an RF ammeter placed in series with the antenna feed line of a transmitter increases as the transmitter is tuned to resonance?

Select	Answer
A	There is an impedance mismatch between the antenna and feed line
B	The transmitter is not properly neutralized
C	There is possibly a short to ground in the feed line
D	There is more power going into the antenna

17. - E4C05

What does a value of -174 dBm/Hz represent with regard to the noise floor of a receiver?

Select	Answer
A	The noise figure of a 1 Hz bandwidth receiver
B	The minimum detectable signal as a function of receive frequency
C	The theoretical noise at the input of a perfect receiver at room temperature
D	The galactic noise contribution to minimum detectable signal

18. - E4D03

How can intermodulation interference between two repeaters occur?

Select	Answer
A	When the signals from the transmitters are reflected out of phase from airplanes passing overhead
B	When the repeaters are in close proximity and the signals cause feedback in the final amplifier of one or both transmitters
C	When the repeaters are in close proximity and the signals mix in the final amplifier of one or both transmitters
D	When the signals from the transmitters are reflected in phase from airplanes passing overhead

19. - E4E05

How can noise from an electric motor be suppressed?

Select	Answer
A	By installing a brute-force AC-line filter in series with the motor leads
B	By using a ground-fault current interrupter in the circuit used to power the motor
C	By installing a high pass filter in series with the motor's power leads
D	By installing a bypass capacitor in series with the motor leads

20. - E5A10

How is the Q of an RLC series resonant circuit calculated?

Select	Answer
A	Reactance of the inductance times the reactance of the capacitance
B	Reactance of either the inductance or capacitance divided by the resistance
C	Reactance of either the inductance or capacitance times the resistance
D	Resistance divided by the reactance of either the inductance or capacitance

21. - E5B12

What is admittance?

Select	Answer
A	The term for the gain of a field effect transistor
B	The turns ratio of a transformer
C	The inverse of impedance
D	The unit used for Q factor

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 2
B	Point 4
C	Point 5
D	Point 6

23. - E5D13

How much power is consumed in a circuit consisting of a 100 ohm resistor in series with a 100 ohm inductive reactance drawing 1 ampere?

Select	Answer
A	100 Watts
B	141.4 Watts
C	200 Watts
D	70.7 Watts

24. - E6A12

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

Select	Answer
A	To provide a voltage reference for the correct amount of reverse-bias gate voltage
B	To protect the substrate from excessive voltages
C	To reduce the chance of the gate insulation being punctured by static discharges or excessive voltages
D	To keep the gate voltage within specifications and prevent the device from overheating

25. - E6B07

What is the failure mechanism when a junction diode fails due to excessive current?

Select	Answer
A	Insufficient forward voltage
B	Excessive junction temperature
C	Charge carrier depletion
D	Excessive inverse voltage

26. - E6C13

Which of the following is an advantage of BiCMOS logic?

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

27. - E6D08

What is one reason for using powdered-iron cores rather than ferrite cores in an inductor?

Select	Answer
A	Powdered-iron cores generally maintain their characteristics at higher currents
B	Powdered-iron cores use smaller diameter wire for the same inductance
C	Powdered-iron cores generally have greater initial permeability
D	Powdered-iron cores generally require fewer turns to produce a given inductance

28. - E6E07

Which of the following is typically used to construct a MMIC-based microwave amplifier?

Select	Answer
A	Wave-soldering construction
B	Point-to-point construction
C	Microstrip construction
D	Ground-plane construction

29. - E6F09

What is the efficiency of a photovoltaic cell?

Select	Answer
A	The output RF power divided by the input DC power
B	The effective payback period
C	The open-circuit voltage divided by the short-circuit current under full illumination
D	The relative fraction of light that is converted to current

30. - E7A06

What is a characteristic of a monostable multivibrator?

Select	Answer
A	It stores one bit of data in either a 0 or 1 state
B	It switches momentarily to the opposite binary state and then returns to its original state after a set time
C	It produces a continuous square wave oscillating between 1 and 0
D	It maintains a constant output voltage, regardless of variations in the input voltage

31. - E7B11

In Figure E7-1, what is the purpose of R3?

Select	Answer
A	Output load resistor
B	Self bias
C	Emitter bypass
D	Fixed bias

32. - E7C11

Which of the following is the common name for a filter network which is equivalent to two L-networks connected back-to-back with the two inductors in series and the capacitors in shunt at the input and output?

Select	Answer
A	Pi-L
B	Pi
C	Cascode
D	Omega

33. - E7D08

What type of circuit is shown in Figure E7-3?

Select	Answer
A	Emitter follower
B	Switching voltage regulator
C	Grounded emitter amplifier
D	Linear voltage regulator

34. - E7E10

How does a diode detector function?

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

35. - E7F13

What is the function of taps in a digital signal processing filter?

Select	Answer
A	Provide incremental signal delays for filter algorithms
B	Select the point at which baseband signals are generated
C	To reduce excess signal pressure levels
D	Provide access for debugging software

36. - E7G12

What is an integrated circuit operational amplifier?

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

37. - E7H14

What is a phase-locked loop circuit?

Select	Answer
A	An electronic circuit consisting of a precision push-pull amplifier with a differential input
B	An electronic servo loop consisting of a phase detector, a low-pass filter, a voltage-controlled oscillator, and a stable reference oscillator
C	An electronic circuit also known as a monostable multivibrator
D	An electronic servo loop consisting of a ratio detector, reactance modulator, and voltage-controlled oscillator

38. - E8A06

What is the approximate ratio of PEP-to-average power in a typical single-sideband phone signal?

Select	Answer
A	100 to 1
B	25 to 1
C	2.5 to 1
D	1 to 1

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	0.3
C	3000
D	3

40. - E8C06

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

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

41. - E8D02

What spread spectrum communications technique uses a high speed binary bit stream to shift the phase of an RF carrier?

Select	Answer
A	Frequency hopping
B	Binary phase-shift keying
C	Phase compandored spread spectrum
D	Direct sequence

42. - E9A03

Why would one need to know the feed point impedance of an antenna?

Select	Answer
A	To calculate the front-to-back ratio of the antenna
B	To match impedances in order to minimize standing wave ratio on the transmission line
C	To measure the near-field radiation density from a transmitting antenna
D	To calculate the front-to-side ratio of the antenna

43. - E9B16

How many elevation lobes appear in the forward direction of the antenna radiation pattern shown in Figure E9-2?

Select	Answer
A	3
B	1
C	7
D	4

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 phased array antenna consisting of multiple loops
C	A multi-band trap antenna
D	A wide band dipole using shorted coaxial cable for the radiating elements and fed with a 4:1 balun

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

46. - E9E06

What is the equivalent lumped-constant network for a hairpin matching system of a 3-element Yagi?

Select	Answer
A	A shunt inductor
B	Pi-L-network
C	Pi-network
D	A series capacitor

47. - E9F01

What is the velocity factor of a transmission line?

Select	Answer
A	The index of shielding for coaxial cable
B	The velocity of the wave in the transmission line divided by the velocity of light in a vacuum
C	The ratio of the characteristic impedance of the line to the terminating impedance
D	The velocity of the wave in the transmission line multiplied by the velocity of light in a vacuum

48. - E9G06

On the Smith chart shown in Figure E9-3, what is the name for the large outer circle on which the reactance arcs terminate?

Select	Answer
A	Polar axis
B	Reactance axis
C	Impedance axis
D	Prime axis

49. - E9H11

What characteristic of a cardioid pattern antenna is useful for direction finding?

Select	Answer
A	A very sharp peak
B	A very sharp single null
C	Broad band response
D	High-radiation angle

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	Each transmitter that produces 5 percent or more of its MPE limit at accessible locations
C	Only the most powerful transmitter
D	Only commercial transmitters

Figure E5-2

Figure E7-1

Figure E7-3

Figure E9-2

Figure E9-3