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

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1. - E1A01

When using a transceiver that displays the carrier frequency of phone signals, which of the following displayed frequencies represents the highest frequency at which a properly adjusted USB emission will be totally within the band?

Select	Answer
A	3 kHz below the upper band edge
B	300 Hz below the upper band edge
C	The exact upper band edge
D	1 kHz below the upper band edge

2. - E1B10

What frequencies are authorized to an amateur station operating under RACES rules?

Select	Answer
A	Specific local government channels
B	All amateur service frequencies authorized to the control operator
C	Specific segments in the amateur service MF, HF, VHF and UHF bands
D	Military Auxiliary Radio System (MARS) channels

3. - E1C04

What is meant by IARP?

Select	Answer
A	A forecast of intermittent aurora radio propagation
B	An international amateur radio permit that allows U.S. amateurs to operate in certain countries of the Americas
C	An indication of increased antenna reflected power
D	The internal amateur radio practices policy of the FCC

4. - E1D02

What is the amateur satellite service?

Select	Answer
A	A radio communications service using stations on Earth satellites for public service broadcast
B	A radio navigation service using satellites for the purpose of self training, intercommunication and technical studies carried out by amateurs
C	A radio communications service using amateur radio stations on satellites
D	A spacecraft launching service for amateur-built satellites

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. - E1F10

What is the maximum permitted transmitter peak envelope power for an amateur station transmitting spread spectrum communications?

Select	Answer
A	1 W
B	10 W
C	1.5 kW
D	1.5 W

7. - E2A02

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

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

8. - E2B16

Which is a video standard used by North American Fast Scan ATV stations?

Select	Answer
A	PAL
B	NTSC
C	Scottie
D	DRM

9. - E2C10

Why might a DX station state that they are listening on another frequency?

Select	Answer
A	Because the DX station may be transmitting on a frequency that is prohibited to some responding stations
B	To improve operating efficiency by reducing interference
C	All of these choices are correct
D	To separate the calling stations from the DX station

10. - E2D14

What is one advantage of using JT65 coding?

Select	Answer
A	Easily copied by ear if necessary
B	Permits fast-scan TV transmissions over narrow bandwidth
C	Uses only a 65 Hz bandwidth
D	The ability to decode signals which have a very low signal to noise ratio

11. - E2E05

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

Select	Answer
A	PSK31
B	MFSK
C	RTTY
D	Winlink

12. - E3A07

Atmospheric ducts capable of propagating microwave signals often form over what geographic feature?

Select	Answer
A	Bodies of water
B	Urban areas
C	Forests
D	Mountain ranges

13. - E3B10

What is the cause of gray-line propagation?

Select	Answer
A	In darkness, solar absorption drops greatly while atmospheric ionization remains steady
B	At twilight and sunrise, D-layer absorption is low while E-layer and F-layer propagation remains high
C	At mid-afternoon, the Sun heats the ionosphere decreasing radio wave refraction and the MUF
D	At midday, the Sun super heats the ionosphere causing increased refraction of radio waves

14. - E3C07

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

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

15. - E4A15

What is an advantage of a period-measuring frequency counter over a direct-count type?

Select	Answer
A	It provides improved resolution of low-frequency signals within a comparable time period
B	It can run on battery power for remote measurements
C	It does not require an expensive high-precision time base
D	It can directly measure the modulation index of an FM transmitter

16. - E4B10

Which of the following describes a method to measure intermodulation distortion in an SSB transmitter?

Select	Answer
A	Modulate the transmitter with two non-harmonically related radio frequencies and observe the RF output with a spectrum analyzer
B	Modulate the transmitter with two harmonically related audio frequencies and observe the RF output with a peak reading wattmeter
C	Modulate the transmitter with two non-harmonically related audio frequencies and observe the RF output with a spectrum analyzer
D	Modulate the transmitter with two harmonically related audio frequencies and observe the RF output with a logic analyzer

17. - E4C09

Which of the following choices is a good reason for selecting a high frequency for the design of the IF in a conventional HF or VHF communications receiver?

Select	Answer
A	Fewer components in the receiver
B	Improved receiver noise figure
C	Reduced drift
D	Easier for front-end circuitry to eliminate image responses

18. - E4D01

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

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

19. - E4E14

What is one type of electrical interference that might be caused by the operation of a nearby personal computer?

Select	Answer
A	A loud AC hum in the audio output of your station receiver
B	A clicking noise at intervals of a few seconds
C	The appearance of unstable modulated or unmodulated signals at specific frequencies
D	A whining type noise that continually pulses off and on

20. - E5A02

What is resonance in an electrical circuit?

Select	Answer
A	The frequency at which the capacitive reactance equals the inductive reactance
B	The highest frequency that will pass current
C	The lowest frequency that will pass current
D	The frequency at which the reactive impedance equals the resistive impedance

21. - E5B06

What is susceptance?

Select	Answer
A	The ratio of magnetic field to electric field
B	The inverse of reactance
C	A measure of the efficiency of a transformer
D	The magnetic impedance of a circuit

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 6
C	Point 2
D	Point 5

23. - E5D09

What happens to reactive power in an AC circuit that has both ideal inductors and ideal capacitors?

Select	Answer
A	It is dissipated in the formation of inductive and capacitive fields
B	It is dissipated as kinetic energy in the circuit
C	It is repeatedly exchanged between the associated magnetic and electric fields, but is not dissipated
D	It is dissipated as heat in the circuit

24. - E6A03

Why does a PN-junction diode not conduct current when reverse biased?

Select	Answer
A	Excess holes in P-type material combine with the electrons in N-type material, converting the entire diode into an insulator
B	Only N-type semiconductor material can conduct current
C	Only P-type semiconductor material can conduct current
D	Holes in P-type material and electrons in the N-type material are separated by the applied voltage, widening the depletion region

25. - E6B07

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

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

26. - E6C08

In Figure E6-5, what is the schematic symbol for a NAND gate?

Select	Answer
A	4
B	3
C	2
D	1

27. - E6D13

What is the primary cause of inductor self-resonance?

Select	Answer
A	Inter-turn capacitance
B	The skin effect
C	Non-linear core hysteresis
D	Inductive kickback

28. - E6E09

Which of the following component package types would be most suitable for use at frequencies above the HF range?

Select	Answer
A	Radial lead
B	TO-220
C	Surface mount
D	Axial lead

29. - E6F06

Which of these materials is affected the most by photoconductivity?

Select	Answer
A	A liquid semiconductor
B	A crystalline semiconductor
C	An ordinary metal
D	A heavy metal

30. - E7A12

What type of logic defines "0" as a high voltage?

Select	Answer
A	Negative logic
B	Positive Logic
C	Reverse Logic
D	Assertive Logic

31. - E7B02

What is a Class D amplifier?

Select	Answer
A	An amplifier that uses drift-mode FETs for high efficiency
B	A frequency doubling amplifier
C	A low power amplifier that uses a differential amplifier for improved linearity
D	A type of amplifier that uses switching technology to achieve high efficiency

32. - E7C15

What is a crystal lattice filter?

Select	Answer
A	A filter with wide bandwidth and shallow skirts made using quartz crystals
B	A filter with narrow bandwidth and steep skirts made using quartz crystals
C	A power supply filter made with interlaced quartz crystals
D	An audio filter made with four quartz crystals that resonate at 1kHz intervals

33. - E7D03

What device is typically used as a stable reference voltage in a linear voltage regulator?

Select	Answer
A	A Zener diode
B	A varactor diode
C	An SCR
D	A tunnel diode

34. - E7E06

Why is de-emphasis commonly used in FM communications receivers?

Select	Answer
A	To remove third-order distortion products
B	For compatibility with transmitters using phase modulation
C	For higher efficiency
D	To reduce impulse noise reception

35. - E7F04

What is a common method of generating an SSB signal using digital signal processing?

Select	Answer
A	Mixing products are converted to voltages and subtracted by adder circuits
B	Emulation of quartz crystal filter characteristics
C	A frequency synthesizer removes the unwanted sidebands
D	Combine signals with a quadrature phase relationship

36. - E7G08

How does the gain of an ideal operational amplifier vary with frequency?

Select	Answer
A	It decreases linearly with increasing frequency
B	It increases linearly with increasing frequency
C	It decreases logarithmically with increasing frequency
D	It does not vary with frequency

37. - E7H07

How can an oscillator's microphonic responses be reduced?

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

38. - E8A04

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

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

39. - E8B06

What is the deviation ratio of an FM-phone signal having a maximum frequency swing of plus or minus 7.5 kHz when the maximum modulation frequency is 3.5 kHz?

Select	Answer
A	0.47
B	2.14
C	47
D	0.214

40. - E8C10

What is an advantage of Gray code in digital communications where symbols are transmitted as multiple bits

Select	Answer
A	It has more possible states than simple binary
B	It facilitates error detection
C	It has more resolution than simple binary
D	It increases security

41. - E8D08

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

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

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	6.0 dB
B	2.79 dB
C	3.85 dB
D	8.15 dB

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

44. - E9C14

How does the performance of a horizontally polarized antenna mounted on the side of a hill compare with the same antenna mounted on flat ground?

Select	Answer
A	The main lobe takeoff angle increases in the downhill direction
B	The main lobe takeoff angle decreases in the downhill direction
C	The horizontal beam width increases in the uphill direction
D	The horizontal beam width decreases in the downhill direction

45. - E9D08

What happens as the Q of an antenna increases?

Select	Answer
A	SWR bandwidth decreases
B	More common-mode current is present on the feed line
C	SWR bandwidth increases
D	Gain is reduced

46. - E9E09

Which of these matching systems is an effective method of connecting a 50 ohm coaxial cable feed line to a grounded tower so it can be used as a vertical antenna?

Select	Answer
A	Double-bazooka match
B	Gamma match
C	Hairpin match
D	All of these choices are correct

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. - E9G11

How are the wavelength scales on a Smith chart calibrated?

Select	Answer
A	In fractions of transmission line electrical wavelength
B	In fractions of transmission line electrical frequency
C	In fractions of antenna electrical frequency
D	In fractions of antenna electrical wavelength

49. - E9H10

How can the output voltage of a multiple turn receiving loop antenna be increased?

Select	Answer
A	By increasing either the number of wire turns in the loop or the area of the loop structure or both
B	By increasing the number of wire turns in the loop and reducing the area of the loop structure
C	By winding adjacent turns in opposing directions
D	By reducing the permeability of the loop shield

50. - E0A02

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

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

Figure E5-2

Figure E6-5