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

2. - E1B02

Which of the following factors might cause the physical location of an amateur station apparatus or antenna structure to be restricted?

Select	Answer
A	The location is in an ITU Zone designated for coordination with one or more foreign governments
B	The location is near an area of political conflict
C	The location is of geographical or horticultural importance
D	The location is of environmental importance or significant in American history, architecture, or culture

3. - E1C10

What types of amateur stations may automatically retransmit the radio signals of other amateur stations?

Select	Answer
A	Only earth stations, repeater stations or model craft
B	Only beacon, repeater or space stations
C	Only auxiliary, beacon or space stations
D	Only auxiliary, repeater or space stations

4. - E1D07

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

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

5. - E1E14

For which types of out-of-pocket expenses do the Part 97 rules state that VEs and VECs may be reimbursed?

Select	Answer
A	No expenses are authorized for reimbursement
B	Preparing, processing, administering and coordinating an examination for an amateur radio license
C	Teaching an amateur operator license examination preparation course
D	Providing amateur operator license examination preparation training materials

6. - E1F10

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

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

7. - E2A08

Why should effective radiated power to a satellite which uses a linear transponder be limited?

Select	Answer
A	To avoid interfering with terrestrial QSOs
B	To prevent creating errors in the satellite telemetry
C	To avoid reducing the downlink power to all other users
D	To prevent the satellite from emitting out-of-band signals

8. - E2B17

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

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

9. - E2C02

Which of the following best describes the term self-spotting in regards to HF contest operating?

Select	Answer
A	The acceptable practice of manually posting the call signs of stations on a spotting network
B	An automatic method for rapidly zero beating or tuning to a station's frequency before calling that station
C	A manual technique for rapidly zero beating or tuning to a station's frequency before calling that station
D	The generally prohibited practice of posting one's own call sign and frequency on a spotting network

10. - E2D04

What is the purpose of digital store-and-forward functions on an Amateur Radio satellite?

Select	Answer
A	To delay download of telemetry between satellites
B	To relay messages between satellites
C	To upload operational software for the transponder
D	To store digital messages in the satellite for later download by other stations

11. - E2E03

How is the timing of JT65 contacts organized?

Select	Answer
A	It depends on the lunar phase
B	By exchanging ACK/NAK packets
C	Alternating transmissions at 1 minute intervals
D	Stations take turns on alternate days

12. - E3A11

What is a typical range for tropospheric propagation of microwave signals?

Select	Answer
A	1200 miles
B	2500 miles
C	100 miles to 300 miles
D	10 miles to 50 miles

13. - E3B08

What type of HF propagation is probably occurring if radio signals travel along the terminator between daylight and darkness?

Select	Answer
A	Long-path
B	Sporadic-E
C	Gray-line
D	Transequatorial

14. - E3C06

By how much does the VHF/UHF radio horizon distance exceed the geometric horizon?

Select	Answer
A	By approximately twice the distance
B	By approximately four times the distance
C	By approximately 15 percent of the distance
D	By approximately 50 percent of the distance

15. - E4A14

What is the purpose of the prescaler function on a frequency counter?

Select	Answer
A	It prevents oscillation in a low-frequency counter circuit
B	It divides a higher frequency signal so a low-frequency counter can display the input frequency
C	It amplifies low level signals for more accurate counting
D	It multiplies a higher frequency signal so a low-frequency counter can display the operating frequency

16. - E4B01

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

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

17. - E4C03

What is the term for the blocking of one FM phone signal by another, stronger FM phone signal?

Select	Answer
A	Desensitization
B	Cross-modulation interference
C	Frequency discrimination
D	Capture effect

18. - E4D08

What causes intermodulation in an electronic circuit?

Select	Answer
A	Positive feedback
B	Too little gain
C	Lack of neutralization
D	Nonlinear circuits or devices

19. - E4E13

What might be the cause of a loud roaring or buzzing AC line interference that comes and goes at intervals?

Select	Answer
A	All of these choices are correct
B	A defective doorbell or doorbell transformer inside a nearby residence
C	A malfunctioning illuminated advertising display
D	Arcing contacts in a thermostatically controlled device

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

21. - E5B03

What happens to the phase angle of a reactance when it is converted to a susceptance?

Select	Answer
A	The susceptance phase angle is the inverse of the reactance phase angle
B	It is shifted by 90 degrees
C	It is unchanged
D	The sign is reversed

22. - E5C17

Which point on Figure E5-2 best represents the impedance of a series circuit consisting of a 300 ohm resistor, a 0.64-microhenry inductor and an 85-picofarad capacitor at 24.900 MHz?

Select	Answer
A	Point 5
B	Point 3
C	Point 8
D	Point 1

23. - E5D03

What is microstrip?

Select	Answer
A	Short lengths of coax mounted on printed circuit boards to minimize time delay between microwave circuits
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	Lightweight transmission line made of common zip cord

24. - E6A16

What are the majority charge carriers in N-type semiconductor material?

Select	Answer
A	Holes
B	Free electrons
C	Free neutrons
D	Free protons

25. - E6B11

What is used to control the attenuation of RF signals by a PIN diode?

Select	Answer
A	Capacitance of an RF coupling capacitor
B	Forward DC bias current
C	Reverse voltage larger than the RF signal
D	A sub-harmonic pump signal

26. - E6C04

What is the primary advantage of tri-state logic?

Select	Answer
A	Low power consumption
B	Ability to connect many device outputs to a common bus
C	More efficient arithmetic operations
D	High speed operation

27. - E6D10

What is a primary advantage of using a toroidal core instead of a solenoidal core in an inductor?

Select	Answer
A	Toroidal cores make it easier to couple the magnetic energy into other components
B	Toroidal cores confine most of the magnetic field within the core material
C	Toroidal cores exhibit greater hysteresis
D	Toroidal cores have lower Q characteristics

28. - E6E03

Which of the following materials is likely to provide the highest frequency of operation when used in MMICs?

Select	Answer
A	Gallium nitride
B	Silicon
C	Silicon nitride
D	Silicon dioxide

29. - E6F01

What is photoconductivity?

Select	Answer
A	The decreased conductivity of an illuminated semiconductor
B	The conversion of photon energy to electromotive energy
C	The increased conductivity of an illuminated semiconductor
D	The conversion of electromotive energy to photon energy

30. - E7A01

Which is a bi-stable circuit?

Select	Answer
A	An "AND" gate
B	A flip-flop
C	A clock
D	An "OR" gate

31. - E7B10

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

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

32. - E7C06

What are the distinguishing features of an elliptical filter?

Select	Answer
A	Gradual passband rolloff with minimal stop band ripple
B	Extremely flat response over its pass band with gradually rounded stop band corners
C	Gradual passband rolloff with extreme stop band ripple
D	Extremely sharp cutoff with one or more notches in the stop band

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	The high frequency inverter design uses much smaller transformers and filter components for an equivalent power output
C	It uses a large power factor compensation capacitor to create free power from the unused portion of the AC cycle
D	It uses a diode bridge rectifier for increased output

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. - E7F07

What function can a Fast Fourier Transform perform?

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

36. - E7G06

Which of the following is the most appropriate use of an op-amp active filter?

Select	Answer
A	For smoothing power supply output
B	As a low-pass filter used between a transmitter and a transmission line
C	As an audio filter in a receiver
D	As a high-pass filter used to block RFI at the input to receivers

37. - E7H10

What information is contained in the lookup table of a direct digital frequency synthesizer?

Select	Answer
A	The phase relationship between a reference oscillator and the output waveform
B	The phase relationship between a voltage-controlled oscillator and the output waveform
C	The amplitude values that represent a sine-wave output
D	The synthesizer frequency limits and frequency values stored in the radio memories

38. - E8A06

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

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

39. - E8B11

What is digital time division multiplexing?

Select	Answer
A	Two or more data streams are assigned to discrete sub-carriers on an FM transmitter
B	Two or more data streams share the same channel by transmitting time of transmission as the sub-carrier
C	Two or more signals are quadrature modulated to increase bandwidth efficiency
D	Two or more signals are arranged to share discrete time slots of a data transmission

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 increases security
C	It has more resolution than simple binary
D	It facilitates error detection

41. - E8D09

What is considered a good minimum IMD level for an idling PSK signal?

Select	Answer
A	-20 dB
B	+10 dB
C	+15 dB
D	-30 dB

42. - E9A06

How does the beamwidth of an antenna vary as the gain is increased?

Select	Answer
A	It is essentially unaffected
B	It decreases
C	It increases geometrically
D	It increases arithmetically

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	18 dB
C	14 dB
D	12 dB

44. - E9C12

Which of the following describes an extended double Zepp antenna?

Select	Answer
A	A portable antenna erected using two push support poles
B	An end fed folded dipole antenna
C	A wideband vertical antenna constructed from precisely tapered aluminum tubing
D	A center fed 1.25 wavelength antenna (two 5/8 wave elements in phase)

45. - E9D08

What happens as the Q of an antenna increases?

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

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	A series capacitor
C	Pi-network
D	Pi-L-network

47. - E9F04

What is the typical velocity factor for a coaxial cable with solid polyethylene dielectric?

Select	Answer
A	0.66
B	0.30
C	0.10
D	2.70

48. - E9G11

How are the wavelength scales on a Smith chart calibrated?

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

49. - E9H08

What is the function of a sense antenna?

Select	Answer
A	It provides diversity reception that cancels multipath signals
B	It allows DF antennas to receive signals at different vertical angles
C	It modifies the pattern of a DF antenna array to provide a null in one direction
D	It increases the sensitivity of a DF antenna array

50. - E0A11

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

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

Figure E5-2

Figure E7-1

Figure E9-1