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

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1. - E1A14

What is the maximum bandwidth for a data emission on 60 meters?

Select	Answer
A	2.8 kHz
B	60 Hz
C	170 Hz
D	1.5 kHz

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

3. - E1C11

Which of the following operating arrangements allows an FCC-licensed U.S. citizen to operate in many European countries, and alien amateurs from many European countries to operate in the U.S.?

Select	Answer
A	All of these choices are correct
B	CEPT agreement
C	ITU reciprocal license
D	IARP agreement

4. - E1D06

Which of the following is a requirement of a space station?

Select	Answer
A	The space station must be capable of terminating transmissions by telecommand when directed by the FCC
B	The space station must cease all transmissions after 5 years
C	The space station must be capable of changing its orbit whenever such a change is ordered by NASA
D	All of these choices are correct

5. - E1E11

What must the VE team do if an examinee scores a passing grade on all examination elements needed for an upgrade or new license?

Select	Answer
A	Issue the examinee the new or upgrade license
B	Three VEs must certify that the examinee is qualified for the license grant and that they have complied with the administering VE requirements
C	Photocopy all examination documents and forward them to the FCC for processing
D	All these choices are correct

6. - E1F07

When may an amateur station send a message to a business?

Select	Answer
A	When neither the amateur nor his or her employer has a pecuniary interest in the communications
B	When the control operator is employed by the FCC or another government agency
C	When transmitting international third-party communications
D	When the total money involved does not exceed $25

7. - E2A12

What is one way to predict the location of a satellite at a given time?

Select	Answer
A	By calculations using the Keplerian elements for the specified satellite
B	By subtracting the mean anomaly from the orbital inclination
C	By adding the mean anomaly to the orbital inclination
D	By means of the Doppler data for the specified satellite

8. - E2B03

How is an interlaced scanning pattern generated in a fast-scan (NTSC) television system?

Select	Answer
A	By scanning two fields simultaneously
B	By scanning each field from bottom to top
C	By scanning lines from left to right in one field and right to left in the next
D	By scanning odd numbered lines in one field and even numbered lines in the next

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 weak signal segment of the band, with most of the activity near the calling frequency
C	In the middle of the band, usually 25 kHz above the national calling frequency
D	In the middle of each band, usually on the national calling frequency

10. - E2D08

What type of packet frame is used to transmit APRS beacon data?

Select	Answer
A	Acknowledgement
B	Disconnect
C	Connect
D	Unnumbered Information

11. - E2E12

Which type of control is used by stations using the Automatic Link Enable (ALE) protocol?

Select	Answer
A	Remote
B	ALE can use any type of control
C	Local
D	Automatic

12. - E3A12

What is the cause of auroral activity?

Select	Answer
A	The interaction in the F2 layer between the solar wind and the Van Allen belt
B	Meteor showers concentrated in the extreme northern and southern latitudes
C	A low sunspot level combined with tropospheric ducting
D	The interaction in the E layer of charged particles from the Sun with the Earth's magnetic field

13. - E3B05

Which amateur bands typically support long-path propagation?

Select	Answer
A	160 meters to 10 meters
B	6 meters to 2 meters
C	160 meters to 40 meters
D	30 meters to 10 meters

14. - E3C15

What might a sudden rise in radio background noise indicate?

Select	Answer
A	A meteor ping
B	A solar flare has occurred
C	Long-path propagation is occurring
D	Increased transequatorial propagation likely

15. - E4A04

What determines the upper frequency limit for a computer soundcard-based oscilloscope program?

Select	Answer
A	Q of the interface of the interface circuit
B	All of these choices are correct
C	Analog-to-digital conversion speed of the soundcard
D	Amount of memory on the soundcard

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 audio 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 radio 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. - E4C13

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

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

18. - E4D06

What is the term for unwanted signals generated by the mixing of two or more signals?

Select	Answer
A	Adjacent channel interference
B	Neutralization
C	Intermodulation interference
D	Amplifier desensitization

19. - E4E07

How can you determine if line noise interference is being generated within your home?

Select	Answer
A	By checking the power line voltage with a time domain reflectometer
B	By turning off the AC power line main circuit breaker and listening on a battery operated radio
C	By observing the AC power line waveform with an oscilloscope
D	By observing the AC power line voltage with a spectrum analyzer

20. - E5A01

What can cause the voltage across reactances in series to be larger than the voltage applied to them?

Select	Answer
A	Capacitance
B	Resonance
C	Resistance
D	Conductance

21. - E5B02

What is the term for the time it takes for a charged capacitor in an RC circuit to discharge to 36.8% of its initial voltage?

Select	Answer
A	An exponential discharge rate of one
B	A discharge factor of one
C	One time constant
D	One discharge period

22. - E5C10

When using rectangular coordinates to graph the impedance of a circuit, what does the vertical axis represent?

Select	Answer
A	Resistive component
B	The difference between the resistive and reactive components
C	The sum of the reactive and resistive components
D	Reactive component

23. - E5D03

What is microstrip?

Select	Answer
A	Miniature coax used for low power applications
B	Short lengths of coax mounted on printed circuit boards to minimize time delay between microwave circuits
C	Precision printed circuit conductors above a ground plane that provide constant impedance interconnects at microwave frequencies
D	Lightweight transmission line made of common zip cord

24. - E6A08

What term indicates the frequency at which the grounded-base current gain of a transistor has decreased to 0.7 of the gain obtainable at 1 kHz?

Select	Answer
A	Corner frequency
B	Alpha cutoff frequency
C	Beta cutoff frequency
D	Alpha rejection frequency

25. - E6B11

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

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

26. - E6C10

In Figure E6-5, what is the schematic symbol for a NOR gate?

Select	Answer
A	2
B	3
C	4
D	1

27. - E6D03

Which of the following is an aspect of the piezoelectric effect?

Select	Answer
A	Generation of electrical energy in the presence of light
B	Mechanical deformation of material by the application of a voltage
C	Increased conductivity in the presence of light
D	Mechanical deformation of material by the application of a magnetic field

28. - E6E12

Why are high-power RF amplifier ICs and transistors sometimes mounted in ceramic packages?

Select	Answer
A	High-voltage insulating ability
B	To provide a low-pass frequency response
C	Enhanced sensitivity to light
D	Better dissipation of heat

29. - E6F09

What is the efficiency of a photovoltaic cell?

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

30. - E7A10

What is a truth table?

Select	Answer
A	A table of logic symbols that indicate the logic states of an op-amp
B	A table of logic symbols that indicate the high logic states of an op-amp
C	A diagram showing logic states when the digital device output is true
D	A list of inputs and corresponding outputs for a digital device

31. - E7B09

Which of the following describes how the loading and tuning capacitors are to be adjusted when tuning a vacuum tube RF power amplifier that employs a Pi-network output circuit?

Select	Answer
A	The loading capacitor is set to maximum capacitance and the tuning capacitor is adjusted for minimum allowable plate current
B	The tuning capacitor is adjusted for minimum plate current, and the loading capacitor is adjusted for maximum permissible plate current
C	The tuning capacitor is set to maximum capacitance and the loading capacitor is adjusted for minimum plate permissible current
D	The loading capacitor is adjusted to minimum plate current while alternately adjusting the tuning capacitor for maximum allowable plate current

32. - E7C13

What is one advantage of a Pi-matching network over an L-matching network consisting of a single inductor and a single capacitor?

Select	Answer
A	The Q of Pi-networks can be varied depending on the component values chosen
B	Pi-networks are designed for balanced input and output
C	L-networks cannot perform impedance transformation
D	Pi-networks have fewer components

33. - E7D05

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

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

34. - E7E11

Which type of detector is used for demodulating SSB signals?

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

35. - E7F08

What is the function of decimation with regard to digital filters?

Select	Answer
A	Removing unnecessary significant digits
B	Reducing the effective sample rate by removing samples
C	Converting data to binary code decimal form
D	Attenuating the signal

36. - E7G07

What magnitude of voltage gain can be expected from the circuit in Figure E7-4 when R1 is 10 ohms and RF is 470 ohms?

Select	Answer
A	47
B	94
C	0.21
D	24

37. - E7H15

Which of these functions can be performed by a phase-locked loop?

Select	Answer
A	Comparison of two digital input signals, digital pulse counter
B	Wide-band AF and RF power amplification
C	Photovoltaic conversion, optical coupling
D	Frequency synthesis, FM demodulation

38. - E8A01

What is the name of the process that shows that a square wave is made up of a sine wave plus all of its odd harmonics?

Select	Answer
A	Differential analysis
B	Fourier analysis
C	Numerical analysis
D	Vector analysis

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	3000
B	0.3
C	3
D	1000

40. - E8C01

How is Forward Error Correction implemented?

Select	Answer
A	By varying the frequency shift of the transmitted signal according to a predefined algorithm
B	By transmitting extra data that may be used to detect and correct transmission errors
C	By the receiving station repeating each block of three data characters
D	By transmitting a special algorithm to the receiving station along with the data characters

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	Signal to noise ratio
C	Intermodulation Distortion (IMD)
D	Baud rate

42. - E9A02

What antenna has no gain in any direction?

Select	Answer
A	Half-wave dipole
B	Quarter-wave vertical
C	Yagi
D	Isotropic antenna

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	12 dB
C	14 dB
D	18 dB

44. - E9C12

Which of the following describes an extended double Zepp antenna?

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

45. - E9D02

How can linearly polarized Yagi antennas be used to produce circular polarization?

Select	Answer
A	Stack two Yagis fed 90 degrees out of phase to form an array with the respective elements in parallel planes
B	Stack two Yagis fed in phase to form an array with the respective elements in parallel planes
C	Arrange two Yagis collinear to each other with the driven elements fed 180 degrees out of phase
D	Arrange two Yagis perpendicular to each other with the driven elements at the same point on the boom fed 90 degrees out of phase

46. - E9E03

What is the name of the matching system that uses a section of transmission line connected in parallel with the feed line at or near the feed point?

Select	Answer
A	The omega match
B	The stub match
C	The gamma match
D	The delta match

47. - E9F05

What is the approximate physical length of a solid polyethylene dielectric coaxial transmission line that is electrically one-quarter wavelength long at 14.1 MHz?

Select	Answer
A	0.2 meters
B	3.5 meters
C	2.3 meters
D	20 meters

48. - E9G05

What type of chart is shown in Figure E9-3?

Select	Answer
A	Azimuth angle radiation pattern chart
B	Elevation angle radiation pattern chart
C	Smith chart
D	Free space radiation directivity chart

49. - E9H01

When constructing a Beverage antenna, which of the following factors should be included in the design to achieve good performance at the desired frequency?

Select	Answer
A	It should be configured as a four-sided loop
B	It should be one or more wavelengths long
C	Its overall length must not exceed 1/4 wavelength
D	It must be mounted more than 1 wavelength above ground

50. - E0A07

How may dangerous levels of carbon monoxide from an emergency generator be detected?

Select	Answer
A	By the odor
B	Any ordinary smoke detector can be used
C	Only with a carbon monoxide detector
D	By the yellowish appearance of the gas

Figure E6-5

Figure E7-4

Figure E9-1

Figure E9-3