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

Logging in (or registering) will help the system to select questions that you need to focus on.

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. - E1B09

Which amateur stations may be operated under RACES rules?

Select	Answer
A	Any FCC-licensed amateur station certified by the responsible civil defense organization for the area served
B	Any FCC-licensed amateur station participating in the Military Auxiliary Radio System (MARS)
C	Only those club stations licensed to Amateur Extra class operators
D	Any FCC-licensed amateur station except a Technician class

3. - E1C09

Which of these ranges of frequencies is available for an automatically controlled repeater operating below 30 MHz?

Select	Answer
A	18.110 MHz - 18.168 MHz
B	29.500 MHz - 29.700 MHz
C	24.940 MHz - 24.990 MHz
D	10.100 MHz - 10.150 MHz

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

5. - E1E01

What is the minimum number of qualified VEs required to administer an Element 4 amateur operator license examination?

Select	Answer
A	3
B	5
C	2
D	4

6. - E1F05

Amateur stations may not transmit in which of the following frequency segments if they are located in the contiguous 48 states and north of Line A?

Select	Answer
A	53 MHz - 54 MHz
B	420 MHz - 430 MHz
C	222 MHz - 223 MHz
D	440 MHz - 450 MHz

7. - E2A10

Why may the received signal from an amateur satellite exhibit a rapidly repeating fading effect?

Select	Answer
A	Because the satellite is spinning
B	Because of the satellite's low orbital altitude
C	Because of ionospheric absorption
D	Because of the Doppler Effect

8. - E2B07

What is the name of the signal component that carries color information in NTSC video?

Select	Answer
A	Hue
B	Chroma
C	Luminance
D	Spectral Intensity

9. - E2C08

Which of the following contacts may be confirmed through the U.S. QSL bureau system?

Select	Answer
A	Contacts using tactical call signs
B	Special event contacts between stations in the U.S.
C	Repeater contacts between U.S. club members
D	Contacts between a U.S. station and a non-U.S. station

10. - E2D02

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

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

11. - E2E06

What is the most common data rate used for HF packet?

Select	Answer
A	1200 baud
B	48 baud
C	110 baud
D	300 baud

12. - E3A02

What characterizes libration fading of an EME signal?

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

13. - E3B06

Which of the following amateur bands most frequently provides long-path propagation?

Select	Answer
A	6 meters
B	10 meters
C	80 meters
D	20 meters

14. - E3C11

What does VOACAP software model?

Select	Answer
A	AC current and impedance
B	VHF radio propagation
C	HF propagation
D	AC voltage and impedance

15. - E4A08

Which of the following instrument would be best for measuring the SWR of a beam antenna?

Select	Answer
A	A Q meter
B	A spectrum analyzer
C	An antenna analyzer
D	An ohmmeter

16. - E4B15

Which of the following can be used as a relative measurement of the Q for a series-tuned circuit?

Select	Answer
A	The resonant frequency of the circuit
B	The frequency shift
C	The inductance to capacitance ratio
D	The bandwidth of the circuit's frequency response

17. - E4C17

Which of the following has the largest effect on an SDR receiver's linearity?

Select	Answer
A	Analog-to-digital converter sample width in bits
B	Anti-aliasing input filter bandwidth
C	CPU register width in bits
D	RAM speed used for data storage

18. - E4D12

What is the term for the reduction in receiver sensitivity caused by a strong signal near the received frequency?

Select	Answer
A	Squelch gain rollback
B	Quieting
C	Cross-modulation interference
D	Desensitization

19. - E4E16

What current flows equally on all conductors of an unshielded multi-conductor cable?

Select	Answer
A	Common-mode current
B	Reactive current only
C	Return current
D	Differential-mode current

20. - E5A03

What is the magnitude of the impedance of a series RLC circuit at resonance?

Select	Answer
A	Approximately equal to circuit resistance
B	High, as compared to the circuit resistance
C	Approximately equal to inductive reactance
D	Approximately equal to capacitive reactance

21. - E5B06

What is susceptance?

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

22. - E5C10

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

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

23. - E5D08

What type of energy is stored in an electromagnetic or electrostatic field?

Select	Answer
A	Electromechanical energy
B	Kinetic energy
C	Thermodynamic energy
D	Potential energy

24. - E6A14

How does DC input impedance at the gate of a field-effect transistor compare with the DC input impedance of a bipolar transistor?

Select	Answer
A	They are both high impedance
B	They are both low impedance
C	An FET has high input impedance; a bipolar transistor has low input impedance
D	An FET has low input impedance; a bipolar transistor has high input impedance

25. - E6B13

What type of bias is required for an LED to emit light?

Select	Answer
A	Reverse bias
B	Forward bias
C	Inductive bias
D	Zero bias

26. - E6C11

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

Select	Answer
A	6
B	5
C	4
D	2

27. - E6D09

What devices are commonly used as VHF and UHF parasitic suppressors at the input and output terminals of a transistor HF amplifier?

Select	Answer
A	Butterworth filters
B	Steel-core toroids
C	Ferrite beads
D	Electrolytic capacitors

28. - E6E07

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

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

29. - E6F02

What happens to the conductivity of a photoconductive material when light shines on it?

Select	Answer
A	It decreases
B	It becomes unstable
C	It increases
D	It stays the same

30. - E7A02

What is the function of a decade counter digital IC?

Select	Answer
A	It adds two decimal numbers together
B	It decodes a decimal number for display on a seven segment LED display
C	It produces ten output pulses for every input pulse
D	It produces one output pulse for every ten input pulses

31. - E7B14

Why are switching amplifiers more efficient than linear amplifiers?

Select	Answer
A	The power transistor is at saturation or cut off most of the time, resulting in low power dissipation
B	Switching amplifiers use push-pull circuits
C	Linear amplifiers have high gain resulting in higher harmonic content
D	Switching amplifiers operate at higher voltages

32. - E7C04

How does an impedance-matching circuit transform a complex impedance to a resistive impedance?

Select	Answer
A	It introduces transconductance to cancel the reactive part of impedance
B	It cancels the reactive part of the impedance and changes the resistive part to a desired value
C	It introduces negative resistance to cancel the resistive part of impedance
D	Network resistances are substituted for load resistances and reactances are matched to the resistances

33. - E7D14

What is one purpose of a "bleeder" resistor in a conventional unregulated power supply?

Select	Answer
A	To cut down on waste heat generated by the power supply
B	To balance the low-voltage filament windings
C	To boost the amount of output current
D	To improve output voltage regulation

34. - E7E07

What is meant by the term baseband in radio communications?

Select	Answer
A	The basic oscillator frequency in an FM transmitter that is multiplied to increase the deviation and carrier frequency
B	The unmodulated bandwidth of the transmitted signal
C	The lowest frequency band that the transmitter or receiver covers
D	The frequency components present in the modulating signal

35. - E7F11

What sets the minimum detectable signal level for an SDR in the absence of atmospheric or thermal noise?

Select	Answer
A	Data storage transfer rate
B	Reference voltage level and sample width in bits
C	Missing codes and jitter
D	Sample clock phase noise

36. - E7G05

How can unwanted ringing and audio instability be prevented in a multi-section op-amp RC audio filter circuit?

Select	Answer
A	Increase both gain and Q
B	Restrict gain but increase Q
C	Restrict Q but increase gain
D	Restrict both gain and Q

37. - E7H14

What is a phase-locked loop circuit?

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

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	25 to 1
C	100 to 1
D	2.5 to 1

39. - E8B08

What describes Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing?

Select	Answer
A	A digital mode for narrow band, slow speed transmissions
B	A digital modulation technique using subcarriers at frequencies chosen to avoid intersymbol interference
C	A bandwidth compression technique using Fourier transforms
D	A frequency modulation technique which uses non-harmonically related frequencies

40. - E8C09

Which is the name of a digital code where each preceding or following character changes by only one bit?

Select	Answer
A	Gray code
B	Extended Binary Coded Decimal Interchange Code
C	Excess 3 code
D	Binary Coded Decimal Code

41. - E8D01

Why are received spread spectrum signals resistant to interference?

Select	Answer
A	Signals not using the spread spectrum algorithm are suppressed in the receiver
B	If interference is detected by the receiver it will signal the transmitter to change frequencies
C	The high power used by a spread spectrum transmitter keeps its signal from being easily overpowered
D	The receiver is always equipped with a digital blanker

42. - E9A06

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

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

43. - E9B11

What is a disadvantage of decreasing the number of wire segments in an antenna model below the guideline of 10 segments per half-wavelength?

Select	Answer
A	The resulting design will favor radiation of harmonic energy
B	The antenna will become mechanically unstable
C	The computed feed point impedance may be incorrect
D	Ground conductivity will not be accurately modeled

44. - E9C08

What is a folded dipole antenna?

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

45. - E9D02

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

Select	Answer
A	Stack two Yagis fed in phase to form an array with the respective elements in parallel planes
B	Arrange two Yagis collinear to each other with the driven elements fed 180 degrees out of phase
C	Stack two Yagis fed 90 degrees out of phase to form an array with the respective elements in parallel planes
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. - E9E10

Which of these choices is an effective way to match an antenna with a 100 ohm feed point impedance to a 50 ohm coaxial cable feed line?

Select	Answer
A	Connect a 1/4-wavelength open stub of 300 ohm twin-lead in parallel with the coaxial feed line where it connects to the antenna
B	Connect 1/2 wavelength shorted stub of 75 ohm cable in parallel with the 50 ohm cable where it attaches to the antenna
C	Insert a 1/2 wavelength piece of 300 ohm twin-lead in series between the antenna terminals and the 50 ohm feed cable
D	Insert a 1/4-wavelength piece of 75 ohm coaxial cable transmission line in series between the antenna terminals and the 50 ohm feed cable

47. - E9F08

What is the term for the ratio of the actual speed at which a signal travels through a transmission line to the speed of light in a vacuum?

Select	Answer
A	Velocity factor
B	Characteristic impedance
C	Surge impedance
D	Standing wave ratio

48. - E9G05

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

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

49. - E9H09

Which of the following describes the construction of a receiving loop antenna?

Select	Answer
A	A vertical antenna coupled to a feed line through an inductive loop of wire
B	A large circularly polarized antenna
C	A small coil of wire tightly wound around a toroidal ferrite core
D	One or more turns of wire wound in the shape of a large open coil

50. - E0A05

What is one of the potential hazards of using microwaves in the amateur radio bands?

Select	Answer
A	The high gain antennas commonly used can result in high exposure levels
B	Microwaves are ionizing radiation
C	Microwaves often travel long distances by ionospheric reflection
D	The extremely high frequency energy can damage the joints of antenna structures

Figure E6-5

Figure E9-3