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 you were not the station calling CQ
C	No, U.S. stations are not permitted to use phone emissions above 14.340 MHz
D	Yes, because the displayed frequency is within the 20 meter band

2. - E1B07

What is the highest modulation index permitted at the highest modulation frequency for angle modulation below 29.0 MHz?

Select	Answer
A	3.0
B	2.0
C	1.0
D	0.5

3. - E1C10

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

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

4. - E1D03

What is a telecommand station in the amateur satellite service?

Select	Answer
A	An amateur station located on the Earth's surface for communication with other Earth stations by means of Earth satellites
B	An amateur station that transmits telemetry consisting of measurements of upper atmosphere
C	An amateur station located more than 50 km above the Earth's surface
D	An amateur station that transmits communications to initiate, modify or terminate functions of a space station

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 everyone's examination and close the session
B	Immediately terminate the candidate's examination
C	Warn the candidate that continued failure to comply will result in termination of the examination
D	Allow the candidate to complete the examination, but invalidate the results

6. - E1F11

Which of the following best describes one of the standards that must be met by an external RF power amplifier if it is to qualify for a grant of FCC certification?

Select	Answer
A	It must satisfy the FCC's spurious emission standards when operated at the lesser of 1500 watts or its full output power
B	It must be capable of external RF switching between its input and output networks
C	It must exhibit a gain of 0 dB or less over its full output range
D	It must produce full legal output when driven by not more than 5 watts of mean RF input power

7. - E2A14

What technology is used to track, in real time, balloons carrying amateur radio transmitters?

Select	Answer
A	Radar
B	Doppler shift of beacon signals
C	APRS
D	Bandwidth compressed LORAN

8. - E2B11

What is the function of the Vertical Interval Signaling (VIS) code sent as part of an SSTV transmission?

Select	Answer
A	To provide vertical synchronization
B	To identify the call sign of the station transmitting
C	To identify the SSTV mode being used
D	To lock the color burst oscillator in color SSTV images

9. - E2C05

What is the function of a DX QSL Manager?

Select	Answer
A	To allocate frequencies for DXpeditions
B	To relay calls to and from a DX station
C	To handle the receiving and sending of confirmation cards for a DX station
D	To run a net to allow many stations to contact a rare DX station

10. - E2D04

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

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

11. - E2E11

What is the difference between direct FSK and audio FSK?

Select	Answer
A	Audio FSK can be performed anywhere in the transmit chain
B	Audio FSK has a superior frequency response
C	Direct FSK uses a DC-coupled data connection
D	Direct FSK applies the data signal to the transmitter VFO

12. - E3A15

What is an electromagnetic wave?

Select	Answer
A	A wave of alternating current, in the core of an electromagnet
B	A wave consisting of two magnetic fields at right angles to each other
C	A wave consisting of an electric field and a magnetic field oscillating at right angles to each other
D	A wave consisting of two electric fields at parallel right angles to each other

13. - E3B03

What is the best time of day for transequatorial propagation?

Select	Answer
A	Late at night
B	Noon
C	Afternoon or early evening
D	Morning

14. - E3C15

What might a sudden rise in radio background noise indicate?

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

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 multiplies a higher frequency signal so a low-frequency counter can display the operating frequency
C	It divides a higher frequency signal so a low-frequency counter can display the input frequency
D	It amplifies low level signals for more accurate counting

16. - E4B11

How should an antenna analyzer be connected when measuring antenna resonance and feed point impedance?

Select	Answer
A	Loosely couple the antenna and a dummy load to the analyzer
B	Loosely couple the analyzer near the antenna base
C	Connect the antenna feed line directly to the analyzer's connector
D	Connect the analyzer via a high-impedance transformer to the antenna

17. - E4C13

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

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

18. - E4D10

What does a third-order intercept level of 40 dBm mean with respect to receiver performance?

Select	Answer
A	A pair of 40 dBm signals will theoretically generate a third-order intermodulation product with the same level as the input signals
B	A pair of 1 mW input signals will produce a third-order intermodulation product which is 40 dB stronger than the input signal
C	Signals less than 40 dBm will not generate audible third-order intermodulation products
D	The receiver can tolerate signals up to 40 dB above the noise floor without producing third-order intermodulation products

19. - E4E09

What undesirable effect can occur when using an IF noise blanker?

Select	Answer
A	The audio frequency bandwidth of the received signal might be compressed
B	Received audio in the speech range might have an echo effect
C	Nearby signals may appear to be excessively wide even if they meet emission standards
D	FM signals can no longer be demodulated

20. - E5A10

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

Select	Answer
A	Resistance divided by the reactance of either the inductance or 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	Reactance of the inductance times the reactance of the capacitance

21. - E5B04

What is the time constant of a circuit having two 220 microfarad capacitors and two 1 megohm resistors, all in parallel?

Select	Answer
A	110 seconds
B	55 seconds
C	220 seconds
D	440 seconds

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 6
B	Point 2
C	Point 4
D	Point 5

23. - E5D14

What is reactive power?

Select	Answer
A	Wattless, nonproductive power
B	Power consumed in circuit Q
C	Power lost because of capacitor leakage
D	Power consumed in wire resistance in an inductor

24. - E6A16

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

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

25. - E6B12

What is one common use for PIN diodes?

Select	Answer
A	As a constant current source
B	As a constant voltage source
C	As a high voltage rectifier
D	As an RF switch

26. - E6C11

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

Select	Answer
A	2
B	5
C	6
D	4

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. - E6E01

Which of the following is true of a charge-coupled device (CCD)?

Select	Answer
A	Its phase shift changes rapidly with frequency
B	It is used in a battery charger circuit
C	It samples an analog signal and passes it in stages from the input to the output
D	It is a CMOS analog-to-digital converter

29. - E6F03

What is the most common configuration of an optoisolator or optocoupler?

Select	Answer
A	A frequency modulated helium-neon laser
B	An amplitude modulated helium-neon laser
C	An LED and a phototransistor
D	A lens and a photomultiplier

30. - E7A04

How many flip-flops are required to divide a signal frequency by 4?

Select	Answer
A	2
B	8
C	1
D	4

31. - E7B02

What is a Class D amplifier?

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

32. - E7C14

Which mode is most affected by non-linear phase response in a receiver IF filter?

Select	Answer
A	Single-Sideband voice
B	Digital
C	Video
D	Meteor scatter

33. - E7D04

Which of the following types of linear voltage regulator usually make the most efficient use of the primary power source?

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

34. - E7E08

What are the principal frequencies that appear at the output of a mixer circuit?

Select	Answer
A	The two input frequencies along with their sum and difference frequencies
B	1.414 and 0.707 times the input frequency
C	The sum, difference and square root of the input frequencies
D	Two and four times the original frequency

35. - E7F13

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

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

36. - E7G01

What is the typical output impedance of an integrated circuit op-amp?

Select	Answer
A	1000 ohms
B	Very high
C	100 ohms
D	Very low

37. - E7H02

Which describes a microphonic?

Select	Answer
A	An IC used for amplifying microphone signals
B	Changes in oscillator frequency due to mechanical vibration
C	Distortion caused by RF pickup on the microphone cable
D	Excess loading of the microphone by an oscillator

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	Numerical analysis
B	Fourier analysis
C	Vector analysis
D	Differential analysis

39. - E8B02

How does the modulation index of a phase-modulated emission vary with RF carrier frequency (the modulated frequency)?

Select	Answer
A	It does not depend on the RF carrier frequency
B	It varies with the square root of the RF carrier frequency
C	It increases as the RF carrier frequency increases
D	It decreases as the RF carrier frequency increases

40. - E8C05

What is the necessary bandwidth of a 13-WPM international Morse code transmission?

Select	Answer
A	Approximately 104 Hz
B	Approximately 52 Hz
C	Approximately 26 Hz
D	Approximately 13 Hz

41. - E8D10

What are some of the differences between the Baudot digital code and ASCII?

Select	Answer
A	Baudot uses 5 data bits per character, ASCII uses 7 or 8; Baudot uses 2 characters as letters/figures shift codes, ASCII has no letters/figures shift code
B	Baudot uses 7 data bits per character, ASCII uses 8; Baudot has no letters/figures shift code, ASCII uses 2 letters/figures shift codes
C	Baudot uses 6 data bits per character, ASCII uses 7 or 8; Baudot has no letters/figures shift code, ASCII uses 2 letters/figures shift codes
D	Baudot uses 4 data bits per character, ASCII uses 7 or 8; Baudot uses 1 character as a letters/figures shift code, ASCII has no letters/figures code

42. - E9A13

How much gain does an antenna have compared to a 1/2-wavelength dipole when it has 12 dB gain over an isotropic antenna?

Select	Answer
A	9.85 dB
B	6.17 dB
C	14.15 dB
D	12.5 dB

43. - E9B12

What is the far field of an antenna?

Select	Answer
A	The region where radiated power dissipates over a specified time period
B	The region of the ionosphere where radiated power is not refracted
C	The region where radiated field strengths are obstructed by objects of reflection
D	The region where the shape of the antenna pattern is independent of distance

44. - E9C01

What is the radiation pattern of two 1/4-wavelength vertical antennas spaced 1/2-wavelength apart and fed 180 degrees out of phase?

Select	Answer
A	A figure-8 oriented along the axis of the array
B	Cardioid
C	Omni-directional
D	A figure-8 broadside to the axis of the array

45. - E9D04

Why should an HF mobile antenna loading coil have a high ratio of reactance to resistance?

Select	Answer
A	To minimize the Q
B	To swamp out harmonics
C	To minimize losses
D	To maximize losses

46. - E9E02

What is the name of an antenna matching system that matches an unbalanced feed line to an antenna by feeding the driven element both at the center of the element and at a fraction of a wavelength to one side of center?

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

47. - E9F16

Which of the following is a significant difference between foam dielectric coaxial cable and solid dielectric cable, assuming all other parameters are the same?

Select	Answer
A	Foam dielectric has higher velocity factor
B	Foam dielectric has lower loss per unit of length
C	All of these choices are correct
D	Foam dielectric has lower safe operating voltage limits

48. - E9G03

Which of the following is often determined using a Smith chart?

Select	Answer
A	Impedance and SWR values in transmission lines
B	Trigonometric functions
C	Beam headings and radiation patterns
D	Satellite azimuth and elevation bearings

49. - E9H11

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

Select	Answer
A	Broad band response
B	A very sharp single null
C	A very sharp peak
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	Only commercial transmitters
B	Each transmitter that produces 5 percent or more of its MPE limit at accessible locations
C	Each transmitter operating with a duty-cycle greater than 50 percent
D	Only the most powerful transmitter

Figure E5-2

Figure E6-5