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

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1. - E1A10

If an amateur station is installed aboard a ship or aircraft, what condition must be met before the station is operated?

Select	Answer
A	The amateur station operator must agree not to transmit when the main radio of the ship or aircraft is in use
B	The amateur station must have a power supply that is completely independent of the main ship or aircraft power supply
C	Its operation must be approved by the master of the ship or the pilot in command of the aircraft
D	The amateur operator must have an FCC Marine or Aircraft endorsement on his or her amateur license

2. - E1B05

What is the National Radio Quiet Zone?

Select	Answer
A	An area in New Mexico surrounding the White Sands Test Area
B	An area surrounding the National Radio Astronomy Observatory
C	An area in Florida surrounding Cape Canaveral
D	An area in Puerto Rico surrounding the Arecibo Radio Telescope

3. - E1C06

Which of the following statements concerning remotely controlled amateur stations is true?

Select	Answer
A	A control operator must be present at the control point
B	Repeater and auxiliary stations may not be remotely controlled
C	Only Extra Class operators may be the control operator of a remote station
D	A control operator need not be present at the control point

4. - E1D06

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

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

5. - E1E05

What is the minimum passing score on amateur operator license examinations?

Select	Answer
A	Minimum passing score of 77%
B	Minimum passing score of 74%
C	Minimum passing score of 80%
D	Minimum passing score of 70%

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	10 W
C	1.5 kW
D	1 W

7. - E2A02

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

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

8. - E2B09

What hardware, other than a receiver with SSB capability and a suitable computer, is needed to decode SSTV using Digital Radio Mondiale (DRM)?

Select	Answer
A	No other hardware is needed
B	A special IF converter
C	A special notch filter to remove synchronization pulses
D	A special front end limiter

9. - E2C13

What indicator is required to be used by U.S.-licensed operators when operating a station via remote control where the transmitter is located in the U.S.?

Select	Answer
A	/ followed by the USPS two letter abbreviation for the state in which the remote station is located
B	The ARRL section of the remote station
C	/R# where # is the district of the remote station
D	No additional indicator is required

10. - E2D09

Which of these digital modes has the fastest data throughput under clear communication conditions?

Select	Answer
A	AMTOR
B	300 baud packet
C	170 Hz shift, 45 baud RTTY
D	PSK31

11. - E2E06

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

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

12. - E3A12

What is the cause of auroral activity?

Select	Answer
A	Meteor showers concentrated in the extreme northern and southern latitudes
B	The interaction in the F2 layer between the solar wind and the Van Allen belt
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. - E3B12

What is the primary characteristic of chordal hop propagation?

Select	Answer
A	Signals reflected back toward the transmitting station
B	Propagation away from the great circle bearing between stations
C	Propagation across the geomagnetic equator
D	Successive ionospheric reflections without an intermediate reflection from the ground

14. - E3C05

What orientation of Bz (B sub z) increases the likelihood that incoming particles from the Sun will cause disturbed conditions?

Select	Answer
A	Southward
B	Westward
C	Eastward
D	Northward

15. - E4A08

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

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

16. - E4B16

Which S parameter represents return loss or SWR?

Select	Answer
A	S11
B	S22
C	S21
D	S12

17. - E4C06

A CW receiver with the AGC off has an equivalent input noise power density of -174 dBm/Hz. What would be the level of an unmodulated carrier input to this receiver that would yield an audio output SNR of 0 dB in a 400 Hz noise bandwidth?

Select	Answer
A	-174 dBm
B	-164 dBm
C	-155 dBm
D	-148 dBm

18. - E4D05

What transmitter frequencies would cause an intermodulation-product signal in a receiver tuned to 146.70 MHz when a nearby station transmits on 146.52 MHz?

Select	Answer
A	146.10 MHz and 147.30 MHz
B	146.88 MHz and 146.34 MHz
C	173.35 MHz and 139.40 MHz
D	146.34 MHz and 146.61 MHz

19. - E4E04

How can conducted and radiated noise caused by an automobile alternator be suppressed?

Select	Answer
A	By installing a high-pass filter in series with the radio's power lead and a low-pass filter in parallel with the field lead
B	By installing a noise suppression resistor and a blocking capacitor in both leads
C	By installing filter capacitors in series with the DC power lead and a blocking capacitor in the field lead
D	By connecting the radio's power leads directly to the battery and by installing coaxial capacitors in line with the alternator leads

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 frequency at which the reactive impedance equals the resistive impedance
C	The highest frequency that will pass current
D	The lowest frequency that will pass current

21. - E5B10

What is the relationship between the current through an inductor and the voltage across an inductor?

Select	Answer
A	Current leads voltage by 90 degrees
B	Voltage leads current by 90 degrees
C	Voltage and current are in phase
D	Voltage and current are 180 degrees out of phase

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. - E5D18

How many watts are consumed in a circuit having a power factor of 0.71 if the apparent power is 500VA?

Select	Answer
A	704 W
B	1.42 mW
C	355 W
D	252 W

24. - E6A10

In Figure E6-2, what is the schematic symbol for an N-channel dual-gate MOSFET?

Select	Answer
A	4
B	5
C	6
D	2

25. - E6B07

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

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

26. - E6C01

What is the function of hysteresis in a comparator?

Select	Answer
A	To cause the output to change states continually
B	To increase the sensitivity
C	To allow the comparator to be used with AC input signal
D	To prevent input noise from causing unstable output signals

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	Electrolytic capacitors
D	Ferrite beads

28. - E6E09

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

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

29. - E6F11

What is the approximate open-circuit voltage produced by a fully-illuminated silicon photovoltaic cell?

Select	Answer
A	0.1 V
B	1.5 V
C	0.5 V
D	12 V

30. - E7A09

What logical operation is performed by an exclusive NOR gate?

Select	Answer
A	It produces logic "0" at its output if any single input is logic "1"
B	It produces logic "1" at its output if any single input is logic "1"
C	It produces logic "0" at its output only if all inputs are logic "0"
D	It produces logic "1" at its output only if all inputs are logic "1"

31. - E7B07

Which of the following is a likely result when a Class C amplifier is used to amplify a single-sideband phone signal?

Select	Answer
A	Reduced intermodulation products
B	Increased overall intelligibility
C	Signal inversion
D	Signal distortion and excessive bandwidth

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

33. - E7D11

What circuit element is controlled by a series analog voltage regulator to maintain a constant output voltage?

Select	Answer
A	Switching inductance
B	Error amplifier
C	Reference voltage
D	Pass transistor

34. - E7E04

What is one way a single-sideband phone signal can be generated?

Select	Answer
A	By driving a product detector with a DSB signal
B	By using a reactance modulator followed by a mixer
C	By using a balanced modulator followed by a filter
D	By using a loop modulator followed by a mixer

35. - E7F15

Which of the following is an advantage of a Finite Impulse Response (FIR) filter vs an Infinite Impulse Response (IIR) digital filter?

Select	Answer
A	FIR filters are easier to implement for a given set of passband rolloff requirements
B	FIR filters delay all frequency components of the signal by the same amount
C	All of these choices are correct
D	FIR filters can respond faster to impulses

36. - E7G06

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

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

37. - E7H06

Which of the following oscillator circuits are commonly used in VFOs?

Select	Answer
A	Negative feedback and balanced feedback
B	Colpitts and Hartley
C	Armstrong and deForest
D	Pierce and Zener

38. - E8A12

What is an advantage of using digital signals instead of analog signals to convey the same information?

Select	Answer
A	Less complex circuitry is required for digital signal generation and detection
B	Digital signals can be regenerated multiple times without error
C	All of these choices are correct
D	Digital signals always occupy a narrower bandwidth

39. - E8B10

What describes frequency division multiplexing?

Select	Answer
A	The transmitted signal is divided into packets of information
B	The transmitted signal jumps from band to band at a predetermined rate
C	Two or more information streams are merged into a digital combiner, which then pulse position modulates the transmitter
D	Two or more information streams are merged into a baseband, which then modulates the transmitter

40. - E8C04

What technique is used to minimize the bandwidth requirements of a PSK31 signal?

Select	Answer
A	Reed-Solomon character encoding
B	Use of trapezoidal data pulses
C	Use of sinusoidal data pulses
D	Zero-sum character encoding

41. - E8D01

Why are received spread spectrum signals resistant to interference?

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

42. - E9A15

What is the effective radiated power relative to a dipole of a repeater station with 150 watts transmitter power output, 2 dB feed line loss, 2.2 dB duplexer loss, and 7 dBd antenna gain?

Select	Answer
A	1977 watts
B	286 watts
C	78.7 watts
D	420 watts

43. - E9B05

What type of antenna pattern over real ground is shown in Figure E9-2?

Select	Answer
A	Azimuth
B	Polarization
C	Radiation resistance
D	Elevation

44. - E9C15

How does the radiation pattern of a horizontally polarized 3-element beam antenna vary with its height above ground?

Select	Answer
A	The main lobe takeoff angle decreases with increasing height
B	The horizontal beam width decreases with height
C	The horizontal beam width increases with height
D	The main lobe takeoff angle increases with increasing height

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

46. - E9E05

How must the driven element in a 3-element Yagi be tuned to use a hairpin matching system?

Select	Answer
A	The driven element radiation resistance must be higher than the characteristic impedance of the transmission line
B	The driven element reactance must be inductive
C	The driven element resonance must be lower than the operating frequency
D	The driven element reactance must be capacitive

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	Standing wave ratio
B	Velocity factor
C	Characteristic impedance
D	Surge impedance

48. - E9G11

How are the wavelength scales on a Smith chart calibrated?

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

49. - E9H04

What is an advantage of using a shielded loop antenna for direction finding?

Select	Answer
A	It allows stations to communicate without giving away their position
B	It is electro statically balanced against ground, giving better nulls
C	It eliminates tracking errors caused by strong out-of-band signals
D	It automatically cancels ignition noise in mobile installations

50. - E0A06

Why are there separate electric (E) and magnetic (H) field MPE limits?

Select	Answer
A	All of these choices are correct
B	The body reacts to electromagnetic radiation from both the E and H fields
C	Ground reflections and scattering make the field impedance vary with location
D	E field and H field radiation intensity peaks can occur at different locations

Figure E5-2

Figure E6-2

Figure E9-2