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

2. - E1B05

What is the National Radio Quiet Zone?

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

3. - E1C01

What is a remotely controlled station?

Select	Answer
A	A station operated away from its regular home location
B	A station controlled by someone other than the licensee
C	A station controlled indirectly through a control link
D	A station operating under automatic control

4. - E1D04

What is an Earth station in the amateur satellite service?

Select	Answer
A	An amateur station that is not able to communicate using amateur satellites
B	An amateur station within 50 km of the Earth's surface intended for communications with amateur stations by means of objects in space
C	An amateur station that transmits telemetry consisting of measurement of upper atmosphere
D	Any amateur station on the surface of the Earth

5. - E1E06

Who is responsible for the proper conduct and necessary supervision during an amateur operator license examination session?

Select	Answer
A	The FCC
B	Each administering VE
C	The VE session manager
D	The VEC coordinating the session

6. - E1F08

Which of the following types of amateur station communications are prohibited?

Select	Answer
A	Communications in a language other than English
B	Communications transmitted for hire or material compensation, except as otherwise provided in the rules
C	Communications that have a political content, except as allowed by the Fairness Doctrine
D	Communications that have a religious content

7. - E2A11

What type of antenna can be used to minimize the effects of spin modulation and Faraday rotation?

Select	Answer
A	A log-periodic dipole array
B	An isotropic antenna
C	A circularly polarized antenna
D	A linearly polarized antenna

8. - E2B17

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

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

9. - E2C01

Which of the following is true about contest operating?

Select	Answer
A	Operators are permitted to make contacts even if they do not submit a log
B	It is mandatory to transmit the call sign of the station being worked as part of every transmission to that station
C	Interference to other amateurs is unavoidable and therefore acceptable
D	Every contest requires a signal report in the exchange

10. - E2D03

Which of the following digital modes is especially useful for EME communications?

Select	Answer
A	JT65
B	Olivia
C	FSK441
D	PACTOR III

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	Automatic
D	Local

12. - E3A10

Which type of atmospheric structure can create a path for microwave propagation?

Select	Answer
A	Wind shear
B	Temperature inversion
C	Dust devil
D	The jet stream

13. - E3B02

What is the approximate maximum range for signals using transequatorial propagation?

Select	Answer
A	7500 miles
B	2500 miles
C	5000 miles
D	1000 miles

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	Long-path propagation is occurring
D	A meteor ping

15. - E4A04

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

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

16. - E4B07

What do the subscripts of S parameters represent?

Select	Answer
A	The relative time between measurements
B	Frequency order of the measurements
C	Relative quality of the data
D	The port or ports at which measurements are made

17. - E4C11

Which of the following is a desirable amount of selectivity for an amateur SSB phone receiver?

Select	Answer
A	1 kHz
B	2.4 kHz
C	4.2 kHz
D	4.8 kHz

18. - E4D13

Which of the following can cause receiver desensitization?

Select	Answer
A	Strong adjacent channel signals
B	Squelch gain misadjusted
C	Audio bias adjusted too high
D	Audio gain adjusted too low

19. - E4E16

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

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

20. - E5A04

What is the magnitude of the impedance of a circuit with a resistor, an inductor and a capacitor all in parallel, at resonance?

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

21. - E5B08

What is the phase angle between the voltage across and the current through a series RLC circuit if XC is 100 ohms, R is 100 ohms, and XL is 75 ohms?

Select	Answer
A	76 degrees with the voltage lagging the current
B	14 degrees with the voltage lagging the current
C	14 degrees with the voltage leading the current
D	76 degrees with the voltage leading the current

22. - E5C15

Which point in Figure E5-2 best represents the impedance of a series circuit consisting of a 300 ohm resistor and an 18 microhenry inductor at 3.505 MHz?

Select	Answer
A	Point 3
B	Point 8
C	Point 1
D	Point 7

23. - E5D03

What is microstrip?

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

24. - E6A12

Why do many MOSFET devices have internally connected Zener diodes on the gates?

Select	Answer
A	To keep the gate voltage within specifications and prevent the device from overheating
B	To reduce the chance of the gate insulation being punctured by static discharges or excessive voltages
C	To protect the substrate from excessive voltages
D	To provide a voltage reference for the correct amount of reverse-bias gate voltage

25. - E6B01

What is the most useful characteristic of a Zener diode?

Select	Answer
A	A constant current drop under conditions of varying voltage
B	A negative resistance region
C	An internal capacitance that varies with the applied voltage
D	A constant voltage drop under conditions of varying current

26. - E6C04

What is the primary advantage of tri-state logic?

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

27. - E6D02

What is the equivalent circuit of a quartz crystal?

Select	Answer
A	Motional capacitance, motional inductance, loss resistance, and a capacitor representing electrode and stray capacitance all in series
B	Motional capacitance, motional inductance, loss resistance, and a capacitor representing electrode and stray capacitance all in parallel
C	Motional capacitance, motional inductance, and loss resistance in series, all in parallel with a shunt capacitor representing electrode and stray capacitance
D	Motional inductance and loss resistance in series, paralleled with motional capacitance and a capacitor representing electrode and stray capacitance

28. - E6E08

How is voltage from a power supply normally furnished to the most common type of monolithic microwave integrated circuit (MMIC)?

Select	Answer
A	MMICs require no operating bias
B	Directly to the bias voltage (VCC IN) lead
C	Through a resistor and/or RF choke connected to the amplifier output lead
D	Through a capacitor and RF choke connected to the amplifier input lead

29. - E6F04

What is the photovoltaic effect?

Select	Answer
A	The conversion of light to electrical energy
B	The conversion of electrical energy to mechanical energy
C	The tendency of a battery to discharge when used outside
D	The conversion of voltage to current when exposed to light

30. - E7A10

What is a truth table?

Select	Answer
A	A list of inputs and corresponding outputs for a digital device
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 table of logic symbols that indicate the logic states of an op-amp

31. - E7B06

Which of the following amplifier types reduces or eliminates even order harmonics?

Select	Answer
A	Class AB
B	Push-push
C	Class C
D	Push-pull

32. - E7C03

What advantage does a Pi-L-network have over a regular Pi-network for impedance matching between the final amplifier of a vacuum-tube transmitter and an antenna?

Select	Answer
A	Higher efficiency
B	Lower losses
C	Greater harmonic suppression
D	Greater transformation range

33. - E7D12

What is the drop-out voltage of an analog voltage regulator?

Select	Answer
A	Minimum input-to-output voltage required to maintain regulation
B	Maximum amount that the output voltage drops when the input voltage is varied over its specified range
C	Maximum amount that the output voltage may decrease at rated load
D	Minimum input voltage for rated power dissipation

34. - E7E07

What is meant by the term baseband in radio communications?

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

35. - E7F06

What is the minimum number of bits required for an analog-to-digital converter to sample a signal with a range of 1 volt at a resolution of 1 millivolt?

Select	Answer
A	4 bits
B	10 bits
C	6 bits
D	8 bits

36. - E7G02

What is the effect of ringing in a filter?

Select	Answer
A	An echo caused by a long time delay
B	Partial cancellation of the signal over a range of frequencies
C	Undesired oscillations added to the desired signal
D	A reduction in high frequency response

37. - E7H12

Which of the following must be done to insure that a crystal oscillator provides the frequency specified by the crystal manufacturer?

Select	Answer
A	Bias the crystal at a specified voltage
B	Provide the crystal with a specified parallel inductance
C	Provide the crystal with a specified parallel capacitance
D	Bias the crystal at a specified current

38. - E8A02

What type of wave has a rise time significantly faster than its fall time (or vice versa)?

Select	Answer
A	A cosine wave
B	A sawtooth wave
C	A square wave
D	A sine wave

39. - E8B02

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

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

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 sinusoidal data pulses
C	Zero-sum character encoding
D	Use of trapezoidal data pulses

41. - E8D11

What is one advantage of using ASCII code for data communications?

Select	Answer
A	It includes built in error correction features
B	It is possible to transmit both upper and lower case text
C	It uses one character as a shift code to send numeric and special characters
D	It contains fewer information bits per character than any other code

42. - E9A02

What antenna has no gain in any direction?

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

43. - E9B16

How many elevation lobes appear in the forward direction of the antenna radiation pattern shown in Figure E9-2?

Select	Answer
A	7
B	4
C	3
D	1

44. - E9C11

How is the far-field elevation pattern of a vertically polarized antenna affected by being mounted over seawater versus rocky ground?

Select	Answer
A	The low-angle radiation decreases
B	The high-angle radiation increases
C	Both the high-angle and low-angle radiation decrease
D	The low-angle radiation increases

45. - E9D07

What is an advantage of using top loading in a shortened HF vertical antenna?

Select	Answer
A	Improved radiation efficiency
B	Greater structural strength
C	Higher losses
D	Lower Q

46. - E9E13

What is a use for a Wilkinson divider?

Select	Answer
A	It is used to divide power equally between two 50 ohm loads while maintaining 50 ohm input impedance
B	It is used to feed high-impedance antennas from a low-impedance source
C	It divides the operating frequency of a transmitter signal so it can be used on a lower frequency band
D	It is used to feed low-impedance loads from a high-impedance source

47. - E9F10

What impedance does a 1/8 wavelength transmission line present to a generator when the line is shorted at the far end?

Select	Answer
A	An inductive reactance
B	A capacitive reactance
C	The same as the input impedance to the final generator stage
D	The same as the characteristic impedance of the line

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	Free space radiation directivity chart
D	Smith chart

49. - E9H11

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

Select	Answer
A	A very sharp peak
B	High-radiation angle
C	A very sharp single null
D	Broad band response

50. - E0A07

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

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

Figure E5-2

Figure E9-2

Figure E9-3