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

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1. - E1A09

What is the first action you should take if your digital message forwarding station inadvertently forwards a communication that violates FCC rules?

Select	Answer
A	Discontinue forwarding the communication as soon as you become aware of it
B	Notify the originating station that the communication does not comply with FCC rules
C	Notify the nearest FCC Field Engineer's office
D	Discontinue forwarding all messages

2. - E1B05

What is the National Radio Quiet Zone?

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

3. - E1C12

What types of communications may be transmitted to amateur stations in foreign countries?

Select	Answer
A	Messages intended for connection to users of the maritime satellite service
B	Communications incidental to the purpose of the amateur service and remarks of a personal nature
C	Business-related messages for non-profit organizations
D	All of these choices are correct

4. - E1D03

What is a telecommand station in the amateur satellite service?

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

5. - E1E14

For which types of out-of-pocket expenses do the Part 97 rules state that VEs and VECs may be reimbursed?

Select	Answer
A	No expenses are authorized for reimbursement
B	Preparing, processing, administering and coordinating an examination for an amateur radio license
C	Providing amateur operator license examination preparation training materials
D	Teaching an amateur operator license examination preparation course

6. - E1F08

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

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

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 ionospheric absorption
C	Because of the Doppler Effect
D	Because of the satellite's low orbital altitude

8. - E2B12

How are analog SSTV images typically transmitted on the HF bands?

Select	Answer
A	Video is converted to equivalent ASCII representation
B	Video is converted to equivalent Baudot representation
C	Varying tone frequencies representing the video are transmitted using PSK
D	Varying tone frequencies representing the video are transmitted using single sideband

9. - E2C09

What type of equipment is commonly used to implement a ham radio mesh network?

Select	Answer
A	A 2 meter VHF transceiver with a 1200 baud modem
B	A standard wireless router running custom software
C	An optical cable connection between the USB ports of 2 separate computers
D	A 440 MHz transceiver with a 9600 baud modem

10. - E2D11

Which of the following data are used by the APRS network to communicate your location?

Select	Answer
A	Time and frequency
B	Latitude and longitude
C	Radio direction finding spectrum analysis
D	Polar coordinates

11. - E2E03

How is the timing of JT65 contacts organized?

Select	Answer
A	Stations take turns on alternate days
B	By exchanging ACK/NAK packets
C	It depends on the lunar phase
D	Alternating transmissions at 1 minute intervals

12. - E3A13

Which emission mode is best for aurora propagation?

Select	Answer
A	CW
B	FM
C	SSB
D	RTTY

13. - E3B10

What is the cause of gray-line propagation?

Select	Answer
A	In darkness, solar absorption drops greatly while atmospheric ionization remains steady
B	At mid-afternoon, the Sun heats the ionosphere decreasing radio wave refraction and the MUF
C	At midday, the Sun super heats the ionosphere causing increased refraction of radio waves
D	At twilight and sunrise, D-layer absorption is low while E-layer and F-layer propagation remains high

14. - E3C09

How does the intensity of an X3 flare compare to that of an X2 flare?

Select	Answer
A	Twice as great
B	10 percent greater
C	50 percent greater
D	Four times as great

15. - E4A05

What might be an advantage of a digital vs an analog oscilloscope?

Select	Answer
A	Manipulation of time base after trace capture
B	Storage of traces for future reference
C	All of these choices are correct
D	Automatic amplitude and frequency numerical readout

16. - E4B04

If a frequency counter with a specified accuracy of +/- 0.1 ppm reads 146,520,000 Hz, what is the most the actual frequency being measured could differ from the reading?

Select	Answer
A	14.652 Hz
B	1.4652 kHz
C	1.4652 Hz
D	0.1 MHz

17. - E4C09

Which of the following choices is a good reason for selecting a high frequency for the design of the IF in a conventional HF or VHF communications receiver?

Select	Answer
A	Fewer components in the receiver
B	Improved receiver noise figure
C	Reduced drift
D	Easier for front-end circuitry to eliminate image responses

18. - E4D01

What is meant by the blocking dynamic range of a receiver?

Select	Answer
A	The minimum difference in dB between two signals which produce third order intermodulation products greater than the noise floor
B	The minimum difference in dB between the levels of two FM signals which will cause one signal to block the other
C	The difference in dB between the noise floor and the third order intercept point
D	The difference in dB between the noise floor and the level of an incoming signal which will cause 1 dB of gain compression

19. - E4E01

Which of the following types of receiver noise can often be reduced by use of a receiver noise blanker?

Select	Answer
A	Ignition noise
B	Heterodyne interference
C	All of these choices are correct
D	Broadband white noise

20. - E5A12

What is the half-power bandwidth of a parallel resonant circuit that has a resonant frequency of 3.7 MHz and a Q of 118?

Select	Answer
A	31.4 kHz
B	15.7 kHz
C	218.3 kHz
D	436.6 kHz

21. - E5B07

What is the phase angle between the voltage across and the current through a series RLC circuit if XC is 500 ohms, R is 1 kilohm, and XL is 250 ohms?

Select	Answer
A	14.0 degrees with the voltage lagging the current
B	68.2 degrees with the voltage leading the current
C	14.0 degrees with the voltage leading the current
D	68.2 degrees with the voltage lagging the current

22. - E5C05

What is the name of the diagram used to show the phase relationship between impedances at a given frequency?

Select	Answer
A	Phasor diagram
B	Near field diagram
C	Far field diagram
D	Venn diagram

23. - E5D04

Why are short connections necessary at microwave frequencies?

Select	Answer
A	To reduce noise figure
B	To increase neutralizing resistance
C	Because of ground reflections
D	To reduce phase shift along the connection

24. - E6A09

What is a depletion-mode FET?

Select	Answer
A	Any FET for which holes are the majority carriers
B	Any FET without a channel
C	An FET that exhibits a current flow between source and drain when no gate voltage is applied
D	An FET that has no current flow between source and drain when no gate voltage is applied

25. - E6B09

What is a common use for point contact diodes?

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

26. - E6C11

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

Select	Answer
A	6
B	2
C	4
D	5

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

28. - E6E01

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

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

29. - E6F07

What is a solid state relay?

Select	Answer
A	A device that uses semiconductors to implement the functions of an electromechanical relay
B	A passive delay line
C	A mechanical relay that latches in the on or off state each time it is pulsed
D	A relay using transistors to drive the relay coil

30. - E7A12

What type of logic defines "0" as a high voltage?

Select	Answer
A	Negative logic
B	Reverse Logic
C	Positive Logic
D	Assertive Logic

31. - E7B18

What is a characteristic of a grounded-grid amplifier?

Select	Answer
A	High filament voltage
B	Low input impedance
C	Low bandwidth
D	High power gain

32. - E7C08

Which of the following factors has the greatest effect in helping determine the bandwidth and response shape of a crystal ladder filter?

Select	Answer
A	The DC voltage applied to the quartz crystal
B	The relative frequencies of the individual crystals
C	The amplitude of the signals passing through the filter
D	The gain of the RF stage preceding the filter

33. - E7D05

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

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

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 frequency components present in the modulating signal
D	The lowest frequency band that the transmitter or receiver covers

35. - E7F14

Which of the following would allow a digital signal processing filter to create a sharper filter response?

Select	Answer
A	Higher data rate
B	More taps
C	Complex phasor representations
D	Double-precision math routines

36. - E7G10

What absolute voltage gain can be expected from the circuit in Figure E7-4 when R1 is 1800 ohms and RF is 68 kilohms?

Select	Answer
A	1
B	76
C	38
D	0.03

37. - E7H14

What is a phase-locked loop circuit?

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

38. - E8A09

How many levels can an analog-to-digital converter with 8 bit resolution encode?

Select	Answer
A	8 multiplied by the gain of the input amplifier
B	8
C	256 divided by the gain of the input amplifier
D	256

39. - E8B06

What is the deviation ratio of an FM-phone signal having a maximum frequency swing of plus or minus 7.5 kHz when the maximum modulation frequency is 3.5 kHz?

Select	Answer
A	0.214
B	2.14
C	47
D	0.47

40. - E8C08

How does ARQ accomplish error correction?

Select	Answer
A	Special polynomial codes provide automatic correction
B	If errors are detected, a retransmission is requested
C	If errors are detected, redundant data is substituted
D	Special binary codes provide automatic correction

41. - E8D09

What is considered a good minimum IMD level for an idling PSK signal?

Select	Answer
A	+15 dB
B	-30 dB
C	-20 dB
D	+10 dB

42. - E9A08

What is meant by antenna bandwidth?

Select	Answer
A	Antenna length divided by the number of elements
B	The frequency range over which an antenna satisfies a performance requirement
C	The angle formed between two imaginary lines drawn through the element ends
D	The angle between the half-power radiation points

43. - E9B13

What does the abbreviation NEC stand for when applied to antenna modeling programs?

Select	Answer
A	Numeric Electrical Computation
B	National Electrical Code
C	Numerical Electromagnetic Code
D	Next Element Comparison

44. - E9C08

What is a folded dipole antenna?

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

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

46. - E9E06

What is the equivalent lumped-constant network for a hairpin matching system of a 3-element Yagi?

Select	Answer
A	Pi-network
B	Pi-L-network
C	A shunt inductor
D	A series capacitor

47. - E9F04

What is the typical velocity factor for a coaxial cable with solid polyethylene dielectric?

Select	Answer
A	0.10
B	2.70
C	0.66
D	0.30

48. - E9G11

How are the wavelength scales on a Smith chart calibrated?

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

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 small coil of wire tightly wound around a toroidal ferrite core
C	A large circularly polarized antenna
D	One or more turns of wire wound in the shape of a large open coil

50. - E0A09

Which insulating material commonly used as a thermal conductor for some types of electronic devices is extremely toxic if broken or crushed and the particles are accidentally inhaled?

Select	Answer
A	Uranium Hexafluoride
B	Zinc oxide
C	Mica
D	Beryllium Oxide

Figure E6-5

Figure E7-4