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. - E1A13

Who must be in physical control of the station apparatus of an amateur station aboard any vessel or craft that is documented or registered in the United States?

Select	Answer
A	Any person named in an amateur station license grant or a person holding an unrestricted Radiotelephone Operator Permit
B	Only a person with an FCC Marine Radio
C	Only a person named in an amateur station license grant
D	Any person holding an FCC issued amateur license or who is authorized for alien reciprocal operation

2. - E1B10

What frequencies are authorized to an amateur station operating under RACES rules?

Select	Answer
A	All amateur service frequencies authorized to the control operator
B	Specific segments in the amateur service MF, HF, VHF and UHF bands
C	Specific local government channels
D	Military Auxiliary Radio System (MARS) channels

3. - E1C08

What is the maximum permissible duration of a remotely controlled station's transmissions if its control link malfunctions?

Select	Answer
A	3 minutes
B	5 minutes
C	10 minutes
D	30 seconds

4. - E1D04

What is an Earth station in the amateur satellite service?

Select	Answer
A	An amateur station that transmits telemetry consisting of measurement of upper atmosphere
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	Any amateur station on the surface of the Earth
D	An amateur station that is not able to communicate using amateur satellites

5. - E1E05

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

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

6. - E1F08

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

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

7. - E2A13

What type of satellite appears to stay in one position in the sky?

Select	Answer
A	LEO
B	HEO
C	Geostationary
D	Geomagnetic

8. - E2B08

Which of the following is a common method of transmitting accompanying audio with amateur fast-scan television?

Select	Answer
A	Frequency modulation of the video carrier
B	All of these choices are correct
C	Frequency-modulated sub-carrier
D	A separate VHF or UHF audio link

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. - E2D11

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

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

11. - E2E04

What is indicated when one of the ellipses in an FSK crossed-ellipse display suddenly disappears?

Select	Answer
A	The mark and space signal have been inverted
B	The receiver has drifted 5 kHz from the desired receive frequency
C	One of the signal filters is saturated
D	Selective fading has occurred

12. - E3A08

When a meteor strikes the Earth's atmosphere, a cylindrical region of free electrons is formed at what layer of the ionosphere?

Select	Answer
A	The F1 layer
B	The D layer
C	The F2 layer
D	The E layer

13. - E3B07

Which of the following could account for hearing an echo on the received signal of a distant station?

Select	Answer
A	Transmit frequency is higher than the MUF
B	High D layer absorption
C	Meteor scatter
D	Receipt of a signal by more than one path

14. - E3C07

Which of the following descriptors indicates the greatest solar flare intensity?

Select	Answer
A	Class B
B	Class M
C	Class A
D	Class X

15. - E4A01

Which of the following parameter determines the bandwidth of a digital or computer-based oscilloscope?

Select	Answer
A	Sampling rate
B	Input impedance
C	Sample resolution
D	Input capacitance

16. - E4B02

What is an advantage of using a bridge circuit to measure impedance?

Select	Answer
A	It can display results directly in Smith chart format
B	It provides an excellent match under all conditions
C	It is relatively immune to drift in the signal generator source
D	It is very precise in obtaining a signal null

17. - E4C05

What does a value of -174 dBm/Hz represent with regard to the noise floor of a receiver?

Select	Answer
A	The galactic noise contribution to minimum detectable signal
B	The minimum detectable signal as a function of receive frequency
C	The theoretical noise at the input of a perfect receiver at room temperature
D	The noise figure of a 1 Hz bandwidth receiver

18. - E4D03

How can intermodulation interference between two repeaters occur?

Select	Answer
A	When the signals from the transmitters are reflected in phase from airplanes passing overhead
B	When the repeaters are in close proximity and the signals mix in the final amplifier of one or both transmitters
C	When the signals from the transmitters are reflected out of phase from airplanes passing overhead
D	When the repeaters are in close proximity and the signals cause feedback in the final amplifier of one or both transmitters

19. - E4E07

How can you determine if line noise interference is being generated within your home?

Select	Answer
A	By checking the power line voltage with a time domain reflectometer
B	By observing the AC power line voltage with a spectrum analyzer
C	By turning off the AC power line main circuit breaker and listening on a battery operated radio
D	By observing the AC power line waveform with an oscilloscope

20. - E5A01

What can cause the voltage across reactances in series to be larger than the voltage applied to them?

Select	Answer
A	Resonance
B	Capacitance
C	Resistance
D	Conductance

21. - E5B10

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

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

22. - E5C02

How are impedances described in polar coordinates?

Select	Answer
A	By phase angle and amplitude
B	By X and R values
C	By real and imaginary parts
D	By Y and G values

23. - E5D01

What is the result of skin effect?

Select	Answer
A	As frequency increases, RF current flows in a thinner layer of the conductor, closer to the surface
B	Thermal effects on the surface of the conductor decrease the impedance
C	Thermal effects on the surface of the conductor increase the impedance
D	As frequency decreases, RF current flows in a thinner layer of the conductor, closer to the surface

24. - E6A17

What are the names of the three terminals of a field-effect transistor?

Select	Answer
A	Gate, drain, source
B	Emitter, base 1, base 2
C	Gate 1, gate 2, drain
D	Emitter, base, collector

25. - E6B08

Which of the following describes a type of semiconductor diode?

Select	Answer
A	Electrolytic rectifier
B	Thermionic emission diode
C	Metal-semiconductor junction
D	CMOS-field effect

26. - E6C03

What is tri-state logic?

Select	Answer
A	Logic devices that utilize ternary math
B	Logic devices with 0, 1, and high impedance output states
C	Proprietary logic devices manufactured by Tri-State Devices
D	Low power logic devices designed to operate at 3 volts

27. - E6D10

What is a primary advantage of using a toroidal core instead of a solenoidal core in an inductor?

Select	Answer
A	Toroidal cores have lower Q characteristics
B	Toroidal cores exhibit greater hysteresis
C	Toroidal cores confine most of the magnetic field within the core material
D	Toroidal cores make it easier to couple the magnetic energy into other components

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. - E6F08

Why are optoisolators often used in conjunction with solid state circuits when switching 120VAC?

Select	Answer
A	Optoisolators provide a low impedance link between a control circuit and a power circuit
B	Optoisolators provide impedance matching between the control circuit and power circuit
C	Optoisolators eliminate the effects of reflected light in the control circuit
D	Optoisolators provide a very high degree of electrical isolation between a control circuit and the circuit being switched

30. - E7A12

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

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

31. - E7B16

What is the effect of intermodulation products in a linear power amplifier?

Select	Answer
A	Transmission of spurious signals
B	All of these choices are correct
C	Low efficiency
D	Creation of parasitic oscillations

32. - E7C01

How are the capacitors and inductors of a low-pass filter Pi-network arranged between the network's input and output?

Select	Answer
A	An inductor is connected between the input and ground, another inductor is connected between the output and ground, and a capacitor is connected between the input and output
B	Two inductors are in series between the input and output, and a capacitor is connected between the two inductors and ground
C	A capacitor is connected between the input and ground, another capacitor is connected between the output and ground, and an inductor is connected between input and output
D	Two capacitors are in series between the input and output, and an inductor is connected between the two capacitors and ground

33. - E7D03

What device is typically used as a stable reference voltage in a linear voltage regulator?

Select	Answer
A	A tunnel diode
B	A Zener diode
C	An SCR
D	A varactor diode

34. - E7E10

How does a diode detector function?

Select	Answer
A	By sensing the change of reactance in the diode with respect to frequency
B	By rectification and filtering of RF signals
C	By breakdown of the Zener voltage
D	By mixing signals with noise in the transition region of the diode

35. - E7F14

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

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

36. - E7G06

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

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

37. - E7H05

How is positive feedback supplied in a Pierce oscillator?

Select	Answer
A	Through a quartz crystal
B	Through a neutralizing capacitor
C	Through link coupling
D	Through a tapped coil

38. - E8A04

What is "dither" with respect to analog to digital converters?

Select	Answer
A	An abnormal condition where the converter cannot settle on a value to represent the signal
B	An error caused by irregular quantization step size
C	A method of decimation by randomly skipping samples
D	A small amount of noise added to the input signal to allow more precise representation of a signal over time

39. - E8B01

What is the term for the ratio between the frequency deviation of an RF carrier wave and the modulating frequency of its corresponding FM-phone signal?

Select	Answer
A	FM compressibility
B	Percentage of modulation
C	Quieting index
D	Modulation index

40. - E8C02

What is the definition of symbol rate in a digital transmission?

Select	Answer
A	The number of control characters in a message packet
B	The rate at which the waveform of a transmitted signal changes to convey information
C	The number of characters carried per second by the station-to-station link
D	The duration of each bit in a message sent over the air

41. - E8D09

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

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

42. - E9A12

How much gain does an antenna have compared to a 1/2-wavelength dipole when it has 6 dB gain over an isotropic antenna?

Select	Answer
A	3.85 dB
B	8.15 dB
C	6.0 dB
D	2.79 dB

43. - E9B08

How can the approximate beam-width in a given plane of a directional antenna be determined?

Select	Answer
A	Draw two imaginary lines through the ends of the elements and measure the angle between the lines
B	Measure the ratio of the signal strengths of the radiated power lobes from the front and rear of the antenna
C	Note the two points where the signal strength of the antenna is 3 dB less than maximum and compute the angular difference
D	Measure the ratio of the signal strengths of the radiated power lobes from the front and side of the antenna

44. - E9C13

What is the main effect of placing a vertical antenna over an imperfect ground?

Select	Answer
A	It changes the impedance angle of the matching network
B	It reduces low-angle radiation
C	It causes increased SWR
D	It reduces losses in the radiating portion of the antenna

45. - E9D10

What happens to feed point impedance at the base of a fixed length HF mobile antenna as the frequency of operation is lowered?

Select	Answer
A	The radiation resistance decreases and the capacitive reactance decreases
B	The radiation resistance increases and the capacitive reactance increases
C	The radiation resistance increases and the capacitive reactance decreases
D	The radiation resistance decreases and the capacitive reactance increases

46. - E9E03

What is the name of the matching system that uses a section of transmission line connected in parallel with the feed line at or near the feed point?

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

47. - E9F02

Which of the following determines the velocity factor of a transmission line?

Select	Answer
A	The center conductor resistivity
B	The termination impedance
C	Dielectric materials used in the line
D	The line length

48. - E9G09

What third family of circles is often added to a Smith chart during the process of solving problems?

Select	Answer
A	Standing wave ratio circles
B	Radiation-pattern circles
C	Antenna-length circles
D	Coaxial-length circles

49. - E9H05

What is the main drawback of a wire-loop antenna for direction finding?

Select	Answer
A	It is practical for use only on VHF bands
B	It has a bidirectional pattern
C	It receives equally well in all directions
D	It is non-rotatable

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	The extremely high frequency energy can damage the joints of antenna structures
C	Microwaves are ionizing radiation
D	Microwaves often travel long distances by ionospheric reflection