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

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1. - E1A02

When using a transceiver that displays the carrier frequency of phone signals, which of the following displayed frequencies represents the lowest frequency at which a properly adjusted LSB emission will be totally within the band?

Select	Answer
A	3 kHz above the lower band edge
B	300 Hz above the lower band edge
C	The exact lower band edge
D	1 kHz above the lower band edge

2. - E1B11

What is the permitted mean power of any spurious emission relative to the mean power of the fundamental emission from a station transmitter or external RF amplifier installed after January 1, 2003 and transmitting on a frequency below 30 MHZ?

Select	Answer
A	At least 53 dB below
B	At least 43 dB below
C	At least 73 dB below
D	At least 63 dB below

3. - E1C04

What is meant by IARP?

Select	Answer
A	An international amateur radio permit that allows U.S. amateurs to operate in certain countries of the Americas
B	The internal amateur radio practices policy of the FCC
C	A forecast of intermittent aurora radio propagation
D	An indication of increased antenna reflected power

4. - E1D05

What class of licensee is authorized to be the control operator of a space station?

Select	Answer
A	Only General, Advanced or Amateur Extra Class
B	All except Technician Class
C	Only Amateur Extra Class
D	Any class with appropriate operator privileges

5. - E1E02

Where are the questions for all written U.S. amateur license examinations listed?

Select	Answer
A	In FCC Part 97
B	In a question pool maintained by all the VECs
C	In a question pool maintained by the FCC
D	In the appropriate FCC Report and Order

6. - E1F10

What is the maximum permitted transmitter peak envelope power for an amateur station transmitting spread spectrum communications?

Select	Answer
A	1 W
B	1.5 W
C	1.5 kW
D	10 W

7. - E2A02

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

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

8. - E2B12

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

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

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	Interference to other amateurs is unavoidable and therefore acceptable
C	It is mandatory to transmit the call sign of the station being worked as part of every transmission to that station
D	Every contest requires a signal report in the exchange

10. - E2D01

Which of the following digital modes is especially designed for use for meteor scatter signals?

Select	Answer
A	WSPR
B	Hellschreiber
C	APRS
D	FSK441

11. - E2E13

Which of the following is a possible reason that attempts to initiate contact with a digital station on a clear frequency are unsuccessful?

Select	Answer
A	All of these choices are correct
B	Your transmit frequency is incorrect
C	The protocol version you are using is not the supported by the digital station
D	Another station you are unable to hear is using the frequency

12. - E3A14

From the contiguous 48 states, in which approximate direction should an antenna be pointed to take maximum advantage of aurora propagation?

Select	Answer
A	East
B	North
C	South
D	West

13. - E3B14

What happens to linearly polarized radio waves that split into ordinary and extraordinary waves in the ionosphere?

Select	Answer
A	Their polarization is randomly modified
B	They become elliptically polarized
C	They become phase-locked
D	They are bent toward the magnetic poles

14. - E3C01

What does the term ray tracing describe in regard to radio communications?

Select	Answer
A	Determining the radiation pattern from an array of antennas
B	Evaluating high voltage sources for X-Rays
C	The process in which an electronic display presents a pattern
D	Modeling a radio wave's path through the ionosphere

15. - E4A03

Which of the following test instrument is used to display spurious signals and/or intermodulation distortion products in an SSB transmitter?

Select	Answer
A	A logic analyzer
B	A spectrum analyzer
C	A time-domain reflectometer
D	A wattmeter

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	Connect the analyzer via a high-impedance transformer to the antenna
C	Connect the antenna feed line directly to the analyzer's connector
D	Loosely couple the analyzer near the antenna base

17. - E4C03

What is the term for the blocking of one FM phone signal by another, stronger FM phone signal?

Select	Answer
A	Desensitization
B	Cross-modulation interference
C	Frequency discrimination
D	Capture effect

18. - E4D10

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

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

19. - E4E08

What type of signal is picked up by electrical wiring near a radio antenna?

Select	Answer
A	Harmonics of the AC power line frequency
B	A differential-mode signal at the AC power line frequency
C	A common-mode signal at the frequency of the radio transmitter
D	An electrical-sparking signal

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 highest frequency that will pass current
C	The frequency at which the reactive impedance equals the resistive impedance
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	Voltage and current are 180 degrees out of phase
B	Voltage leads current by 90 degrees
C	Current leads voltage by 90 degrees
D	Voltage and current are in phase

22. - E5C12

If you plot the impedance of a circuit using the rectangular coordinate system and find the impedance point falls on the right side of the graph on the horizontal axis, what do you know about the circuit?

Select	Answer
A	It has to be a direct current circuit
B	It is equivalent to a pure resistance
C	It contains resistance and inductive reactance
D	It contains resistance and capacitive reactance

23. - E5D04

Why are short connections necessary at microwave frequencies?

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

24. - E6A09

What is a depletion-mode FET?

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

25. - E6B11

What is used to control the attenuation of RF signals by a PIN diode?

Select	Answer
A	A sub-harmonic pump signal
B	Reverse voltage larger than the RF signal
C	Forward DC bias current
D	Capacitance of an RF coupling capacitor

26. - E6C06

Why do CMOS digital integrated circuits have high immunity to noise on the input signal or power supply?

Select	Answer
A	Larger bypass capacitors are used in CMOS circuit design
B	The input switching threshold is about two times the power supply voltage
C	The input switching threshold is about one-half the power supply voltage
D	Input signals are stronger

27. - E6D12

What is the definition of saturation in a ferrite core inductor?

Select	Answer
A	The ability of the inductor's core to store magnetic energy has been exceeded
B	Adjacent inductors become over-coupled
C	The inductor windings are over coupled
D	The inductor's voltage rating is exceeded causing a flashover

28. - E6E04

Which is the most common input and output impedance of circuits that use MMICs?

Select	Answer
A	50 ohms
B	300 ohms
C	10 ohms
D	450 ohms

29. - E6F01

What is photoconductivity?

Select	Answer
A	The conversion of photon energy to electromotive energy
B	The conversion of electromotive energy to photon energy
C	The decreased conductivity of an illuminated semiconductor
D	The increased conductivity of an illuminated semiconductor

30. - E7A01

Which is a bi-stable circuit?

Select	Answer
A	An "OR" gate
B	An "AND" gate
C	A clock
D	A flip-flop

31. - E7B06

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

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

32. - E7C05

Which filter type is described as having ripple in the passband and a sharp cutoff?

Select	Answer
A	A Chebyshev filter
B	An active LC filter
C	A passive op-amp filter
D	A Butterworth filter

33. - E7D09

What is the main reason to use a charge controller with a solar power system?

Select	Answer
A	Control of electrolyte levels during battery discharge
B	Prevention of battery undercharge
C	Prevention of battery damage due to overcharge
D	Matching of day and night charge rates

34. - E7E09

What occurs when an excessive amount of signal energy reaches a mixer circuit?

Select	Answer
A	Mixer blanking occurs
B	A beat frequency is generated
C	Spurious mixer products are generated
D	Automatic limiting occurs

35. - E7F01

What is meant by direct digital conversion as applied to software defined radios?

Select	Answer
A	A switching mixer is used to generate I and Q signals directly from the RF input
B	Incoming RF is digitized by an analog-to-digital converter without being mixed with a local oscillator signal
C	Incoming RF is converted to a control voltage for a voltage controlled oscillator
D	Software is converted from source code to object code during operation of the receiver

36. - E7G05

How can unwanted ringing and audio instability be prevented in a multi-section op-amp RC audio filter circuit?

Select	Answer
A	Restrict both gain and Q
B	Restrict gain but increase Q
C	Restrict Q but increase gain
D	Increase both gain and Q

37. - E7H15

Which of these functions can be performed by a phase-locked loop?

Select	Answer
A	Photovoltaic conversion, optical coupling
B	Frequency synthesis, FM demodulation
C	Comparison of two digital input signals, digital pulse counter
D	Wide-band AF and RF power amplification

38. - E8A05

What would be the most accurate way of measuring the RMS voltage of a complex waveform?

Select	Answer
A	By measuring the heating effect in a known resistor
B	By using a grid dip meter
C	By using an absorption wave meter
D	By measuring the voltage with a D'Arsonval meter

39. - E8B05

What is the deviation ratio of an FM-phone signal having a maximum frequency swing of plus-or-minus 5 kHz when the maximum modulation frequency is 3 kHz?

Select	Answer
A	1.67
B	60
C	0.6
D	0.167

40. - E8C04

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

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

41. - E8D02

What spread spectrum communications technique uses a high speed binary bit stream to shift the phase of an RF carrier?

Select	Answer
A	Phase compandored spread spectrum
B	Binary phase-shift keying
C	Frequency hopping
D	Direct sequence

42. - E9A05

What is included in the total resistance of an antenna system?

Select	Answer
A	Radiation resistance plus transmission resistance
B	Radiation resistance plus ohmic resistance
C	Transmission-line resistance plus radiation resistance
D	Radiation resistance plus space impedance

43. - E9B06

What is the elevation angle of peak response in the antenna radiation pattern shown in Figure E9-2?

Select	Answer
A	75 degrees
B	7.5 degrees
C	45 degrees
D	25 degrees

44. - E9C12

Which of the following describes an extended double Zepp antenna?

Select	Answer
A	A portable antenna erected using two push support poles
B	An end fed folded dipole antenna
C	A center fed 1.25 wavelength antenna (two 5/8 wave elements in phase)
D	A wideband vertical antenna constructed from precisely tapered aluminum tubing

45. - E9D04

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

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

46. - E9E09

Which of these matching systems is an effective method of connecting a 50 ohm coaxial cable feed line to a grounded tower so it can be used as a vertical antenna?

Select	Answer
A	All of these choices are correct
B	Hairpin match
C	Double-bazooka match
D	Gamma match

47. - E9F01

What is the velocity factor of a transmission line?

Select	Answer
A	The index of shielding for coaxial cable
B	The velocity of the wave in the transmission line multiplied by the velocity of light in a vacuum
C	The ratio of the characteristic impedance of the line to the terminating impedance
D	The velocity of the wave in the transmission line divided by the velocity of light in a vacuum

48. - E9G05

What type of chart is shown in Figure E9-3?

Select	Answer
A	Smith chart
B	Free space radiation directivity chart
C	Elevation angle radiation pattern chart
D	Azimuth angle radiation pattern chart

49. - E9H11

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

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

50. - E0A03

Which of the following would be a practical way to estimate whether the RF fields produced by an amateur radio station are within permissible MPE limits?

Select	Answer
A	Use an antenna modeling program to calculate field strength at accessible locations
B	Use a hand calculator plus Smith-chart equations to calculate the fields
C	Use a calibrated antenna analyzer
D	All of the choices are correct

Figure E9-2

Figure E9-3