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

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1. - E1A12

With your transceiver displaying the carrier frequency of CW signals, you hear a DX station's CQ on 3.500 MHz. Is it legal to return the call using CW on the same frequency?

Select	Answer
A	Yes, the DX station initiated the contact
B	No, U.S. stations are not permitted to use CW emissions below 3.525 MHz
C	Yes, the displayed frequency is within the 80 meter CW band segment
D	No, one of the sidebands of the CW signal will be out of the band

2. - E1B06

Which of the following additional rules apply if you are installing an amateur station antenna at a site at or near a public use airport?

Select	Answer
A	No special rules apply if your antenna structure will be less than 300 feet in height
B	You must file an Environmental Impact Statement with the EPA before construction begins
C	You must obtain a construction permit from the airport zoning authority
D	You may have to notify the Federal Aviation Administration and register it with the FCC as required by Part 17 of FCC rules

3. - E1C11

Which of the following operating arrangements allows an FCC-licensed U.S. citizen to operate in many European countries, and alien amateurs from many European countries to operate in the U.S.?

Select	Answer
A	All of these choices are correct
B	IARP agreement
C	ITU reciprocal license
D	CEPT agreement

4. - E1D10

Which amateur stations are eligible to be telecommand stations?

Select	Answer
A	Any amateur station so designated by the space station licensee, subject to the privileges of the class of operator license held by the control operator
B	Any amateur station designated by NASA
C	Any amateur station so designated by the ITU
D	All of these choices are correct

5. - E1E08

To which of the following examinees may a VE not administer an examination?

Select	Answer
A	Employees of the VE
B	Friends of the VE
C	All of these choices are correct
D	Relatives of the VE as listed in the FCC rules

6. - E1F02

What privileges are authorized in the U.S. to persons holding an amateur service license granted by the Government of Canada?

Select	Answer
A	All privileges of the Extra Class license
B	The operating terms and conditions of the Canadian amateur service license, not to exceed U.S. Extra Class privileges
C	Full privileges, up to and including those of the Extra Class License, on the 80, 40, 20, 15, and 10 meter bands
D	None, they must obtain a U.S. license

7. - E2A07

Which of the following types of signals can be relayed through a linear transponder?

Select	Answer
A	FM and CW
B	SSB and SSTV
C	PSK and Packet
D	All of these choices are correct

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 ASCII representation
D	Video is converted to equivalent Baudot representation

9. - E2C11

How should you generally identify your station when attempting to contact a DX station during a contest or in a pileup?

Select	Answer
A	Send your full call sign and grid square
B	Send the call sign of the DX station three times, the words "this is", then your call sign three times
C	Send only the last two letters of your call sign until you make contact
D	Send your full call sign once or twice

10. - E2D10

How can an APRS station be used to help support a public service communications activity?

Select	Answer
A	All of these choices are correct
B	An APRS station with a GPS unit can automatically transmit information to show a mobile station's position during the event
C	An APRS station with an emergency medical technician can automatically transmit medical data to the nearest hospital
D	APRS stations with General Personnel Scanners can automatically relay the participant numbers and time as they pass the check points

11. - E2E09

Which of the following HF digital modes uses variable-length coding for bandwidth efficiency?

Select	Answer
A	RTTY
B	PSK31
C	MT63
D	PACTOR

12. - E3A02

What characterizes libration fading of an EME signal?

Select	Answer
A	A slow change in the pitch of the CW signal
B	The returning echo is several Hertz lower in frequency than the transmitted signal
C	A gradual loss of signal as the Sun rises
D	A fluttery irregular fading

13. - E3B14

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

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

14. - E3C01

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

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

15. - E4A08

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

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

16. - E4B14

What happens if a dip meter is too tightly coupled to a tuned circuit being checked?

Select	Answer
A	Harmonics are generated
B	Cross modulation occurs
C	A less accurate reading results
D	Intermodulation distortion occurs

17. - E4C01

What is an effect of excessive phase noise in the local oscillator section of a receiver?

Select	Answer
A	It limits the receiver's ability to receive strong signals
B	It decreases receiver third-order intermodulation distortion dynamic range
C	It reduces receiver sensitivity
D	It can cause strong signals on nearby frequencies to interfere with reception of weak signals

18. - E4D07

Which describes the most significant effect of an off-frequency signal when it is causing cross-modulation interference to a desired signal?

Select	Answer
A	A reduction in apparent signal strength
B	A large increase in background noise
C	The desired signal can no longer be heard
D	The off-frequency unwanted signal is heard in addition to the desired signal

19. - E4E12

What is one disadvantage of using some types of automatic DSP notch-filters when attempting to copy CW signals?

Select	Answer
A	A DSP filter can remove the desired signal at the same time as it removes interfering signals
B	Received CW signals will appear to be modulated at the DSP clock frequency
C	Any nearby signal passing through the DSP system will overwhelm the desired signal
D	Ringing in the DSP filter will completely remove the spaces between the CW characters

20. - E5A01

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

Select	Answer
A	Resistance
B	Conductance
C	Capacitance
D	Resonance

21. - E5B12

What is admittance?

Select	Answer
A	The term for the gain of a field effect transistor
B	The unit used for Q factor
C	The inverse of impedance
D	The turns ratio of a transformer

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

23. - E5D16

What is the power factor of an R-L circuit having a 30 degree phase angle between the voltage and the current?

Select	Answer
A	1.73
B	0.5
C	0.577
D	0.866

24. - E6A06

What is the beta of a bipolar junction transistor?

Select	Answer
A	The breakdown voltage of the base to collector junction
B	The frequency at which the current gain is reduced to 1
C	The switching speed of the transistor
D	The change in collector current with respect to base current

25. - E6B01

What is the most useful characteristic of a Zener diode?

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

26. - E6C14

What is the primary advantage of using a Programmable Gate Array (PGA) in a logic circuit?

Select	Answer
A	All of these choices are correct
B	Complex logic functions can be created in a single integrated circuit
C	Many similar gates are less expensive than a mixture of gate types
D	A PGA contains its own internal power supply

27. - E6D12

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

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

28. - E6E09

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

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

29. - E6F07

What is a solid state relay?

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

30. - E7A10

What is a truth table?

Select	Answer
A	A list of inputs and corresponding outputs for a digital device
B	A diagram showing logic states when the digital device output is true
C	A table of logic symbols that indicate the logic states of an op-amp
D	A table of logic symbols that indicate the high logic states of an op-amp

31. - E7B13

In Figure E7-2, what is the purpose of R?

Select	Answer
A	Collector load
B	Voltage regulation
C	Emitter load
D	Fixed bias

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

33. - E7D11

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

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

34. - E7E09

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

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

35. - E7F16

How might the sampling rate of an existing digital signal be adjusted by a factor of 3/4?

Select	Answer
A	Multiply each sample value by a factor of 3/4
B	Add 3 to each input value and subtract 4 from each output value
C	Interpolate by a factor of three, then decimate by a factor of four
D	Change the gain by a factor of 3/4

36. - E7G07

What magnitude of voltage gain can be expected from the circuit in Figure E7-4 when R1 is 10 ohms and RF is 470 ohms?

Select	Answer
A	94
B	47
C	24
D	0.21

37. - E7H06

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

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

38. - E8A04

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

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

39. - E8B03

What is the modulation index of an FM-phone signal having a maximum frequency deviation of 3000 Hz either side of the carrier frequency when the modulating frequency is 1000 Hz?

Select	Answer
A	3
B	0.3
C	3000
D	1000

40. - E8C05

What is the necessary bandwidth of a 13-WPM international Morse code transmission?

Select	Answer
A	Approximately 104 Hz
B	Approximately 26 Hz
C	Approximately 52 Hz
D	Approximately 13 Hz

41. - E8D08

What parameter might indicate that excessively high input levels are causing distortion in an AFSK signal?

Select	Answer
A	Repeat Request Rate (RRR)
B	Signal to noise ratio
C	Intermodulation Distortion (IMD)
D	Baud rate

42. - E9A07

What is meant by antenna gain?

Select	Answer
A	The ratio of the amount of power radiated by an antenna compared to the transmitter output power
B	The ratio of the radiated signal strength of an antenna in the direction of maximum radiation to that of a reference antenna
C	The final amplifier gain minus the transmission line losses
D	The ratio of the signal in the forward direction to that in the opposite direction

43. - E9B05

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

Select	Answer
A	Radiation resistance
B	Azimuth
C	Polarization
D	Elevation

44. - E9C10

Which of the following describes a Zepp antenna?

Select	Answer
A	A dipole constructed from zip cord
B	An end fed dipole antenna
C	A vertical array capable of quickly changing the direction of maximum radiation by changing phasing lines
D	An omni-directional antenna commonly used for satellite communications

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. - E9E07

What term best describes the interactions at the load end of a mismatched transmission line?

Select	Answer
A	Characteristic impedance
B	Velocity factor
C	Reflection coefficient
D	Dielectric constant

47. - E9F16

Which of the following is a significant difference between foam dielectric coaxial cable and solid dielectric cable, assuming all other parameters are the same?

Select	Answer
A	All of these choices are correct
B	Foam dielectric has lower loss per unit of length
C	Foam dielectric has lower safe operating voltage limits
D	Foam dielectric has higher velocity factor

48. - E9G06

On the Smith chart shown in Figure E9-3, what is the name for the large outer circle on which the reactance arcs terminate?

Select	Answer
A	Polar axis
B	Prime axis
C	Impedance axis
D	Reactance axis

49. - E9H09

Which of the following describes the construction of a receiving loop antenna?

Select	Answer
A	One or more turns of wire wound in the shape of a large open coil
B	A small coil of wire tightly wound around a toroidal ferrite core
C	A large circularly polarized antenna
D	A vertical antenna coupled to a feed line through an inductive loop of wire

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

Figure E7-2

Figure E7-4

Figure E9-2

Figure E9-3