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. - E1A08

If a station in a message forwarding system inadvertently forwards a message that is in violation of FCC rules, who is primarily accountable for the rules violation?

Select	Answer
A	The control operators of all the stations in the system not authenticating the source from which they accept communications
B	The control operator of the originating station
C	The control operator of the packet bulletin board station
D	The control operators of all the stations in the system

2. - E1B01

Which of the following constitutes a spurious emission?

Select	Answer
A	An amateur station transmission made at random without the proper call sign identification
B	An emission outside its necessary bandwidth that can be reduced or eliminated without affecting the information transmitted
C	Any transmitted signal that unintentionally interferes with another licensed radio station
D	A signal transmitted to prevent its detection by any station other than the intended recipient

3. - E1C02

What is meant by automatic control of a station?

Select	Answer
A	The use of devices and procedures for control so that the control operator does not have to be present at a control point
B	A station operating with its output power controlled automatically
C	Remotely controlling a station's antenna pattern through a directional control link
D	The use of a control link between a control point and a locally controlled station

4. - E1D11

Which amateur stations are eligible to operate as Earth stations?

Select	Answer
A	Only those of Amateur Extra Class operators
B	Only those of General, Advanced or Amateur Extra Class operators
C	Any amateur station whose licensee has filed a pre-space notification with the FCC's International Bureau
D	Any amateur station, subject to the privileges of the class of operator license held by the control operator

5. - E1E08

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

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

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 kW
C	1.5 W
D	10 W

7. - E2A11

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

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

8. - E2B12

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

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

9. - E2C10

Why might a DX station state that they are listening on another frequency?

Select	Answer
A	All of these choices are correct
B	To improve operating efficiency by reducing interference
C	To separate the calling stations from the DX station
D	Because the DX station may be transmitting on a frequency that is prohibited to some responding stations

10. - E2D14

What is one advantage of using JT65 coding?

Select	Answer
A	Permits fast-scan TV transmissions over narrow bandwidth
B	The ability to decode signals which have a very low signal to noise ratio
C	Easily copied by ear if necessary
D	Uses only a 65 Hz bandwidth

11. - E2E03

How is the timing of JT65 contacts organized?

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

12. - E3A06

Which of the following is required for microwave propagation via rain scatter?

Select	Answer
A	All of these choices are correct
B	Rain droplets must be within the E layer
C	The rain must be within radio range of both stations
D	Rain droplets must be electrically charged

13. - E3B04

What is meant by the terms extraordinary and ordinary waves?

Select	Answer
A	Extraordinary waves describe rare long skip propagation compared to ordinary waves which travel shorter distances
B	Independent waves created in the ionosphere that are elliptically polarized
C	Long path and short path waves
D	Refracted rays and reflected waves

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. - E4A04

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

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

16. - E4B09

What is indicated if the current reading on an RF ammeter placed in series with the antenna feed line of a transmitter increases as the transmitter is tuned to resonance?

Select	Answer
A	There is possibly a short to ground in the feed line
B	The transmitter is not properly neutralized
C	There is an impedance mismatch between the antenna and feed line
D	There is more power going into the antenna

17. - E4C11

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

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

18. - E4D11

Why are third-order intermodulation products created within a receiver of particular interest compared to other products?

Select	Answer
A	The third-order intercept is much higher than other orders
B	Third-order products are an indication of poor image rejection
C	The third-order product of two signals which are in the band of interest is also likely to be within the band
D	Third-order intermodulation produces three products for every input signal within the band of interest

19. - E4E11

Which is the most likely cause if you are hearing combinations of local AM broadcast signals within one or more of the MF or HF ham bands?

Select	Answer
A	The broadcast station is transmitting an over-modulated signal
B	Your station receiver IF amplifier stage is defective
C	Nearby corroded metal joints are mixing and re-radiating the broadcast signals
D	You are receiving sky wave signals from a distant station

20. - E5A05

What is the magnitude of the current at the input of a series RLC circuit as the frequency goes through resonance?

Select	Answer
A	L/R
B	R/L
C	Maximum
D	Minimum

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	Current leads voltage by 90 degrees
C	Voltage and current are 180 degrees out of phase
D	Voltage leads current by 90 degrees

22. - E5C13

What coordinate system is often used to display the resistive, inductive, and/or capacitive reactance components of impedance?

Select	Answer
A	Elliptical coordinates
B	Faraday grid
C	Rectangular coordinates
D	Maidenhead grid

23. - E5D10

How can the true power be determined in an AC circuit where the voltage and current are out of phase?

Select	Answer
A	By dividing the apparent power by the power factor
B	By dividing the reactive power by the power factor
C	By multiplying the apparent power times the power factor
D	By multiplying the reactive power times the power factor

24. - E6A03

Why does a PN-junction diode not conduct current when reverse biased?

Select	Answer
A	Only P-type semiconductor material can conduct current
B	Holes in P-type material and electrons in the N-type material are separated by the applied voltage, widening the depletion region
C	Excess holes in P-type material combine with the electrons in N-type material, converting the entire diode into an insulator
D	Only N-type semiconductor material can conduct current

25. - E6B13

What type of bias is required for an LED to emit light?

Select	Answer
A	Inductive bias
B	Forward bias
C	Zero bias
D	Reverse bias

26. - E6C08

In Figure E6-5, what is the schematic symbol for a NAND gate?

Select	Answer
A	1
B	4
C	2
D	3

27. - E6D16

What is the common name for a capacitor connected across a transformer secondary that is used to absorb transient voltage spikes?

Select	Answer
A	Snubber capacitor
B	Feedback capacitor
C	Clipper capacitor
D	Trimmer capacitor

28. - E6E11

What is a characteristic of DIP packaging used for integrated circuits?

Select	Answer
A	Package mounts in a direct inverted position
B	Low leakage doubly insulated package
C	Two chips in each package (Dual In Package)
D	A total of two rows of connecting pins placed on opposite sides of the package (Dual In-line Package)

29. - E6F05

Which describes an optical shaft encoder?

Select	Answer
A	A device which detects rotation of a control by interrupting a light source with a patterned wheel
B	A digital encryption device often used to encrypt spacecraft control signals
C	A device which measures the strength of a beam of light using analog to digital conversion
D	A device for generating RTTY signals by means of a rotating light source

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. - E7B14

Why are switching amplifiers more efficient than linear amplifiers?

Select	Answer
A	The power transistor is at saturation or cut off most of the time, resulting in low power dissipation
B	Switching amplifiers use push-pull circuits
C	Linear amplifiers have high gain resulting in higher harmonic content
D	Switching amplifiers operate at higher voltages

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 amplitude of the signals passing through the filter
C	The gain of the RF stage preceding the filter
D	The relative frequencies of the individual crystals

33. - E7D01

What is one characteristic of a linear electronic voltage regulator?

Select	Answer
A	The control element duty cycle is proportional to the line or load conditions
B	It has a ramp voltage as its output
C	It eliminates the need for a pass transistor
D	The conduction of a control element is varied to maintain a constant output voltage

34. - E7E02

What is the function of a reactance modulator?

Select	Answer
A	To produce PM signals by using an electrically variable inductance or capacitance
B	To produce AM signals by using an electrically variable inductance or capacitance
C	To produce PM signals by using an electrically variable resistance
D	To produce AM signals by using an electrically variable resistance

35. - E7F15

Which of the following is an advantage of a Finite Impulse Response (FIR) filter vs an Infinite Impulse Response (IIR) digital filter?

Select	Answer
A	FIR filters can respond faster to impulses
B	FIR filters are easier to implement for a given set of passband rolloff requirements
C	All of these choices are correct
D	FIR filters delay all frequency components of the signal by the same amount

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	0.03
B	1
C	38
D	76

37. - E7H01

What are three oscillator circuits used in Amateur Radio equipment?

Select	Answer
A	Pierce, Fenner and Beane
B	Colpitts, Hartley and Pierce
C	Taft, Pierce and negative feedback
D	Taft, Hartley and Pierce

38. - E8A08

Why would a direct or flash conversion analog-to-digital converter be useful for a software defined radio?

Select	Answer
A	Immunity to out of sequence coding reduces spurious responses
B	Very low power consumption decreases frequency drift
C	Very high speed allows digitizing high frequencies
D	All of these choices are correct

39. - E8B11

What is digital time division multiplexing?

Select	Answer
A	Two or more data streams are assigned to discrete sub-carriers on an FM transmitter
B	Two or more signals are arranged to share discrete time slots of a data transmission
C	Two or more signals are quadrature modulated to increase bandwidth efficiency
D	Two or more data streams share the same channel by transmitting time of transmission as the sub-carrier

40. - E8C11

What is the relationship between symbol rate and baud?

Select	Answer
A	They are the same
B	Baud is only used for RTTY
C	Baud is twice the symbol rate
D	Symbol rate is only used for packet-based modes

41. - E8D09

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

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

42. - E9A02

What antenna has no gain in any direction?

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

43. - E9B14

What type of information can be obtained by submitting the details of a proposed new antenna to a modeling program?

Select	Answer
A	SWR vs frequency charts
B	Polar plots of the far field elevation and azimuth patterns
C	All of these choices are correct
D	Antenna gain

44. - E9C06

What is the effect of a terminating resistor on a rhombic antenna?

Select	Answer
A	It changes the radiation pattern from horizontal to vertical polarization
B	It reflects the standing waves on the antenna elements back to the transmitter
C	It changes the radiation pattern from bidirectional to unidirectional
D	It decreases the ground loss

45. - E9D12

Which of the following would provide the best RF ground for your station?

Select	Answer
A	An electrically short connection to a metal water pipe
B	A 50 ohm resistor connected to ground
C	An electrically short connection to 3 or 4 interconnected ground rods driven into the Earth
D	An electrically short connection to 3 or 4 interconnected ground rods via a series RF choke

46. - E9E07

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

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

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. - E9G08

What is the process of normalization with regard to a Smith chart?

Select	Answer
A	Reassigning prime center with regard to the reactance axis
B	Reassigning impedance values with regard to the prime center
C	Reassigning resistance values with regard to the reactance axis
D	Reassigning reactance values with regard to the resistance axis

49. - E9H04

What is an advantage of using a shielded loop antenna for direction finding?

Select	Answer
A	It automatically cancels ignition noise in mobile installations
B	It is electro statically balanced against ground, giving better nulls
C	It allows stations to communicate without giving away their position
D	It eliminates tracking errors caused by strong out-of-band signals

50. - E0A04

When evaluating a site with multiple transmitters operating at the same time, the operators and licensees of which transmitters are responsible for mitigating over-exposure situations?

Select	Answer
A	Each transmitter operating with a duty-cycle greater than 50 percent
B	Only the most powerful transmitter
C	Only commercial transmitters
D	Each transmitter that produces 5 percent or more of its MPE limit at accessible locations