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

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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 named in an amateur station license grant
C	Any person holding an FCC issued amateur license or who is authorized for alien reciprocal operation
D	Only a person with an FCC Marine Radio

2. - E1B10

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

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

3. - E1C07

What is meant by local control?

Select	Answer
A	Controlling a repeater using a portable handheld transceiver
B	Direct manipulation of the transmitter by a control operator
C	Automatically manipulating local station controls
D	Controlling a station through a local auxiliary link

4. - E1D02

What is the amateur satellite service?

Select	Answer
A	A radio communications service using stations on Earth satellites for public service broadcast
B	A radio communications service using amateur radio stations on satellites
C	A radio navigation service using satellites for the purpose of self training, intercommunication and technical studies carried out by amateurs
D	A spacecraft launching service for amateur-built satellites

5. - E1E11

What must the VE team do if an examinee scores a passing grade on all examination elements needed for an upgrade or new license?

Select	Answer
A	All these choices are correct
B	Issue the examinee the new or upgrade license
C	Three VEs must certify that the examinee is qualified for the license grant and that they have complied with the administering VE requirements
D	Photocopy all examination documents and forward them to the FCC for processing

6. - E1F07

When may an amateur station send a message to a business?

Select	Answer
A	When transmitting international third-party communications
B	When the control operator is employed by the FCC or another government agency
C	When neither the amateur nor his or her employer has a pecuniary interest in the communications
D	When the total money involved does not exceed $25

7. - E2A02

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

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

8. - E2B09

What hardware, other than a receiver with SSB capability and a suitable computer, is needed to decode SSTV using Digital Radio Mondiale (DRM)?

Select	Answer
A	A special front end limiter
B	No other hardware is needed
C	A special notch filter to remove synchronization pulses
D	A special IF converter

9. - E2C08

Which of the following contacts may be confirmed through the U.S. QSL bureau system?

Select	Answer
A	Contacts between a U.S. station and a non-U.S. station
B	Special event contacts between stations in the U.S.
C	Contacts using tactical call signs
D	Repeater contacts between U.S. club members

10. - E2D13

What type of modulation is used for JT65 contacts?

Select	Answer
A	Multi-tone AFSK
B	PSK
C	RTTY
D	IEEE 802.11

11. - E2E11

What is the difference between direct FSK and audio FSK?

Select	Answer
A	Direct FSK uses a DC-coupled data connection
B	Audio FSK has a superior frequency response
C	Audio FSK can be performed anywhere in the transmit chain
D	Direct FSK applies the data signal to the transmitter VFO

12. - E3A09

Which of the following frequency range is most suited for meteor scatter communications?

Select	Answer
A	1.8 MHz - 1.9 MHz
B	10 MHz - 14 MHz
C	28 MHz - 148 MHz
D	220 MHz - 450 MHz

13. - E3B03

What is the best time of day for transequatorial propagation?

Select	Answer
A	Noon
B	Late at night
C	Afternoon or early evening
D	Morning

14. - E3C01

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

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

15. - E4A02

Which of the following parameters would a spectrum analyzer display on the vertical and horizontal axes?

Select	Answer
A	RF amplitude and time
B	SWR and frequency
C	SWR and time
D	RF amplitude and frequency

16. - E4B10

Which of the following describes a method to measure intermodulation distortion in an SSB transmitter?

Select	Answer
A	Modulate the transmitter with two non-harmonically related radio frequencies and observe the RF output with a spectrum analyzer
B	Modulate the transmitter with two harmonically related audio frequencies and observe the RF output with a peak reading wattmeter
C	Modulate the transmitter with two harmonically related audio frequencies and observe the RF output with a logic analyzer
D	Modulate the transmitter with two non-harmonically related audio frequencies and observe the RF output with a spectrum analyzer

17. - E4C04

How is the noise figure of a receiver defined?

Select	Answer
A	The ratio of thermal noise to atmospheric noise
B	The ratio in dB of the noise generated by the receiver to the theoretical minimum noise
C	The ratio of the noise bandwidth in Hertz to the theoretical bandwidth of a resistive network
D	The ratio of atmospheric noise to phase noise

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

19. - E4E10

What is a common characteristic of interference caused by a touch controlled electrical device?

Select	Answer
A	The interfering signal can be several kHz in width and usually repeats at regular intervals across a HF band
B	The interfering signal may drift slowly across the HF spectrum
C	All of these choices are correct
D	The interfering signal sounds like AC hum on an AM receiver or a carrier modulated by 60 Hz hum on a SSB or CW receiver

20. - E5A02

What is resonance in an electrical circuit?

Select	Answer
A	The lowest frequency that will pass current
B	The highest frequency that will pass current
C	The frequency at which the reactive impedance equals the resistive impedance
D	The frequency at which the capacitive reactance equals the inductive reactance

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 turns ratio of a transformer
D	The inverse of impedance

22. - E5C08

What coordinate system is often used to display the phase angle of a circuit containing resistance, inductive and/or capacitive reactance?

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

23. - E5D15

What is the power factor of an R-L circuit having a 45 degree phase angle between the voltage and the current?

Select	Answer
A	1.0
B	0.866
C	0.5
D	0.707

24. - E6A03

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

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

25. - E6B07

What is the failure mechanism when a junction diode fails due to excessive current?

Select	Answer
A	Excessive inverse voltage
B	Insufficient forward voltage
C	Charge carrier depletion
D	Excessive junction temperature

26. - E6C12

What is BiCMOS logic?

Select	Answer
A	A FET logic family based on bimetallic semiconductors
B	A logic device with two CMOS circuits per package
C	A logic family based on bismuth CMOS devices
D	An integrated circuit logic family using both bipolar and CMOS transistors

27. - E6D15

What is current in the primary winding of a transformer called if no load is attached to the secondary?

Select	Answer
A	Magnetizing current
B	Direct current
C	Excitation current
D	Stabilizing current

28. - E6E02

Which of the following device packages is a through-hole type?

Select	Answer
A	DIP
B	PLCC
C	Ball grid array
D	SOT

29. - E6F03

What is the most common configuration of an optoisolator or optocoupler?

Select	Answer
A	A lens and a photomultiplier
B	A frequency modulated helium-neon laser
C	An amplitude modulated helium-neon laser
D	An LED and a phototransistor

30. - E7A08

What logical operation does an OR gate perform?

Select	Answer
A	It produces logic "1" at its output if any or all inputs are logic "1"
B	It only produces logic "0" at its output when all inputs are logic "1"
C	It produces logic "1" at its output if all inputs are logic "0"
D	It produces logic "0" at its output if all inputs are logic "1"

31. - E7B04

Where on the load line of a Class A common emitter amplifier would bias normally be set?

Select	Answer
A	Approximately half-way between saturation and cutoff
B	At a point where the bias resistor equals the load resistor
C	Where the load line intersects the voltage axis
D	At a point where the load line intersects the zero bias current curve

32. - E7C02

Which of the following is a property of a T-network with series capacitors and a parallel shunt inductor?

Select	Answer
A	It is a band-pass filter
B	It is a notch filter
C	It is a high-pass filter
D	It is a low-pass filter

33. - E7D02

What is one characteristic of a switching electronic voltage regulator?

Select	Answer
A	The controlled device's duty cycle is changed to produce a constant average output voltage
B	The resistance of a control element is varied in direct proportion to the line voltage or load current
C	It gives a ramp voltage at its output
D	It is generally less efficient than a linear regulator

34. - E7E12

What is a frequency discriminator stage in a FM receiver?

Select	Answer
A	An automatic band-switching circuit
B	An FM generator circuit
C	A circuit for detecting FM signals
D	A circuit for filtering two closely adjacent signals

35. - E7F08

What is the function of decimation with regard to digital filters?

Select	Answer
A	Converting data to binary code decimal form
B	Reducing the effective sample rate by removing samples
C	Attenuating the signal
D	Removing unnecessary significant digits

36. - E7G01

What is the typical output impedance of an integrated circuit op-amp?

Select	Answer
A	Very low
B	1000 ohms
C	Very high
D	100 ohms

37. - E7H15

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

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

38. - E8A09

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

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

39. - E8B02

How does the modulation index of a phase-modulated emission vary with RF carrier frequency (the modulated frequency)?

Select	Answer
A	It varies with the square root of the RF carrier frequency
B	It increases as the RF carrier frequency increases
C	It does not depend on the RF carrier frequency
D	It decreases as the RF carrier frequency increases

40. - E8C10

What is an advantage of Gray code in digital communications where symbols are transmitted as multiple bits

Select	Answer
A	It facilitates error detection
B	It has more possible states than simple binary
C	It has more resolution than simple binary
D	It increases security

41. - E8D11

What is one advantage of using ASCII code for data communications?

Select	Answer
A	It includes built in error correction features
B	It contains fewer information bits per character than any other code
C	It is possible to transmit both upper and lower case text
D	It uses one character as a shift code to send numeric and special characters

42. - E9A09

How is antenna efficiency calculated?

Select	Answer
A	(effective radiated power / transmitter output) x 100 percent
B	(radiation resistance / transmission resistance) x 100 per cent
C	(total resistance / radiation resistance) x 100 per cent
D	(radiation resistance / total resistance) x 100 per cent

43. - E9B03

In the antenna radiation pattern shown in Figure E9-1, what is the front-to-side ratio?

Select	Answer
A	18 dB
B	14 dB
C	12 dB
D	24 dB

44. - E9C10

Which of the following describes a Zepp antenna?

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

45. - E9D12

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

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

46. - E9E01

What system matches a higher impedance transmission line to a lower impedance antenna by connecting the line to the driven element in two places spaced a fraction of a wavelength each side of element center?

Select	Answer
A	The delta matching system
B	The gamma matching system
C	The stub matching system
D	The omega matching system

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 higher velocity factor
D	Foam dielectric has lower safe operating voltage limits

48. - E9G04

What are the two families of circles and arcs that make up a Smith chart?

Select	Answer
A	Resistance and voltage
B	Reactance and voltage
C	Voltage and impedance
D	Resistance and reactance

49. - E9H05

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

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

50. - E0A01

What is the primary function of an external earth connection or ground rod?

Select	Answer
A	Reduce received noise
B	Reduce RF current flow between pieces of equipment
C	Reduce RFI to telephones and home entertainment systems
D	Lightning protection