US Amateur Radio - Amateur Extra (Element 4, 2020-2024) Practice Test

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1. - E0A01

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

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

2. - E1A09

What action or actions should you take if your digital message forwarding station inadvertently forwards a communication that violates FCC rules?

Select	Answer
A	All these choices are correct
B	Discontinue forwarding the communication as soon as you become aware of it
C	Notify the nearest FCC Field Engineers office
D	Notify the originating station that the communication does not comply with FCC rules

3. - E1B09

Which amateur stations may be operated under RACES rules?

Select	Answer
A	Only those club stations licensed to Amateur Extra Class operators
B	Any FCC-licensed amateur station certified by the responsible civil defense organization for the area served
C	Any FCC-licensed amateur station participating in the Military Auxiliary Radio System (MARS)
D	Any FCC-licensed amateur station except a Technician Class

4. - 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	A forecast of intermittent aurora radio propagation
C	The internal amateur radio practices policy of the FCC
D	An indication of increased antenna reflected power

5. - E1D05

What must be posted at the station location of a station being operated by telecommand on or within 50 km of the earth's surface?

Select	Answer
A	A label with the name, address, and telephone number of the control operator
B	A label with the name, address, and telephone number of the station licensee
C	All these choices are correct
D	A photocopy of the station license

6. - E1E09

What may be the penalty for a VE who fraudulently administers or certifies an examination?

Select	Answer
A	A sentence of up to one year in prison
B	A fine of up to $1000 per occurrence
C	Revocation of the VE's amateur station license grant and the suspension of the VE's amateur operator license grant
D	All these choices are correct

7. - E1F11

Which of the following best describes one of the standards that must be met by an external RF power amplifier if it is to qualify for a grant of FCC certification?

Select	Answer
A	It must satisfy the FCC's spurious emission standards when operated at the lesser of 1500 watts or its full output power
B	It must produce full legal output when driven by not more than 5 watts of mean RF input power
C	It must be capable of external RF switching between its input and output networks
D	It must exhibit a gain of 0 dB or less over its full output range

8. - E2A08

Why should effective radiated power to a satellite that uses a linear transponder be limited?

Select	Answer
A	To prevent creating errors in the satellite telemetry
B	To avoid interfering with terrestrial QSOs
C	To avoid reducing the downlink power to all other users
D	To prevent the satellite from emitting out-of-band signals

9. - E2B05

Which of the following describes the use of vestigial sideband in analog fast-scan TV transmissions?

Select	Answer
A	Vestigial sideband provides high frequency emphasis to sharpen the picture
B	Vestigial sideband reduces bandwidth while allowing for simple video detector circuitry
C	The vestigial sideband carries the audio information
D	The vestigial sideband contains chroma information

10. - E2C10

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

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

11. - E2D10

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

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

12. - E2E04

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

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

13. - E3A04

What do Hepburn maps predict?

Select	Answer
A	Probability of tropospheric propagation
B	Sporadic E propagation
C	Locations of auroral reflecting zones
D	Likelihood of rain scatter along cold or warm fronts

14. - E3B01

What is transequatorial propagation?

Select	Answer
A	Propagation between points located on the magnetic equator
B	Propagation between two mid-latitude points at approximately the same distance north and south of the magnetic equator
C	Propagation between a point on the equator and its antipodal point
D	Propagation between points at the same latitude

15. - E3C01

What does the radio communication term "ray tracing" describe?

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

16. - E4A01

Which of the following limits the highest frequency signal that can be accurately displayed on a digital oscilloscope?

Select	Answer
A	Sampling rate of the analog-to-digital converter
B	Q of the circuit
C	All these choices are correct
D	Amount of memory

17. - E4B07

What do the subscripts of S parameters represent?

Select	Answer
A	The port or ports at which measurements are made
B	Relative quality of the data
C	Frequency order of the measurements
D	The relative time between measurements

18. - E4C05

What does a receiver noise floor of -174 dBm represent?

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

19. - E4D02

Which of the following describes problems caused by poor dynamic range in a receiver?

Select	Answer
A	Cross-modulation of the desired signal and insufficient audio power to operate the speaker
B	Oscillator instability and severe audio distortion of all but the strongest received signals
C	Oscillator instability requiring frequent retuning and loss of ability to recover the opposite sideband
D	Spurious signals caused by cross-modulation and desensitization from strong adjacent signals

20. - E4E06

What is one type of electrical interference that might be caused by a nearby personal computer?

Select	Answer
A	The appearance of unstable modulated or unmodulated signals at specific frequencies
B	A clicking noise at intervals of a few seconds
C	A whining type noise that continually pulses off and on
D	A loud AC hum in the audio output of your station receiver

21. - E5A12

What is the half-power bandwidth of a resonant circuit that has a resonant frequency of 3.7 MHz and a Q of 118?

Select	Answer
A	218.3 kHz
B	436.6 kHz
C	15.7 kHz
D	31.4 kHz

22. - E5B06

What is susceptance?

Select	Answer
A	The ratio of magnetic field to electric field
B	The imaginary part of admittance
C	The magnetic impedance of a circuit
D	A measure of the efficiency of a transformer

23. - E5C11

Which point in Figure E5-1 best represents the impedance of a series circuit consisting of a 300-ohm resistor and an 18-microhenry inductor at 3.505 MHz?

Select	Answer
A	Point 1
B	Point 8
C	Point 3
D	Point 7

24. - E5D06

In what direction is the magnetic field oriented about a conductor in relation to the direction of electron flow?

Select	Answer
A	In a direction opposite to the current
B	In all directions; omni-directional
C	In the same direction as the current
D	In a circle around the conductor

25. - E6A02

Which of the following semiconductor materials contains excess free electrons?

Select	Answer
A	Bipolar
B	N-type
C	P-type
D	Insulated gate

26. - E6B07

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

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

27. - E6C09

What is a Programmable Logic Device (PLD)?

Select	Answer
A	A type of transistor whose gain can be changed by digital logic circuits
B	Programmable equipment used for testing digital logic integrated circuits
C	A programmable collection of logic gates and circuits in a single integrated circuit
D	A logic circuit that can be modified during use

28. - E6D02

What is the equivalent circuit of a quartz crystal?

Select	Answer
A	Motional capacitance, motional inductance, loss resistance, and a capacitor representing electrode and stray capacitance all in series
B	Motional capacitance, motional inductance, and loss resistance in series, all in parallel with a shunt capacitor representing electrode and stray capacitance
C	Motional inductance and loss resistance in series, paralleled with motional capacitance and a capacitor representing electrode and stray capacitance
D	Motional capacitance, motional inductance, loss resistance, and a capacitor representing electrode and stray capacitance all in parallel

29. - E6E07

What type of transmission line is used for connections to MMICs?

Select	Answer
A	Parallel wire
B	Circular waveguide
C	Microstrip
D	Miniature coax

30. - E6F10

What is the most common type of photovoltaic cell used for electrical power generation?

Select	Answer
A	Silicon
B	Cadmium Sulfide
C	Selenium
D	Copper oxide

31. - E7A03

Which of the following can divide the frequency of a pulse train by 2?

Select	Answer
A	A flip-flop
B	An XOR gate
C	A multiplexer
D	An OR gate

32. - E7B16

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

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

33. - E7C11

Which of the following describes a receiving filter's ability to reject signals occupying an adjacent channel?

Select	Answer
A	Phase response
B	Shape factor
C	Passband ripple
D	Noise factor

34. - E7D05

Which of the following types of linear voltage regulator places a constant load on the unregulated voltage source?

Select	Answer
A	A series regulator
B	A shunt current source
C	A constant current source
D	A shunt regulator

35. - E7E02

What is the function of a reactance modulator?

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

36. - E7F06

What is the minimum number of bits required for an analog-to-digital converter to sample a signal with a range of 1 volt at a resolution of 1 millivolt?

Select	Answer
A	6 bits
B	4 bits
C	8 bits
D	10 bits

37. - E7G11

What absolute voltage gain can be expected from the circuit in Figure E7-3 when R1 is 3300 ohms and RF is 47 kilohms?

Select	Answer
A	0.07
B	28
C	14
D	7

38. - E7H15

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

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

39. - E8A06

What is the approximate ratio of PEP-to-average power in a typical single-sideband phone signal?

Select	Answer
A	100 to 1
B	2.5 to 1
C	25 to 1
D	1 to 1

40. - 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	60
B	0.6
C	1.67
D	0.167

41. - 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 number of characters carried per second by the station-to-station link
C	The rate at which the waveform changes to convey information
D	The duration of each bit in a message sent over the air

42. - E8D08

What parameter evaluates distortion of an AFSK signal caused by excessive input audio levels?

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

43. - E9A09

What is antenna efficiency?

Select	Answer
A	Effective radiated power divided by transmitter output
B	Radiation resistance divided by total resistance
C	Total resistance divided by radiation resistance
D	Radiation resistance divided by transmission resistance

44. - E9B08

What is the far field of an antenna?

Select	Answer
A	The region where radiated power dissipates over a specified time period
B	The region of the ionosphere where radiated power is not refracted
C	The region where radiated field strengths are constant
D	The region where the shape of the antenna pattern is independent of distance

45. - E9C04

What happens to the radiation pattern of an unterminated long wire antenna as the wire length is increased?

Select	Answer
A	The lobes align more in the direction of the wire
B	The vertical angle increases
C	The lobes become more perpendicular to the wire
D	The front-to-back ratio decreases

46. - E9D08

What happens as the Q of an antenna increases?

Select	Answer
A	SWR bandwidth decreases
B	More common-mode current is present on the feed line
C	Gain is reduced
D	SWR bandwidth increases

47. - E9E07

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

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

48. - E9F07

How does ladder line compare to small-diameter coaxial cable such as RG-58 at 50 MHz?

Select	Answer
A	Lower velocity factor
B	Smaller reflection coefficient
C	Higher SWR
D	Lower loss

49. - E9G04

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

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

50. - E9H05

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

Select	Answer
A	It has a bidirectional pattern
B	All these choices are correct
C	It is practical for use only on VHF and higher bands
D	It has no clearly defined null

Figure E5-1

Figure E7-3