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

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1. - E0A09

Which insulating material commonly used as a thermal conductor for some types of electronic devices is extremely toxic if broken or crushed and the particles are accidentally inhaled?

Select	Answer
A	Beryllium Oxide
B	Uranium Hexafluoride
C	Mica
D	Zinc oxide

2. - 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 holding an FCC issued amateur license or who is authorized for alien reciprocal operation
B	Any person named in an amateur station license grant or a person holding an unrestricted Radiotelephone Operator Permit
C	Only a person with an FCC Marine Radio license grant
D	Only a person named in an amateur station license grant

3. - E1B11

What does PRB-1 require of regulations affecting amateur radio?

Select	Answer
A	Reasonable accommodations of amateur radio must be made
B	Use of wireless devices in a vehicle is exempt from regulation
C	No limitations may be placed on antenna size or placement
D	Amateur radio operations must be permitted in any private residence

4. - E1C14

How long must an operator wait after filing a notification with the Utilities Technology Council (UTC) before operating on the 2200 meter or 630 meter band?

Select	Answer
A	Operators may not operate until a test signal has been transmitted in coordination with the local power company
B	Operators may operate after 30 days, providing they have not been told that their station is within 1 km of PLC systems using those frequencies
C	Operations may commence immediately, and may continue unless interference is reported by the UTC
D	Operators must not operate until approval is received

5. - E1D01

What is the definition of telemetry?

Select	Answer
A	Two-way transmissions of data
B	One-way transmission that initiates, modifies, or terminates the functions of a device at a distance
C	Two-way transmissions in excess of 1000 feet
D	One-way transmission of measurements at a distance from the measuring instrument

6. - E1E04

Which of the following best describes the Volunteer Examiner accreditation process?

Select	Answer
A	The prospective VE obtains accreditation from the FCC
B	Each General, Advanced and Amateur Extra Class operator is automatically accredited as a VE when the license is granted
C	The amateur operator applying must pass a VE examination administered by the FCC Enforcement Bureau
D	The procedure by which a VEC confirms that the VE applicant meets FCC requirements to serve as an examiner

7. - E1F10

Who may be the control operator of an auxiliary station?

Select	Answer
A	Only Amateur Extra Class operators
B	Any licensed amateur operator
C	Only General, Advanced or Amateur Extra Class operators
D	Only Technician, General, Advanced or Amateur Extra Class operators

8. - E2A06

What are Keplerian elements?

Select	Answer
A	Phase reversing elements in a Yagi antenna
B	Parameters that define the orbit of a satellite
C	Encrypting codes used for spread spectrum modulation
D	High-emission heater filaments used in magnetron tubes

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

10. - E2C01

What indicator is required to be used by U.S.-licensed operators when operating a station via remote control and the remote transmitter is located in the U.S.?

Select	Answer
A	/R# where # is the district of the remote station
B	/ followed by the ARRL Section of the remote station
C	No additional indicator is required
D	/ followed by the USPS two-letter abbreviation for the state in which the remote station is located

11. - E2D07

What digital protocol is used by APRS?

Select	Answer
A	802.11
B	PACTOR
C	AMTOR
D	AX.25

12. - E2E03

How is the timing of FT4 contacts organized?

Select	Answer
A	Stations take turns on alternate days
B	By exchanging ACK/NAK packets
C	Alternating transmissions at 7.5 second intervals
D	It depends on the lunar phase

13. - E3A03

When scheduling EME contacts, which of these conditions will generally result in the least path loss?

Select	Answer
A	When the MUF is above 30 MHz
B	When the moon is full
C	When the moon is at perigee
D	When the moon is at apogee

14. - E3B06

Which of the following amateur bands most frequently provides long-path propagation?

Select	Answer
A	6 meters
B	20 meters
C	80 meters
D	10 meters

15. - E3C08

What does the space weather term G5 mean?

Select	Answer
A	Very low solar activity
B	An extreme geomagnetic storm
C	Waning sunspot numbers
D	Moderate solar wind

16. - E4A02

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

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

17. - E4B07

What do the subscripts of S parameters represent?

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

18. - E4C03

What is the term for the suppression in an FM receiver of one signal by another stronger signal on the same frequency?

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

19. - E4D12

What is the term for the reduction in receiver sensitivity caused by a strong signal near the received frequency?

Select	Answer
A	Squelch gain rollback
B	Desensitization
C	Quieting
D	Cross-modulation interference

20. - E4E11

What could cause local AM broadcast band signals to combine to generate spurious signals in the MF or HF bands?

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

21. - E5A01

What can cause the voltage across reactances in a series RLC circuit to be higher than the voltage applied to the entire circuit?

Select	Answer
A	Capacitance
B	Conductance
C	Resonance
D	Resistance

22. - E5B04

What is the time constant of a circuit having two 220-microfarad capacitors and two 1-megohm resistors, all in parallel?

Select	Answer
A	55 seconds
B	440 seconds
C	110 seconds
D	220 seconds

23. - E5C05

What is the name of the diagram used to show the phase relationship between impedances at a given frequency?

Select	Answer
A	Far field diagram
B	Near field diagram
C	Venn diagram
D	Phasor diagram

24. - E5D13

How many watts are consumed in a circuit consisting of a 100-ohm resistor in series with a 100-ohm inductive reactance drawing 1 ampere?

Select	Answer
A	70.7 watts
B	100 watts
C	200 watts
D	141.4 watts

25. - E6A02

Which of the following semiconductor materials contains excess free electrons?

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

26. - E6B07

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

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

27. - E6C11

In Figure E6-3, what is the schematic symbol for the NOT operation (inverter)?

Select	Answer
A	5
B	2
C	6
D	4

28. - E6D08

What is one reason for using powdered-iron cores rather than ferrite cores in an inductor?

Select	Answer
A	Powdered-iron cores generally have greater initial permeability
B	Powdered-iron cores generally maintain their characteristics at higher currents
C	Powdered-iron cores use smaller diameter wire for the same inductance
D	Powdered-iron cores generally require fewer turns to produce a given inductance

29. - E6E01

Why is gallium arsenide (GaAs) useful for semiconductor devices operating at UHF and higher frequencies?

Select	Answer
A	Higher noise figures
B	Lower transconductance
C	Higher electron mobility
D	Lower junction voltage drop

30. - E6F09

What is the efficiency of a photovoltaic cell?

Select	Answer
A	The relative fraction of light that is converted to current
B	The output RF power divided by the input DC power
C	The open-circuit voltage divided by the short-circuit current under full illumination
D	Cost per kilowatt-hour generated

31. - E7A03

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

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

32. - E7B17

Why are odd-order rather than even-order intermodulation distortion products of concern in linear power amplifiers?

Select	Answer
A	Because they maintain the sidebands, thus causing multiple duplicate signals
B	Because they invert the sidebands causing distortion
C	Because they are relatively far in frequency from the desired signal
D	Because they are relatively close in frequency to the desired signal

33. - E7C06

What are the distinguishing features of an elliptical filter?

Select	Answer
A	Gradual passband rolloff with extreme stop band ripple
B	Gradual passband rolloff with minimal stop band ripple
C	Extremely sharp cutoff with one or more notches in the stop band
D	Extremely flat response over its pass band with gradually rounded stop band corners

34. - E7D15

What is the purpose of a step-start circuit in a high-voltage power supply?

Select	Answer
A	To allow for remote control of the power supply
B	To allow the filter capacitors to charge gradually
C	To provide a dual-voltage output for reduced power applications
D	To compensate for variations of the incoming line voltage

35. - E7E10

How does a diode envelope detector function?

Select	Answer
A	By rectification and filtering of RF signals
B	By sensing the change of reactance in the diode with respect to frequency
C	By breakdown of the Zener voltage
D	By mixing signals with noise in the transition region of the diode

36. - E7F13

What is the function of taps in a digital signal processing filter?

Select	Answer
A	Provide incremental signal delays for filter algorithms
B	Provide access for debugging software
C	Select the point at which baseband signals are generated
D	To reduce excess signal pressure levels

37. - E7G10

What absolute voltage gain can be expected from the circuit in Figure E7-3 when R1 is 1800 ohms and RF is 68 kilohms?

Select	Answer
A	1
B	0.03
C	38
D	76

38. - E7H05

How is positive feedback supplied in a Pierce oscillator?

Select	Answer
A	Through a neutralizing capacitor
B	Through a tapped coil
C	Through a quartz crystal
D	Through link coupling

39. - E8A10

What is the purpose of a low-pass filter used in conjunction with a digital-to-analog converter?

Select	Answer
A	Remove harmonics from the output caused by the discrete analog levels generated
B	All these choices are correct
C	Improve accuracy by removing out-of-sequence codes from the input
D	Lower the input bandwidth to increase the effective resolution

40. - E8B06

What is the deviation ratio of an FM-phone signal having a maximum frequency swing of plus or minus 7.5 kHz when the maximum modulation frequency is 3.5 kHz?

Select	Answer
A	0.214
B	0.47
C	2.14
D	47

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

42. - E8D10

What are some of the differences between the Baudot digital code and ASCII?

Select	Answer
A	Baudot uses 5 data bits per character, ASCII uses 7 or 8; Baudot uses 2 characters as letters/figures shift codes, ASCII has no letters/figures shift code
B	Baudot uses 4 data bits per character, ASCII uses 7 or 8; Baudot uses 1 character as a letters/figures shift code, ASCII has no letters/figures code
C	Baudot uses 6 data bits per character, ASCII uses 7 or 8; Baudot has no letters/figures shift code, ASCII uses 2 letters/figures shift codes
D	Baudot uses 7 data bits per character, ASCII uses 8; Baudot has no letters/figures shift code, ASCII uses 2 letters/figures shift codes

43. - E9A07

What is the effective isotropic radiated power of a repeater station with 200 watts transmitter power output, 2 dB feed line loss, 2.8 dB duplexer loss, 1.2 dB circulator loss, and 7 dBi antenna gain?

Select	Answer
A	63.2 watts
B	632 watts
C	159 watts
D	252 watts

44. - E9B09

What type of computer program technique is commonly used for modeling antennas?

Select	Answer
A	Method of Moments
B	Graphical analysis
C	Mutual impedance analysis
D	Calculus differentiation with respect to physical properties

45. - E9C04

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

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

46. - E9D11

Which of the following conductors would be best for minimizing losses in a station's RF ground system?

Select	Answer
A	Resistive wire, such as spark plug wire
B	Solid wire
C	Stranded wire
D	Wide flat copper strap

47. - E9E08

What is a use for a Wilkinson divider?

Select	Answer
A	It is used to feed high-impedance antennas from a low-impedance source
B	It divides the operating frequency of a transmitter signal so it can be used on a lower frequency band
C	It is used to feed low-impedance loads from a high-impedance source
D	It is used to divide power equally between two 50-ohm loads while maintaining 50-ohm input impedance

48. - E9F01

What is the velocity factor of a transmission line?

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

49. - E9G07

On the Smith chart shown in Figure E9-3, what is the only straight line shown?

Select	Answer
A	The reactance axis
B	The voltage axis
C	The resistance axis
D	The current axis

50. - E9H02

Which is generally true for low band (160 meter and 80 meter) receiving antennas?

Select	Answer
A	All these choices are correct
B	Low loss coax transmission line is essential for good performance
C	They must be erected at least 1/2 wavelength above the ground to attain good directivity
D	Atmospheric noise is so high that gain over a dipole is not important

Figure E6-3

Figure E7-3

Figure E9-3