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

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1. - E0A10

What toxic material may be present in some electronic components such as high voltage capacitors and transformers?

Select	Answer
A	Polyethylene
B	Polytetrafluoroethylene
C	Polychlorinated biphenyls
D	Polymorphic silicon

2. - E1A01

Which of the following carrier frequencies is illegal for LSB AFSK emissions on the 17 meter band RTTY and data segment of 18.068 to 18.110 MHz?

Select	Answer
A	18.100 MHz
B	18.068 MHz
C	18.110 MHz
D	18.107 MHz

3. - E1B12

What must the control operator of a repeater operating in the 70 cm band do if a radiolocation system experiences interference from that repeater?

Select	Answer
A	Cease operation or make changes to the repeater to mitigate the interference
B	File an FAA NOTAM (Notice to Airmen) with the repeater system's ERP, call sign, and six-character grid locator
C	All these choices are correct
D	Reduce the repeater antenna HAAT (Height Above Average Terrain)

4. - 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	CEPT agreement
B	All these choices are correct
C	ITU reciprocal license
D	IARP agreement

5. - E1D10

Which amateur stations are eligible to be telecommand stations of space stations (subject to the privileges of the class of operator license held by the control operator of the station)?

Select	Answer
A	Any amateur station designated by NASA
B	Any amateur station so designated by the space station licensee
C	All these choices are correct
D	Any amateur station so designated by the ITU

6. - E1E07

What should a VE do if a candidate fails to comply with the examiner's instructions during an amateur operator license examination?

Select	Answer
A	Immediately terminate everyone's examination and close the session
B	Warn the candidate that continued failure to comply will result in termination of the examination
C	Allow the candidate to complete the examination, but invalidate the results
D	Immediately terminate the candidate's examination

7. - E1F04

Which of the following geographic descriptions approximately describes "Line A"?

Select	Answer
A	A line roughly parallel to and east of the U.S. Pacific coastline
B	A line roughly parallel to and south of the border between the U.S. and Canada
C	A line roughly parallel to and north of the border between the U.S. and Mexico
D	A line roughly parallel to and west of the U.S. Atlantic coastline

8. - E2A12

What is the purpose of digital store-and-forward functions on an amateur radio satellite?

Select	Answer
A	To upload operational software for the transponder
B	To delay download of telemetry between satellites
C	To store digital messages in the satellite for later download by other stations
D	To relay messages between satellites

9. - E2B11

What is the function of the Vertical Interval Signaling (VIS) code sent as part of an SSTV transmission?

Select	Answer
A	To identify the SSTV mode being used
B	To identify the call sign of the station transmitting
C	To lock the color burst oscillator in color SSTV images
D	To provide vertical synchronization

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 USPS two-letter abbreviation for the state in which the remote station is located
C	No additional indicator is required
D	/ followed by the ARRL Section of the remote station

11. - E2D08

What type of packet frame is used to transmit APRS beacon data?

Select	Answer
A	Acknowledgement
B	Unnumbered Information
C	Disconnect
D	Connect

12. - E2E08

Which of the following HF digital modes can be used to transfer binary files?

Select	Answer
A	Hellschreiber
B	RTTY
C	PACTOR
D	AMTOR

13. - E3A13

Which of these emission modes is best for auroral propagation?

Select	Answer
A	RTTY
B	FM
C	CW
D	SSB

14. - 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	Refracted rays and reflected waves
D	Long-path and short-path waves

15. - E3C14

Why does the radio-path horizon distance exceed the geometric horizon?

Select	Answer
A	Downward bending due to density variations in the atmosphere
B	E-region skip
C	D-region skip
D	Due to the Doppler effect

16. - E4A03

Which of the following test instruments is used to display spurious signals and/or intermodulation distortion products generated by an SSB transmitter?

Select	Answer
A	A spectrum analyzer
B	A time-domain reflectometer
C	A logic analyzer
D	A wattmeter

17. - E4B05

What three test loads are used to calibrate an RF vector network analyzer?

Select	Answer
A	Short circuit, open circuit, and resonant circuit
B	Short circuit, open circuit, and 50 ohms
C	50 ohms through 1/8 wavelength, 1/4 wavelength, and 1/2 wavelength of coaxial cable
D	50 ohms, 75 ohms, and 90 ohms

18. - E4C15

What is reciprocal mixing?

Select	Answer
A	In-phase signals cancelling in a mixer resulting in loss of receiver sensitivity
B	Local oscillator phase noise mixing with adjacent strong signals to create interference to desired signals
C	Two out-of-band signals mixing to generate an in-band spurious signal
D	Two digital signals combining from alternate time slots

19. - E4D12

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

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

20. - E4E06

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

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

21. - E5A02

What is resonance in an LC or RLC circuit?

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

22. - E5B12

What is admittance?

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

23. - E5C01

Which of the following represents capacitive reactance in rectangular notation?

Select	Answer
A	Omega
B	-jX
C	+jX
D	Delta

24. - E5D05

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

Select	Answer
A	0.5
B	0.866
C	0.577
D	1.73

25. - E6A10

In Figure E6-1, what is the schematic symbol for an N-channel dual-gate MOSFET?

Select	Answer
A	4
B	2
C	6
D	5

26. - E6B03

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

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

27. - E6C01

What is the function of hysteresis in a comparator?

Select	Answer
A	To increase the sensitivity
B	To prevent input noise from causing unstable output signals
C	To allow the comparator to be used with AC input signals
D	To cause the output to change states continually

28. - E6D13

What is the primary cause of inductor self-resonance?

Select	Answer
A	The skin effect
B	Inter-turn capacitance
C	Inductive kickback
D	Non-linear core hysteresis

29. - E6E06

What characteristics of the MMIC make it a popular choice for VHF through microwave circuits?

Select	Answer
A	Plate current that is controlled by a control grid
B	Nearly infinite gain, very high input impedance, and very low output impedance
C	Controlled gain, low noise figure, and constant input and output impedance over the specified frequency range
D	The ability to retrieve information from a single signal even in the presence of other strong signals

30. - E6F01

What absorbs the energy from light falling on a photovoltaic cell?

Select	Answer
A	Holes
B	Electrons
C	Protons
D	Photons

31. - E7A06

What is a characteristic of a monostable multivibrator?

Select	Answer
A	It produces a continuous square wave oscillating between 1 and 0
B	It switches momentarily to the opposite binary state and then returns to its original state after a set time
C	It stores one bit of data in either a 0 or 1 state
D	It maintains a constant output voltage, regardless of variations in the input voltage

32. - E7B06

Which of the following amplifier types reduces even-order harmonics?

Select	Answer
A	Push-push
B	Push-pull
C	Class AB
D	Class C

33. - 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 low-pass filter
B	It is a band-pass filter
C	It is a notch filter
D	It is a high-pass filter

34. - E7D09

What is the main reason to use a charge controller with a solar power system?

Select	Answer
A	Control of electrolyte levels during battery discharge
B	Prevention of battery damage due to overcharge
C	Prevention of battery undercharge
D	Matching of day and night charge rates

35. - E7E03

What is a frequency discriminator stage in a FM receiver?

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

36. - E7F11

What sets the minimum detectable signal level for a direct-sampling SDR receiver in the absence of atmospheric or thermal noise?

Select	Answer
A	Missing codes and jitter
B	Sample clock phase noise
C	Data storage transfer rate
D	Reference voltage level and sample width in 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	7
C	28
D	14

38. - E7H15

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

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

39. - E8A11

Which of the following is a measure of the quality of an analog-to-digital converter?

Select	Answer
A	Reciprocal mixing
B	Total harmonic distortion
C	Power factor
D	Peak envelope power

40. - E8B09

What is deviation ratio?

Select	Answer
A	The ratio of the maximum carrier frequency deviation to the highest audio modulating frequency
B	The ratio of the audio modulating frequency to the center carrier frequency
C	The ratio of the highest audio modulating frequency to the average audio modulating frequency
D	The ratio of the carrier center frequency to the audio modulating frequency

41. - E8C12

What factors affect the bandwidth of a transmitted CW signal?

Select	Answer
A	Keying speed and shape factor (rise and fall time)
B	IF bandwidth and Q
C	Modulation index and output power
D	All these choices are correct

42. - E8D02

What spread spectrum communications technique uses a high-speed binary bit stream to shift the phase of an RF carrier?

Select	Answer
A	Binary phase-shift keying
B	Frequency hopping
C	Phase compandored spread spectrum
D	Direct sequence

43. - E9A04

Which of the following factors affect the feed point impedance of an antenna?

Select	Answer
A	Transmission line length
B	The settings of an antenna tuner at the transmitter
C	The input power level
D	Antenna height

44. - E9B01

In the antenna radiation pattern shown in Figure E9-1, what is the beamwidth?

Select	Answer
A	50 degrees
B	30 degrees
C	25 degrees
D	75 degrees

45. - E9C04

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

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

46. - E9D07

What is an advantage of using top loading in a shortened HF vertical antenna?

Select	Answer
A	Improved radiation efficiency
B	Higher losses
C	Lower Q
D	Greater structural strength

47. - 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 omega matching system
B	The gamma matching system
C	The stub matching system
D	The delta matching system

48. - E9F08

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 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

49. - E9G03

Which of the following is often determined using a Smith chart?

Select	Answer
A	Impedance and SWR values in transmission lines
B	Trigonometric functions
C	Satellite azimuth and elevation bearings
D	Beam headings and radiation patterns

50. - E9H10

How can the output voltage of a multiple-turn receiving loop antenna be increased?

Select	Answer
A	By increasing the number of turns and/or the area
B	By reducing the permeability of the loop shield
C	By winding adjacent turns in opposing directions
D	By utilizing high impedance wire for the coupling loop

Figure E6-1

Figure E7-3

Figure E9-1