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

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1. - E0A06

Why are there separate electric (E) and magnetic (H) field MPE limits?

Select	Answer
A	E field and H field radiation intensity peaks can occur at different locations
B	Ground reflections and scattering make the field strength vary with location
C	All these choices are correct
D	The body reacts to electromagnetic radiation from both the E and H fields

2. - E1A03

What is the maximum legal carrier frequency on the 20 meter band for transmitting USB AFSK digital signals having a 1 kHz bandwidth?

Select	Answer
A	14.100 MHz
B	14.149 MHz
C	14.349 MHz
D	14.070 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	All these choices are correct
B	Reduce the repeater antenna HAAT (Height Above Average Terrain)
C	File an FAA NOTAM (Notice to Airmen) with the repeater system's ERP, call sign, and six-character grid locator
D	Cease operation or make changes to the repeater to mitigate the interference

4. - E1C08

What is the maximum permissible duration of a remotely controlled station's transmissions if its control link malfunctions?

Select	Answer
A	5 minutes
B	10 minutes
C	30 seconds
D	3 minutes

5. - E1D02

Which of the following may transmit special codes intended to obscure the meaning of messages?

Select	Answer
A	Binary control characters
B	Auxiliary relay links carrying repeater audio
C	Telecommand signals from a space telecommand station
D	Data containing personal information

6. - E1E12

What must the VE team do with the application form if the examinee does not pass the exam?

Select	Answer
A	Maintain the application form with the VEC's records
B	Send the application form to the FCC and inform the FCC of the grade
C	Return the application document to the examinee
D	Destroy the application form

7. - E1F10

Who may be the control operator of an auxiliary station?

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

8. - E2A09

What do the terms L band and S band specify regarding satellite communications?

Select	Answer
A	The 23 centimeter and 13 centimeter bands
B	Which sideband to use
C	The 2 meter and 70 centimeter bands
D	FM and Digital Store-and-Forward systems

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

10. - E2C08

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

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

11. - E2D07

What digital protocol is used by APRS?

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

12. - E2E13

Which of these digital modes has the fastest data throughput under clear communication conditions?

Select	Answer
A	170 Hz shift, 45 baud RTTY
B	AMTOR
C	PSK31
D	300 baud packet

13. - E3A12

What is the cause of auroral activity?

Select	Answer
A	An extreme low-pressure area in the polar regions
B	Meteor showers concentrated in the extreme northern and southern latitudes
C	The interaction in the E layer of charged particles from the Sun with the Earth's magnetic field
D	The interaction in the F2 layer between the solar wind and the Van Allen belt

14. - E3B10

Why is chordal hop propagation desirable?

Select	Answer
A	The signal experiences less loss compared to multi-hop using Earth as a reflector
B	The MUF for chordal hop propagation is much lower than for normal skip propagation
C	Atmospheric noise is lower in the direction of chordal hop propagation
D	Signals travel faster along ionospheric chords

15. - E3C06

By how much does the VHF/UHF radio horizon distance exceed the geometric horizon?

Select	Answer
A	By approximately twice the distance
B	By approximately four times the distance
C	By approximately 50 percent of the distance
D	By approximately 15 percent of the distance

16. - E4A02

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

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

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

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

19. - E4D07

Which of the following reduces the likelihood of receiver desensitization?

Select	Answer
A	Raise the receiver IF frequency
B	Increase the receiver front end gain
C	Switch from fast AGC to slow AGC
D	Decrease the RF bandwidth of the receiver

20. - E4E08

What current flows equally on all conductors of an unshielded multi-conductor cable?

Select	Answer
A	Reactive current only
B	Common-mode current
C	Return current
D	Differential-mode current

21. - E5A04

What is the magnitude of the impedance of a parallel RLC circuit at resonance?

Select	Answer
A	Approximately equal to circuit resistance
B	Low compared to the circuit resistance
C	Approximately equal to inductive reactance
D	High compared to the circuit resistance

22. - E5B02

What letter is commonly used to represent susceptance?

Select	Answer
A	X
B	B
C	G
D	Y

23. - E5C10

Which point on Figure E5-1 best represents the impedance of a series circuit consisting of a 400-ohm resistor and a 38-picofarad capacitor at 14 MHz?

Select	Answer
A	Point 4
B	Point 2
C	Point 6
D	Point 5

24. - E5D15

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

Select	Answer
A	0.866
B	0.5
C	1.0
D	0.707

25. - E6A04

What is the name given to an impurity atom that adds holes to a semiconductor crystal structure?

Select	Answer
A	N-type impurity
B	Insulator impurity
C	Donor impurity
D	Acceptor impurity

26. - E6B05

What characteristic of a PIN diode makes it useful as an RF switch?

Select	Answer
A	Ability to dissipate large amounts of power
B	Low junction capacitance
C	Reverse bias controls its forward voltage drop
D	Extremely high reverse breakdown voltage

27. - E6C09

What is a Programmable Logic Device (PLD)?

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

28. - E6D10

What is a primary advantage of using a toroidal core instead of a solenoidal core in an inductor?

Select	Answer
A	Toroidal cores exhibit greater hysteresis
B	Toroidal cores have lower Q characteristics
C	Toroidal cores confine most of the magnetic field within the core material
D	Toroidal cores make it easier to couple the magnetic energy into other components

29. - E6E04

Which is the most common input and output impedance of circuits that use MMICs?

Select	Answer
A	10 ohms
B	300 ohms
C	50 ohms
D	450 ohms

30. - E6F10

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

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

31. - E7A09

What logical operation is performed by an exclusive NOR gate?

Select	Answer
A	It produces logic 0 at its output if only one input is logic 1
B	It produces logic 1 at its output if only one input is logic 1
C	It produces logic 0 at its output only if all inputs are logic 0
D	It produces logic 1 at its output only if all inputs are logic 1

32. - E7B07

Which of the following is a likely result when a Class C amplifier is used to amplify a single-sideband phone signal?

Select	Answer
A	Signal distortion and excessive bandwidth
B	Signal inversion
C	Increased overall intelligibility
D	Reduced intermodulation products

33. - E7C10

Which of the following filters would be the best choice for use in a 2 meter band repeater duplexer?

Select	Answer
A	A crystal filter
B	An L-C filter
C	A cavity filter
D	A DSP filter

34. - E7D07

What is the purpose of C2 in the circuit shown in Figure E7-2?

Select	Answer
A	It bypasses rectifier output ripple around D1
B	To provide fixed DC bias for Q1
C	It is a brute force filter for the output
D	To self-resonate at the hum frequency

35. - E7E03

What is a frequency discriminator stage in a FM receiver?

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

36. - E7F02

What kind of digital signal processing audio filter is used to remove unwanted noise from a received SSB signal?

Select	Answer
A	A Hilbert-transform filter
B	A crystal-lattice filter
C	An adaptive filter
D	A phase-inverting filter

37. - E7G09

What will be the output voltage of the circuit shown in Figure E7-3 if R1 is 1000 ohms, RF is 10,000 ohms, and 0.23 volts DC is applied to the input?

Select	Answer
A	-0.23 volts
B	2.3 volts
C	-2.3 volts
D	0.23 volts

38. - E7H12

Which of the following must be done to ensure that a crystal oscillator provides the frequency specified by the crystal manufacturer?

Select	Answer
A	Provide the crystal with a specified parallel inductance
B	Bias the crystal at a specified current
C	Bias the crystal at a specified voltage
D	Provide the crystal with a specified parallel capacitance

39. - E8A05

What of the following instruments would be the most accurate for measuring the RMS voltage of a complex waveform?

Select	Answer
A	An absorption wave meter
B	A grid dip meter
C	A D'Arsonval meter
D	A true-RMS calculating meter

40. - E8B04

What is the modulation index of an FM-phone signal having a maximum carrier deviation of plus or minus 6 kHz when modulated with a 2 kHz modulating frequency?

Select	Answer
A	2000
B	1/3
C	6000
D	3

41. - E8C07

What is the bandwidth of a 4800-Hz frequency shift, 9600-baud ASCII FM transmission?

Select	Answer
A	4.8 kHz
B	5.76 kHz
C	15.36 kHz
D	9.6 kHz

42. - 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

43. - E9A11

Which of the following factors determines ground losses for a ground-mounted vertical antenna operating in the 3 MHz to 30 MHz range?

Select	Answer
A	Take-off angle
B	Soil conductivity
C	The standing wave ratio
D	Distance from the transmitter

44. - E9B06

What is the elevation angle of peak response in the antenna radiation pattern shown in Figure E9-2?

Select	Answer
A	75 degrees
B	25 degrees
C	45 degrees
D	7.5 degrees

45. - E9C01

What is the radiation pattern of two 1/4-wavelength vertical antennas spaced 1/2-wavelength apart and fed 180 degrees out of phase?

Select	Answer
A	A figure-8 broadside to the axis of the array
B	Cardioid
C	A figure-8 oriented along the axis of the array
D	Omni-directional

46. - E9D02

How can linearly polarized Yagi antennas be used to produce circular polarization?

Select	Answer
A	Arrange two Yagis collinear to each other with the driven elements fed 180 degrees out of phase
B	Arrange two Yagis perpendicular to each other with the driven elements at the same point on the boom fed 90 degrees out of phase
C	Stack two Yagis fed 90 degrees out of phase to form an array with the respective elements in parallel planes
D	Stack two Yagis fed in phase to form an array with the respective elements in parallel planes

47. - E9E04

What is the purpose of the series capacitor in a gamma-type antenna matching network?

Select	Answer
A	To provide a rejection notch that prevents the radiation of harmonics
B	To provide DC isolation between the feed line and the antenna
C	To cancel the inductive reactance of the matching network
D	To transform the antenna impedance to a higher value

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	Foam dielectric has higher velocity factor
B	All these choices are correct
C	Foam dielectric has lower loss per unit of length
D	Foam dielectric has lower safe operating voltage limits

49. - E9G10

What do the arcs on a Smith chart represent?

Select	Answer
A	Points with constant resistance
B	Points with constant reactance
C	SWR
D	Frequency

50. - E9H09

What is a Pennant antenna?

Select	Answer
A	A stealth antenna built to look like a flagpole
B	A small, vertically oriented receiving antenna consisting of a triangular loop terminated in approximately 900 ohms
C	A four-element, high-gain vertical array invented by George Pennant
D	A form of rhombic antenna terminated in a variable capacitor to provide frequency diversity

Figure E5-1

Figure E7-2

Figure E7-3

Figure E9-2