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

Logging in (or registering) will help the system to select questions that you need to focus on.

1. - E0A10

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

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

2. - E1A11

Which of the following describes authorization or licensing required when operating an amateur station aboard a U.S.-registered vessel in international waters?

Select	Answer
A	Any FCC-issued amateur license
B	Any amateur license with an FCC Marine or Aircraft endorsement
C	An unrestricted Radiotelephone Operator Permit
D	Only General Class or higher amateur licenses

3. - E1B06

Which of the following additional rules apply if you are installing an amateur station antenna at a site at or near a public use airport?

Select	Answer
A	You may have to notify the Federal Aviation Administration and register it with the FCC as required by Part 17 of the FCC rules
B	You must submit engineering drawings to the FAA
C	You must obtain a construction permit from the airport zoning authority
D	You must file an Environmental Impact Statement with the EPA before construction begins

4. - E1C06

Which of the following is required in order to operate in accordance with CEPT rules in foreign countries where permitted?

Select	Answer
A	The U.S. embassy must approve of your operation
B	You must bring a copy of FCC Public Notice DA 16-1048
C	You must append "/CEPT" to your call sign
D	You must identify in the official language of the country in which you are operating

5. - E1D02

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

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

6. - E1E06

Who is responsible for the proper conduct and necessary supervision during an amateur operator license examination session?

Select	Answer
A	The FCC
B	The VE session manager
C	Each administering VE
D	The VEC coordinating the session

7. - E1F10

Who may be the control operator of an auxiliary station?

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

8. - E2A13

Which of the following techniques is normally used by low Earth orbiting digital satellites to relay messages around the world?

Select	Answer
A	Node hopping
B	Store-and-forward
C	Multi-satellite relaying
D	Digipeating

9. - E2B06

What is vestigial sideband modulation?

Select	Answer
A	A type of modulation in which one sideband is inverted
B	Spread spectrum modulation achieved by applying FM modulation following single sideband amplitude modulation
C	Narrow-band FM modulation achieved by filtering one sideband from the audio before frequency modulating the carrier
D	Amplitude modulation in which one complete sideband and a portion of the other are transmitted

10. - E2C02

Which of the following best describes the term self-spotting? in connection with HF contest operating?

Select	Answer
A	An automatic method for rapidly zero beating or tuning to a station's frequency before calling that station
B	The often-prohibited practice of posting one's own call sign and frequency on a spotting network
C	The acceptable practice of manually posting the call signs of stations on a spotting network
D	A manual technique for rapidly zero beating or tuning to a station's frequency before calling that station

11. - E2D09

What type of modulation is used for JT65 contacts?

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

12. - E2E11

What is the difference between direct FSK and audio FSK?

Select	Answer
A	Only direct FSK can be decoded by computer
B	Direct FSK can transmit faster baud rates
C	Direct FSK occupies less bandwidth
D	Direct FSK applies the data signal to the transmitter VFO, while AFSK transmits tones via phone

13. - E3A05

Tropospheric propagation of microwave signals often occurs in association with what phenomenon?

Select	Answer
A	Grayline
B	Warm and cold fronts
C	Sprites and jets
D	Lightning discharges

14. - E3B07

What happens to linearly polarized radio waves that split into ordinary and extraordinary waves in the ionosphere?

Select	Answer
A	They are bent toward the magnetic poles
B	They become elliptically polarized
C	They become phase locked
D	They become depolarized

15. - E3C01

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

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

16. - E4A07

Which of the following is an advantage of using an antenna analyzer compared to an SWR bridge to measure antenna SWR?

Select	Answer
A	All these choices are correct
B	Antenna analyzers display a time-varying representation of the modulation envelope
C	Antenna analyzers automatically tune your antenna for resonance
D	Antenna analyzers do not need an external RF source

17. - E4B02

What is the significance of voltmeter sensitivity expressed in ohms per volt?

Select	Answer
A	When used as a galvanometer, the reading in volts multiplied by the ohms per volt rating will determine the power drawn by the device under test
B	When used as an ohmmeter, the reading in ohms divided by the ohms per volt rating will determine the voltage applied to the circuit
C	The full scale reading of the voltmeter multiplied by its ohms per volt rating will indicate the input impedance of the voltmeter
D	When used as an ammeter, the full scale reading in amps divided by ohms per volt rating will determine the size of shunt needed

18. - E4C14

What transmit frequency might generate an image response signal in a receiver tuned to 14.300 MHz and that uses a 455 kHz IF frequency?

Select	Answer
A	15.210 MHz
B	14.445 MHz
C	13.845 MHz
D	14.755 MHz

19. - E4D01

What is meant by the blocking dynamic range of a receiver?

Select	Answer
A	The minimum difference in dB between two signals which produce third-order intermodulation products greater than the noise floor
B	The difference in dB between the noise floor and the third-order intercept point
C	The difference in dB between the noise floor and the level of an incoming signal that will cause 1 dB of gain compression
D	The minimum difference in dB between the levels of two FM signals that will cause one signal to block the other

20. - E4E03

Which of the following signals might a receiver noise blanker be able to remove from desired signals?

Select	Answer
A	Signals that are constant at all IF levels
B	Signals that appear across a wide bandwidth
C	Signals that appear at one IF but not another
D	Signals that have a sharply peaked frequency distribution

21. - E5A14

What is the resonant frequency of an RLC circuit if R is 22 ohms, L is 50 microhenries and C is 40 picofarads?

Select	Answer
A	44.72 MHz
B	3.56 MHz
C	22.36 MHz
D	1.78 MHz

22. - E5B01

What is the term for the time required for the capacitor in an RC circuit to be charged to 63.2% of the applied voltage or to discharge to 36.8% of its initial voltage?

Select	Answer
A	A time factor of one
B	An exponential rate of one
C	One time constant
D	One exponential period

23. - 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	Maidenhead grid
D	Elliptical coordinates

24. - E5D09

What happens to reactive power in an AC circuit that has both ideal inductors and ideal capacitors?

Select	Answer
A	It is dissipated in the formation of inductive and capacitive fields
B	It is repeatedly exchanged between the associated magnetic and electric fields, but is not dissipated
C	It is dissipated as heat in the circuit
D	It is dissipated as kinetic energy in the circuit

25. - E6A07

Which of the following indicates that a silicon NPN junction transistor is biased on?

Select	Answer
A	Base-to-emitter resistance of approximately 0.6 to 0.7 ohms
B	Base-to-emitter voltage of approximately 0.6 to 0.7 volts
C	Base-to-emitter voltage of approximately 6 to 7 volts
D	Base-to-emitter resistance of approximately 6 to 7 ohms

26. - E6B11

What is used to control the attenuation of RF signals by a PIN diode?

Select	Answer
A	A sub-harmonic pump signal
B	Forward DC bias current
C	Capacitance of an RF coupling capacitor
D	Reverse voltage larger than the RF signal

27. - E6C10

In Figure E6-3, what is the schematic symbol for a NOR gate?

Select	Answer
A	3
B	1
C	2
D	4

28. - E6D02

What is the equivalent circuit of a quartz crystal?

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

29. - E6E04

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

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

30. - E6F01

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

Select	Answer
A	Photons
B	Holes
C	Protons
D	Electrons

31. - E7A01

Which circuit is bistable?

Select	Answer
A	A bipolar amplifier
B	An OR gate
C	An AND gate
D	A flip-flop

32. - E7B05

What can be done to prevent unwanted oscillations in an RF power amplifier?

Select	Answer
A	Install parasitic suppressors and/or neutralize the stage
B	Tune the stage for maximum SWR
C	Use a phase inverter in the output filter
D	Tune both the input and output for maximum power

33. - E7C11

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

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

34. - E7D01

How does a linear electronic voltage regulator work?

Select	Answer
A	The control element duty cycle is proportional to the line or load conditions
B	It eliminates the need for a pass transistor
C	The conduction of a control element is varied to maintain a constant output voltage
D	It has a ramp voltage as its output

35. - E7E06

Why is de-emphasis commonly used in FM communications receivers?

Select	Answer
A	To remove third-order distortion products
B	For higher efficiency
C	To reduce impulse noise reception
D	For compatibility with transmitters using phase modulation

36. - E7F08

What is the function of decimation?

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

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	7
B	0.07
C	28
D	14

38. - E7H13

Which of the following is a technique for providing highly accurate and stable oscillators needed for microwave transmission and reception?

Select	Answer
A	Use a temperature-controlled high Q dielectric resonator
B	Use a rubidium stabilized reference oscillator
C	Use a GPS signal reference
D	All these choices are correct

39. - E8A10

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

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

40. - E8B01

What is the modulation index of an FM signal?

Select	Answer
A	The ratio of modulating signal amplitude to frequency deviation
B	The ratio of frequency deviation to modulating signal frequency
C	The bandwidth of the transmitted signal divided by the modulating signal frequency
D	The type of modulation used by the transmitter

41. - E8C08

How does ARQ accomplish error correction?

Select	Answer
A	If errors are detected, redundant data is substituted
B	If errors are detected, a retransmission is requested
C	Special polynomial codes provide automatic correction
D	Special binary codes provide automatic correction

42. - E8D11

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

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

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	252 watts
B	632 watts
C	63.2 watts
D	159 watts

44. - E9B02

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

Select	Answer
A	24 dB
B	14 dB
C	18 dB
D	36 dB

45. - E9C13

How does the radiation pattern of a horizontally polarized 3-element beam antenna vary with increasing height above ground?

Select	Answer
A	The takeoff angle of the lowest elevation lobe decreases
B	The horizontal beamwidth increases
C	The horizontal beamwidth decreases
D	The takeoff angle of the lowest elevation lobe increases

46. - E9D01

How much does the gain of an ideal parabolic dish antenna change when the operating frequency is doubled?

Select	Answer
A	6 dB
B	2 dB
C	4 dB
D	3 dB

47. - E9E09

Which of the following is used to shunt-feed a grounded tower at its base?

Select	Answer
A	Double-bazooka match
B	Hairpin match
C	Gamma match
D	All these choices are correct

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

49. - E9G09

What third family of circles is often added to a Smith chart during the process of solving problems?

Select	Answer
A	Coaxial-length circles
B	Standing wave ratio circles
C	Antenna-length circles
D	Radiation-pattern circles

50. - E9H09

What is a Pennant antenna?

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

Figure E6-3

Figure E7-3

Figure E9-1