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

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1. - E0A02

When evaluating RF exposure levels from your station at a neighbor's home, what must you do?

Select	Answer
A	Ensure signals from your station are less than the uncontrolled Maximum Permitted Emission (MPE) limits
B	Ensure signals from your station are less than the uncontrolled Maximum Permitted Exposure (MPE) limits
C	Ensure signals from your station are less than the controlled Maximum Permitted Emission (MPE) limits
D	Ensure signals from your station are less than the controlled Maximum Permitted Exposure (MPE) limits

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

3. - E1B07

To what type of regulations does PRB-1 apply?

Select	Answer
A	Homeowners associations
B	State and local zoning
C	FAA tower height limits
D	Use of wireless devices in vehicles

4. - E1C04

What is meant by IARP?

Select	Answer
A	The internal amateur radio practices policy of the FCC
B	An international amateur radio permit that allows U.S. amateurs to operate in certain countries of the Americas
C	A forecast of intermittent aurora radio propagation
D	An indication of increased antenna reflected power

5. - E1D01

What is the definition of telemetry?

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

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	Allow the candidate to complete the examination, but invalidate the results
C	Immediately terminate the candidate's examination
D	Warn the candidate that continued failure to comply will result in termination of the examination

7. - E1F03

Under what circumstances may a dealer sell an external RF power amplifier capable of operation below 144 MHz if it has not been granted FCC certification?

Select	Answer
A	It was imported from a manufacturer in another country and was certificated by that country's government
B	It was imported from a manufacturer in a country that does not require certification of RF power amplifiers
C	The equipment dealer assembled it from a kit
D	It was purchased in used condition from an amateur operator and is sold to another amateur operator for use at that operator's station

8. - E2A01

What is the direction of an ascending pass for an amateur satellite?

Select	Answer
A	From east to west
B	From west to east
C	From north to south
D	From south to north

9. - E2B01

How many times per second is a new frame transmitted in a fast-scan (NTSC) television system?

Select	Answer
A	30
B	90
C	60
D	120

10. - E2C12

What technique do individual nodes use to form a mesh network?

Select	Answer
A	Custom code plugs for the local trunking systems
B	Discovery and link establishment protocols
C	Forward error correction and Viterbi codes
D	Acting as store-and-forward digipeaters

11. - E2D04

What technology is used to track, in real time, balloons carrying amateur radio transmitters?

Select	Answer
A	Doppler shift of beacon signals
B	Bandwidth compressed LORAN
C	APRS
D	Ultrasonics

12. - E2E08

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

Select	Answer
A	PACTOR
B	RTTY
C	Hellschreiber
D	AMTOR

13. - E3A12

What is the cause of auroral activity?

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

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. - E3C12

How does the maximum range of ground-wave propagation change when the signal frequency is increased?

Select	Answer
A	It peaks at roughly 14 MHz
B	It increases
C	It stays the same
D	It decreases

16. - E4A04

How is the compensation of an oscilloscope probe typically adjusted?

Select	Answer
A	A square wave is displayed and the probe is adjusted until the horizontal portions of the displayed wave are as nearly flat as possible
B	A frequency standard is displayed and the probe is adjusted until the deflection time is accurate
C	A DC voltage standard is displayed and the probe is adjusted until the displayed voltage is accurate
D	A high frequency sine wave is displayed and the probe is adjusted for maximum amplitude

17. - E4B08

Which of the following can be used to measure the Q of a series-tuned circuit?

Select	Answer
A	The inductance to capacitance ratio
B	The bandwidth of the circuit's frequency response
C	The resonant frequency of the circuit
D	The frequency shift

18. - E4C04

What is the noise figure of a receiver?

Select	Answer
A	The ratio of the noise bandwidth in hertz to the theoretical bandwidth of a resistive network
B	The ratio of thermal noise to atmospheric noise
C	The ratio of atmospheric noise to phase noise
D	The ratio in dB of the noise generated by the receiver to the theoretical minimum noise

19. - E4D11

Why are odd-order intermodulation products, created within a receiver, of particular interest compared to other products?

Select	Answer
A	Odd-order products overload the IF filters
B	Odd-order products of two signals in the band of interest are also likely to be within the band
C	Odd-order products are an indication of poor image rejection
D	Odd-order intermodulation produces three products for every input signal within the band of interest

20. - E4E03

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

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

21. - E5A08

What is the phase relationship between the current through and the voltage across a series resonant circuit at resonance?

Select	Answer
A	The voltage and current are 180 degrees out of phase
B	The current leads the voltage by 90 degrees
C	The voltage and current are in phase
D	The voltage leads the current by 90 degrees

22. - E5B12

What is admittance?

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

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 5
C	Point 6
D	Point 2

24. - E5D01

What is the result of skin effect?

Select	Answer
A	As frequency increases, RF current flows in a thinner layer of the conductor, closer to the surface
B	Thermal effects on the surface of the conductor increase the impedance
C	As frequency decreases, RF current flows in a thinner layer of the conductor, closer to the surface
D	Thermal effects on the surface of the conductor decrease the impedance

25. - E6A04

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

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

26. - E6B01

What is the most useful characteristic of a Zener diode?

Select	Answer
A	A negative resistance region
B	A constant current drop under conditions of varying voltage
C	A constant voltage drop under conditions of varying current
D	An internal capacitance that varies with the applied voltage

27. - E6C04

Which of the following is an advantage of BiCMOS logic?

Select	Answer
A	Its simplicity results in much less expensive devices than standard CMOS
B	All these choices are correct
C	It has the high input impedance of CMOS and the low output impedance of bipolar transistors
D	It is immune to electrostatic damage

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 make it easier to couple the magnetic energy into other components
C	Toroidal cores have lower Q characteristics
D	Toroidal cores confine most of the magnetic field within the core material

29. - E6E01

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

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

30. - E6F10

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

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

31. - E7A08

What logical operation does an OR gate perform?

Select	Answer
A	It produces logic 1 at its output if all inputs are logic 0
B	It produces logic 1 at its output if any or all inputs are logic 1
C	It only produces logic 0 at its output when all inputs are logic 1
D	It produces logic 0 at its output if all inputs are logic 1

32. - E7B03

Which of the following components form the output of a class D amplifier circuit?

Select	Answer
A	A temperature compensating load resistor to improve linearity
B	A high-pass filter to compensate for low gain at low frequencies
C	A low-pass filter to remove switching signal components
D	A matched load resistor to prevent damage by switching transients

33. - E7C03

What advantage does a series-L Pi-L-network have over a series-L Pi-network for impedance matching between the final amplifier of a vacuum-tube transmitter and an antenna?

Select	Answer
A	Greater transformation range
B	Greater harmonic suppression
C	Higher efficiency
D	Does not require a capacitor

34. - E7D11

What is the function of the pass transistor in a linear voltage regulator circuit?

Select	Answer
A	Permits a wide range of output voltage settings
B	Provides a stable input impedance over a wide range of source voltage
C	Maintains nearly constant output impedance over a wide range of load current
D	Maintains nearly constant output voltage over a wide range of load current

35. - E7E10

How does a diode envelope detector function?

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

36. - E7F01

What is meant by direct digital conversion as applied to software defined radios?

Select	Answer
A	Incoming RF is digitized by an analog-to-digital converter without being mixed with a local oscillator signal
B	A switching mixer is used to generate I and Q signals directly from the RF input
C	Incoming RF is converted to a control voltage for a voltage controlled oscillator
D	Software is converted from source code to object code during operation of the receiver

37. - E7G05

How can unwanted ringing and audio instability be prevented in an op-amp RC audio filter circuit?

Select	Answer
A	Increase both gain and Q
B	Restrict gain but increase Q
C	Restrict Q but increase gain
D	Restrict both gain and Q

38. - E7H14

What is a phase-locked loop circuit?

Select	Answer
A	An electronic circuit also known as a monostable multivibrator
B	An electronic circuit consisting of a precision push-pull amplifier with a differential input
C	An electronic servo loop consisting of a phase detector, a low-pass filter, a voltage-controlled oscillator, and a stable reference oscillator
D	An electronic servo loop consisting of a ratio detector, reactance modulator, and voltage-controlled oscillator

39. - E8A01

What is the name of the process that shows that a square wave is made up of a sine wave plus all its odd harmonics?

Select	Answer
A	Fourier analysis
B	Vector analysis
C	Differential analysis
D	Numerical analysis

40. - E8B09

What is deviation ratio?

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

41. - E8C11

What is the relationship between symbol rate and baud?

Select	Answer
A	Baud is only used for RTTY
B	Symbol rate is only used for packet-based modes
C	Baud is twice the symbol rate
D	They are the same

42. - E8D04

What is the primary effect of extremely short rise or fall time on a CW signal?

Select	Answer
A	Limits data speed
B	The generation of RF harmonics
C	More difficult to copy
D	The generation of key clicks

43. - E9A04

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

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

44. - E9B03

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

Select	Answer
A	14 dB
B	24 dB
C	18 dB
D	12 dB

45. - E9C11

How is the far-field elevation pattern of a vertically polarized antenna affected by being mounted over seawater versus soil?

Select	Answer
A	The low-angle radiation decreases
B	Fewer vertical angle lobes will be present
C	The low-angle radiation increases
D	Additional higher vertical angle lobes will appear

46. - E9D12

Which of the following would provide the best RF ground for your station?

Select	Answer
A	A 50-ohm resistor connected to ground
B	An electrically short connection to 3 or 4 interconnected ground rods via a series RF choke
C	An electrically short connection to a metal water pipe
D	An electrically short connection to 3 or 4 interconnected ground rods driven into the Earth

47. - E9E06

Which of these feed line impedances would be suitable for constructing a quarter-wave Q-section for matching a 100-ohm loop to 50-ohm feed line?

Select	Answer
A	62 ohms
B	75 ohms
C	50 ohms
D	450 ohms

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

49. - E9G11

How are the wavelength scales on a Smith chart calibrated?

Select	Answer
A	In fractions of antenna electrical frequency
B	In fractions of transmission line electrical wavelength
C	In fractions of transmission line electrical frequency
D	In fractions of antenna electrical wavelength

50. - E9H04

What is an advantage of placing a grounded electrostatic shield around a small loop direction-finding antenna?

Select	Answer
A	It eliminates unbalanced capacitive coupling to the surroundings, improving the nulls
B	It adds capacitive loading, increasing the bandwidth of the antenna
C	It eliminates tracking errors caused by strong out-of-band signals
D	It increases signal strength by providing a better match to the feed line

Figure E5-1

Figure E9-1