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

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1. - E0A05

What is one of the potential hazards of operating in the amateur radio microwave bands?

Select	Answer
A	Microwaves are ionizing radiation
B	The high gain antennas commonly used can result in high exposure levels
C	The extremely high frequency energy can damage the joints of antenna structures
D	Microwaves often travel long distances by ionospheric reflection

2. - E1A05

What is the maximum power output permitted on the 60 meter band?

Select	Answer
A	50 watts PEP effective radiated power relative to an isotropic radiator
B	100 watts PEP effective radiated power relative to an isotropic radiator
C	50 watts PEP effective radiated power relative to a dipole
D	100 watts PEP effective radiated power relative to the gain of a half-wave dipole

3. - E1B10

What frequencies are authorized to an amateur station operating under RACES rules?

Select	Answer
A	Specific segments in the amateur service MF, HF, VHF and UHF bands
B	Military Auxiliary Radio System (MARS) channels
C	All amateur service frequencies authorized to the control operator
D	Specific local government channels

4. - E1C05

When may an automatically controlled station originate third party communications?

Select	Answer
A	When approved by the National Telecommunication and Information Administration
B	Only when transmitting RTTY or data emissions
C	Never
D	When agreed upon by the sending or receiving station

5. - E1D07

Which HF amateur bands have frequencies authorized for space stations?

Select	Answer
A	Only the 40, 30, 20, 15, 12, and 10 meter bands
B	Only the 40, 20, 17, 15, 12, and 10 meter bands
C	Only the 40, 20, 17, 15, and 10 meter bands
D	All HF bands

6. - E1E04

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

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

7. - E1F08

Which of the following types of amateur station communications are prohibited?

Select	Answer
A	Communications transmitted for hire or material compensation, except as otherwise provided in the rules
B	Communications that have political content, except as allowed by the Fairness Doctrine
C	Communications that have religious content
D	Communications in a language other than English

8. - E2A02

Which of the following occurs when a satellite is using an inverting linear transponder?

Select	Answer
A	All these choices are correct
B	Doppler shift is reduced because the uplink and downlink shifts are in opposite directions
C	Signal position in the band is reversed
D	Upper sideband on the uplink becomes lower sideband on the downlink, and vice versa

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. - E2C12

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

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

11. - E2D06

Which of the following describes a method of establishing EME contacts?

Select	Answer
A	High-speed CW identification to avoid fading
B	Storing and forwarding digital messages
C	Time synchronous transmissions alternately from each station
D	Judging optimum transmission times by monitoring beacons reflected from the moon

12. - E2E07

Which of the following is a possible reason that attempts to initiate contact with a digital station on a clear frequency are unsuccessful?

Select	Answer
A	All these choices are correct
B	Your transmit frequency is incorrect
C	The protocol version you are using is not supported by the digital station
D	Another station you are unable to hear is using the frequency

13. - E3A10

Which type of atmospheric structure can create a path for microwave propagation?

Select	Answer
A	Temperature inversion
B	Dust devil
C	The jet stream
D	Wind shear

14. - E3B12

What is the primary characteristic of chordal hop propagation?

Select	Answer
A	Propagation across the geomagnetic equator
B	Signals reflected back toward the transmitting station
C	Propagation away from the great circle bearing between stations
D	Successive ionospheric refractions without an intermediate reflection from the ground

15. - E3C02

What is indicated by a rising A or K index?

Select	Answer
A	Decreasing disruption of the geomagnetic field
B	Increasing disruption of the geomagnetic field
C	An increase in the critical frequency
D	Higher levels of solar UV radiation

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 frequency
C	RF amplitude and frequency
D	SWR and time

17. - E4B05

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

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

18. - E4C15

What is reciprocal mixing?

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

19. - E4D10

What does a third-order intercept level of 40 dBm mean with respect to receiver performance?

Select	Answer
A	The receiver can tolerate signals up to 40 dB above the noise floor without producing third-order intermodulation products
B	Signals less than 40 dBm will not generate audible third-order intermodulation products
C	A pair of 40 dBm input signals will theoretically generate a third-order intermodulation product that has the same output amplitude as either of the input signals
D	A pair of 1 mW input signals will produce a third-order intermodulation product that is 40 dB stronger than the input signal

20. - E4E02

Which of the following types of noise can often be reduced with a digital signal processing noise filter?

Select	Answer
A	Broadband white noise
B	Power line noise
C	All these choices are correct
D	Ignition noise

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	1.78 MHz
B	44.72 MHz
C	3.56 MHz
D	22.36 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	An exponential rate of one
B	A time factor of one
C	One exponential period
D	One time constant

23. - E5C07

Where is the impedance of a pure resistance plotted on rectangular coordinates?

Select	Answer
A	On a horizontal line, offset vertically above the horizontal axis
B	On a line through the origin, slanted at 45 degrees
C	On the horizontal axis
D	On the vertical axis

24. - E5D03

What is microstrip?

Select	Answer
A	Short lengths of coax mounted on printed circuit boards to minimize time delay between microwave circuits
B	Precision printed circuit conductors above a ground plane that provide constant impedance interconnects at microwave frequencies
C	Lightweight transmission line made of common zip cord
D	Miniature coax used for low power applications

25. - E6A12

Why do many MOSFET devices have internally connected Zener diodes on the gates?

Select	Answer
A	To keep the gate voltage within specifications and prevent the device from overheating
B	To reduce the chance of static damage to the gate
C	To provide a voltage reference for the correct amount of reverse-bias gate voltage
D	To protect the substrate from excessive voltages

26. - E6B08

Which of the following is a Schottky barrier diode?

Select	Answer
A	PIN junction
B	Metal-semiconductor junction
C	Electrolytic rectifier
D	Thermionic emission diode

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 logic circuit that can be modified during use
D	A type of transistor whose gain can be changed by digital logic circuits

28. - E6D03

Which of the following is an aspect of the piezoelectric effect?

Select	Answer
A	Increased conductivity in the presence of light
B	Mechanical deformation of material by the application of a magnetic field
C	Generation of electrical energy in the presence of light
D	Mechanical deformation of material by the application of a voltage

29. - E6E03

Which of the following materials is likely to provide the highest frequency of operation when used in MMICs?

Select	Answer
A	Silicon dioxide
B	Silicon
C	Gallium nitride
D	Silicon nitride

30. - E6F08

Why are optoisolators often used in conjunction with solid-state circuits when switching 120 VAC?

Select	Answer
A	Optoisolators provide a low impedance link between a control circuit and a power circuit
B	Optoisolators eliminate the effects of reflected light in the control circuit
C	Optoisolators provide impedance matching between the control circuit and power circuit
D	Optoisolators provide a very high degree of electrical isolation between a control circuit and the circuit being switched

31. - E7A10

What is a truth table?

Select	Answer
A	A table of logic symbols that indicate the high logic states of an op-amp
B	A list of inputs and corresponding outputs for a digital device
C	A table of logic symbols that indicate the logic states of an op-amp
D	A diagram showing logic states when the digital device output is true

32. - E7B02

What is a Class D amplifier?

Select	Answer
A	A frequency doubling amplifier
B	A type of amplifier that uses switching technology to achieve high efficiency
C	An amplifier that uses drift-mode FETs for high efficiency
D	A low power amplifier that uses a differential amplifier for improved linearity

33. - E7C06

What are the distinguishing features of an elliptical filter?

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

34. - E7D13

What is the equation for calculating power dissipated by a series linear voltage regulator?

Select	Answer
A	Output voltage multiplied by output current
B	Input voltage multiplied by input current
C	Voltage difference from input to output multiplied by output current
D	Input voltage divided by output current

35. - E7E04

What is one way a single-sideband phone signal can be generated?

Select	Answer
A	By using a balanced modulator followed by a filter
B	By driving a product detector with a DSB signal
C	By using a loop modulator followed by a mixer
D	By using a reactance modulator followed by a mixer

36. - E7F14

Which of the following would allow a digital signal processing filter to create a sharper filter response?

Select	Answer
A	Higher data rate
B	Complex phasor representations
C	More taps
D	Double-precision math routines

37. - E7G03

What is the typical input impedance of an op-amp?

Select	Answer
A	100 ohms
B	Very low
C	1000 ohms
D	Very high

38. - E7H04

How is positive feedback supplied in a Colpitts oscillator?

Select	Answer
A	Through a tapped coil
B	Through link coupling
C	Through a capacitive divider
D	Through a neutralizing capacitor

39. - E8A03

What type of wave does a Fourier analysis show to be made up of sine waves of a given fundamental frequency plus all its harmonics?

Select	Answer
A	A sawtooth wave
B	A square wave
C	A cosine wave
D	A sine wave

40. - E8B03

What is the modulation index of an FM-phone signal having a maximum frequency deviation of 3000 Hz either side of the carrier frequency when the modulating frequency is 1000 Hz?

Select	Answer
A	3
B	0.3
C	1000
D	3000

41. - E8C10

How may data rate be increased without increasing bandwidth?

Select	Answer
A	Using forward error correction
B	Using a more efficient digital code
C	It is impossible
D	Increasing analog-to-digital conversion resolution

42. - E8D07

What is a common cause of overmodulation of AFSK signals?

Select	Answer
A	Excessive transmit audio levels
B	Ground loops
C	Excessive numbers of retries
D	Bit errors in the modem

43. - E9A02

What is the effective radiated power relative to a dipole of a repeater station with 150 watts transmitter power output, 2 dB feed line loss, 2.2 dB duplexer loss, and 7 dBd antenna gain?

Select	Answer
A	420 watts
B	1977 watts
C	78.7 watts
D	286 watts

44. - E9B08

What is the far field of an antenna?

Select	Answer
A	The region where radiated power dissipates over a specified time period
B	The region where radiated field strengths are constant
C	The region where the shape of the antenna pattern is independent of distance
D	The region of the ionosphere where radiated power is not refracted

45. - E9C06

What is the effect of adding a terminating resistor to a rhombic antenna?

Select	Answer
A	It reflects the standing waves on the antenna elements back to the transmitter
B	It decreases the ground loss
C	It changes the radiation pattern from horizontal to vertical polarization
D	It changes the radiation pattern from bidirectional to unidirectional

46. - E9D04

Why should an HF mobile antenna loading coil have a high ratio of reactance to resistance?

Select	Answer
A	To minimize losses
B	To swamp out harmonics
C	To minimize the Q
D	To lower the radiation angle

47. - E9E02

What is the name of an antenna matching system that matches an unbalanced feed line to an antenna by feeding the driven element both at the center of the element and at a fraction of a wavelength to one side of center?

Select	Answer
A	The gamma match
B	The epsilon match
C	The delta match
D	The stub match

48. - E9F03

Why is the physical length of a coaxial cable transmission line shorter than its electrical length?

Select	Answer
A	Skin effect is less pronounced in the coaxial cable
B	Electrical signals move more slowly in a coaxial cable than in air
C	The surge impedance is higher in a parallel feed line
D	The characteristic impedance is higher in a parallel feed line

49. - E9G09

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

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

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