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

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1. - E0A03

Over what range of frequencies are the FCC human body RF exposure limits most restrictive?

Select	Answer
A	300 to 3000 MHz
B	30 to 300 MHz
C	3 to 30 MHz
D	300 kHz to 3 MHz

2. - E1A04

With your transceiver displaying the carrier frequency of phone signals, you hear a DX station calling CQ on 3.601 MHz LSB. Is it legal to return the call using lower sideband on the same frequency?

Select	Answer
A	No, U.S. stations are not permitted to use phone emissions below 3.610 MHz
B	Yes, because the DX station initiated the contact
C	Yes, because the displayed frequency is within the 75 meter phone band segment
D	No, the sideband will extend beyond the edge of the phone band segment

3. - E1B05

What is the National Radio Quiet Zone?

Select	Answer
A	An area surrounding the National Radio Astronomy Observatory
B	An area in Puerto Rico surrounding the Arecibo Radio Telescope
C	An area in Florida surrounding Cape Canaveral
D	An area in New Mexico surrounding the White Sands Test Area

4. - E1C14

How long must an operator wait after filing a notification with the Utilities Technology Council (UTC) before operating on the 2200 meter or 630 meter band?

Select	Answer
A	Operators may operate after 30 days, providing they have not been told that their station is within 1 km of PLC systems using those frequencies
B	Operators may not operate until a test signal has been transmitted in coordination with the local power company
C	Operators must not operate until approval is received
D	Operations may commence immediately, and may continue unless interference is reported by the UTC

5. - E1D11

Which amateur stations are eligible to operate as Earth stations?

Select	Answer
A	Only those of Amateur Extra Class operators
B	Only those of General, Advanced or Amateur Extra Class operators
C	Any amateur station whose licensee has filed a pre-space notification with the FCC's International Bureau
D	Any amateur station, subject to the privileges of the class of operator license held by the control operator

6. - E1E09

What may be the penalty for a VE who fraudulently administers or certifies an examination?

Select	Answer
A	A sentence of up to one year in prison
B	All these choices are correct
C	Revocation of the VE's amateur station license grant and the suspension of the VE's amateur operator license grant
D	A fine of up to $1000 per occurrence

7. - E1F09

Which of the following conditions apply when transmitting spread spectrum emissions?

Select	Answer
A	All these choices are correct
B	A station transmitting SS emission must not cause harmful interference to other stations employing other authorized emissions
C	The transmission must not be used to obscure the meaning of any communication
D	The transmitting station must be in an area regulated by the FCC or in a country that permits SS emissions

8. - E2A01

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

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

9. - E2B01

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

Select	Answer
A	60
B	120
C	90
D	30

10. - E2C05

What is the function of a DX QSL Manager?

Select	Answer
A	To relay calls to and from a DX station
B	To handle the receiving and sending of confirmation cards for a DX station
C	To allocate frequencies for DXpeditions
D	To run a net to allow many stations to contact a rare DX station

11. - E2D07

What digital protocol is used by APRS?

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

12. - E2E09

Which of the following HF digital modes uses variable-length coding for bandwidth efficiency?

Select	Answer
A	PACTOR
B	RTTY
C	PSK31
D	MT63

13. - E3A07

Atmospheric ducts capable of propagating microwave signals often form over what geographic feature?

Select	Answer
A	Forests
B	Urban areas
C	Mountain ranges
D	Bodies of water

14. - E3B12

What is the primary characteristic of chordal hop propagation?

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

15. - E3C07

Which of the following descriptors indicates the greatest solar flare intensity?

Select	Answer
A	Class A
B	Class X
C	Class B
D	Class M

16. - E4A11

How should an antenna analyzer be connected when measuring antenna resonance and feed point impedance?

Select	Answer
A	Loosely couple the analyzer near the antenna base
B	Connect the antenna feed line directly to the analyzer's connector
C	Connect the analyzer via a high-impedance transformer to the antenna
D	Loosely couple the antenna and a dummy load to the analyzer

17. - E4B04

Which S parameter represents input port return loss or reflection coefficient (equivalent to VSWR)?

Select	Answer
A	S11
B	S12
C	S21
D	S22

18. - E4C06

A CW receiver with the AGC off has an equivalent input noise power density of -174 dBm/Hz. What would be the level of an unmodulated carrier input to this receiver that would yield an audio output SNR of 0 dB in a 400 Hz noise bandwidth?

Select	Answer
A	-155 dBm
B	-164 dBm
C	-148 dBm
D	-174 dBm

19. - E4D09

What is the purpose of the preselector in a communications receiver?

Select	Answer
A	To increase rejection of signals outside the desired band
B	To allow selection of the optimum RF amplifier device
C	To store often-used frequencies
D	To provide a range of AGC time constants

20. - E4E03

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

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

21. - E5A03

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

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

22. - E5B09

What is the relationship between the AC current through a capacitor and the voltage across a capacitor?

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

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	Elliptical coordinates
B	Polar coordinates
C	Maidenhead grid
D	Faraday grid

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	Miniature coax used for low power applications
C	Lightweight transmission line made of common zip cord
D	Precision printed circuit conductors above a ground plane that provide constant impedance interconnects at microwave frequencies

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 protect the substrate from excessive voltages
C	To provide a voltage reference for the correct amount of reverse-bias gate voltage
D	To reduce the chance of static damage to the gate

26. - E6B02

What is an important characteristic of a Schottky diode as compared to an ordinary silicon diode when used as a power supply rectifier?

Select	Answer
A	Less forward voltage drop
B	More constant reverse avalanche voltage
C	Much higher reverse voltage breakdown
D	Longer carrier retention time

27. - E6C10

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

Select	Answer
A	2
B	4
C	3
D	1

28. - E6D11

Which type of core material decreases inductance when inserted into a coil?

Select	Answer
A	Powdered iron
B	Brass
C	Ferrite
D	Ceramic

29. - E6E02

Which of the following device packages is a through-hole type?

Select	Answer
A	Ball grid array
B	DIP
C	SOT
D	PLCC

30. - E6F01

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

Select	Answer
A	Photons
B	Electrons
C	Protons
D	Holes

31. - E7A03

Which of the following can divide the frequency of a pulse train by 2?

Select	Answer
A	A multiplexer
B	A flip-flop
C	An OR gate
D	An XOR gate

32. - E7B18

What is a characteristic of a grounded-grid amplifier?

Select	Answer
A	Low input impedance
B	High power gain
C	High filament voltage
D	Low bandwidth

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

34. - E7D08

What type of circuit is shown in Figure E7-2?

Select	Answer
A	Linear voltage regulator
B	Monostable multivibrator
C	Switching voltage regulator
D	Grounded emitter amplifier

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 using a loop modulator followed by a mixer
C	By using a reactance modulator followed by a mixer
D	By driving a product detector with a DSB signal

36. - E7F09

Why is an anti-aliasing digital filter required in a digital decimator?

Select	Answer
A	It notches out the sampling frequency to avoid sampling errors
B	It peaks the response of the decimator, improving bandwidth
C	It removes low-frequency signal components to eliminate the need for DC restoration
D	It removes high-frequency signal components that would otherwise be reproduced as lower frequency components

37. - E7G05

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

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

38. - E7H04

How is positive feedback supplied in a Colpitts oscillator?

Select	Answer
A	Through a tapped coil
B	Through a neutralizing capacitor
C	Through a capacitive divider
D	Through link 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	Peak envelope power
D	Power factor

40. - E8B07

Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing is a technique used for which type of amateur communication?

Select	Answer
A	Extremely low-power contacts
B	EME
C	High-speed digital modes
D	OFDM signals are not allowed on amateur bands

41. - E8C03

Why should phase-shifting of a PSK signal be done at the zero crossing of the RF signal?

Select	Answer
A	To improve carrier suppression
B	All these choices are correct
C	To minimize bandwidth
D	To simplify modulation

42. - E8D11

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

Select	Answer
A	It contains fewer information bits per character than any other code
B	It includes built-in error correction features
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. - E9A05

What is included in the total resistance of an antenna system?

Select	Answer
A	Radiation resistance plus loss resistance
B	Radiation resistance plus space impedance
C	Radiation resistance plus transmission resistance
D	Transmission-line resistance plus radiation resistance

44. - E9B06

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

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

45. - E9C08

What is a folded dipole antenna?

Select	Answer
A	A dipole one-quarter wavelength long
B	A type of ground-plane antenna
C	A dipole configured to provide forward gain
D	A half-wave dipole with an additional parallel wire connecting its two ends

46. - E9D02

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

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

47. - E9E11

What is the primary purpose of phasing lines when used with an antenna having multiple driven elements?

Select	Answer
A	It ensures that each driven element operates in concert with the others to create the desired antenna pattern
B	It prevents reflected power from traveling back down the feed line and causing harmonic radiation from the transmitter
C	It creates a low-angle radiation pattern
D	It allows single-band antennas to operate on other bands

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. - E9G07

On the Smith chart shown in Figure E9-3, what is the only straight line shown?

Select	Answer
A	The resistance axis
B	The reactance axis
C	The current axis
D	The voltage axis

50. - E9H05

What is the main drawback of a small wire-loop antenna for direction finding?

Select	Answer
A	It has no clearly defined null
B	It has a bidirectional pattern
C	It is practical for use only on VHF and higher bands
D	All these choices are correct

Figure E6-3

Figure E7-2

Figure E9-2

Figure E9-3