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

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1. - E0A01

What is the primary function of an external earth connection or ground rod?

Select	Answer
A	Reduce RFI to telephones and home entertainment systems
B	Reduce received noise
C	Reduce RF current flow between pieces of equipment
D	Lightning protection

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	Only General Class or higher amateur licenses
C	An unrestricted Radiotelephone Operator Permit
D	Any amateur license with an FCC Marine or Aircraft endorsement

3. - E1B04

What must be done before placing an amateur station within an officially designated wilderness area or wildlife preserve, or an area listed in the National Register of Historic Places?

Select	Answer
A	A proposal must be submitted to the National Park Service
B	An Environmental Assessment must be submitted to the FCC
C	A form FSD-15 must be submitted to the Department of the Interior
D	A letter of intent must be filed with the Environmental Protection Agency

4. - E1C13

What notifications must be given before transmitting on the 630 meter or 2200 meter bands?

Select	Answer
A	A special endorsement must be requested from the FCC
B	Operators must inform the FAA of their intent to operate, giving their call sign and distance to the nearest runway
C	An environmental impact statement must be filed with the Department of the Interior
D	Operators must inform the Utilities Technology Council (UTC) of their call sign and coordinates of the station

5. - E1D02

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

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

6. - E1E12

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

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

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. - E2A03

How is the signal inverted by an inverting linear transponder?

Select	Answer
A	The signal is reduced to I and Q components and the Q component is filtered out
B	The signal is detected and remodulated on the reverse sideband
C	The signal is passed through a non-linear filter
D	The signal is passed through a mixer and the difference rather than the sum is transmitted

9. - E2B02

How many horizontal lines make up a fast-scan (NTSC) television frame?

Select	Answer
A	1080
B	525
C	60
D	30

10. - E2C06

During a VHF/UHF contest, in which band segment would you expect to find the highest level of SSB or CW activity?

Select	Answer
A	In the middle of the band, usually 25 kHz above the national calling frequency
B	In the weak signal segment of the band, with most of the activity near the calling frequency
C	In the middle of each band, usually on the national calling frequency
D	At the top of each band, usually in a segment reserved for contests

11. - E2D08

What type of packet frame is used to transmit APRS beacon data?

Select	Answer
A	Acknowledgement
B	Unnumbered Information
C	Connect
D	Disconnect

12. - E2E03

How is the timing of FT4 contacts organized?

Select	Answer
A	Stations take turns on alternate days
B	It depends on the lunar phase
C	Alternating transmissions at 7.5 second intervals
D	By exchanging ACK/NAK packets

13. - E3A01

What is the approximate maximum separation measured along the surface of the Earth between two stations communicating by EME?

Select	Answer
A	500 miles, if the moon is at perigee
B	5000 miles, if the moon is at perigee
C	2000 miles, if the moon is at apogee
D	12,000 miles, if the moon is visible by both stations

14. - E3B09

At what time of year is sporadic E propagation most likely to occur?

Select	Answer
A	Around the equinoxes, especially the fall equinox
B	Around the equinoxes, especially the spring equinox
C	Around the solstices, especially the winter solstice
D	Around the solstices, especially the summer solstice

15. - E3C07

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

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

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

17. - E4B08

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

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

18. - E4C15

What is reciprocal mixing?

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

19. - E4D03

How can intermodulation interference between two repeaters occur?

Select	Answer
A	When the signals from the transmitters are reflected in phase from airplanes passing overhead
B	When the repeaters are in close proximity and the signals cause feedback in the final amplifier of one or both transmitters
C	When the signals from the transmitters are reflected out of phase from airplanes passing overhead
D	When the repeaters are in close proximity and the signals mix in the final amplifier of one or both transmitters

20. - E4E01

What problem can occur when using an automatic notch filter (ANF) to remove interfering carriers while receiving CW signals?

Select	Answer
A	Received CW signals will appear to be modulated at the DSP clock frequency
B	Removal of the CW signal as well as the interfering carrier
C	Ringing in the DSP filter will completely remove the spaces between the CW characters
D	Any nearby signal passing through the DSP system will overwhelm the desired signal

21. - E5A13

What is an effect of increasing Q in a series resonant circuit?

Select	Answer
A	Phase shift can become uncontrolled
B	Internal voltages increase
C	Fewer components are needed for the same performance
D	Parasitic effects are minimized

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	One time constant
C	An exponential rate of one
D	One exponential period

23. - E5C02

How are impedances described in polar coordinates?

Select	Answer
A	By phase angle and magnitude
B	By X and R values
C	By real and imaginary parts
D	By Y and G values

24. - E5D06

In what direction is the magnetic field oriented about a conductor in relation to the direction of electron flow?

Select	Answer
A	In all directions; omni-directional
B	In a circle around the conductor
C	In a direction opposite to the current
D	In the same direction as the current

25. - E6A04

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

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

26. - E6B05

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

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

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	It has the high input impedance of CMOS and the low output impedance of bipolar transistors
C	It is immune to electrostatic damage
D	All these choices are correct

28. - E6D03

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

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

29. - E6E11

What is a characteristic of DIP packaging used for integrated circuits?

Select	Answer
A	Package mounts in a direct inverted position
B	A total of two rows of connecting pins placed on opposite sides of the package (Dual In-line Package)
C	Two chips in each package (Dual In Package)
D	Low leakage doubly insulated package

30. - E6F07

What is a solid-state relay?

Select	Answer
A	A semiconductor passive delay line
B	A relay using transistors to drive the relay coil
C	A mechanical relay that latches in the on or off state each time it is pulsed
D	A device that uses semiconductors to implement the functions of an electromechanical relay

31. - E7A08

What logical operation does an OR gate perform?

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

32. - E7B11

In Figure E7-1, what is the purpose of R3?

Select	Answer
A	Emitter bypass
B	Output load resistor
C	Self bias
D	Fixed bias

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	Extremely sharp cutoff with one or more notches in the stop band
C	Gradual passband rolloff with minimal stop band ripple
D	Gradual passband rolloff with extreme stop band ripple

34. - E7D10

What is the primary reason that a high-frequency switching type high-voltage power supply can be both less expensive and lighter in weight than a conventional power supply?

Select	Answer
A	It uses a diode bridge rectifier for increased output
B	The inverter design does not require any output filtering
C	It uses a large power factor compensation capacitor to recover power from the unused portion of the AC cycle
D	The high frequency inverter design uses much smaller transformers and filter components for an equivalent power output

35. - E7E07

What is meant by the term "baseband" in radio communications?

Select	Answer
A	The basic oscillator frequency in an FM transmitter that is multiplied to increase the deviation and carrier frequency
B	The frequency range occupied by a message signal prior to modulation
C	The unmodulated bandwidth of the transmitted signal
D	The lowest frequency band that the transmitter or receiver covers

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

37. - E7G10

What absolute voltage gain can be expected from the circuit in Figure E7-3 when R1 is 1800 ohms and RF is 68 kilohms?

Select	Answer
A	76
B	0.03
C	38
D	1

38. - E7H03

How is positive feedback supplied in a Hartley oscillator?

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

39. - E8A11

Which of the following is a measure of the quality of an analog-to-digital converter?

Select	Answer
A	Reciprocal mixing
B	Peak envelope power
C	Total harmonic distortion
D	Power factor

40. - E8B10

What is frequency division multiplexing?

Select	Answer
A	The transmitted signal jumps from band to band at a predetermined rate
B	Two or more information streams are merged into a baseband, which then modulates the transmitter
C	The transmitted signal is divided into packets of information
D	Two or more information streams are merged into a digital combiner, which then pulse position modulates the transmitter

41. - E8C07

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

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

42. - E8D05

What is the most common method of reducing key clicks?

Select	Answer
A	Reduce keying waveform rise and fall times
B	High-pass filters at the transmitter output
C	Low-pass filters at the transmitter output
D	Increase keying waveform rise and fall times

43. - E9A04

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

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

44. - E9B04

What is the front-to-back ratio of the radiation pattern shown in Figure E92?

Select	Answer
A	28 dB
B	3 dB
C	15 dB
D	38 dB

45. - E9C08

What is a folded dipole antenna?

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

46. - E9D06

What happens to the SWR bandwidth when one or more loading coils are used to resonate an electrically short antenna?

Select	Answer
A	It is unchanged if the loading coil is located at the feed point
B	It is increased
C	It is unchanged if the loading coil is located at a voltage maximum point
D	It is decreased

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 stub match
B	The delta match
C	The epsilon match
D	The gamma match

48. - E9F11

What impedance does a 1/8-wavelength transmission line present to a generator when the line is open at the far end?

Select	Answer
A	The same as the characteristic impedance of the line
B	Infinite
C	An inductive reactance
D	A capacitive reactance

49. - E9G03

Which of the following is often determined using a Smith chart?

Select	Answer
A	Beam headings and radiation patterns
B	Satellite azimuth and elevation bearings
C	Impedance and SWR values in transmission lines
D	Trigonometric functions

50. - E9H10

How can the output voltage of a multiple-turn receiving loop antenna be increased?

Select	Answer
A	By increasing the number of turns and/or the area
B	By reducing the permeability of the loop shield
C	By utilizing high impedance wire for the coupling loop
D	By winding adjacent turns in opposing directions

Figure E7-1

Figure E7-3