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. - E0A01

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

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

2. - E1A02

When using a transceiver that displays the carrier frequency of phone signals, which of the following displayed frequencies represents the lowest frequency at which a properly adjusted LSB emission will be totally within the band?

Select	Answer
A	The exact lower band edge
B	3 kHz above the lower band edge
C	1 kHz above the lower band edge
D	300 Hz above the lower band edge

3. - E1B03

Within what distance must an amateur station protect an FCC monitoring facility from harmful interference?

Select	Answer
A	30 miles
B	10 miles
C	3 miles
D	1 mile

4. - E1C09

What is the highest modulation index permitted at the highest modulation frequency for angle modulation below 29.0 MHz?

Select	Answer
A	0.5
B	2.0
C	3.0
D	1.0

5. - E1D07

Which HF amateur bands have frequencies authorized for space stations?

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

6. - E1E12

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

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

7. - E1F02

What privileges are authorized in the U.S. to persons holding an amateur service license granted by the government of Canada?

Select	Answer
A	The operating terms and conditions of the Canadian amateur service license, not to exceed U.S. Amateur Extra Class license privileges
B	All privileges of the Amateur Extra Class license
C	None, they must obtain a U.S. license
D	Full privileges, up to and including those of the Amateur Extra Class license, on the 80, 40, 20, 15, and 10 meter bands

8. - E2A09

What do the terms L band and S band specify regarding satellite communications?

Select	Answer
A	The 2 meter and 70 centimeter bands
B	Which sideband to use
C	FM and Digital Store-and-Forward systems
D	The 23 centimeter and 13 centimeter bands

9. - E2B03

How is an interlaced scanning pattern generated in a fast-scan (NTSC) television system?

Select	Answer
A	By scanning two fields simultaneously
B	By scanning odd numbered lines in one field and even numbered lines in the next
C	By scanning lines from left to right in one field and right to left in the next
D	By scanning each field from bottom to top

10. - E2C11

How should you generally identify your station when attempting to contact a DX station during a contest or in a pileup?

Select	Answer
A	Send your full call sign once or twice
B	Send only the last two letters of your call sign until you make contact
C	Send your full call sign and grid square
D	Send the call sign of the DX station three times, the words this is,then your call sign three times

11. - E2D06

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

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

12. - E2E01

Which of the following types of modulation is common for data emissions below 30 MHz?

Select	Answer
A	Spread spectrum
B	FSK
C	DTMF tones modulating an FM signal
D	Pulse modulation

13. - E3A08

When a meteor strikes the Earth's atmosphere, a cylindrical region of free electrons is formed at what layer of the ionosphere?

Select	Answer
A	The E layer
B	The D layer
C	The F1 layer
D	The F2 layer

14. - E3B05

Which amateur bands typically support long-path propagation?

Select	Answer
A	160 meters to 10 meters
B	6 meters to 2 meters
C	Only 30 meters to 10 meters
D	Only 160 meters to 40 meters

15. - E3C15

What might be indicated by a sudden rise in radio background noise across a large portion of the HF spectrum?

Select	Answer
A	A solar flare has occurred
B	Increased transequatorial propagation is likely
C	Long-path propagation is likely
D	A temperature inversion has occurred

16. - E4A09

Which of the following is good practice when using an oscilloscope probe?

Select	Answer
A	Never use a high-impedance probe to measure a low-impedance circuit
B	All these choices are correct
C	Never use a DC-coupled probe to measure an AC circuit
D	Keep the signal ground connection of the probe as short as possible

17. - E4B09

What is indicated if the current reading on an RF ammeter placed in series with the antenna feed line of a transmitter increases as the transmitter is tuned to resonance?

Select	Answer
A	There is more power going into the antenna
B	The transmitter is not properly neutralized
C	There is an impedance mismatch between the antenna and feed line
D	There is possibly a short to ground in the feed line

18. - E4C09

Which of the following choices is a good reason for selecting a high frequency for the design of the IF in a superheterodyne HF or VHF communications receiver?

Select	Answer
A	Fewer components in the receiver
B	Reduced drift
C	Easier for front-end circuitry to eliminate image responses
D	Improved receiver noise figure

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	A pair of 1 mW input signals will produce a third-order intermodulation product that is 40 dB stronger than the input signal
C	Signals less than 40 dBm will not generate audible third-order intermodulation products
D	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

20. - E4E04

How can conducted and radiated noise caused by an automobile alternator be suppressed?

Select	Answer
A	By connecting the radio's power leads directly to the battery and by installing coaxial capacitors in line with the alternator leads
B	By installing a noise suppression resistor and a blocking capacitor in both leads
C	By installing a high-pass filter in series with the radio's power lead and a low-pass filter in parallel with the field lead
D	By installing filter capacitors in series with the DC power lead and a blocking capacitor in the field lead

21. - E5A02

What is resonance in an LC or RLC circuit?

Select	Answer
A	The lowest frequency that will pass current
B	The highest frequency that will pass current
C	The frequency at which the capacitive reactance equals the inductive reactance
D	The frequency at which the reactive impedance equals the resistive impedance

22. - E5B09

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

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

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 the horizontal axis
C	On the vertical axis
D	On a line through the origin, slanted at 45 degrees

24. - E5D05

What is the power factor of an RL circuit having a 30-degree phase angle between the voltage and the current?

Select	Answer
A	0.5
B	0.577
C	1.73
D	0.866

25. - E6A12

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

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

26. - E6B07

What is the failure mechanism when a junction diode fails due to excessive current?

Select	Answer
A	Excessive inverse voltage
B	Excessive junction temperature
C	Insufficient forward voltage
D	Charge carrier depletion

27. - E6C03

What is tri-state logic?

Select	Answer
A	Low-power logic devices designed to operate at 3 volts
B	Proprietary logic devices manufactured by Tri-State Devices
C	Logic devices with 0, 1, and high-impedance output states
D	Logic devices that utilize ternary math

28. - E6D02

What is the equivalent circuit of a quartz crystal?

Select	Answer
A	Motional capacitance, motional inductance, loss resistance, and a capacitor representing electrode and stray capacitance all in parallel
B	Motional capacitance, motional inductance, and loss resistance in series, all in parallel with a shunt capacitor representing electrode and stray capacitance
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	50 ohms
B	450 ohms
C	300 ohms
D	10 ohms

30. - E6F02

What happens to the conductivity of a photoconductive material when light shines on it?

Select	Answer
A	It increases
B	It becomes unstable
C	It decreases
D	It stays the same

31. - E7A09

What logical operation is performed by an exclusive NOR gate?

Select	Answer
A	It produces logic 1 at its output if only one input is logic 1
B	It produces logic 0 at its output only if all inputs are logic 0
C	It produces logic 0 at its output if only one input is logic 1
D	It produces logic 1 at its output only if all inputs are logic 1

32. - E7B16

What is the effect of intermodulation products in a linear power amplifier?

Select	Answer
A	Transmission of spurious signals
B	Creation of parasitic oscillations
C	All these choices are correct
D	Low efficiency

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

34. - E7D03

What device is typically used as a stable voltage reference in a linear voltage regulator?

Select	Answer
A	A varactor diode
B	A tunnel diode
C	A Zener diode
D	An SCR

35. - E7E02

What is the function of a reactance modulator?

Select	Answer
A	To produce PM signals by using an electrically variable resistance
B	To produce AM signals by using an electrically variable inductance or capacitance
C	To produce PM or FM signals by using an electrically variable inductance or capacitance
D	To produce AM signals by using an electrically variable resistance

36. - E7F10

What aspect of receiver analog-to-digital conversion determines the maximum receive bandwidth of a Direct Digital Conversion SDR?

Select	Answer
A	Sample clock phase noise
B	Sample rate
C	Sample width in bits
D	Processor latency

37. - E7G03

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

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

38. - E7H02

What is a microphonic?

Select	Answer
A	Changes in oscillator frequency due to mechanical vibration
B	Distortion caused by RF pickup on the microphone cable
C	Excess loading of the microphone by an oscillator
D	An IC used for amplifying microphone signals

39. - E8A11

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

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

40. - E8B06

What is the deviation ratio of an FM-phone signal having a maximum frequency swing of plus or minus 7.5 kHz when the maximum modulation frequency is 3.5 kHz?

Select	Answer
A	2.14
B	0.214
C	47
D	0.47

41. - E8C08

How does ARQ accomplish error correction?

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

42. - E8D02

What spread spectrum communications technique uses a high-speed binary bit stream to shift the phase of an RF carrier?

Select	Answer
A	Frequency hopping
B	Direct sequence
C	Binary phase-shift keying
D	Phase compandored spread spectrum

43. - E9A11

Which of the following factors determines ground losses for a ground-mounted vertical antenna operating in the 3 MHz to 30 MHz range?

Select	Answer
A	Take-off angle
B	Distance from the transmitter
C	Soil conductivity
D	The standing wave ratio

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 the shape of the antenna pattern is independent of distance
C	The region where radiated field strengths are constant
D	The region of the ionosphere where radiated power is not refracted

45. - E9C01

What is the radiation pattern of two 1/4-wavelength vertical antennas spaced 1/2-wavelength apart and fed 180 degrees out of phase?

Select	Answer
A	A figure-8 oriented along the axis of the array
B	Cardioid
C	Omni-directional
D	A figure-8 broadside to the axis of the array

46. - E9D08

What happens as the Q of an antenna increases?

Select	Answer
A	More common-mode current is present on the feed line
B	SWR bandwidth decreases
C	SWR bandwidth increases
D	Gain is reduced

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	75 ohms
B	62 ohms
C	50 ohms
D	450 ohms

48. - E9F09

What is the approximate physical length of a foam polyethylene dielectric coaxial transmission line that is electrically 1/4 wavelength long at 7.2 MHz?

Select	Answer
A	10.4 meters
B	6.9 meters
C	8.3 meters
D	5.2 meters

49. - E9G11

How are the wavelength scales on a Smith chart calibrated?

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

50. - E9H02

Which is generally true for low band (160 meter and 80 meter) receiving antennas?

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