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

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1. - E0A09

Which insulating material commonly used as a thermal conductor for some types of electronic devices is extremely toxic if broken or crushed and the particles are accidentally inhaled?

Select	Answer
A	Beryllium Oxide
B	Uranium Hexafluoride
C	Mica
D	Zinc oxide

2. - E1A03

What is the maximum legal carrier frequency on the 20 meter band for transmitting USB AFSK digital signals having a 1 kHz bandwidth?

Select	Answer
A	14.149 MHz
B	14.070 MHz
C	14.100 MHz
D	14.349 MHz

3. - E1B05

What is the National Radio Quiet Zone?

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

4. - E1C10

What is the permitted mean power of any spurious emission relative to the mean power of the fundamental emission from a station transmitter or external RF amplifier installed after January 1, 2003 and transmitting on a frequency below 30 MHz?

Select	Answer
A	At least 73 dB below
B	At least 63 dB below
C	At least 43 dB below
D	At least 53 dB below

5. - E1D05

What must be posted at the station location of a station being operated by telecommand on or within 50 km of the earth's surface?

Select	Answer
A	A photocopy of the station license
B	All these choices are correct
C	A label with the name, address, and telephone number of the station licensee
D	A label with the name, address, and telephone number of the control operator

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

7. - E1F09

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

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

8. - E2A04

What is meant by the term mode? as applied to an amateur radio satellite?

Select	Answer
A	The satellite's uplink and downlink frequency bands
B	Whether the satellite is in a low earth or geostationary orbit
C	Whether the satellite is in a polar or equatorial orbit
D	The satellite's orientation with respect to the Earth

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 notch filter to remove synchronization pulses
B	A special front end limiter
C	A special IF converter
D	No other hardware is needed

10. - E2C01

What indicator is required to be used by U.S.-licensed operators when operating a station via remote control and the remote transmitter is located in the U.S.?

Select	Answer
A	/ followed by the USPS two-letter abbreviation for the state in which the remote station is located
B	/ followed by the ARRL Section of the remote station
C	No additional indicator is required
D	/R# where # is the district of the remote station

11. - E2D10

How can an APRS station be used to help support a public service communications activity?

Select	Answer
A	All these choices are correct
B	APRS stations with General Personnel Scanners can automatically relay the participant numbers and time as they pass the check points
C	An APRS station with a Global Positioning System unit can automatically transmit information to show a mobile station's position during the event
D	An APRS station with an emergency medical technician can automatically transmit medical data to the nearest hospital

12. - E2E09

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

Select	Answer
A	PACTOR
B	PSK31
C	RTTY
D	MT63

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 D layer
B	The E layer
C	The F1 layer
D	The F2 layer

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	Propagation away from the great circle bearing between stations
C	Propagation across the geomagnetic equator
D	Signals reflected back toward the transmitting station

15. - E3C06

By how much does the VHF/UHF radio horizon distance exceed the geometric horizon?

Select	Answer
A	By approximately 50 percent of the distance
B	By approximately 15 percent of the distance
C	By approximately four times the distance
D	By approximately twice the distance

16. - E4A04

How is the compensation of an oscilloscope probe typically adjusted?

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

17. - E4B04

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

Select	Answer
A	S12
B	S11
C	S22
D	S21

18. - E4C03

What is the term for the suppression in an FM receiver of one signal by another stronger signal on the same frequency?

Select	Answer
A	Capture effect
B	Frequency discrimination
C	Cross-modulation interference
D	Desensitization

19. - E4D05

What transmitter frequencies would cause an intermodulation-product signal in a receiver tuned to 146.70 MHz when a nearby station transmits on 146.52 MHz?

Select	Answer
A	173.35 MHz and 139.40 MHz
B	146.10 MHz and 147.30 MHz
C	146.88 MHz and 146.34 MHz
D	146.34 MHz and 146.61 MHz

20. - E4E10

What might be the cause of a loud roaring or buzzing AC line interference that comes and goes at intervals?

Select	Answer
A	All these choices are correct
B	A malfunctioning illuminated advertising display
C	A defective doorbell or doorbell transformer inside a nearby residence
D	Arcing contacts in a thermostatically controlled device

21. - E5A12

What is the half-power bandwidth of a resonant circuit that has a resonant frequency of 3.7 MHz and a Q of 118?

Select	Answer
A	31.4 kHz
B	15.7 kHz
C	218.3 kHz
D	436.6 kHz

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 and current are in phase
C	Current leads voltage by 90 degrees
D	Voltage leads current 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. - E5D08

How many watts are consumed in a circuit having a power factor of 0.6 if the input is 200VAC at 5 amperes?

Select	Answer
A	1600 watts
B	1000 watts
C	200 watts
D	600 watts

25. - E6A07

Which of the following indicates that a silicon NPN junction transistor is biased on?

Select	Answer
A	Base-to-emitter voltage of approximately 0.6 to 0.7 volts
B	Base-to-emitter resistance of approximately 6 to 7 ohms
C	Base-to-emitter resistance of approximately 0.6 to 0.7 ohms
D	Base-to-emitter voltage of approximately 6 to 7 volts

26. - E6B01

What is the most useful characteristic of a Zener diode?

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

27. - E6C08

In Figure E6-3, what is the schematic symbol for a NAND gate?

Select	Answer
A	1
B	4
C	3
D	2

28. - E6D06

What core material property determines the inductance of an inductor?

Select	Answer
A	Reactivity
B	Permeability
C	Resistance
D	Thermal impedance

29. - E6E05

Which of the following noise figure values is typical of a low-noise UHF preamplifier?

Select	Answer
A	44 dBm
B	-10 dB
C	2 dB
D	-20 dBm

30. - E6F07

What is a solid-state relay?

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

31. - E7A05

Which of the following is a circuit that continuously alternates between two states without an external clock?

Select	Answer
A	Astable multivibrator
B	J-K flip-flop
C	T flip-flop
D	Monostable multivibrator

32. - E7B01

For what portion of the signal cycle does each active element in a push-pull Class AB amplifier conduct?

Select	Answer
A	Less than 180 degrees
B	The entire cycle
C	Exactly 180 degrees
D	More than 180 degrees but less than 360 degrees

33. - E7C06

What are the distinguishing features of an elliptical filter?

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

34. - E7D15

What is the purpose of a step-start circuit in a high-voltage power supply?

Select	Answer
A	To allow for remote control of the power supply
B	To compensate for variations of the incoming line voltage
C	To allow the filter capacitors to charge gradually
D	To provide a dual-voltage output for reduced power applications

35. - E7E09

What occurs when an excessive amount of signal energy reaches a mixer circuit?

Select	Answer
A	Spurious mixer products are generated
B	Automatic limiting occurs
C	A beat frequency is generated
D	Mixer blanking occurs

36. - E7F03

What type of digital signal processing filter is used to generate an SSB signal?

Select	Answer
A	A notch filter
B	A Hilbert-transform filter
C	An elliptical filter
D	An adaptive filter

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	Increase both gain and Q
C	Restrict gain but increase Q
D	Restrict Q but increase gain

38. - E7H04

How is positive feedback supplied in a Colpitts oscillator?

Select	Answer
A	Through link coupling
B	Through a capacitive divider
C	Through a tapped coil
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 sine wave
B	A square wave
C	A cosine wave
D	A sawtooth wave

40. - E8B04

What is the modulation index of an FM-phone signal having a maximum carrier deviation of plus or minus 6 kHz when modulated with a 2 kHz modulating frequency?

Select	Answer
A	2000
B	3
C	1/3
D	6000

41. - E8C02

What is the definition of symbol rate in a digital transmission?

Select	Answer
A	The duration of each bit in a message sent over the air
B	The number of characters carried per second by the station-to-station link
C	The number of control characters in a message packet
D	The rate at which the waveform changes to convey information

42. - E8D11

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

Select	Answer
A	It uses one character as a shift code to send numeric and special characters
B	It contains fewer information bits per character than any other code
C	It is possible to transmit both upper and lower case text
D	It includes built-in error correction features

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	The standing wave ratio
D	Soil conductivity

44. - E9B11

What is a disadvantage of decreasing the number of wire segments in an antenna model below 10 segments per half-wavelength?

Select	Answer
A	Ground conductivity will not be accurately modeled
B	The resulting design will favor radiation of harmonic energy
C	The computed feed point impedance may be incorrect
D	The antenna will become mechanically unstable

45. - E9C12

Which of the following describes an Extended Double Zepp antenna?

Select	Answer
A	A wideband vertical antenna constructed from precisely tapered aluminum tubing
B	An end-fed folded dipole antenna
C	A portable antenna erected using two push support poles
D	A center-fed 1.25-wavelength antenna (two 5/8-wave elements in phase)

46. - E9D11

Which of the following conductors would be best for minimizing losses in a station's RF ground system?

Select	Answer
A	Stranded wire
B	Resistive wire, such as spark plug wire
C	Solid wire
D	Wide flat copper strap

47. - E9E09

Which of the following is used to shunt-feed a grounded tower at its base?

Select	Answer
A	Double-bazooka match
B	Hairpin match
C	All these choices are correct
D	Gamma match

48. - E9F05

What is the approximate physical length of a solid polyethylene dielectric coaxial transmission line that is electrically 1/4 wavelength long at 14.1 MHz?

Select	Answer
A	4.3 meters
B	3.5 meters
C	5.3 meters
D	10.6 meters

49. - E9G10

What do the arcs on a Smith chart represent?

Select	Answer
A	Points with constant reactance
B	SWR
C	Points with constant resistance
D	Frequency

50. - E9H09

What is a Pennant antenna?

Select	Answer
A	A four-element, high-gain vertical array invented by George Pennant
B	A small, vertically oriented receiving antenna consisting of a triangular loop terminated in approximately 900 ohms
C	A form of rhombic antenna terminated in a variable capacitor to provide frequency diversity
D	A stealth antenna built to look like a flagpole

Figure E6-3