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

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1. - E0A08

What does SAR measure?

Select	Answer
A	The rate at which RF energy is absorbed by the body
B	Synthetic Aperture Ratio of the human body
C	Signal Amplification Rating
D	The rate of RF energy reflected from stationary terrain

2. - E1A13

Who must be in physical control of the station apparatus of an amateur station aboard any vessel or craft that is documented or registered in the United States?

Select	Answer
A	Any person named in an amateur station license grant or a person holding an unrestricted Radiotelephone Operator Permit
B	Only a person with an FCC Marine Radio license grant
C	Any person holding an FCC issued amateur license or who is authorized for alien reciprocal operation
D	Only a person named in an amateur station license grant

3. - E1B03

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

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

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

5. - E1D11

Which amateur stations are eligible to operate as Earth stations?

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

6. - E1E11

What must the VE team do if an examinee scores a passing grade on all examination elements needed for an upgrade or new license?

Select	Answer
A	All these choices are correct
B	Photocopy all examination documents and forward them to the FCC for processing
C	Issue the examinee the new or upgrade license
D	Three VEs must certify that the examinee is qualified for the license grant and that they have complied with the administering VE requirements

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	All these choices are correct
C	The transmitting station must be in an area regulated by the FCC or in a country that permits SS emissions
D	A station transmitting SS emission must not cause harmful interference to other stations employing other authorized emissions

8. - E2A05

What do the letters in a satellite's mode designator specify?

Select	Answer
A	Power limits for uplink and downlink transmissions
B	The polarization of uplink and downlink signals
C	The uplink and downlink frequency ranges
D	The location of the ground control station

9. - E2B08

What technique allows commercial analog TV receivers to be used for fast-scan TV operations on the 70 cm band?

Select	Answer
A	Transmitting on the abandoned TV channel 2
B	Transmitting on channels shared with cable TV
C	Using converted satellite TV dishes
D	Using USB and demodulating the signal with a computer sound card

10. - E2C07

What is the Cabrillo format?

Select	Answer
A	The rules of order for meetings between contest sponsors
B	A method of exchanging information during a contest QSO
C	A standard for submission of electronic contest logs
D	The most common set of contest rules

11. - E2D06

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

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

12. - E2E02

What do the letters FEC mean as they relate to digital operation?

Select	Answer
A	First Error Correction
B	Final Error Correction
C	Forward Error Correction
D	Fatal Error Correction

13. - E3A09

Which of the following frequency ranges is most suited for meteor scatter communications?

Select	Answer
A	1.8 MHz - 1.9 MHz
B	28 MHz - 148 MHz
C	220 MHz - 450 MHz
D	10 MHz - 14 MHz

14. - E3B11

At what time of day can sporadic E propagation occur?

Select	Answer
A	Only around sunset and sunrise
B	Only in hours of darkness
C	Only around sunset
D	Any time

15. - E3C04

What does the value of Bz (B sub Z) represent?

Select	Answer
A	Geomagnetic field stability
B	Direction and strength of the interplanetary magnetic field
C	Duration of long-delayed echoes
D	Critical frequency for vertical transmissions

16. - E4A11

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

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

17. - E4B10

Which of the following methods measures intermodulation distortion in an SSB transmitter?

Select	Answer
A	Modulate the transmitter using two RF signals having non-harmonically related frequencies and observe the RF output with a spectrum analyzer
B	Modulate the transmitter using two AF signals having non-harmonically related frequencies and observe the RF output with a spectrum analyzer
C	Modulate the transmitter using two AF signals having harmonically related frequencies and observe the RF output with a peak reading wattmeter
D	Modulate the transmitter using two RF signals having harmonically related frequencies and observe the RF output with a logic analyzer

18. - E4C13

How does a narrow-band roofing filter affect receiver performance?

Select	Answer
A	All these choices are correct
B	It improves intelligibility by using low Q circuitry to reduce ringing
C	It improves dynamic range by attenuating strong signals near the receive frequency
D	It improves sensitivity by reducing front end noise

19. - E4D04

Which of the following may reduce or eliminate intermodulation interference in a repeater caused by another transmitter operating in close proximity?

Select	Answer
A	Utilizing a Class D final amplifier
B	A band-pass filter in the feed line between the transmitter and receiver
C	A properly terminated circulator at the output of the repeater's transmitter
D	Utilizing a Class C final amplifier

20. - E4E06

What is one type of electrical interference that might be caused by a nearby personal computer?

Select	Answer
A	A clicking noise at intervals of a few seconds
B	The appearance of unstable modulated or unmodulated signals at specific frequencies
C	A loud AC hum in the audio output of your station receiver
D	A whining type noise that continually pulses off and on

21. - E5A05

What is the result of increasing the Q of an impedance-matching circuit?

Select	Answer
A	Matching range is increased
B	It has no effect on impedance matching
C	Matching bandwidth is decreased
D	Matching bandwidth is increased

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

23. - E5C06

What does the impedance 50-j25 represent?

Select	Answer
A	25 ohms resistance in series with 50 ohms inductive reactance
B	50 ohms resistance in series with 25 ohms inductive reactance
C	50 ohms resistance in series with 25 ohms capacitive reactance
D	25 ohms resistance in series with 50 ohms capacitive reactance

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	0.866
B	0.5
C	1.73
D	0.577

25. - E6A04

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

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

26. - E6B09

What is a common use for point-contact diodes?

Select	Answer
A	As a high-voltage rectifier
B	As an RF detector
C	As a constant voltage source
D	As a constant current source

27. - E6C09

What is a Programmable Logic Device (PLD)?

Select	Answer
A	A logic circuit that can be modified during use
B	A type of transistor whose gain can be changed by digital logic circuits
C	A programmable collection of logic gates and circuits in a single integrated circuit
D	Programmable equipment used for testing digital logic integrated circuits

28. - E6D09

What devices are commonly used as VHF and UHF parasitic suppressors at the input and output terminals of a transistor HF amplifier?

Select	Answer
A	Steel-core toroids
B	Ferrite beads
C	Electrolytic capacitors
D	Butterworth filters

29. - E6E01

Why is gallium arsenide (GaAs) useful for semiconductor devices operating at UHF and higher frequencies?

Select	Answer
A	Lower transconductance
B	Higher electron mobility
C	Lower junction voltage drop
D	Higher noise figures

30. - E6F02

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

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

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 1 at its output if all inputs are logic 0
C	It produces logic 0 at its output if all inputs are logic 1
D	It only produces logic 0 at its output when all inputs are logic 1

32. - E7B14

Why are switching amplifiers more efficient than linear amplifiers?

Select	Answer
A	Switching amplifiers operate at higher voltages
B	Switching amplifiers use push-pull circuits
C	The power transistor is at saturation or cutoff most of the time
D	Linear amplifiers have high gain resulting in higher harmonic content

33. - E7C11

Which of the following describes a receiving filter's ability to reject signals occupying an adjacent channel?

Select	Answer
A	Passband ripple
B	Phase response
C	Noise factor
D	Shape factor

34. - E7D05

Which of the following types of linear voltage regulator places a constant load on the unregulated voltage source?

Select	Answer
A	A shunt regulator
B	A series regulator
C	A constant current source
D	A shunt current source

35. - E7E06

Why is de-emphasis commonly used in FM communications receivers?

Select	Answer
A	To reduce impulse noise reception
B	For compatibility with transmitters using phase modulation
C	For higher efficiency
D	To remove third-order distortion products

36. - E7F03

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

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

37. - E7G08

How does the gain of an ideal operational amplifier vary with frequency?

Select	Answer
A	It decreases linearly with increasing frequency
B	It does not vary with frequency
C	It decreases logarithmically with increasing frequency
D	It increases linearly with increasing frequency

38. - E7H05

How is positive feedback supplied in a Pierce oscillator?

Select	Answer
A	Through a neutralizing capacitor
B	Through a quartz crystal
C	Through link coupling
D	Through a tapped coil

39. - E8A02

Which of the following is a type of analog-to-digital conversion?

Select	Answer
A	Harmonic regeneration
B	Level shifting
C	Successive approximation
D	Phase reversal

40. - E8B11

What is digital time division multiplexing?

Select	Answer
A	Two or more data streams are assigned to discrete sub-carriers on an FM transmitter
B	Two or more signals are arranged to share discrete time slots of a data transmission
C	Two or more signals are quadrature modulated to increase bandwidth efficiency
D	Two or more data streams share the same channel by transmitting time of transmission as the sub-carrier

41. - E8C11

What is the relationship between symbol rate and baud?

Select	Answer
A	They are the same
B	Symbol rate is only used for packet-based modes
C	Baud is twice the symbol rate
D	Baud is only used for RTTY

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

43. - E9A12

How much gain does an antenna have compared to a 1/2-wavelength dipole when it has 6 dB gain over an isotropic antenna?

Select	Answer
A	2.79 dB
B	3.85 dB
C	6.0 dB
D	8.15 dB

44. - E9B07

How does the total amount of radiation emitted by a directional gain antenna compare with the total amount of radiation emitted from a theoretical isotropic antenna, assuming each is driven by the same amount of power?

Select	Answer
A	The radiation from the isotropic antenna is 2.15 dB stronger than that from the directional antenna
B	The total amount of radiation from the directional antenna is stronger by its front-to-back ratio
C	They are the same
D	The total amount of radiation from the directional antenna is increased by the gain of the antenna

45. - E9C02

What is the radiation pattern of two 1/4-wavelength vertical antennas spaced 1/4 wavelength apart and fed 90 degrees out of phase?

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

46. - E9D02

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

Select	Answer
A	Arrange two Yagis collinear to each other with the driven elements fed 180 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 perpendicular to each other with the driven elements at the same point on the boom fed 90 degrees out of phase

47. - E9E04

What is the purpose of the series capacitor in a gamma-type antenna matching network?

Select	Answer
A	To transform the antenna impedance to a higher value
B	To provide a rejection notch that prevents the radiation of harmonics
C	To cancel the inductive reactance of the matching network
D	To provide DC isolation between the feed line and the antenna

48. - E9F02

Which of the following has the biggest effect on the velocity factor of a transmission line?

Select	Answer
A	The line length
B	The termination impedance
C	The center conductor resistivity
D	Dielectric materials used in the line

49. - E9G02

What type of coordinate system is used in a Smith chart?

Select	Answer
A	Resistance lines and reactance chords
B	Resistance circles and reactance arcs
C	Voltage circles and current arcs
D	Voltage lines and current chords

50. - E9H09

What is a Pennant antenna?

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