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

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1. - E0A07

How may dangerous levels of carbon monoxide from an emergency generator be detected?

Select	Answer
A	Only with a carbon monoxide detector
B	Any ordinary smoke detector can be used
C	By the odor
D	By the yellowish appearance of the gas

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

3. - E1B02

Which of the following is an acceptable bandwidth for Digital Radio Mondiale (DRM) based voice or SSTV digital transmissions made on the HF amateur bands?

Select	Answer
A	20 kHz
B	3 kHz
C	15 kHz
D	10 kHz

4. - E1C08

What is the maximum permissible duration of a remotely controlled station's transmissions if its control link malfunctions?

Select	Answer
A	3 minutes
B	30 seconds
C	10 minutes
D	5 minutes

5. - E1D01

What is the definition of telemetry?

Select	Answer
A	One-way transmission of measurements at a distance from the measuring instrument
B	One-way transmission that initiates, modifies, or terminates the functions of a device at a distance
C	Two-way transmissions in excess of 1000 feet
D	Two-way transmissions of data

6. - E1E08

To which of the following examinees may a VE not administer an examination?

Select	Answer
A	Friends of the VE
B	Relatives of the VE as listed in the FCC rules
C	Employees of the VE
D	All these choices are correct

7. - E1F08

Which of the following types of amateur station communications are prohibited?

Select	Answer
A	Communications that have political content, except as allowed by the Fairness Doctrine
B	Communications that have religious content
C	Communications transmitted for hire or material compensation, except as otherwise provided in the rules
D	Communications in a language other than English

8. - E2A12

What is the purpose of digital store-and-forward functions on an amateur radio satellite?

Select	Answer
A	To upload operational software for the transponder
B	To store digital messages in the satellite for later download by other stations
C	To relay messages between satellites
D	To delay download of telemetry between satellites

9. - E2B02

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

Select	Answer
A	60
B	1080
C	30
D	525

10. - E2C09

What type of equipment is commonly used to implement an amateur radio mesh network?

Select	Answer
A	A wireless router running custom firmware
B	A 2 meter VHF transceiver with a 1200 baud modem
C	An optical cable connection between the USB ports of 2 separate computers
D	A 440 MHz transceiver with a 9600 baud modem

11. - E2D05

What is one advantage of the JT65 mode?

Select	Answer
A	Easily copied by ear if necessary
B	Permits fast-scan TV transmissions over narrow bandwidth
C	The ability to decode signals which have a very low signal-to-noise ratio
D	Uses only a 65 Hz bandwidth

12. - E2E04

What is indicated when one of the ellipses in an FSK crossed-ellipse display suddenly disappears?

Select	Answer
A	One of the signal filters is saturated
B	Selective fading has occurred
C	The mark and space signal have been inverted
D	The receiver has drifted 5 kHz from the desired receive frequency

13. - E3A06

What might help to restore contact when DX signals become too weak to copy across an entire HF band a few hours after sunset?

Select	Answer
A	Switch to a higher frequency HF band
B	Wait 24 hours before attempting another communication on the band
C	Switch to a lower frequency HF band
D	Wait 90 minutes or so for the signal degradation to pass

14. - E3B10

Why is chordal hop propagation desirable?

Select	Answer
A	The MUF for chordal hop propagation is much lower than for normal skip propagation
B	Signals travel faster along ionospheric chords
C	Atmospheric noise is lower in the direction of chordal hop propagation
D	The signal experiences less loss compared to multi-hop using Earth as a reflector

15. - E3C09

How does the intensity of an X3 flare compare to that of an X2 flare?

Select	Answer
A	50 percent greater
B	Four times as great
C	10 percent greater
D	Twice as great

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

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

18. - E4C01

What is an effect of excessive phase noise in a receiver's local oscillator?

Select	Answer
A	It can affect the receiver's frequency calibration
B	It decreases receiver third-order intercept point
C	It can combine with strong signals on nearby frequencies to generate interference
D	It limits the receiver's ability to receive strong signals

19. - E4D11

Why are odd-order intermodulation products, created within a receiver, of particular interest compared to other products?

Select	Answer
A	Odd-order products are an indication of poor image rejection
B	Odd-order products of two signals in the band of interest are also likely to be within the band
C	Odd-order intermodulation produces three products for every input signal within the band of interest
D	Odd-order products overload the IF filters

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 are constant at all IF levels
D	Signals that appear across a wide bandwidth

21. - E5A11

What is the half-power bandwidth of a resonant circuit that has a resonant frequency of 7.1 MHz and a Q of 150?

Select	Answer
A	315.6 Hz
B	157.8 Hz
C	47.3 kHz
D	23.67 kHz

22. - E5B08

What is the phase angle between the voltage across and the current through a series RLC circuit if XC is 100 ohms, R is 100 ohms, and XL is 75 ohms?

Select	Answer
A	14 degrees with the voltage leading the current
B	76 degrees with the voltage lagging the current
C	14 degrees with the voltage lagging the current
D	76 degrees with the voltage leading the current

23. - E5C10

Which point on Figure E5-1 best represents the impedance of a series circuit consisting of a 400-ohm resistor and a 38-picofarad capacitor at 14 MHz?

Select	Answer
A	Point 6
B	Point 5
C	Point 4
D	Point 2

24. - E5D13

How many watts are consumed in a circuit consisting of a 100-ohm resistor in series with a 100-ohm inductive reactance drawing 1 ampere?

Select	Answer
A	141.4 watts
B	200 watts
C	100 watts
D	70.7 watts

25. - E6A10

In Figure E6-1, what is the schematic symbol for an N-channel dual-gate MOSFET?

Select	Answer
A	6
B	2
C	4
D	5

26. - E6B08

Which of the following is a Schottky barrier diode?

Select	Answer
A	PIN junction
B	Metal-semiconductor junction
C	Electrolytic rectifier
D	Thermionic emission diode

27. - E6C04

Which of the following is an advantage of BiCMOS logic?

Select	Answer
A	It is immune to electrostatic damage
B	All these choices are correct
C	It has the high input impedance of CMOS and the low output impedance of bipolar transistors
D	Its simplicity results in much less expensive devices than standard CMOS

28. - E6D08

What is one reason for using powdered-iron cores rather than ferrite cores in an inductor?

Select	Answer
A	Powdered-iron cores generally maintain their characteristics at higher currents
B	Powdered-iron cores use smaller diameter wire for the same inductance
C	Powdered-iron cores generally require fewer turns to produce a given inductance
D	Powdered-iron cores generally have greater initial permeability

29. - E6E08

How is power supplied to the most common type of MMIC?

Select	Answer
A	Directly to the bias voltage (VCC IN) lead
B	Through a capacitor and RF choke connected to the amplifier input lead
C	MMICs require no operating bias
D	Through a resistor and/or RF choke connected to the amplifier output lead

30. - E6F07

What is a solid-state relay?

Select	Answer
A	A relay using transistors to drive the relay coil
B	A semiconductor passive delay line
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. - E7A09

What logical operation is performed by an exclusive NOR gate?

Select	Answer
A	It produces logic 0 at its output only if all inputs are logic 0
B	It produces logic 0 at its output if only one input is logic 1
C	It produces logic 1 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. - E7B18

What is a characteristic of a grounded-grid amplifier?

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

33. - E7C12

What is one advantage of a Pi-matching network over an L-matching network consisting of a single inductor and a single capacitor?

Select	Answer
A	Pi-networks are more stable
B	The Q of Pi-networks can be controlled
C	Pi-networks provide balanced input and output
D	L-networks cannot perform impedance transformation

34. - E7D03

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

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

35. - E7E09

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

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

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 removes high-frequency signal components that would otherwise be reproduced as lower frequency components
C	It removes low-frequency signal components to eliminate the need for DC restoration
D	It peaks the response of the decimator, improving bandwidth

37. - E7G01

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

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

38. - E7H14

What is a phase-locked loop circuit?

Select	Answer
A	An electronic servo loop consisting of a phase detector, a low-pass filter, a voltage-controlled oscillator, and a stable reference oscillator
B	An electronic circuit also known as a monostable multivibrator
C	An electronic servo loop consisting of a ratio detector, reactance modulator, and voltage-controlled oscillator
D	An electronic circuit consisting of a precision push-pull amplifier with a differential input

39. - E8A04

What is "dither" with respect to analog-to-digital converters?

Select	Answer
A	An error caused by irregular quantization step size
B	An abnormal condition where the converter cannot settle on a value to represent the signal
C	A small amount of noise added to the input signal to allow more precise representation of a signal over time
D	A method of decimation by randomly skipping samples

40. - E8B03

What is the modulation index of an FM-phone signal having a maximum frequency deviation of 3000 Hz either side of the carrier frequency when the modulating frequency is 1000 Hz?

Select	Answer
A	1000
B	3
C	0.3
D	3000

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. - E8D04

What is the primary effect of extremely short rise or fall time on a CW signal?

Select	Answer
A	The generation of key clicks
B	The generation of RF harmonics
C	Limits data speed
D	More difficult to copy

43. - E9A13

What term describes station output, taking into account all gains and losses?

Select	Answer
A	Half-power bandwidth
B	Effective radiated power
C	Apparent power
D	Power factor

44. - E9B05

What type of antenna pattern is shown in Figure E9-2?

Select	Answer
A	Elevation
B	Polarization
C	Radiation resistance
D	Azimuth

45. - E9C04

What happens to the radiation pattern of an unterminated long wire antenna as the wire length is increased?

Select	Answer
A	The lobes align more in the direction of the wire
B	The vertical angle increases
C	The front-to-back ratio decreases
D	The lobes become more perpendicular to the wire

46. - E9D09

What is the function of a loading coil used as part of an HF mobile antenna?

Select	Answer
A	To lower the losses
B	To cancel capacitive reactance
C	To lower the Q
D	To increase the SWR bandwidth

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	50 ohms
B	75 ohms
C	450 ohms
D	62 ohms

48. - E9F07

How does ladder line compare to small-diameter coaxial cable such as RG-58 at 50 MHz?

Select	Answer
A	Lower loss
B	Higher SWR
C	Smaller reflection coefficient
D	Lower velocity factor

49. - E9G09

What third family of circles is often added to a Smith chart during the process of solving problems?

Select	Answer
A	Antenna-length circles
B	Coaxial-length circles
C	Standing wave ratio circles
D	Radiation-pattern circles

50. - E9H11

What feature of a cardioid pattern antenna makes it useful for direction finding?

Select	Answer
A	Broadband response
B	A very sharp peak
C	High radiation angle
D	A very sharp single null

Figure E5-1

Figure E6-1

Figure E9-2