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

3. - E1B06

Which of the following additional rules apply if you are installing an amateur station antenna at a site at or near a public use airport?

Select	Answer
A	You may have to notify the Federal Aviation Administration and register it with the FCC as required by Part 17 of the FCC rules
B	You must obtain a construction permit from the airport zoning authority
C	You must file an Environmental Impact Statement with the EPA before construction begins
D	You must submit engineering drawings to the FAA

4. - E1C11

Which of the following operating arrangements allows an FCC-licensed U.S. citizen to operate in many European countries, and alien amateurs from many European countries to operate in the U.S.?

Select	Answer
A	All these choices are correct
B	IARP agreement
C	ITU reciprocal license
D	CEPT agreement

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

6. - E1E09

What may be the penalty for a VE who fraudulently administers or certifies an examination?

Select	Answer
A	A fine of up to $1000 per occurrence
B	All these choices are correct
C	A sentence of up to one year in prison
D	Revocation of the VE's amateur station license grant and the suspension of the VE's amateur operator license grant

7. - E1F01

On what frequencies are spread spectrum transmissions permitted?

Select	Answer
A	Only on amateur frequencies above 222 MHz
B	Only on amateur frequencies above 144 MHz
C	Only on amateur frequencies above 50 MHz
D	Only on amateur frequencies above 420 MHz

8. - E2A03

How is the signal inverted by an inverting linear transponder?

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

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

10. - E2C05

What is the function of a DX QSL Manager?

Select	Answer
A	To allocate frequencies for DXpeditions
B	To run a net to allow many stations to contact a rare DX station
C	To handle the receiving and sending of confirmation cards for a DX station
D	To relay calls to and from a DX station

11. - E2D02

Which of the following is a good technique for making meteor scatter contacts?

Select	Answer
A	Short transmissions with rapidly repeated call signs and signal reports
B	All these choices are correct
C	15-second timed transmission sequences with stations alternating based on location
D	Use of special digital modes

12. - E2E06

What is the most common data rate used for HF packet?

Select	Answer
A	48 baud
B	1200 baud
C	300 baud
D	110 baud

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	2000 miles, if the moon is at apogee
C	5000 miles, if the moon is at perigee
D	12,000 miles, if the moon is visible by both stations

14. - E3B06

Which of the following amateur bands most frequently provides long-path propagation?

Select	Answer
A	20 meters
B	10 meters
C	6 meters
D	80 meters

15. - E3C07

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

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

16. - E4A04

How is the compensation of an oscilloscope probe typically adjusted?

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

17. - E4B07

What do the subscripts of S parameters represent?

Select	Answer
A	The relative time between measurements
B	Relative quality of the data
C	Frequency order of the measurements
D	The port or ports at which measurements are made

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 can combine with strong signals on nearby frequencies to generate interference
C	It decreases receiver third-order intercept point
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 of two signals in the band of interest are also likely to be within the band
B	Odd-order intermodulation produces three products for every input signal within the band of interest
C	Odd-order products overload the IF filters
D	Odd-order products are an indication of poor image rejection

20. - E4E08

What current flows equally on all conductors of an unshielded multi-conductor cable?

Select	Answer
A	Return current
B	Differential-mode current
C	Reactive current only
D	Common-mode current

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	436.6 kHz
B	15.7 kHz
C	218.3 kHz
D	31.4 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	76 degrees with the voltage lagging the current
B	14 degrees with the voltage lagging the current
C	76 degrees with the voltage leading the current
D	14 degrees with the voltage leading the current

23. - E5C11

Which point in Figure E5-1 best represents the impedance of a series circuit consisting of a 300-ohm resistor and an 18-microhenry inductor at 3.505 MHz?

Select	Answer
A	Point 3
B	Point 8
C	Point 7
D	Point 1

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	600 watts
B	1000 watts
C	1600 watts
D	200 watts

25. - E6A01

In what application is gallium arsenide used as a semiconductor material?

Select	Answer
A	In very low-frequency RF circuits
B	In microwave circuits
C	In high-current rectifier circuits
D	In high-power audio circuits

26. - E6B10

In Figure E6-2, what is the schematic symbol for a light-emitting diode?

Select	Answer
A	6
B	5
C	7
D	1

27. - E6C04

Which of the following is an advantage of BiCMOS logic?

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

28. - E6D12

What is inductor saturation?

Select	Answer
A	The inductor's voltage rating is exceeded causing a flashover
B	Adjacent inductors become over-coupled
C	The inductor windings are over-coupled
D	The ability of the inductor's core to store magnetic energy has been exceeded

29. - E6E06

What characteristics of the MMIC make it a popular choice for VHF through microwave circuits?

Select	Answer
A	Controlled gain, low noise figure, and constant input and output impedance over the specified frequency range
B	The ability to retrieve information from a single signal even in the presence of other strong signals
C	Plate current that is controlled by a control grid
D	Nearly infinite gain, very high input impedance, and very low output impedance

30. - E6F06

Which of these materials is most commonly used to create photoconductive devices?

Select	Answer
A	A heavy metal
B	A liquid semiconductor
C	A crystalline semiconductor
D	An ordinary metal

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. - E7B05

What can be done to prevent unwanted oscillations in an RF power amplifier?

Select	Answer
A	Tune both the input and output for maximum power
B	Use a phase inverter in the output filter
C	Tune the stage for maximum SWR
D	Install parasitic suppressors and/or neutralize the stage

33. - E7C11

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

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

34. - E7D03

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

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

35. - E7E06

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

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

36. - E7F14

Which of the following would allow a digital signal processing filter to create a sharper filter response?

Select	Answer
A	Complex phasor representations
B	Higher data rate
C	Double-precision math routines
D	More taps

37. - E7G12

What is an operational amplifier?

Select	Answer
A	A digital audio amplifier whose characteristics are determined by components external to the amplifier
B	A RF amplifier used in the UHF and microwave regions
C	A high-gain, direct-coupled differential amplifier with very high input impedance and very low output impedance
D	An amplifier used to increase the average output of frequency modulated amateur signals to the legal limit

38. - E7H01

What are three oscillator circuits used in amateur radio equipment?

Select	Answer
A	Pierce, Fenner and Beane
B	Taft, Pierce and negative feedback
C	Taft, Hartley and Pierce
D	Colpitts, Hartley and Pierce

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 sawtooth wave
B	A square wave
C	A cosine wave
D	A sine wave

40. - E8B11

What is digital time division multiplexing?

Select	Answer
A	Two or more data streams share the same channel by transmitting time of transmission as the sub-carrier
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 are assigned to discrete sub-carriers on an FM transmitter

41. - E8C08

How does ARQ accomplish error correction?

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

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

43. - E9A06

What is the effective radiated power relative to a dipole of a repeater station with 200 watts transmitter power output, 4 dB feed line loss, 3.2 dB duplexer loss, 0.8 dB circulator loss, and 10 dBd antenna gain?

Select	Answer
A	126 watts
B	317 watts
C	300 watts
D	2000 watts

44. - E9B10

What is the principle of a Method of Moments analysis?

Select	Answer
A	A wire is modeled as a single sine-wave voltage source
B	A wire is modeled as a single sine-wave current generator
C	A wire is modeled as a series of segments, each having a distinct value of voltage across it
D	A wire is modeled as a series of segments, each having a uniform value of current

45. - E9C08

What is a folded dipole antenna?

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

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 lower the Q
C	To increase the SWR bandwidth
D	To cancel capacitive reactance

47. - E9E07

What parameter describes the interactions at the load end of a mismatched transmission line?

Select	Answer
A	Velocity factor
B	Characteristic impedance
C	Reflection coefficient
D	Dielectric constant

48. - E9F01

What is the velocity factor of a transmission line?

Select	Answer
A	The index of shielding for coaxial cable
B	The velocity of the wave in the transmission line multiplied by the velocity of light in a vacuum
C	The ratio of the characteristic impedance of the line to the terminating impedance
D	The velocity of the wave in the transmission line divided by the velocity of light in a vacuum

49. - E9G04

What are the two families of circles and arcs that make up a Smith chart?

Select	Answer
A	Resistance and reactance
B	Resistance and voltage
C	Reactance and voltage
D	Voltage and impedance

50. - E9H01

When constructing a Beverage antenna, which of the following factors should be included in the design to achieve good performance at the desired frequency?

Select	Answer
A	It should be configured as a four-sided loop
B	It must be mounted more than 1 wavelength above ground
C	It should be one or more wavelengths long
D	Its overall length must not exceed 1/4 wavelength

Figure E5-1

Figure E6-2