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

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1. - E0A11

Which of the following injuries can result from using high-power UHF or microwave transmitters?

Select	Answer
A	Ingestion of ozone gas from the cooling system
B	Hearing loss caused by high voltage corona discharge
C	Localized heating of the body from RF exposure in excess of the MPE limits
D	Blood clotting from the intense magnetic field

2. - E1A09

What action or actions should you take if your digital message forwarding station inadvertently forwards a communication that violates FCC rules?

Select	Answer
A	Notify the originating station that the communication does not comply with FCC rules
B	All these choices are correct
C	Notify the nearest FCC Field Engineers office
D	Discontinue forwarding the communication as soon as you become aware of it

3. - E1B05

What is the National Radio Quiet Zone?

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

4. - E1C04

What is meant by IARP?

Select	Answer
A	The internal amateur radio practices policy of the FCC
B	An international amateur radio permit that allows U.S. amateurs to operate in certain countries of the Americas
C	A forecast of intermittent aurora radio propagation
D	An indication of increased antenna reflected power

5. - E1D07

Which HF amateur bands have frequencies authorized for space stations?

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

6. - E1E02

Who does Part 97 task with maintaining the pools of questions for all U.S. amateur license examinations?

Select	Answer
A	The VECs
B	The FCC
C	The ARRL
D	The VEs

7. - E1F11

Which of the following best describes one of the standards that must be met by an external RF power amplifier if it is to qualify for a grant of FCC certification?

Select	Answer
A	It must exhibit a gain of 0 dB or less over its full output range
B	It must satisfy the FCC's spurious emission standards when operated at the lesser of 1500 watts or its full output power
C	It must produce full legal output when driven by not more than 5 watts of mean RF input power
D	It must be capable of external RF switching between its input and output networks

8. - E2A10

What type of satellite appears to stay in one position in the sky?

Select	Answer
A	HEO
B	Geomagnetic
C	LEO
D	Geostationary

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

10. - E2C05

What is the function of a DX QSL Manager?

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

11. - E2D08

What type of packet frame is used to transmit APRS beacon data?

Select	Answer
A	Connect
B	Unnumbered Information
C	Disconnect
D	Acknowledgement

12. - E2E07

Which of the following is a possible reason that attempts to initiate contact with a digital station on a clear frequency are unsuccessful?

Select	Answer
A	The protocol version you are using is not supported by the digital station
B	All these choices are correct
C	Your transmit frequency is incorrect
D	Another station you are unable to hear is using the frequency

13. - E3A03

When scheduling EME contacts, which of these conditions will generally result in the least path loss?

Select	Answer
A	When the moon is full
B	When the moon is at apogee
C	When the MUF is above 30 MHz
D	When the moon is at perigee

14. - E3B05

Which amateur bands typically support long-path propagation?

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

15. - E3C05

What orientation of Bz (B sub z) increases the likelihood that incoming particles from the sun will cause disturbed conditions?

Select	Answer
A	Westward
B	Southward
C	Northward
D	Eastward

16. - E4A08

Which of the following measures SWR?

Select	Answer
A	A spectrum analyzer
B	A Q meter
C	An ohmmeter
D	An antenna analyzer

17. - E4B06

How much power is being absorbed by the load when a directional power meter connected between a transmitter and a terminating load reads 100 watts forward power and 25 watts reflected power?

Select	Answer
A	75 watts
B	125 watts
C	25 watts
D	100 watts

18. - E4C07

What does the MDS of a receiver represent?

Select	Answer
A	The meter display sensitivity
B	The multiplex distortion stability
C	The minimum discernible signal
D	The maximum detectable spectrum

19. - E4D06

What is the term for spurious signals generated by the combination of two or more signals in a non-linear device or circuit?

Select	Answer
A	Amplifier desensitization
B	Neutralization
C	Intermodulation
D	Adjacent channel interference

20. - E4E01

What problem can occur when using an automatic notch filter (ANF) to remove interfering carriers while receiving CW signals?

Select	Answer
A	Any nearby signal passing through the DSP system will overwhelm the desired signal
B	Removal of the CW signal as well as the interfering carrier
C	Received CW signals will appear to be modulated at the DSP clock frequency
D	Ringing in the DSP filter will completely remove the spaces between the CW characters

21. - E5A14

What is the resonant frequency of an RLC circuit if R is 22 ohms, L is 50 microhenries and C is 40 picofarads?

Select	Answer
A	44.72 MHz
B	22.36 MHz
C	1.78 MHz
D	3.56 MHz

22. - E5B06

What is susceptance?

Select	Answer
A	A measure of the efficiency of a transformer
B	The magnetic impedance of a circuit
C	The ratio of magnetic field to electric field
D	The imaginary part of admittance

23. - E5C08

What coordinate system is often used to display the phase angle of a circuit containing resistance, inductive and/or capacitive reactance?

Select	Answer
A	Maidenhead grid
B	Faraday grid
C	Polar coordinates
D	Elliptical coordinates

24. - E5D01

What is the result of skin effect?

Select	Answer
A	Thermal effects on the surface of the conductor increase the impedance
B	As frequency increases, RF current flows in a thinner layer of the conductor, closer to the surface
C	As frequency decreases, RF current flows in a thinner layer of the conductor, closer to the surface
D	Thermal effects on the surface of the conductor decrease the impedance

25. - E6A02

Which of the following semiconductor materials contains excess free electrons?

Select	Answer
A	P-type
B	Bipolar
C	Insulated gate
D	N-type

26. - E6B05

What characteristic of a PIN diode makes it useful as an RF switch?

Select	Answer
A	Reverse bias controls its forward voltage drop
B	Extremely high reverse breakdown voltage
C	Low junction capacitance
D	Ability to dissipate large amounts of power

27. - E6C11

In Figure E6-3, what is the schematic symbol for the NOT operation (inverter)?

Select	Answer
A	5
B	6
C	4
D	2

28. - E6D05

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

Select	Answer
A	Ferrite toroids generally have lower initial permeability
B	Ferrite toroids are easier to use with surface mount technology
C	Ferrite toroids generally require fewer turns to produce a given inductance value
D	Ferrite toroids generally have better temperature stability

29. - E6E10

What advantage does surface-mount technology offer at RF compared to using through-hole components?

Select	Answer
A	All these choices are correct
B	Smaller circuit area
C	Shorter circuit-board traces
D	Components have less parasitic inductance and capacitance

30. - E6F11

What is the approximate open-circuit voltage produced by a fully illuminated silicon photovoltaic cell?

Select	Answer
A	1.5 V
B	0.1 V
C	0.5 V
D	12 V

31. - E7A06

What is a characteristic of a monostable multivibrator?

Select	Answer
A	It produces a continuous square wave oscillating between 1 and 0
B	It switches momentarily to the opposite binary state and then returns to its original state after a set time
C	It maintains a constant output voltage, regardless of variations in the input voltage
D	It stores one bit of data in either a 0 or 1 state

32. - E7B09

Which of the following describes how the loading and tuning capacitors are to be adjusted when tuning a vacuum tube RF power amplifier that employs a Pi-network output circuit?

Select	Answer
A	The loading capacitor is set to maximum capacitance and the tuning capacitor is adjusted for minimum allowable plate current
B	The loading capacitor is adjusted to minimum plate current while alternately adjusting the tuning capacitor for maximum allowable plate current
C	The tuning capacitor is set to maximum capacitance and the loading capacitor is adjusted for minimum plate permissible current
D	The tuning capacitor is adjusted for minimum plate current, and the loading capacitor is adjusted for maximum permissible plate current

33. - E7C10

Which of the following filters would be the best choice for use in a 2 meter band repeater duplexer?

Select	Answer
A	A crystal filter
B	A DSP filter
C	An L-C filter
D	A cavity filter

34. - E7D06

What is the purpose of Q1 in the circuit shown in Figure E7-2?

Select	Answer
A	It provides a constant load for the voltage source
B	It provides D1 with current
C	It provides negative feedback to improve regulation
D	It controls the current supplied to the load

35. - E7E06

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

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

36. - E7F01

What is meant by direct digital conversion as applied to software defined radios?

Select	Answer
A	A switching mixer is used to generate I and Q signals directly from the RF input
B	Incoming RF is digitized by an analog-to-digital converter without being mixed with a local oscillator signal
C	Incoming RF is converted to a control voltage for a voltage controlled oscillator
D	Software is converted from source code to object code during operation of the receiver

37. - E7G02

What is ringing in a filter?

Select	Answer
A	An echo caused by a long time delay
B	Undesired oscillations added to the desired signal
C	Partial cancellation of the signal over a range of frequencies
D	A reduction in high frequency response

38. - E7H05

How is positive feedback supplied in a Pierce oscillator?

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

39. - E8A02

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

Select	Answer
A	Level shifting
B	Successive approximation
C	Harmonic regeneration
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 data streams share the same channel by transmitting time of transmission as the sub-carrier
C	Two or more signals are arranged to share discrete time slots of a data transmission
D	Two or more signals are quadrature modulated to increase bandwidth efficiency

41. - E8C08

How does ARQ accomplish error correction?

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

42. - E8D09

What is considered an acceptable maximum IMD level for an idling PSK signal?

Select	Answer
A	-30 dB
B	+15 dB
C	-20 dB
D	+10 dB

43. - E9A01

What is an isotropic antenna?

Select	Answer
A	A grounded antenna used to measure Earth conductivity
B	A theoretical, omnidirectional antenna used as a reference for antenna gain
C	A spacecraft antenna used to direct signals toward Earth
D	A horizontally polarized antenna used to compare Yagi antennas

44. - E9B03

In the antenna radiation pattern shown in Figure E9-1, what is the front-to-side ratio?

Select	Answer
A	18 dB
B	24 dB
C	14 dB
D	12 dB

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

46. - E9D07

What is an advantage of using top loading in a shortened HF vertical antenna?

Select	Answer
A	Higher losses
B	Lower Q
C	Improved radiation efficiency
D	Greater structural strength

47. - E9E11

What is the primary purpose of phasing lines when used with an antenna having multiple driven elements?

Select	Answer
A	It ensures that each driven element operates in concert with the others to create the desired antenna pattern
B	It prevents reflected power from traveling back down the feed line and causing harmonic radiation from the transmitter
C	It allows single-band antennas to operate on other bands
D	It creates a low-angle radiation pattern

48. - E9F02

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

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

49. - E9G09

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

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

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

Figure E6-3

Figure E7-2

Figure E9-1