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	Zinc oxide
B	Uranium Hexafluoride
C	Beryllium Oxide
D	Mica

2. - E1A01

Which of the following carrier frequencies is illegal for LSB AFSK emissions on the 17 meter band RTTY and data segment of 18.068 to 18.110 MHz?

Select	Answer
A	18.110 MHz
B	18.068 MHz
C	18.100 MHz
D	18.107 MHz

3. - E1B11

What does PRB-1 require of regulations affecting amateur radio?

Select	Answer
A	Reasonable accommodations of amateur radio must be made
B	Amateur radio operations must be permitted in any private residence
C	Use of wireless devices in a vehicle is exempt from regulation
D	No limitations may be placed on antenna size or placement

4. - E1C06

Which of the following is required in order to operate in accordance with CEPT rules in foreign countries where permitted?

Select	Answer
A	You must identify in the official language of the country in which you are operating
B	You must bring a copy of FCC Public Notice DA 16-1048
C	You must append "/CEPT" to your call sign
D	The U.S. embassy must approve of your operation

5. - E1D12

Which of the following amateur stations may transmit one-way communications?

Select	Answer
A	All these choices are correct
B	A space station, beacon station, or telecommand station
C	A local repeater or linked repeater station
D	A message forwarding station or automatically controlled digital station

6. - E1E06

Who is responsible for the proper conduct and necessary supervision during an amateur operator license examination session?

Select	Answer
A	Each administering VE
B	The VE session manager
C	The FCC
D	The VEC coordinating the session

7. - E1F10

Who may be the control operator of an auxiliary station?

Select	Answer
A	Any licensed amateur operator
B	Only Amateur Extra Class operators
C	Only General, Advanced or Amateur Extra Class operators
D	Only Technician, General, Advanced or Amateur Extra Class operators

8. - E2A04

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

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

9. - E2B04

How is color information sent in analog SSTV?

Select	Answer
A	Color lines are sent sequentially
B	Color is sent in a color burst at the end of each line
C	Color is amplitude modulated on the frequency modulated intensity signal
D	Color information is sent on a 2.8 kHz subcarrier

10. - E2C09

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

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

11. - E2D05

What is one advantage of the JT65 mode?

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

12. - E2E06

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

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

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

14. - E3B09

At what time of year is sporadic E propagation most likely to occur?

Select	Answer
A	Around the solstices, especially the summer solstice
B	Around the equinoxes, especially the spring equinox
C	Around the solstices, especially the winter solstice
D	Around the equinoxes, especially the fall equinox

15. - E3C04

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

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

16. - E4A11

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

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

17. - E4B04

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

Select	Answer
A	S22
B	S12
C	S21
D	S11

18. - E4C02

Which of the following receiver circuits can be effective in eliminating interference from strong out-of-band signals?

Select	Answer
A	A narrow IF filter
B	A notch filter
C	A front-end filter or pre-selector
D	A properly adjusted product detector

19. - E4D08

What causes intermodulation in an electronic circuit?

Select	Answer
A	Positive feedback
B	Too little gain
C	Lack of neutralization
D	Nonlinear circuits or devices

20. - E4E08

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

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

21. - E5A13

What is an effect of increasing Q in a series resonant circuit?

Select	Answer
A	Phase shift can become uncontrolled
B	Parasitic effects are minimized
C	Fewer components are needed for the same performance
D	Internal voltages increase

22. - E5B01

What is the term for the time required for the capacitor in an RC circuit to be charged to 63.2% of the applied voltage or to discharge to 36.8% of its initial voltage?

Select	Answer
A	One time constant
B	An exponential rate of one
C	A time factor of one
D	One exponential period

23. - E5C06

What does the impedance 50-j25 represent?

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

24. - E5D10

How can the true power be determined in an AC circuit where the voltage and current are out of phase?

Select	Answer
A	By dividing the apparent power by the power factor
B	By multiplying the reactive power by the power factor
C	By multiplying the apparent power by the power factor
D	By dividing the reactive power by the power factor

25. - E6A07

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

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

26. - E6B01

What is the most useful characteristic of a Zener diode?

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

27. - E6C09

What is a Programmable Logic Device (PLD)?

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

28. - E6D07

What is current in the primary winding of a transformer called if no load is attached to the secondary?

Select	Answer
A	Excitation current
B	Stabilizing current
C	Magnetizing current
D	Direct current

29. - E6E10

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

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

30. - E6F11

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

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

31. - E7A04

How many flip-flops are required to divide a signal frequency by 4?

Select	Answer
A	2
B	8
C	4
D	1

32. - E7B17

Why are odd-order rather than even-order intermodulation distortion products of concern in linear power amplifiers?

Select	Answer
A	Because they maintain the sidebands, thus causing multiple duplicate signals
B	Because they are relatively far in frequency from the desired signal
C	Because they are relatively close in frequency to the desired signal
D	Because they invert the sidebands causing distortion

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

34. - E7D10

What is the primary reason that a high-frequency switching type high-voltage power supply can be both less expensive and lighter in weight than a conventional power supply?

Select	Answer
A	It uses a diode bridge rectifier for increased output
B	The high frequency inverter design uses much smaller transformers and filter components for an equivalent power output
C	It uses a large power factor compensation capacitor to recover power from the unused portion of the AC cycle
D	The inverter design does not require any output filtering

35. - E7E02

What is the function of a reactance modulator?

Select	Answer
A	To produce PM or FM signals by using an electrically variable inductance or capacitance
B	To produce PM signals by using an electrically variable resistance
C	To produce AM signals by using an electrically variable inductance or capacitance
D	To produce AM signals by using an electrically variable resistance

36. - E7F10

What aspect of receiver analog-to-digital conversion determines the maximum receive bandwidth of a Direct Digital Conversion SDR?

Select	Answer
A	Processor latency
B	Sample rate
C	Sample width in bits
D	Sample clock phase noise

37. - E7G08

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

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

38. - E7H11

What are the major spectral impurity components of direct digital synthesizers?

Select	Answer
A	Digital conversion noise
B	Spurious signals at discrete frequencies
C	Nyquist limit noise
D	Broadband noise

39. - E8A10

What is the purpose of a low-pass filter used in conjunction with a digital-to-analog converter?

Select	Answer
A	Improve accuracy by removing out-of-sequence codes from the input
B	Remove harmonics from the output caused by the discrete analog levels generated
C	Lower the input bandwidth to increase the effective resolution
D	All these choices are correct

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 data streams are assigned to discrete sub-carriers on an FM transmitter
C	Two or more signals are quadrature modulated to increase bandwidth efficiency
D	Two or more signals are arranged to share discrete time slots of a data transmission

41. - E8C02

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

Select	Answer
A	The number of control characters in a message packet
B	The duration of each bit in a message sent over the air
C	The number of characters carried per second by the station-to-station link
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 contains fewer information bits per character than any other code
B	It is possible to transmit both upper and lower case text
C	It includes built-in error correction features
D	It uses one character as a shift code to send numeric and special characters

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 horizontally polarized antenna used to compare Yagi antennas
D	A spacecraft antenna used to direct signals toward Earth

44. - E9B10

What is the principle of a Method of Moments analysis?

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

45. - E9C14

How does the performance of a horizontally polarized antenna mounted on the side of a hill compare with the same antenna mounted on flat ground?

Select	Answer
A	The main lobe takeoff angle decreases in the downhill direction
B	The horizontal beamwidth increases in the uphill direction
C	The main lobe takeoff angle increases in the downhill direction
D	The horizontal beamwidth decreases in the downhill direction

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 90 degrees out of phase to form an array with the respective elements in parallel planes
C	Stack two Yagis fed in 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. - E9E11

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

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

48. - E9F03

Why is the physical length of a coaxial cable transmission line shorter than its electrical length?

Select	Answer
A	The surge impedance is higher in a parallel feed line
B	Electrical signals move more slowly in a coaxial cable than in air
C	Skin effect is less pronounced in the coaxial cable
D	The characteristic impedance is higher in a parallel feed line

49. - E9G08

What is the process of normalization with regard to a Smith chart?

Select	Answer
A	Reassigning reactance values with regard to the resistance axis
B	Reassigning impedance values with regard to the prime center
C	Reassigning prime center with regard to the reactance axis
D	Reassigning resistance values with regard to the reactance axis

50. - E9H02

Which is generally true for low band (160 meter and 80 meter) receiving antennas?

Select	Answer
A	Atmospheric noise is so high that gain over a dipole is not important
B	All these choices are correct
C	Low loss coax transmission line is essential for good performance
D	They must be erected at least 1/2 wavelength above the ground to attain good directivity