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

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1. - E0A05

What is one of the potential hazards of operating in the amateur radio microwave bands?

Select	Answer
A	The high gain antennas commonly used can result in high exposure levels
B	Microwaves often travel long distances by ionospheric reflection
C	Microwaves are ionizing radiation
D	The extremely high frequency energy can damage the joints of antenna structures

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

3. - E1B03

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

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

4. - E1C07

At what level below a signal's mean power level is its bandwidth determined according to FCC rules?

Select	Answer
A	26 dB
B	23 dB
C	6 dB
D	3 dB

5. - E1D07

Which HF amateur bands have frequencies authorized for space stations?

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

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

7. - E1F07

When may an amateur station send a message to a business?

Select	Answer
A	When neither the amateur nor his or her employer has a pecuniary interest in the communications
B	When the total money involved does not exceed $25
C	When the control operator is employed by the FCC or another government agency
D	When transmitting international third-party communications

8. - E2A09

What do the terms L band and S band specify regarding satellite communications?

Select	Answer
A	The 2 meter and 70 centimeter bands
B	Which sideband to use
C	FM and Digital Store-and-Forward systems
D	The 23 centimeter and 13 centimeter bands

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

10. - E2C06

During a VHF/UHF contest, in which band segment would you expect to find the highest level of SSB or CW activity?

Select	Answer
A	In the middle of the band, usually 25 kHz above the national calling frequency
B	In the weak signal segment of the band, with most of the activity near the calling frequency
C	At the top of each band, usually in a segment reserved for contests
D	In the middle of each band, usually on the national calling frequency

11. - E2D09

What type of modulation is used for JT65 contacts?

Select	Answer
A	RTTY
B	IEEE 802.11
C	PSK
D	Multi-tone AFSK

12. - E2E10

Which of these digital modes has the narrowest bandwidth?

Select	Answer
A	MFSK16
B	300-baud packet
C	PSK31
D	170 Hz shift, 45-baud RTTY

13. - E3A09

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

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

14. - E3B02

What is the approximate maximum range for signals using transequatorial propagation?

Select	Answer
A	1000 miles
B	7500 miles
C	2500 miles
D	5000 miles

15. - E3C02

What is indicated by a rising A or K index?

Select	Answer
A	Increasing disruption of the geomagnetic field
B	Decreasing disruption of the geomagnetic field
C	An increase in the critical frequency
D	Higher levels of solar UV radiation

16. - E4A10

Which of the following displays multiple digital signal states simultaneously?

Select	Answer
A	Bit error rate tester
B	Modulation monitor
C	Logic analyzer
D	Network analyzer

17. - E4B05

What three test loads are used to calibrate an RF vector network analyzer?

Select	Answer
A	Short circuit, open circuit, and resonant circuit
B	50 ohms, 75 ohms, and 90 ohms
C	50 ohms through 1/8 wavelength, 1/4 wavelength, and 1/2 wavelength of coaxial cable
D	Short circuit, open circuit, and 50 ohms

18. - E4C04

What is the noise figure of a receiver?

Select	Answer
A	The ratio of the noise bandwidth in hertz to the theoretical bandwidth of a resistive network
B	The ratio of thermal noise to atmospheric noise
C	The ratio in dB of the noise generated by the receiver to the theoretical minimum noise
D	The ratio of atmospheric noise to phase noise

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

21. - E5A01

What can cause the voltage across reactances in a series RLC circuit to be higher than the voltage applied to the entire circuit?

Select	Answer
A	Resistance
B	Capacitance
C	Resonance
D	Conductance

22. - E5B04

What is the time constant of a circuit having two 220-microfarad capacitors and two 1-megohm resistors, all in parallel?

Select	Answer
A	55 seconds
B	440 seconds
C	220 seconds
D	110 seconds

23. - E5C09

When using rectangular coordinates to graph the impedance of a circuit, what do the axes represent?

Select	Answer
A	The X axis represents the phase angle and the Y axis represents the magnitude
B	The X axis represents the reactive component and the Y axis represents the resistive component
C	The X axis represents the resistive component and the Y axis represents the reactive component
D	The X axis represents the magnitude and the Y axis represents the phase angle

24. - E5D03

What is microstrip?

Select	Answer
A	Lightweight transmission line made of common zip cord
B	Precision printed circuit conductors above a ground plane that provide constant impedance interconnects at microwave frequencies
C	Short lengths of coax mounted on printed circuit boards to minimize time delay between microwave circuits
D	Miniature coax used for low power applications

25. - E6A03

Why does a PN-junction diode not conduct current when reverse biased?

Select	Answer
A	Only P-type semiconductor material can conduct current
B	Holes in P-type material and electrons in the N-type material are separated by the applied voltage, widening the depletion region
C	Only N-type semiconductor material can conduct current
D	Excess holes in P-type material combine with the electrons in N-type material, converting the entire diode into an insulator

26. - E6B08

Which of the following is a Schottky barrier diode?

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

27. - E6C05

What is an advantage of CMOS logic devices over TTL devices?

Select	Answer
A	Differential output capability
B	Lower power consumption
C	Lower distortion
D	Immune to damage from static discharge

28. - E6D06

What core material property determines the inductance of an inductor?

Select	Answer
A	Resistance
B	Permeability
C	Reactivity
D	Thermal impedance

29. - E6E10

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

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

30. - E6F03

What is the most common configuration of an optoisolator or optocoupler?

Select	Answer
A	A lens and a photomultiplier
B	An LED and a phototransistor
C	A frequency modulated helium-neon laser
D	An amplitude modulated helium-neon laser

31. - E7A11

What type of logic defines "1" as a high voltage?

Select	Answer
A	Negative logic
B	Positive Logic
C	Reverse Logic
D	Assertive Logic

32. - E7B15

What is one way to prevent thermal runaway in a bipolar transistor amplifier?

Select	Answer
A	All these choices are correct
B	Select transistors with high beta
C	Neutralization
D	Use a resistor in series with the emitter

33. - E7C04

How does an impedance-matching circuit transform a complex impedance to a resistive impedance?

Select	Answer
A	Reactive currents are dissipated in matched resistances
B	It introduces transconductance to cancel the reactive part of impedance
C	It cancels the reactive part of the impedance and changes the resistive part to a desired value
D	It introduces negative resistance to cancel the resistive part of impedance

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 varactor diode
D	A tunnel diode

35. - E7E05

What circuit is added to an FM transmitter to boost the higher audio frequencies?

Select	Answer
A	A heterodyne enhancer
B	A heterodyne suppressor
C	A pre-emphasis network
D	A de-emphasis network

36. - E7F13

What is the function of taps in a digital signal processing filter?

Select	Answer
A	Provide incremental signal delays for filter algorithms
B	To reduce excess signal pressure levels
C	Select the point at which baseband signals are generated
D	Provide access for debugging software

37. - E7G02

What is ringing in a filter?

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

38. - E7H04

How is positive feedback supplied in a Colpitts oscillator?

Select	Answer
A	Through a tapped coil
B	Through a capacitive divider
C	Through a neutralizing capacitor
D	Through link coupling

39. - E8A05

What of the following instruments would be the most accurate for measuring the RMS voltage of a complex waveform?

Select	Answer
A	A grid dip meter
B	An absorption wave meter
C	A true-RMS calculating meter
D	A D'Arsonval meter

40. - E8B06

What is the deviation ratio of an FM-phone signal having a maximum frequency swing of plus or minus 7.5 kHz when the maximum modulation frequency is 3.5 kHz?

Select	Answer
A	2.14
B	0.214
C	0.47
D	47

41. - E8C02

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

Select	Answer
A	The duration of each bit in a message sent over the air
B	The rate at which the waveform changes to convey information
C	The number of characters carried per second by the station-to-station link
D	The number of control characters in a message packet

42. - E8D01

Why are received spread spectrum signals resistant to interference?

Select	Answer
A	Signals not using the spread spectrum algorithm are suppressed in the receiver
B	If interference is detected by the receiver it will signal the transmitter to change frequencies
C	The receiver is always equipped with a digital blanker
D	The high power used by a spread spectrum transmitter keeps its signal from being easily overpowered

43. - E9A03

What is the radiation resistance of an antenna?

Select	Answer
A	The value of a resistance that would dissipate the same amount of power as that radiated from an antenna
B	The specific impedance of the antenna
C	The combined losses of the antenna elements and feed line
D	The resistance in the atmosphere that an antenna must overcome to be able to radiate a signal

44. - E9B04

What is the front-to-back ratio of the radiation pattern shown in Figure E92?

Select	Answer
A	38 dB
B	28 dB
C	3 dB
D	15 dB

45. - E9C01

What is the radiation pattern of two 1/4-wavelength vertical antennas spaced 1/2-wavelength apart and fed 180 degrees out of phase?

Select	Answer
A	Omni-directional
B	A figure-8 oriented along the axis of the array
C	Cardioid
D	A figure-8 broadside to 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. - E9E09

Which of the following is used to shunt-feed a grounded tower at its base?

Select	Answer
A	All these choices are correct
B	Hairpin match
C	Double-bazooka match
D	Gamma match

48. - E9F02

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

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

49. - E9G04

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

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

50. - E9H06

What is the triangulation method of direction finding?

Select	Answer
A	The geometric angles of sky waves from the source are used to determine its position
B	Antenna headings from several different receiving locations are used to locate the signal source
C	A fixed receiving station plots three headings to the signal source
D	A fixed receiving station uses three different antennas to plot the location of the signal source