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

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1. - E0A04

When evaluating a site with multiple transmitters operating at the same time, the operators and licensees of which transmitters are responsible for mitigating over-exposure situations?

Select	Answer
A	Only commercial transmitters
B	Only the most powerful transmitter
C	Each transmitter that produces 5 percent or more of its MPE limit in areas where the total MPE limit is exceeded.
D	Each transmitter operating with a duty cycle greater than 50 percent

2. - E1A07

What is the maximum power permitted on the 2200 meter band?

Select	Answer
A	1 watt EIRP (Equivalent isotropic radiated power)
B	50 watts PEP
C	100 watts PEP
D	5 watts EIRP (Equivalent isotropic radiated power)

3. - E1B05

What is the National Radio Quiet Zone?

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

4. - E1C12

On what portion of the 630 meter band are phone emissions permitted?

Select	Answer
A	None
B	The entire band
C	Only the bottom 3 kHz
D	Only the top 3 kHz

5. - E1D02

Which of the following may transmit special codes intended to obscure the meaning of messages?

Select	Answer
A	Binary control characters
B	Telecommand signals from a space telecommand station
C	Auxiliary relay links carrying repeater audio
D	Data containing personal information

6. - E1E03

What is a Volunteer Examiner Coordinator?

Select	Answer
A	A person who has volunteered to prepare amateur operator license examinations
B	A person who has volunteered to administer amateur operator license examinations
C	The person who has entered into an agreement with the FCC to be the VE session manager
D	An organization that has entered into an agreement with the FCC to coordinate, prepare, and administer amateur operator license examinations

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

8. - E2A05

What do the letters in a satellite's mode designator specify?

Select	Answer
A	The location of the ground control station
B	The uplink and downlink frequency ranges
C	The polarization of uplink and downlink signals
D	Power limits for uplink and downlink transmissions

9. - E2B03

How is an interlaced scanning pattern generated in a fast-scan (NTSC) television system?

Select	Answer
A	By scanning odd numbered lines in one field and even numbered lines in the next
B	By scanning lines from left to right in one field and right to left in the next
C	By scanning two fields simultaneously
D	By scanning each field from bottom to top

10. - E2C01

What indicator is required to be used by U.S.-licensed operators when operating a station via remote control and the remote transmitter is located in the U.S.?

Select	Answer
A	/ followed by the USPS two-letter abbreviation for the state in which the remote station is located
B	/R# where # is the district of the remote station
C	/ followed by the ARRL Section of the remote station
D	No additional indicator is required

11. - E2D01

Which of the following digital modes is designed for meteor scatter communications?

Select	Answer
A	Hellschreiber
B	WSPR
C	APRS
D	MSK144

12. - E2E01

Which of the following types of modulation is common for data emissions below 30 MHz?

Select	Answer
A	Spread spectrum
B	DTMF tones modulating an FM signal
C	Pulse modulation
D	FSK

13. - E3A12

What is the cause of auroral activity?

Select	Answer
A	The interaction in the F2 layer between the solar wind and the Van Allen belt
B	An extreme low-pressure area in the polar regions
C	Meteor showers concentrated in the extreme northern and southern latitudes
D	The interaction in the E layer of charged particles from the Sun with the Earth's magnetic field

14. - E3B09

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

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

15. - E3C02

What is indicated by a rising A or K index?

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

16. - E4A02

Which of the following parameters does a spectrum analyzer display on the vertical and horizontal axes?

Select	Answer
A	RF amplitude and frequency
B	SWR and time
C	RF amplitude and time
D	SWR and frequency

17. - E4B04

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

Select	Answer
A	S21
B	S12
C	S22
D	S11

18. - E4C09

Which of the following choices is a good reason for selecting a high frequency for the design of the IF in a superheterodyne HF or VHF communications receiver?

Select	Answer
A	Improved receiver noise figure
B	Reduced drift
C	Fewer components in the receiver
D	Easier for front-end circuitry to eliminate image responses

19. - E4D04

Which of the following may reduce or eliminate intermodulation interference in a repeater caused by another transmitter operating in close proximity?

Select	Answer
A	Utilizing a Class D final amplifier
B	A band-pass filter in the feed line between the transmitter and receiver
C	A properly terminated circulator at the output of the repeater's transmitter
D	Utilizing a Class C final amplifier

20. - E4E10

What might be the cause of a loud roaring or buzzing AC line interference that comes and goes at intervals?

Select	Answer
A	All these choices are correct
B	A defective doorbell or doorbell transformer inside a nearby residence
C	A malfunctioning illuminated advertising display
D	Arcing contacts in a thermostatically controlled device

21. - E5A05

What is the result of increasing the Q of an impedance-matching circuit?

Select	Answer
A	Matching range is increased
B	It has no effect on impedance matching
C	Matching bandwidth is decreased
D	Matching bandwidth is increased

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 leading 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 4
B	Point 5
C	Point 6
D	Point 2

24. - E5D09

What happens to reactive power in an AC circuit that has both ideal inductors and ideal capacitors?

Select	Answer
A	It is dissipated as kinetic energy in the circuit
B	It is repeatedly exchanged between the associated magnetic and electric fields, but is not dissipated
C	It is dissipated in the formation of inductive and capacitive fields
D	It is dissipated as heat in the circuit

25. - E6A03

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

Select	Answer
A	Holes in P-type material and electrons in the N-type material are separated by the applied voltage, widening the depletion region
B	Only N-type semiconductor material can conduct current
C	Only P-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. - E6B01

What is the most useful characteristic of a Zener diode?

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

27. - E6C10

In Figure E6-3, what is the schematic symbol for a NOR gate?

Select	Answer
A	2
B	3
C	1
D	4

28. - E6D11

Which type of core material decreases inductance when inserted into a coil?

Select	Answer
A	Brass
B	Powdered iron
C	Ceramic
D	Ferrite

29. - E6E02

Which of the following device packages is a through-hole type?

Select	Answer
A	DIP
B	SOT
C	Ball grid array
D	PLCC

30. - E6F08

Why are optoisolators often used in conjunction with solid-state circuits when switching 120 VAC?

Select	Answer
A	Optoisolators provide impedance matching between the control circuit and power circuit
B	Optoisolators provide a very high degree of electrical isolation between a control circuit and the circuit being switched
C	Optoisolators provide a low impedance link between a control circuit and a power circuit
D	Optoisolators eliminate the effects of reflected light in the control circuit

31. - E7A05

Which of the following is a circuit that continuously alternates between two states without an external clock?

Select	Answer
A	T flip-flop
B	J-K flip-flop
C	Astable multivibrator
D	Monostable multivibrator

32. - E7B08

How can an RF power amplifier be neutralized?

Select	Answer
A	By feeding an in-phase component of the output back to the input
B	By reducing the driving power
C	By increasing the driving power
D	By feeding a 180-degree out-of-phase portion of the output back to the input

33. - E7C02

Which of the following is a property of a T-network with series capacitors and a parallel shunt inductor?

Select	Answer
A	It is a high-pass filter
B	It is a band-pass filter
C	It is a low-pass filter
D	It is a notch filter

34. - E7D14

What is the purpose of connecting equal-value resistors across power supply filter capacitors connected in series?

Select	Answer
A	All these choices are correct
B	Equalize the voltage across each capacitor
C	Provide a minimum load on the supply
D	Discharge the capacitors when voltage is removed

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. - E7F04

What is a common method of generating an SSB signal using digital signal processing?

Select	Answer
A	A frequency synthesizer removes the unwanted sidebands
B	Mixing products are converted to voltages and subtracted by adder circuits
C	Signals are combined in quadrature phase relationship
D	Varying quartz crystal characteristics emulated in digital form

37. - E7G11

What absolute voltage gain can be expected from the circuit in Figure E7-3 when R1 is 3300 ohms and RF is 47 kilohms?

Select	Answer
A	7
B	28
C	14
D	0.07

38. - E7H08

Which of the following components can be used to reduce thermal drift in crystal oscillators?

Select	Answer
A	Wirewound resistors
B	Non-inductive resistors
C	Toroidal inductors
D	NP0 capacitors

39. - E8A02

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

Select	Answer
A	Harmonic regeneration
B	Phase reversal
C	Level shifting
D	Successive approximation

40. - E8B08

What describes Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing?

Select	Answer
A	A bandwidth compression technique using Fourier transforms
B	A frequency modulation technique that uses non-harmonically related frequencies
C	A digital mode for narrow-band, slow-speed transmissions
D	A digital modulation technique using subcarriers at frequencies chosen to avoid intersymbol interference

41. - E8C05

What is the approximate bandwidth of a 13-WPM International Morse Code transmission?

Select	Answer
A	26 Hz
B	52 Hz
C	104 Hz
D	13 Hz

42. - E8D01

Why are received spread spectrum signals resistant to interference?

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

43. - E9A11

Which of the following factors determines ground losses for a ground-mounted vertical antenna operating in the 3 MHz to 30 MHz range?

Select	Answer
A	The standing wave ratio
B	Take-off angle
C	Distance from the transmitter
D	Soil conductivity

44. - E9B11

What is a disadvantage of decreasing the number of wire segments in an antenna model below 10 segments per half-wavelength?

Select	Answer
A	The computed feed point impedance may be incorrect
B	Ground conductivity will not be accurately modeled
C	The resulting design will favor radiation of harmonic energy
D	The antenna will become mechanically unstable

45. - E9C08

What is a folded dipole antenna?

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

46. - E9D05

What usually occurs if a Yagi antenna is designed solely for maximum forward gain?

Select	Answer
A	The front-to-back ratio increases
B	The SWR is reduced
C	The front-to-back ratio decreases
D	The frequency response is widened over the whole frequency band

47. - E9E10

Which of these choices is an effective way to match an antenna with a 100-ohm feed point impedance to a 50-ohm coaxial cable feed line?

Select	Answer
A	Connect a 1/2 wavelength shorted stub of 75-ohm cable in parallel with the 50-ohm cable where it attaches to the antenna
B	Connect a 1/4-wavelength open stub of 300-ohm twinlead in parallel with the coaxial feed line where it connects to the antenna
C	Insert a 1/4-wavelength piece of 75-ohm coaxial cable transmission line in series between the antenna terminals and the 50-ohm feed cable
D	Insert a 1/2 wavelength piece of 300-ohm twinlead in series between the antenna terminals and the 50-ohm feed cable

48. - E9F07

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

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

49. - E9G06

On the Smith chart shown in Figure E9-3, what is the name for the large outer circle on which the reactance arcs terminate?

Select	Answer
A	Prime axis
B	Impedance axis
C	Reactance axis
D	Polar axis

50. - E9H05

What is the main drawback of a small wire-loop antenna for direction finding?

Select	Answer
A	It is practical for use only on VHF and higher bands
B	All these choices are correct
C	It has a bidirectional pattern
D	It has no clearly defined null

Figure E5-1

Figure E6-3

Figure E7-3

Figure E9-3