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

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1. - E0A03

Over what range of frequencies are the FCC human body RF exposure limits most restrictive?

Select	Answer
A	3 to 30 MHz
B	300 kHz to 3 MHz
C	30 to 300 MHz
D	300 to 3000 MHz

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

3. - E1B07

To what type of regulations does PRB-1 apply?

Select	Answer
A	FAA tower height limits
B	State and local zoning
C	Homeowners associations
D	Use of wireless devices in vehicles

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

5. - E1D01

What is the definition of telemetry?

Select	Answer
A	Two-way transmissions in excess of 1000 feet
B	One-way transmission of measurements at a distance from the measuring instrument
C	Two-way transmissions of data
D	One-way transmission that initiates, modifies, or terminates the functions of a device at a distance

6. - E1E06

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

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

7. - E1F08

Which of the following types of amateur station communications are prohibited?

Select	Answer
A	Communications that have religious content
B	Communications transmitted for hire or material compensation, except as otherwise provided in the rules
C	Communications in a language other than English
D	Communications that have political content, except as allowed by the Fairness Doctrine

8. - E2A05

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

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

9. - E2B04

How is color information sent in analog SSTV?

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

10. - E2C02

Which of the following best describes the term self-spotting? in connection with HF contest operating?

Select	Answer
A	The acceptable practice of manually posting the call signs of stations on a spotting network
B	The often-prohibited practice of posting one's own call sign and frequency on a spotting network
C	A manual technique for rapidly zero beating or tuning to a station's frequency before calling that station
D	An automatic method for rapidly zero beating or tuning to a station's frequency before calling that station

11. - E2D10

How can an APRS station be used to help support a public service communications activity?

Select	Answer
A	An APRS station with a Global Positioning System unit can automatically transmit information to show a mobile station's position during the event
B	APRS stations with General Personnel Scanners can automatically relay the participant numbers and time as they pass the check points
C	An APRS station with an emergency medical technician can automatically transmit medical data to the nearest hospital
D	All these choices are correct

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	Another station you are unable to hear is using the frequency
C	Your transmit frequency is incorrect
D	All these choices are correct

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	Switch to a lower frequency HF band
C	Wait 24 hours before attempting another communication on the band
D	Switch to a higher frequency HF band

14. - E3B10

Why is chordal hop propagation desirable?

Select	Answer
A	Signals travel faster along ionospheric chords
B	The signal experiences less loss compared to multi-hop using Earth as a reflector
C	The MUF for chordal hop propagation is much lower than for normal skip propagation
D	Atmospheric noise is lower in the direction of chordal hop propagation

15. - E3C09

How does the intensity of an X3 flare compare to that of an X2 flare?

Select	Answer
A	Four times as great
B	50 percent greater
C	Twice as great
D	10 percent greater

16. - E4A09

Which of the following is good practice when using an oscilloscope probe?

Select	Answer
A	Never use a DC-coupled probe to measure an AC circuit
B	Never use a high-impedance probe to measure a low-impedance circuit
C	Keep the signal ground connection of the probe as short as possible
D	All these choices are correct

17. - E4B11

Which of the following can be measured with a vector network analyzer?

Select	Answer
A	All these choices are correct
B	Output impedance
C	Input impedance
D	Reflection coefficient

18. - E4C10

What is an advantage of having a variety of receiver IF bandwidths from which to select?

Select	Answer
A	The noise figure of the RF amplifier can be adjusted to match the modulation type, thus increasing receiver sensitivity
B	Receive bandwidth can be set to match the modulation bandwidth, maximizing signal-to-noise ratio and minimizing interference
C	Receiver power consumption can be reduced when wider bandwidth is not required
D	Multiple frequencies can be received simultaneously if desired

19. - E4D08

What causes intermodulation in an electronic circuit?

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

20. - E4E03

Which of the following signals might a receiver noise blanker be able to remove from desired signals?

Select	Answer
A	Signals that have a sharply peaked frequency distribution
B	Signals that appear at one IF but not another
C	Signals that appear across a wide bandwidth
D	Signals that are constant at all IF levels

21. - E5A02

What is resonance in an LC or RLC circuit?

Select	Answer
A	The frequency at which the reactive impedance equals the resistive impedance
B	The highest frequency that will pass current
C	The lowest frequency that will pass current
D	The frequency at which the capacitive reactance equals the inductive reactance

22. - E5B10

What is the relationship between the AC current through an inductor and the voltage across an inductor?

Select	Answer
A	Voltage and current are 180 degrees out of phase
B	Voltage leads current by 90 degrees
C	Current leads voltage by 90 degrees
D	Voltage and current are in phase

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 2
B	Point 5
C	Point 6
D	Point 4

24. - E5D01

What is the result of skin effect?

Select	Answer
A	Thermal effects on the surface of the conductor decrease 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 increase the impedance

25. - E6A11

In Figure E6-1, what is the schematic symbol for a P-channel junction FET?

Select	Answer
A	2
B	3
C	1
D	6

26. - E6B10

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

Select	Answer
A	7
B	6
C	1
D	5

27. - E6C07

What best describes a pull-up or pull-down resistor?

Select	Answer
A	A resistor in a keying circuit used to reduce key clicks
B	A resistor that ensures that an oscillator frequency does not drift
C	A resistor connected to an op-amp output that prevents signals from exceeding the power supply voltage
D	A resistor connected to the positive or negative supply line used to establish a voltage when an input or output is an open circuit

28. - E6D01

Why should core saturation of an impedance matching transformer be avoided?

Select	Answer
A	Temporary changes of the core permeability could result
B	RF susceptance would increase
C	Harmonics and distortion could result
D	Magnetic flux would increase with frequency

29. - E6E04

Which is the most common input and output impedance of circuits that use MMICs?

Select	Answer
A	50 ohms
B	450 ohms
C	10 ohms
D	300 ohms

30. - E6F08

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

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

31. - E7A08

What logical operation does an OR gate perform?

Select	Answer
A	It produces logic 0 at its output if all inputs are logic 1
B	It only produces logic 0 at its output when all inputs are logic 1
C	It produces logic 1 at its output if any or all inputs are logic 1
D	It produces logic 1 at its output if all inputs are logic 0

32. - E7B14

Why are switching amplifiers more efficient than linear amplifiers?

Select	Answer
A	Switching amplifiers use push-pull circuits
B	Switching amplifiers operate at higher voltages
C	The power transistor is at saturation or cutoff most of the time
D	Linear amplifiers have high gain resulting in higher harmonic content

33. - E7C01

How are the capacitors and inductors of a low-pass filter Pi-network arranged between the network's input and output?

Select	Answer
A	A capacitor is connected between the input and ground, another capacitor is connected between the output and ground, and an inductor is connected between input and output
B	Two inductors are in series between the input and output, and a capacitor is connected between the two inductors and ground
C	Two capacitors are in series between the input and output, and an inductor is connected between the two capacitors and ground
D	An inductor is connected between the input and ground, another inductor is connected between the output and ground, and a capacitor is connected between the input and output

34. - E7D03

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

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

35. - E7E11

Which type of detector circuit is used for demodulating SSB signals?

Select	Answer
A	Product detector
B	Phase comparator
C	Phase detector
D	Discriminator

36. - E7F01

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

Select	Answer
A	Incoming RF is digitized by an analog-to-digital converter without being mixed with a local oscillator signal
B	A switching mixer is used to generate I and Q signals directly from the RF input
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. - E7G09

What will be the output voltage of the circuit shown in Figure E7-3 if R1 is 1000 ohms, RF is 10,000 ohms, and 0.23 volts DC is applied to the input?

Select	Answer
A	-0.23 volts
B	-2.3 volts
C	0.23 volts
D	2.3 volts

38. - E7H03

How is positive feedback supplied in a Hartley oscillator?

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

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

40. - E8B04

What is the modulation index of an FM-phone signal having a maximum carrier deviation of plus or minus 6 kHz when modulated with a 2 kHz modulating frequency?

Select	Answer
A	6000
B	2000
C	3
D	1/3

41. - E8C12

What factors affect the bandwidth of a transmitted CW signal?

Select	Answer
A	All these choices are correct
B	IF bandwidth and Q
C	Modulation index and output power
D	Keying speed and shape factor (rise and fall time)

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 uses one character as a shift code to send numeric and special characters
C	It includes built-in error correction features
D	It is possible to transmit both upper and lower case text

43. - E9A03

What is the radiation resistance of an antenna?

Select	Answer
A	The specific impedance of the antenna
B	The value of a resistance that would dissipate the same amount of power as that radiated from an 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. - 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 antenna will become mechanically unstable
B	The computed feed point impedance may be incorrect
C	Ground conductivity will not be accurately modeled
D	The resulting design will favor radiation of harmonic energy

45. - E9C05

Which of the following is a type of OCFD antenna?

Select	Answer
A	A remotely tunable dipole antenna using orthogonally controlled frequency diversity
B	A folded dipole center-fed with 300-ohm transmission line
C	A multiband dipole antenna using one-way circular polarization for frequency diversity
D	A dipole fed approximately 1/3 the way from one end with a 4:1 balun to provide multiband operation

46. - E9D08

What happens as the Q of an antenna increases?

Select	Answer
A	SWR bandwidth increases
B	SWR bandwidth decreases
C	Gain is reduced
D	More common-mode current is present on the feed line

47. - E9E06

Which of these feed line impedances would be suitable for constructing a quarter-wave Q-section for matching a 100-ohm loop to 50-ohm feed line?

Select	Answer
A	50 ohms
B	450 ohms
C	75 ohms
D	62 ohms

48. - E9F04

What impedance does a 1/2-wavelength transmission line present to a generator when the line is shorted at the far end?

Select	Answer
A	The same as the output impedance of the generator
B	The same as the characteristic impedance of the line
C	Very low impedance
D	Very high impedance

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. - E9H10

How can the output voltage of a multiple-turn receiving loop antenna be increased?

Select	Answer
A	By utilizing high impedance wire for the coupling loop
B	By winding adjacent turns in opposing directions
C	By reducing the permeability of the loop shield
D	By increasing the number of turns and/or the area

Figure E5-1

Figure E6-1

Figure E6-2

Figure E7-3