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

2. - E1A04

With your transceiver displaying the carrier frequency of phone signals, you hear a DX station calling CQ on 3.601 MHz LSB. Is it legal to return the call using lower sideband on the same frequency?

Select	Answer
A	Yes, because the displayed frequency is within the 75 meter phone band segment
B	No, the sideband will extend beyond the edge of the phone band segment
C	No, U.S. stations are not permitted to use phone emissions below 3.610 MHz
D	Yes, because the DX station initiated the contact

3. - E1B08

What limitations may the FCC place on an amateur station if its signal causes interference to domestic broadcast reception, assuming that the receivers involved are of good engineering design?

Select	Answer
A	The amateur station must cease operation on all frequencies below 30 MHz
B	The amateur station must avoid transmitting during certain hours on frequencies that cause the interference
C	The amateur station must cease operation on all frequencies above 30 MHz
D	The amateur station must cease operation

4. - E1C05

When may an automatically controlled station originate third party communications?

Select	Answer
A	When agreed upon by the sending or receiving station
B	Never
C	Only when transmitting RTTY or data emissions
D	When approved by the National Telecommunication and Information Administration

5. - E1D06

What is the maximum permitted transmitter output power when operating a model craft by telecommand?

Select	Answer
A	1 watt
B	100 watts
C	5 watts
D	2 watts

6. - E1E09

What may be the penalty for a VE who fraudulently administers or certifies an examination?

Select	Answer
A	A fine of up to $1000 per occurrence
B	A sentence of up to one year in prison
C	Revocation of the VE's amateur station license grant and the suspension of the VE's amateur operator license grant
D	All these choices are correct

7. - E1F03

Under what circumstances may a dealer sell an external RF power amplifier capable of operation below 144 MHz if it has not been granted FCC certification?

Select	Answer
A	It was imported from a manufacturer in another country and was certificated by that country's government
B	It was imported from a manufacturer in a country that does not require certification of RF power amplifiers
C	It was purchased in used condition from an amateur operator and is sold to another amateur operator for use at that operator's station
D	The equipment dealer assembled it from a kit

8. - E2A10

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

Select	Answer
A	LEO
B	Geostationary
C	Geomagnetic
D	HEO

9. - E2B02

How many horizontal lines make up a fast-scan (NTSC) television frame?

Select	Answer
A	525
B	60
C	1080
D	30

10. - E2C05

What is the function of a DX QSL Manager?

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

11. - E2D07

What digital protocol is used by APRS?

Select	Answer
A	AMTOR
B	802.11
C	AX.25
D	PACTOR

12. - E2E01

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

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

13. - E3A13

Which of these emission modes is best for auroral propagation?

Select	Answer
A	FM
B	SSB
C	CW
D	RTTY

14. - E3B03

What is the best time of day for transequatorial propagation?

Select	Answer
A	Noon
B	Late at night
C	Afternoon or early evening
D	Morning

15. - E3C15

What might be indicated by a sudden rise in radio background noise across a large portion of the HF spectrum?

Select	Answer
A	Increased transequatorial propagation is likely
B	Long-path propagation is likely
C	A temperature inversion has occurred
D	A solar flare has occurred

16. - E4A05

What is the purpose of the prescaler function on a frequency counter?

Select	Answer
A	It amplifies low-level signals for more accurate counting
B	It prevents oscillation in a low-frequency counter circuit
C	It multiplies a higher frequency signal so a low-frequency counter can display the operating frequency
D	It divides a higher frequency signal so a low-frequency counter can display the input frequency

17. - E4B09

What is indicated if the current reading on an RF ammeter placed in series with the antenna feed line of a transmitter increases as the transmitter is tuned to resonance?

Select	Answer
A	There is more power going into the antenna
B	There is possibly a short to ground in the feed line
C	The transmitter is not properly neutralized
D	There is an impedance mismatch between the antenna and feed line

18. - E4C11

Why can an attenuator be used to reduce receiver overload on the lower frequency HF bands with little or no impact on signal-to-noise ratio?

Select	Answer
A	The attenuator has a noise filter to suppress interference
B	Signals are attenuated separately from the noise
C	The attenuator has a low-pass filter to increase the strength of lower frequency signals
D	Atmospheric noise is generally greater than internally generated noise even after attenuation

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	Adjacent channel interference
B	Intermodulation
C	Amplifier desensitization
D	Neutralization

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. - E5A13

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

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

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	76 degrees with the voltage leading the current
C	14 degrees with the voltage lagging the current
D	14 degrees with the voltage leading the current

23. - E5C12

Which point on Figure E5-1 best represents the impedance of a series circuit consisting of a 300-ohm resistor and a 19-picofarad capacitor at 21.200 MHz?

Select	Answer
A	Point 1
B	Point 3
C	Point 7
D	Point 8

24. - E5D12

How many watts are consumed in a circuit having a power factor of 0.2 if the input is 100 VAC at 4 amperes?

Select	Answer
A	80 watts
B	400 watts
C	50 watts
D	2000 watts

25. - E6A09

What is a depletion-mode FET?

Select	Answer
A	Any FET without a channel
B	An FET that has no current flow between source and drain when no gate voltage is applied
C	Any FET for which holes are the majority carriers
D	An FET that exhibits a current flow between source and drain when no gate voltage is applied

26. - E6B10

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

Select	Answer
A	7
B	1
C	5
D	6

27. - E6C02

What happens when the level of a comparator's input signal crosses the threshold?

Select	Answer
A	The comparator enters latch-up
B	The IC input can be damaged
C	The comparator changes its output state
D	The feedback loop becomes unstable

28. - E6D06

What core material property determines the inductance of an inductor?

Select	Answer
A	Resistance
B	Permeability
C	Thermal impedance
D	Reactivity

29. - E6E01

Why is gallium arsenide (GaAs) useful for semiconductor devices operating at UHF and higher frequencies?

Select	Answer
A	Higher electron mobility
B	Lower transconductance
C	Lower junction voltage drop
D	Higher noise figures

30. - E6F03

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

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

31. - E7A06

What is a characteristic of a monostable multivibrator?

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

32. - E7B12

What type of amplifier circuit is shown in Figure E7-1?

Select	Answer
A	Common emitter
B	Common base
C	Common collector
D	Emitter follower

33. - E7C04

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

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

34. - E7D09

What is the main reason to use a charge controller with a solar power system?

Select	Answer
A	Prevention of battery undercharge
B	Matching of day and night charge rates
C	Control of electrolyte levels during battery discharge
D	Prevention of battery damage due to overcharge

35. - E7E04

What is one way a single-sideband phone signal can be generated?

Select	Answer
A	By driving a product detector with a DSB signal
B	By using a reactance modulator followed by a mixer
C	By using a loop modulator followed by a mixer
D	By using a balanced modulator followed by a filter

36. - E7F14

Which of the following would allow a digital signal processing filter to create a sharper filter response?

Select	Answer
A	Higher data rate
B	Double-precision math routines
C	More taps
D	Complex phasor representations

37. - E7G03

What is the typical input impedance of an op-amp?

Select	Answer
A	Very high
B	1000 ohms
C	Very low
D	100 ohms

38. - E7H02

What is a microphonic?

Select	Answer
A	Changes in oscillator frequency due to mechanical vibration
B	Excess loading of the microphone by an oscillator
C	An IC used for amplifying microphone signals
D	Distortion caused by RF pickup on the microphone cable

39. - E8A09

How many different input levels can be encoded by an analog-to-digital converter with 8-bit resolution?

Select	Answer
A	256
B	8
C	256 divided by the gain of the input amplifier
D	8 multiplied by the gain of the input amplifier

40. - E8B07

Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing is a technique used for which type of amateur communication?

Select	Answer
A	OFDM signals are not allowed on amateur bands
B	EME
C	Extremely low-power contacts
D	High-speed digital modes

41. - E8C06

What is the bandwidth of a 170-hertz shift, 300-baud ASCII transmission?

Select	Answer
A	0.3 kHz
B	0.1 Hz
C	0.5 kHz
D	1.0 kHz

42. - E8D11

What is one advantage of using ASCII code for data communications?

Select	Answer
A	It is possible to transmit both upper and lower case text
B	It contains fewer information bits per character than any other code
C	It includes built-in error correction features
D	It uses one character as a shift code to send numeric and special characters

43. - E9A13

What term describes station output, taking into account all gains and losses?

Select	Answer
A	Apparent power
B	Power factor
C	Effective radiated power
D	Half-power bandwidth

44. - E9B08

What is the far field of an antenna?

Select	Answer
A	The region where radiated power dissipates over a specified time period
B	The region where the shape of the antenna pattern is independent of distance
C	The region of the ionosphere where radiated power is not refracted
D	The region where radiated field strengths are constant

45. - E9C10

Which of the following describes a Zepp antenna?

Select	Answer
A	An end-fed dipole antenna
B	An omni-directional antenna commonly used for satellite communications
C	A vertical array capable of quickly changing the direction of maximum radiation by changing phasing lines
D	A dipole constructed from zip cord

46. - E9D01

How much does the gain of an ideal parabolic dish antenna change when the operating frequency is doubled?

Select	Answer
A	4 dB
B	6 dB
C	3 dB
D	2 dB

47. - E9E03

What is the name of the matching system that uses a section of transmission line connected in parallel with the feed line at or near the feed point?

Select	Answer
A	The gamma match
B	The omega match
C	The delta match
D	The stub match

48. - E9F07

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

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

49. - E9G10

What do the arcs on a Smith chart represent?

Select	Answer
A	Frequency
B	SWR
C	Points with constant resistance
D	Points with constant reactance

50. - E9H08

What is the function of a sense antenna?

Select	Answer
A	It increases the sensitivity of a DF antenna array
B	It provides diversity reception that cancels multipath signals
C	It modifies the pattern of a DF antenna array to provide a null in one direction
D	It allows DF antennas to receive signals at different vertical angles

Figure E5-1

Figure E6-2

Figure E7-1