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

2. - E1A06

Where must the carrier frequency of a CW signal be set to comply with FCC rules for 60 meter operation?

Select	Answer
A	On any frequency where the signal's sidebands are within the channel
B	At the lowest frequency of the channel
C	At the center frequency of the channel
D	At the highest frequency of the channel

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. - E1C05

When may an automatically controlled station originate third party communications?

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

5. - E1D05

What must be posted at the station location of a station being operated by telecommand on or within 50 km of the earth's surface?

Select	Answer
A	A photocopy of the station license
B	All these choices are correct
C	A label with the name, address, and telephone number of the control operator
D	A label with the name, address, and telephone number of the station licensee

6. - E1E10

What must the administering VEs do after the administration of a successful examination for an amateur operator license?

Select	Answer
A	They must collect and submit the documents to the coordinating VEC for grading
B	They must submit the application document to the coordinating VEC according to the coordinating VEC instructions
C	They must collect and send the documents to the NCVEC for grading
D	They must collect and send the documents to the FCC according to instructions

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

8. - E2A11

What type of antenna can be used to minimize the effects of spin modulation and Faraday rotation?

Select	Answer
A	A log-periodic dipole array
B	A circularly polarized antenna
C	A linearly polarized antenna
D	An isotropic antenna

9. - E2B11

What is the function of the Vertical Interval Signaling (VIS) code sent as part of an SSTV transmission?

Select	Answer
A	To provide vertical synchronization
B	To identify the call sign of the station transmitting
C	To identify the SSTV mode being used
D	To lock the color burst oscillator in color SSTV images

10. - E2C05

What is the function of a DX QSL Manager?

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

11. - E2D02

Which of the following is a good technique for making meteor scatter contacts?

Select	Answer
A	All these choices are correct
B	Short transmissions with rapidly repeated call signs and signal reports
C	Use of special digital modes
D	15-second timed transmission sequences with stations alternating based on location

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	Another station you are unable to hear is using the frequency
B	The protocol version you are using is not supported by the digital station
C	All these choices are correct
D	Your transmit frequency is incorrect

13. - E3A07

Atmospheric ducts capable of propagating microwave signals often form over what geographic feature?

Select	Answer
A	Urban areas
B	Bodies of water
C	Mountain ranges
D	Forests

14. - E3B01

What is transequatorial propagation?

Select	Answer
A	Propagation between two mid-latitude points at approximately the same distance north and south of the magnetic equator
B	Propagation between points at the same latitude
C	Propagation between points located on the magnetic equator
D	Propagation between a point on the equator and its antipodal point

15. - E3C08

What does the space weather term G5 mean?

Select	Answer
A	Moderate solar wind
B	Waning sunspot numbers
C	Very low solar activity
D	An extreme geomagnetic storm

16. - E4A04

How is the compensation of an oscilloscope probe typically adjusted?

Select	Answer
A	A DC voltage standard is displayed and the probe is adjusted until the displayed voltage is accurate
B	A frequency standard is displayed and the probe is adjusted until the deflection time is accurate
C	A square wave is displayed and the probe is adjusted until the horizontal portions of the displayed wave are as nearly flat as possible
D	A high frequency sine wave is displayed and the probe is adjusted for maximum amplitude

17. - E4B08

Which of the following can be used to measure the Q of a series-tuned circuit?

Select	Answer
A	The inductance to capacitance ratio
B	The frequency shift
C	The bandwidth of the circuit's frequency response
D	The resonant frequency of the circuit

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 front-end filter or pre-selector
C	A properly adjusted product detector
D	A notch filter

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. - E4E09

What undesirable effect can occur when using an IF noise blanker?

Select	Answer
A	FM signals can no longer be demodulated
B	Nearby signals may appear to be excessively wide even if they meet emission standards
C	The audio frequency bandwidth of the received signal might be compressed
D	Received audio in the speech range might have an echo effect

21. - E5A08

What is the phase relationship between the current through and the voltage across a series resonant circuit at resonance?

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

22. - E5B12

What is admittance?

Select	Answer
A	The inverse of impedance
B	The inverse of Q factor
C	The term for the gain of a field effect transistor
D	The turns ratio of a transformer

23. - E5C03

Which of the following represents an inductive reactance in polar coordinates?

Select	Answer
A	A positive phase angle
B	A negative magnitude
C	A positive magnitude
D	A negative phase angle

24. - E5D01

What is the result of skin effect?

Select	Answer
A	Thermal effects on the surface of the conductor increase the impedance
B	As frequency decreases, RF current flows in a thinner layer of the conductor, closer to the surface
C	Thermal effects on the surface of the conductor decrease the impedance
D	As frequency increases, RF current flows in a thinner layer of the conductor, closer to the surface

25. - E6A11

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

Select	Answer
A	6
B	3
C	2
D	1

26. - E6B07

What is the failure mechanism when a junction diode fails due to excessive current?

Select	Answer
A	Insufficient forward voltage
B	Charge carrier depletion
C	Excessive junction temperature
D	Excessive inverse voltage

27. - E6C07

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

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

28. - E6D02

What is the equivalent circuit of a quartz crystal?

Select	Answer
A	Motional capacitance, motional inductance, and loss resistance in series, all in parallel with a shunt capacitor representing electrode and stray capacitance
B	Motional inductance and loss resistance in series, paralleled with motional capacitance and a capacitor representing electrode and stray capacitance
C	Motional capacitance, motional inductance, loss resistance, and a capacitor representing electrode and stray capacitance all in series
D	Motional capacitance, motional inductance, loss resistance, and a capacitor representing electrode and stray capacitance all in parallel

29. - E6E11

What is a characteristic of DIP packaging used for integrated circuits?

Select	Answer
A	Package mounts in a direct inverted position
B	Two chips in each package (Dual In Package)
C	Low leakage doubly insulated package
D	A total of two rows of connecting pins placed on opposite sides of the package (Dual In-line Package)

30. - E6F09

What is the efficiency of a photovoltaic cell?

Select	Answer
A	The output RF power divided by the input DC power
B	Cost per kilowatt-hour generated
C	The relative fraction of light that is converted to current
D	The open-circuit voltage divided by the short-circuit current under full illumination

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	Astable multivibrator
C	Monostable multivibrator
D	J-K flip-flop

32. - E7B17

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

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

33. - E7C11

Which of the following describes a receiving filter's ability to reject signals occupying an adjacent channel?

Select	Answer
A	Noise factor
B	Shape factor
C	Passband ripple
D	Phase response

34. - E7D04

Which of the following types of linear voltage regulator usually make the most efficient use of the primary power source?

Select	Answer
A	A series current source
B	A series regulator
C	A shunt regulator
D	A shunt current source

35. - E7E06

Why is de-emphasis commonly used in FM communications receivers?

Select	Answer
A	To reduce impulse noise reception
B	For higher efficiency
C	To remove third-order distortion products
D	For compatibility with transmitters using phase modulation

36. - E7F14

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

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

37. - E7G02

What is ringing in a filter?

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

38. - E7H15

Which of these functions can be performed by a phase-locked loop?

Select	Answer
A	Frequency synthesis, FM demodulation
B	Comparison of two digital input signals, digital pulse counter
C	Photovoltaic conversion, optical coupling
D	Wide-band AF and RF power amplification

39. - E8A08

Why would a direct or flash conversion analog-to-digital converter be useful for a software defined radio?

Select	Answer
A	Immunity to out-of-sequence coding reduces spurious responses
B	Very high speed allows digitizing high frequencies
C	Very low power consumption decreases frequency drift
D	All these choices are correct

40. - E8B10

What is frequency division multiplexing?

Select	Answer
A	Two or more information streams are merged into a digital combiner, which then pulse position modulates the transmitter
B	The transmitted signal is divided into packets of information
C	Two or more information streams are merged into a baseband, which then modulates the transmitter
D	The transmitted signal jumps from band to band at a predetermined rate

41. - E8C10

How may data rate be increased without increasing bandwidth?

Select	Answer
A	Using forward error correction
B	Increasing analog-to-digital conversion resolution
C	Using a more efficient digital code
D	It is impossible

42. - E8D07

What is a common cause of overmodulation of AFSK signals?

Select	Answer
A	Ground loops
B	Bit errors in the modem
C	Excessive transmit audio levels
D	Excessive numbers of retries

43. - E9A04

Which of the following factors affect the feed point impedance of an antenna?

Select	Answer
A	The input power level
B	Antenna height
C	Transmission line length
D	The settings of an antenna tuner at the transmitter

44. - E9B03

In the antenna radiation pattern shown in Figure E9-1, what is the front-to-side ratio?

Select	Answer
A	14 dB
B	24 dB
C	18 dB
D	12 dB

45. - E9C07

What is the approximate feed point impedance at the center of a two-wire folded dipole antenna?

Select	Answer
A	50 ohms
B	300 ohms
C	72 ohms
D	450 ohms

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. - E9E04

What is the purpose of the series capacitor in a gamma-type antenna matching network?

Select	Answer
A	To transform the antenna impedance to a higher value
B	To cancel the inductive reactance of the matching network
C	To provide a rejection notch that prevents the radiation of harmonics
D	To provide DC isolation between the feed line and the antenna

48. - E9F05

What is the approximate physical length of a solid polyethylene dielectric coaxial transmission line that is electrically 1/4 wavelength long at 14.1 MHz?

Select	Answer
A	4.3 meters
B	5.3 meters
C	3.5 meters
D	10.6 meters

49. - E9G09

What third family of circles is often added to a Smith chart during the process of solving problems?

Select	Answer
A	Antenna-length circles
B	Coaxial-length circles
C	Standing wave ratio circles
D	Radiation-pattern circles

50. - E9H08

What is the function of a sense antenna?

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

Figure E6-1

Figure E9-1