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

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1. - E0A01

What is the primary function of an external earth connection or ground rod?

Select	Answer
A	Reduce received noise
B	Reduce RFI to telephones and home entertainment systems
C	Lightning protection
D	Reduce RF current flow between pieces of equipment

2. - E1A14

Except in some parts of Alaska, what is the maximum power permitted on the 630 meter band?

Select	Answer
A	5 watts EIRP
B	50 watts PEP
C	1 watt EIRP
D	100 watts PEP

3. - E1B06

Which of the following additional rules apply if you are installing an amateur station antenna at a site at or near a public use airport?

Select	Answer
A	You must submit engineering drawings to the FAA
B	You may have to notify the Federal Aviation Administration and register it with the FCC as required by Part 17 of the FCC rules
C	You must obtain a construction permit from the airport zoning authority
D	You must file an Environmental Impact Statement with the EPA before construction begins

4. - E1C14

How long must an operator wait after filing a notification with the Utilities Technology Council (UTC) before operating on the 2200 meter or 630 meter band?

Select	Answer
A	Operators may not operate until a test signal has been transmitted in coordination with the local power company
B	Operations may commence immediately, and may continue unless interference is reported by the UTC
C	Operators may operate after 30 days, providing they have not been told that their station is within 1 km of PLC systems using those frequencies
D	Operators must not operate until approval is received

5. - E1D11

Which amateur stations are eligible to operate as Earth stations?

Select	Answer
A	Any amateur station whose licensee has filed a pre-space notification with the FCC's International Bureau
B	Any amateur station, subject to the privileges of the class of operator license held by the control operator
C	Only those of Amateur Extra Class operators
D	Only those of General, Advanced or Amateur Extra Class operators

6. - E1E12

What must the VE team do with the application form if the examinee does not pass the exam?

Select	Answer
A	Maintain the application form with the VEC's records
B	Send the application form to the FCC and inform the FCC of the grade
C	Return the application document to the examinee
D	Destroy the application form

7. - E1F05

Amateur stations may not transmit in which of the following frequency segments if they are located in the contiguous 48 states and north of Line A?

Select	Answer
A	53 MHz - 54 MHz
B	440 MHz - 450 MHz
C	222 MHz - 223 MHz
D	420 MHz - 430 MHz

8. - E2A08

Why should effective radiated power to a satellite that uses a linear transponder be limited?

Select	Answer
A	To prevent creating errors in the satellite telemetry
B	To avoid reducing the downlink power to all other users
C	To avoid interfering with terrestrial QSOs
D	To prevent the satellite from emitting out-of-band signals

9. - E2B09

What hardware, other than a receiver with SSB capability and a suitable computer, is needed to decode SSTV using Digital Radio Mondiale (DRM)?

Select	Answer
A	No other hardware is needed
B	A special notch filter to remove synchronization pulses
C	A special IF converter
D	A special front end limiter

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

11. - E2D01

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

Select	Answer
A	Hellschreiber
B	APRS
C	MSK144
D	WSPR

12. - E2E03

How is the timing of FT4 contacts organized?

Select	Answer
A	By exchanging ACK/NAK packets
B	It depends on the lunar phase
C	Stations take turns on alternate days
D	Alternating transmissions at 7.5 second intervals

13. - E3A04

What do Hepburn maps predict?

Select	Answer
A	Sporadic E propagation
B	Locations of auroral reflecting zones
C	Likelihood of rain scatter along cold or warm fronts
D	Probability of tropospheric propagation

14. - E3B09

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

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

15. - E3C06

By how much does the VHF/UHF radio horizon distance exceed the geometric horizon?

Select	Answer
A	By approximately four times the distance
B	By approximately twice the distance
C	By approximately 50 percent of the distance
D	By approximately 15 percent of the distance

16. - E4A09

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

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

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	Short circuit, open circuit, and 50 ohms
D	50 ohms through 1/8 wavelength, 1/4 wavelength, and 1/2 wavelength of coaxial cable

18. - E4C07

What does the MDS of a receiver represent?

Select	Answer
A	The maximum detectable spectrum
B	The minimum discernible signal
C	The meter display sensitivity
D	The multiplex distortion stability

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

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

21. - E5A16

What is the resonant frequency of an RLC circuit if R is 33 ohms, L is 50 microhenries and C is 10 picofarads?

Select	Answer
A	7.12 MHz
B	7.12 kHz
C	23.5 MHz
D	23.5 kHz

22. - E5B05

What happens to the magnitude of a pure reactance when it is converted to a susceptance?

Select	Answer
A	It becomes the reciprocal
B	It is shifted by 90 degrees
C	It is unchanged
D	The sign is reversed

23. - E5C07

Where is the impedance of a pure resistance plotted on rectangular coordinates?

Select	Answer
A	On a line through the origin, slanted at 45 degrees
B	On the vertical axis
C	On a horizontal line, offset vertically above the horizontal axis
D	On the horizontal axis

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

25. - E6A02

Which of the following semiconductor materials contains excess free electrons?

Select	Answer
A	Bipolar
B	Insulated gate
C	P-type
D	N-type

26. - E6B08

Which of the following is a Schottky barrier diode?

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

27. - E6C05

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

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

28. - E6D03

Which of the following is an aspect of the piezoelectric effect?

Select	Answer
A	Mechanical deformation of material by the application of a voltage
B	Generation of electrical energy in the presence of light
C	Increased conductivity in the presence of light
D	Mechanical deformation of material by the application of a magnetic field

29. - E6E07

What type of transmission line is used for connections to MMICs?

Select	Answer
A	Microstrip
B	Miniature coax
C	Parallel wire
D	Circular waveguide

30. - E6F03

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

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

31. - E7A04

How many flip-flops are required to divide a signal frequency by 4?

Select	Answer
A	2
B	8
C	4
D	1

32. - E7B11

In Figure E7-1, what is the purpose of R3?

Select	Answer
A	Output load resistor
B	Self bias
C	Fixed bias
D	Emitter bypass

33. - E7C06

What are the distinguishing features of an elliptical filter?

Select	Answer
A	Extremely sharp cutoff with one or more notches in the stop band
B	Gradual passband rolloff with extreme stop band ripple
C	Extremely flat response over its pass band with gradually rounded stop band corners
D	Gradual passband rolloff with minimal stop band ripple

34. - E7D09

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

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

35. - E7E04

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

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

36. - E7F13

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

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

37. - E7G04

What is meant by the "op-amp input offset voltage"?

Select	Answer
A	The potential between the amplifier input terminals of the op-amp in an open loop condition
B	The output voltage of the op-amp minus its input voltage
C	The differential input voltage needed to bring the open loop output voltage to zero
D	The difference between the output voltage of the op-amp and the input voltage required in the immediately following stage

38. - E7H14

What is a phase-locked loop circuit?

Select	Answer
A	An electronic servo loop consisting of a ratio detector, reactance modulator, and voltage-controlled oscillator
B	An electronic circuit also known as a monostable multivibrator
C	An electronic servo loop consisting of a phase detector, a low-pass filter, a voltage-controlled oscillator, and a stable reference oscillator
D	An electronic circuit consisting of a precision push-pull amplifier with a differential input

39. - E8A11

Which of the following is a measure of the quality of an analog-to-digital converter?

Select	Answer
A	Peak envelope power
B	Reciprocal mixing
C	Power factor
D	Total harmonic distortion

40. - E8B03

What is the modulation index of an FM-phone signal having a maximum frequency deviation of 3000 Hz either side of the carrier frequency when the modulating frequency is 1000 Hz?

Select	Answer
A	3000
B	0.3
C	1000
D	3

41. - E8C08

How does ARQ accomplish error correction?

Select	Answer
A	Special polynomial codes provide automatic correction
B	If errors are detected, a retransmission is requested
C	If errors are detected, redundant data is substituted
D	Special binary codes provide automatic correction

42. - E8D08

What parameter evaluates distortion of an AFSK signal caused by excessive input audio levels?

Select	Answer
A	Signal-to-noise ratio
B	Baud rate
C	Intermodulation Distortion (IMD)
D	Repeat Request Rate (RRR)

43. - E9A13

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

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

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

45. - E9C02

What is the radiation pattern of two 1/4-wavelength vertical antennas spaced 1/4 wavelength apart and fed 90 degrees out of phase?

Select	Answer
A	A figure-8 broadside to the axis of the array
B	Cardioid
C	A figure-8 end-fire along the axis of the array
D	Omni-directional

46. - E9D02

How can linearly polarized Yagi antennas be used to produce circular polarization?

Select	Answer
A	Arrange two Yagis perpendicular to each other with the driven elements at the same point on the boom fed 90 degrees out of phase
B	Stack two Yagis fed in phase to form an array with the respective elements in parallel planes
C	Arrange two Yagis collinear to each other with the driven elements fed 180 degrees out of phase
D	Stack two Yagis fed 90 degrees out of phase to form an array with the respective elements in parallel planes

47. - E9E01

What system matches a higher-impedance transmission line to a lower-impedance antenna by connecting the line to the driven element in two places spaced a fraction of a wavelength each side of element center?

Select	Answer
A	The stub matching system
B	The omega matching system
C	The gamma matching system
D	The delta matching system

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

49. - E9G10

What do the arcs on a Smith chart represent?

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

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 E7-1