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

2. - E1A10

If an amateur station is installed aboard a ship or aircraft, what condition must be met before the station is operated?

Select	Answer
A	The amateur station must have a power supply that is completely independent of the main ship or aircraft power supply
B	Its operation must be approved by the master of the ship or the pilot in command of the aircraft
C	The amateur operator must have an FCC Marine or Aircraft endorsement on his or her amateur license
D	The amateur station operator must agree not to transmit when the main radio of the ship or aircraft is in use

3. - E1B04

What must be done before placing an amateur station within an officially designated wilderness area or wildlife preserve, or an area listed in the National Register of Historic Places?

Select	Answer
A	A proposal must be submitted to the National Park Service
B	An Environmental Assessment must be submitted to the FCC
C	A letter of intent must be filed with the Environmental Protection Agency
D	A form FSD-15 must be submitted to the Department of the Interior

4. - E1C13

What notifications must be given before transmitting on the 630 meter or 2200 meter bands?

Select	Answer
A	Operators must inform the Utilities Technology Council (UTC) of their call sign and coordinates of the station
B	A special endorsement must be requested from the FCC
C	An environmental impact statement must be filed with the Department of the Interior
D	Operators must inform the FAA of their intent to operate, giving their call sign and distance to the nearest runway

5. - E1D10

Which amateur stations are eligible to be telecommand stations of space stations (subject to the privileges of the class of operator license held by the control operator of the station)?

Select	Answer
A	All these choices are correct
B	Any amateur station so designated by the space station licensee
C	Any amateur station designated by NASA
D	Any amateur station so designated by the ITU

6. - E1E08

To which of the following examinees may a VE not administer an examination?

Select	Answer
A	Employees of the VE
B	Friends of the VE
C	Relatives of the VE as listed in the FCC rules
D	All these choices are correct

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

8. - E2A01

What is the direction of an ascending pass for an amateur satellite?

Select	Answer
A	From west to east
B	From south to north
C	From east to west
D	From north to south

9. - E2B08

What technique allows commercial analog TV receivers to be used for fast-scan TV operations on the 70 cm band?

Select	Answer
A	Transmitting on channels shared with cable TV
B	Using converted satellite TV dishes
C	Using USB and demodulating the signal with a computer sound card
D	Transmitting on the abandoned TV channel 2

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. - E2D08

What type of packet frame is used to transmit APRS beacon data?

Select	Answer
A	Disconnect
B	Acknowledgement
C	Unnumbered Information
D	Connect

12. - E2E01

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

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

13. - E3A07

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

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

14. - E3B11

At what time of day can sporadic E propagation occur?

Select	Answer
A	Only around sunset
B	Any time
C	Only in hours of darkness
D	Only around sunset and sunrise

15. - E3C14

Why does the radio-path horizon distance exceed the geometric horizon?

Select	Answer
A	Due to the Doppler effect
B	E-region skip
C	Downward bending due to density variations in the atmosphere
D	D-region skip

16. - E4A06

What is the effect of aliasing on a digital oscilloscope caused by setting the time base too slow?

Select	Answer
A	Excessive blanking occurs, which prevents display of the signal
B	A false, jittery low-frequency version of the signal is displayed
C	Calibration of the vertical scale is no longer valid
D	All signals will have a DC offset

17. - E4B01

Which of the following factors most affects the accuracy of a frequency counter?

Select	Answer
A	Decade divider accuracy
B	Temperature coefficient of the logic
C	Time base accuracy
D	Input attenuator accuracy

18. - E4C04

What is the noise figure of a receiver?

Select	Answer
A	The ratio of atmospheric noise to phase noise
B	The ratio of the noise bandwidth in hertz to the theoretical bandwidth of a resistive network
C	The ratio of thermal noise to atmospheric noise
D	The ratio in dB of the noise generated by the receiver to the theoretical minimum noise

19. - E4D08

What causes intermodulation in an electronic circuit?

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

20. - E4E11

What could cause local AM broadcast band signals to combine to generate spurious signals in the MF or HF bands?

Select	Answer
A	One or more of the broadcast stations is transmitting an over-modulated signal
B	Your station receiver IF amplifier stage is defective
C	Nearby corroded metal joints are mixing and re-radiating the broadcast signals
D	You are receiving skywave signals from a distant station

21. - E5A04

What is the magnitude of the impedance of a parallel RLC circuit at resonance?

Select	Answer
A	Approximately equal to inductive reactance
B	Low compared to the circuit resistance
C	Approximately equal to circuit resistance
D	High compared to the circuit resistance

22. - E5B06

What is susceptance?

Select	Answer
A	The magnetic impedance of a circuit
B	A measure of the efficiency of a transformer
C	The imaginary part of admittance
D	The ratio of magnetic field to electric field

23. - E5C11

Which point in Figure E5-1 best represents the impedance of a series circuit consisting of a 300-ohm resistor and an 18-microhenry inductor at 3.505 MHz?

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

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

25. - E6A12

Why do many MOSFET devices have internally connected Zener diodes on the gates?

Select	Answer
A	To provide a voltage reference for the correct amount of reverse-bias gate voltage
B	To keep the gate voltage within specifications and prevent the device from overheating
C	To reduce the chance of static damage to the gate
D	To protect the substrate from excessive voltages

26. - E6B05

What characteristic of a PIN diode makes it useful as an RF switch?

Select	Answer
A	Reverse bias controls its forward voltage drop
B	Low junction capacitance
C	Extremely high reverse breakdown voltage
D	Ability to dissipate large amounts of power

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 connected to an op-amp output that prevents signals from exceeding the power supply voltage
C	A resistor that ensures that an oscillator frequency does not drift
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. - E6D08

What is one reason for using powdered-iron cores rather than ferrite cores in an inductor?

Select	Answer
A	Powdered-iron cores generally require fewer turns to produce a given inductance
B	Powdered-iron cores generally maintain their characteristics at higher currents
C	Powdered-iron cores use smaller diameter wire for the same inductance
D	Powdered-iron cores generally have greater initial permeability

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	A total of two rows of connecting pins placed on opposite sides of the package (Dual In-line Package)
D	Low leakage doubly insulated package

30. - E6F10

What is the most common type of photovoltaic cell used for electrical power generation?

Select	Answer
A	Silicon
B	Cadmium Sulfide
C	Copper oxide
D	Selenium

31. - E7A11

What type of logic defines "1" as a high voltage?

Select	Answer
A	Assertive Logic
B	Positive Logic
C	Reverse Logic
D	Negative logic

32. - E7B03

Which of the following components form the output of a class D amplifier circuit?

Select	Answer
A	A matched load resistor to prevent damage by switching transients
B	A high-pass filter to compensate for low gain at low frequencies
C	A temperature compensating load resistor to improve linearity
D	A low-pass filter to remove switching signal components

33. - E7C04

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

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

34. - E7D10

What is the primary reason that a high-frequency switching type high-voltage power supply can be both less expensive and lighter in weight than a conventional power supply?

Select	Answer
A	It uses a large power factor compensation capacitor to recover power from the unused portion of the AC cycle
B	The inverter design does not require any output filtering
C	The high frequency inverter design uses much smaller transformers and filter components for an equivalent power output
D	It uses a diode bridge rectifier for increased output

35. - E7E09

What occurs when an excessive amount of signal energy reaches a mixer circuit?

Select	Answer
A	Automatic limiting occurs
B	Mixer blanking occurs
C	Spurious mixer products are generated
D	A beat frequency is generated

36. - E7F09

Why is an anti-aliasing digital filter required in a digital decimator?

Select	Answer
A	It removes high-frequency signal components that would otherwise be reproduced as lower frequency components
B	It peaks the response of the decimator, improving bandwidth
C	It notches out the sampling frequency to avoid sampling errors
D	It removes low-frequency signal components to eliminate the need for DC restoration

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	2.3 volts
B	0.23 volts
C	-2.3 volts
D	-0.23 volts

38. - E7H11

What are the major spectral impurity components of direct digital synthesizers?

Select	Answer
A	Nyquist limit noise
B	Broadband noise
C	Spurious signals at discrete frequencies
D	Digital conversion noise

39. - E8A03

What type of wave does a Fourier analysis show to be made up of sine waves of a given fundamental frequency plus all its harmonics?

Select	Answer
A	A square wave
B	A sawtooth wave
C	A sine wave
D	A cosine wave

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	3
B	0.3
C	3000
D	1000

41. - E8C08

How does ARQ accomplish error correction?

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

42. - E8D02

What spread spectrum communications technique uses a high-speed binary bit stream to shift the phase of an RF carrier?

Select	Answer
A	Binary phase-shift keying
B	Phase compandored spread spectrum
C	Frequency hopping
D	Direct sequence

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	Take-off angle
B	The standing wave ratio
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 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. - E9C01

What is the radiation pattern of two 1/4-wavelength vertical antennas spaced 1/2-wavelength apart and fed 180 degrees out of phase?

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

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. - E9E09

Which of the following is used to shunt-feed a grounded tower at its base?

Select	Answer
A	Double-bazooka match
B	Gamma match
C	Hairpin match
D	All these choices are correct

48. - E9F01

What is the velocity factor of a transmission line?

Select	Answer
A	The ratio of the characteristic impedance of the line to the terminating impedance
B	The velocity of the wave in the transmission line divided by the velocity of light in a vacuum
C	The index of shielding for coaxial cable
D	The velocity of the wave in the transmission line multiplied by the velocity of light in a vacuum

49. - E9G10

What do the arcs on a Smith chart represent?

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

50. - E9H09

What is a Pennant antenna?

Select	Answer
A	A four-element, high-gain vertical array invented by George Pennant
B	A small, vertically oriented receiving antenna consisting of a triangular loop terminated in approximately 900 ohms
C	A stealth antenna built to look like a flagpole
D	A form of rhombic antenna terminated in a variable capacitor to provide frequency diversity

Figure E5-1

Figure E7-3