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

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1. - E0A09

Which insulating material commonly used as a thermal conductor for some types of electronic devices is extremely toxic if broken or crushed and the particles are accidentally inhaled?

Select	Answer
A	Mica
B	Beryllium Oxide
C	Uranium Hexafluoride
D	Zinc oxide

2. - E1A02

When using a transceiver that displays the carrier frequency of phone signals, which of the following displayed frequencies represents the lowest frequency at which a properly adjusted LSB emission will be totally within the band?

Select	Answer
A	300 Hz above the lower band edge
B	1 kHz above the lower band edge
C	The exact lower band edge
D	3 kHz above the lower band edge

3. - E1B10

What frequencies are authorized to an amateur station operating under RACES rules?

Select	Answer
A	Specific segments in the amateur service MF, HF, VHF and UHF bands
B	Specific local government channels
C	All amateur service frequencies authorized to the control operator
D	Military Auxiliary Radio System (MARS) channels

4. - E1C08

What is the maximum permissible duration of a remotely controlled station's transmissions if its control link malfunctions?

Select	Answer
A	10 minutes
B	3 minutes
C	30 seconds
D	5 minutes

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

6. - E1E08

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

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

7. - E1F07

When may an amateur station send a message to a business?

Select	Answer
A	When neither the amateur nor his or her employer has a pecuniary interest in the communications
B	When transmitting international third-party communications
C	When the control operator is employed by the FCC or another government agency
D	When the total money involved does not exceed $25

8. - E2A01

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

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

9. - E2B12

What signals SSTV receiving software to begin a new picture line?

Select	Answer
A	Elapsed time
B	Specific tone frequencies
C	A two-tone signal
D	Specific tone amplitudes

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

11. - E2D03

Which of the following digital modes is especially useful for EME communications?

Select	Answer
A	Olivia
B	PACTOR III
C	MSK144
D	JT65

12. - E2E10

Which of these digital modes has the narrowest bandwidth?

Select	Answer
A	PSK31
B	170 Hz shift, 45-baud RTTY
C	MFSK16
D	300-baud packet

13. - E3A07

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

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

14. - E3B05

Which amateur bands typically support long-path propagation?

Select	Answer
A	6 meters to 2 meters
B	160 meters to 10 meters
C	Only 160 meters to 40 meters
D	Only 30 meters to 10 meters

15. - E3C11

What does VOACAP software model?

Select	Answer
A	VHF radio propagation
B	AC current and impedance
C	AC voltage and impedance
D	HF propagation

16. - E4A02

Which of the following parameters does a spectrum analyzer display on the vertical and horizontal axes?

Select	Answer
A	RF amplitude and time
B	SWR and time
C	SWR and frequency
D	RF amplitude and frequency

17. - E4B01

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

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

18. - E4C06

A CW receiver with the AGC off has an equivalent input noise power density of -174 dBm/Hz. What would be the level of an unmodulated carrier input to this receiver that would yield an audio output SNR of 0 dB in a 400 Hz noise bandwidth?

Select	Answer
A	-148 dBm
B	-164 dBm
C	-174 dBm
D	-155 dBm

19. - E4D08

What causes intermodulation in an electronic circuit?

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

20. - E4E06

What is one type of electrical interference that might be caused by a nearby personal computer?

Select	Answer
A	A clicking noise at intervals of a few seconds
B	A whining type noise that continually pulses off and on
C	The appearance of unstable modulated or unmodulated signals at specific frequencies
D	A loud AC hum in the audio output of your station receiver

21. - E5A09

How is the Q of an RLC parallel resonant circuit calculated?

Select	Answer
A	Reactance of the inductance multiplied by the reactance of the capacitance
B	Resistance divided by the reactance of either the inductance or capacitance
C	Reactance of either the inductance or capacitance divided by the resistance
D	Reactance of either the inductance or capacitance multiplied by the resistance

22. - E5B07

What is the phase angle between the voltage across and the current through a series RLC circuit if XC is 500 ohms, R is 1 kilohm, and XL is 250 ohms?

Select	Answer
A	14.0 degrees with the voltage lagging the current
B	68.2 degrees with the voltage lagging the current
C	14.0 degrees with the voltage leading the current
D	68.2 degrees with the voltage leading the current

23. - E5C09

When using rectangular coordinates to graph the impedance of a circuit, what do the axes represent?

Select	Answer
A	The X axis represents the magnitude and the Y axis represents the phase angle
B	The X axis represents the phase angle and the Y axis represents the magnitude
C	The X axis represents the resistive component and the Y axis represents the reactive component
D	The X axis represents the reactive component and the Y axis represents the resistive component

24. - E5D02

Why is it important to keep lead lengths short for components used in circuits for VHF and above?

Select	Answer
A	To increase the thermal time constant
B	To maintain component lifetime
C	All these choices are correct
D	To avoid unwanted inductive reactance

25. - E6A05

How does DC input impedance at the gate of a field-effect transistor compare with the DC input impedance of a bipolar transistor?

Select	Answer
A	They are both low impedance
B	They are both high impedance
C	An FET has higher input impedance
D	An FET has lower input impedance

26. - E6B11

What is used to control the attenuation of RF signals by a PIN diode?

Select	Answer
A	Capacitance of an RF coupling capacitor
B	A sub-harmonic pump signal
C	Reverse voltage larger than the RF signal
D	Forward DC bias current

27. - E6C03

What is tri-state logic?

Select	Answer
A	Logic devices that utilize ternary math
B	Logic devices with 0, 1, and high-impedance output states
C	Proprietary logic devices manufactured by Tri-State Devices
D	Low-power logic devices designed to operate at 3 volts

28. - E6D13

What is the primary cause of inductor self-resonance?

Select	Answer
A	Inductive kickback
B	The skin effect
C	Inter-turn capacitance
D	Non-linear core hysteresis

29. - E6E06

What characteristics of the MMIC make it a popular choice for VHF through microwave circuits?

Select	Answer
A	Nearly infinite gain, very high input impedance, and very low output impedance
B	Controlled gain, low noise figure, and constant input and output impedance over the specified frequency range
C	The ability to retrieve information from a single signal even in the presence of other strong signals
D	Plate current that is controlled by a control grid

30. - E6F07

What is a solid-state relay?

Select	Answer
A	A semiconductor passive delay line
B	A device that uses semiconductors to implement the functions of an electromechanical relay
C	A mechanical relay that latches in the on or off state each time it is pulsed
D	A relay using transistors to drive the relay coil

31. - E7A05

Which of the following is a circuit that continuously alternates between two states without an external clock?

Select	Answer
A	Monostable multivibrator
B	T flip-flop
C	Astable multivibrator
D	J-K flip-flop

32. - E7B14

Why are switching amplifiers more efficient than linear amplifiers?

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

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 capacitors are in series between the input and output, and an inductor is connected between the two capacitors and ground
C	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
D	Two inductors are in series between the input and output, and a capacitor is connected between the two inductors and ground

34. - E7D05

Which of the following types of linear voltage regulator places a constant load on the unregulated voltage source?

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

35. - E7E02

What is the function of a reactance modulator?

Select	Answer
A	To produce PM or FM signals by using an electrically variable inductance or capacitance
B	To produce PM signals by using an electrically variable resistance
C	To produce AM signals by using an electrically variable resistance
D	To produce AM signals by using an electrically variable inductance or capacitance

36. - E7F11

What sets the minimum detectable signal level for a direct-sampling SDR receiver in the absence of atmospheric or thermal noise?

Select	Answer
A	Data storage transfer rate
B	Missing codes and jitter
C	Reference voltage level and sample width in bits
D	Sample clock phase noise

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 difference between the output voltage of the op-amp and the input voltage required in the immediately following stage
C	The differential input voltage needed to bring the open loop output voltage to zero
D	The output voltage of the op-amp minus its input voltage

38. - E7H07

How can an oscillator's microphonic responses be reduced?

Select	Answer
A	Mechanically isolate the oscillator circuitry from its enclosure
B	Use NP0 capacitors
C	Reduce noise on the oscillator's power supply
D	Increase the bias voltage

39. - E8A04

What is "dither" with respect to analog-to-digital converters?

Select	Answer
A	A small amount of noise added to the input signal to allow more precise representation of a signal over time
B	A method of decimation by randomly skipping samples
C	An abnormal condition where the converter cannot settle on a value to represent the signal
D	An error caused by irregular quantization step size

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	2000
B	1/3
C	6000
D	3

41. - E8C08

How does ARQ accomplish error correction?

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

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	Repeat Request Rate (RRR)
D	Intermodulation Distortion (IMD)

43. - E9A02

What is the effective radiated power relative to a dipole of a repeater station with 150 watts transmitter power output, 2 dB feed line loss, 2.2 dB duplexer loss, and 7 dBd antenna gain?

Select	Answer
A	420 watts
B	286 watts
C	78.7 watts
D	1977 watts

44. - E9B02

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

Select	Answer
A	24 dB
B	14 dB
C	36 dB
D	18 dB

45. - E9C03

What is the radiation pattern of two 1/4-wavelength vertical antennas spaced 1/2-wavelength apart and fed in 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. - E9D08

What happens as the Q of an antenna increases?

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

47. - E9E10

Which of these choices is an effective way to match an antenna with a 100-ohm feed point impedance to a 50-ohm coaxial cable feed line?

Select	Answer
A	Connect a 1/4-wavelength open stub of 300-ohm twinlead in parallel with the coaxial feed line where it connects to the antenna
B	Connect a 1/2 wavelength shorted stub of 75-ohm cable in parallel with the 50-ohm cable where it attaches to the antenna
C	Insert a 1/4-wavelength piece of 75-ohm coaxial cable transmission line in series between the antenna terminals and the 50-ohm feed cable
D	Insert a 1/2 wavelength piece of 300-ohm twinlead in series between the antenna terminals and the 50-ohm feed cable

48. - E9F09

What is the approximate physical length of a foam polyethylene dielectric coaxial transmission line that is electrically 1/4 wavelength long at 7.2 MHz?

Select	Answer
A	10.4 meters
B	5.2 meters
C	6.9 meters
D	8.3 meters

49. - E9G04

What are the two families of circles and arcs that make up a Smith chart?

Select	Answer
A	Resistance and voltage
B	Resistance and reactance
C	Reactance and voltage
D	Voltage and impedance

50. - E9H08

What is the function of a sense antenna?

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

Figure E9-1