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	Zinc oxide
C	Beryllium Oxide
D	Uranium Hexafluoride

2. - E1A01

Which of the following carrier frequencies is illegal for LSB AFSK emissions on the 17 meter band RTTY and data segment of 18.068 to 18.110 MHz?

Select	Answer
A	18.068 MHz
B	18.110 MHz
C	18.107 MHz
D	18.100 MHz

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

4. - E1C07

At what level below a signal's mean power level is its bandwidth determined according to FCC rules?

Select	Answer
A	3 dB
B	23 dB
C	26 dB
D	6 dB

5. - E1D02

Which of the following may transmit special codes intended to obscure the meaning of messages?

Select	Answer
A	Data containing personal information
B	Telecommand signals from a space telecommand station
C	Auxiliary relay links carrying repeater audio
D	Binary control characters

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

7. - E1F09

Which of the following conditions apply when transmitting spread spectrum emissions?

Select	Answer
A	The transmitting station must be in an area regulated by the FCC or in a country that permits SS emissions
B	The transmission must not be used to obscure the meaning of any communication
C	All these choices are correct
D	A station transmitting SS emission must not cause harmful interference to other stations employing other authorized emissions

8. - E2A01

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

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

9. - E2B04

How is color information sent in analog SSTV?

Select	Answer
A	Color is amplitude modulated on the frequency modulated intensity signal
B	Color lines are sent sequentially
C	Color information is sent on a 2.8 kHz subcarrier
D	Color is sent in a color burst at the end of each line

10. - E2C03

From which of the following bands is amateur radio contesting generally excluded?

Select	Answer
A	6 meters
B	30 meters
C	33 centimeters
D	2 meters

11. - E2D03

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

Select	Answer
A	JT65
B	Olivia
C	MSK144
D	PACTOR III

12. - E2E12

How do ALE stations establish contact?

Select	Answer
A	ALE radios send a constant tone code to establish a frequency for future use
B	ALE constantly scans a list of frequencies, activating the radio when the designated call sign is received
C	ALE radios activate when they hear their signal echoed by back scatter
D	ALE radios monitor an internet site for the frequency they are being paged on

13. - E3A05

Tropospheric propagation of microwave signals often occurs in association with what phenomenon?

Select	Answer
A	Sprites and jets
B	Warm and cold fronts
C	Lightning discharges
D	Grayline

14. - E3B10

Why is chordal hop propagation desirable?

Select	Answer
A	The MUF for chordal hop propagation is much lower than for normal skip propagation
B	The signal experiences less loss compared to multi-hop using Earth as a reflector
C	Signals travel faster along ionospheric chords
D	Atmospheric noise is lower in the direction of chordal hop propagation

15. - E3C11

What does VOACAP software model?

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

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 high frequency sine wave is displayed and the probe is adjusted for maximum amplitude
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 frequency standard is displayed and the probe is adjusted until the deflection time is accurate

17. - E4B06

How much power is being absorbed by the load when a directional power meter connected between a transmitter and a terminating load reads 100 watts forward power and 25 watts reflected power?

Select	Answer
A	100 watts
B	125 watts
C	75 watts
D	25 watts

18. - E4C15

What is reciprocal mixing?

Select	Answer
A	Two out-of-band signals mixing to generate an in-band spurious signal
B	Two digital signals combining from alternate time slots
C	Local oscillator phase noise mixing with adjacent strong signals to create interference to desired signals
D	In-phase signals cancelling in a mixer resulting in loss of receiver sensitivity

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	A band-pass filter in the feed line between the transmitter and receiver
D	Utilizing a Class D final amplifier

20. - E4E02

Which of the following types of noise can often be reduced with a digital signal processing noise filter?

Select	Answer
A	All these choices are correct
B	Ignition noise
C	Power line noise
D	Broadband white noise

21. - E5A13

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

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

22. - E5B11

What is the phase angle between the voltage across and the current through a series RLC circuit if XC is 25 ohms, R is 100 ohms, and XL is 50 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. - E5C05

What is the name of the diagram used to show the phase relationship between impedances at a given frequency?

Select	Answer
A	Phasor diagram
B	Far field diagram
C	Near field diagram
D	Venn diagram

24. - E5D02

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

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

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

26. - E6B06

Which of the following is a common use of a Schottky diode?

Select	Answer
A	As a VHF/UHF mixer or detector
B	As a rectifier in high current power supplies
C	As a variable capacitance in an automatic frequency control circuit
D	As a constant voltage reference in a power supply

27. - E6C04

Which of the following is an advantage of BiCMOS logic?

Select	Answer
A	It is immune to electrostatic damage
B	Its simplicity results in much less expensive devices than standard CMOS
C	All these choices are correct
D	It has the high input impedance of CMOS and the low output impedance of bipolar transistors

28. - E6D05

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

Select	Answer
A	Ferrite toroids are easier to use with surface mount technology
B	Ferrite toroids generally have lower initial permeability
C	Ferrite toroids generally have better temperature stability
D	Ferrite toroids generally require fewer turns to produce a given inductance value

29. - E6E09

Which of the following component package types would be most suitable for use at frequencies above the HF range?

Select	Answer
A	TO-220
B	Surface mount
C	Radial lead
D	Axial lead

30. - E6F07

What is a solid-state relay?

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

31. - E7A07

What logical operation does a NAND gate perform?

Select	Answer
A	It produces logic 0 at its output only when all inputs are logic 1
B	It produces logic 0 at its output if some but not all inputs are logic 1
C	It produces logic 0 at its output only when all inputs are logic 0
D	It produces logic 1 at its output only when all inputs are logic 1

32. - E7B02

What is a Class D amplifier?

Select	Answer
A	A low power amplifier that uses a differential amplifier for improved linearity
B	A type of amplifier that uses switching technology to achieve high efficiency
C	An amplifier that uses drift-mode FETs for high efficiency
D	A frequency doubling amplifier

33. - E7C09

What is a crystal lattice filter?

Select	Answer
A	A filter using lattice-shaped quartz crystals for high-Q performance
B	A filter with narrow bandwidth and steep skirts made using quartz crystals
C	A power supply filter made with interlaced quartz crystals
D	An audio filter made with four quartz crystals that resonate at 1 kHz intervals

34. - E7D08

What type of circuit is shown in Figure E7-2?

Select	Answer
A	Monostable multivibrator
B	Linear voltage regulator
C	Grounded emitter amplifier
D	Switching voltage regulator

35. - E7E10

How does a diode envelope detector function?

Select	Answer
A	By breakdown of the Zener voltage
B	By rectification and filtering of RF signals
C	By mixing signals with noise in the transition region of the diode
D	By sensing the change of reactance in the diode with respect to frequency

36. - E7F06

What is the minimum number of bits required for an analog-to-digital converter to sample a signal with a range of 1 volt at a resolution of 1 millivolt?

Select	Answer
A	10 bits
B	8 bits
C	4 bits
D	6 bits

37. - E7G10

What absolute voltage gain can be expected from the circuit in Figure E7-3 when R1 is 1800 ohms and RF is 68 kilohms?

Select	Answer
A	38
B	1
C	0.03
D	76

38. - E7H11

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

Select	Answer
A	Spurious signals at discrete frequencies
B	Broadband noise
C	Digital conversion noise
D	Nyquist limit 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 sawtooth wave
B	A sine wave
C	A cosine wave
D	A square wave

40. - E8B01

What is the modulation index of an FM signal?

Select	Answer
A	The bandwidth of the transmitted signal divided by the modulating signal frequency
B	The type of modulation used by the transmitter
C	The ratio of frequency deviation to modulating signal frequency
D	The ratio of modulating signal amplitude to frequency deviation

41. - E8C12

What factors affect the bandwidth of a transmitted CW signal?

Select	Answer
A	Keying speed and shape factor (rise and fall time)
B	All these choices are correct
C	IF bandwidth and Q
D	Modulation index and output power

42. - E8D05

What is the most common method of reducing key clicks?

Select	Answer
A	Increase keying waveform rise and fall times
B	Low-pass filters at the transmitter output
C	High-pass filters at the transmitter output
D	Reduce keying waveform rise and fall times

43. - E9A09

What is antenna efficiency?

Select	Answer
A	Effective radiated power divided by transmitter output
B	Radiation resistance divided by total resistance
C	Total resistance divided by radiation resistance
D	Radiation resistance divided by transmission resistance

44. - E9B02

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

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

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

46. - E9D07

What is an advantage of using top loading in a shortened HF vertical antenna?

Select	Answer
A	Higher losses
B	Improved radiation efficiency
C	Greater structural strength
D	Lower Q

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 delta matching system
D	The gamma matching system

48. - E9F12

What impedance does a 1/4-wavelength transmission line present to a generator when the line is open at the far end?

Select	Answer
A	Very low impedance
B	The same as the characteristic impedance of the line
C	The same as the input impedance to the generator
D	Very high impedance

49. - E9G03

Which of the following is often determined using a Smith chart?

Select	Answer
A	Beam headings and radiation patterns
B	Trigonometric functions
C	Satellite azimuth and elevation bearings
D	Impedance and SWR values in transmission lines

50. - E9H02

Which is generally true for low band (160 meter and 80 meter) receiving antennas?

Select	Answer
A	All these choices are correct
B	Low loss coax transmission line is essential for good performance
C	Atmospheric noise is so high that gain over a dipole is not important
D	They must be erected at least 1/2 wavelength above the ground to attain good directivity

Figure E7-2

Figure E7-3

Figure E9-1