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

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1. - E0A02

When evaluating RF exposure levels from your station at a neighbor's home, what must you do?

Select	Answer
A	Ensure signals from your station are less than the controlled Maximum Permitted Exposure (MPE) limits
B	Ensure signals from your station are less than the controlled Maximum Permitted Emission (MPE) limits
C	Ensure signals from your station are less than the uncontrolled Maximum Permitted Exposure (MPE) limits
D	Ensure signals from your station are less than the uncontrolled Maximum Permitted Emission (MPE) limits

2. - E1A05

What is the maximum power output permitted on the 60 meter band?

Select	Answer
A	100 watts PEP effective radiated power relative to the gain of a half-wave dipole
B	50 watts PEP effective radiated power relative to a dipole
C	100 watts PEP effective radiated power relative to an isotropic radiator
D	50 watts PEP effective radiated power relative to an isotropic radiator

3. - E1B11

What does PRB-1 require of regulations affecting amateur radio?

Select	Answer
A	No limitations may be placed on antenna size or placement
B	Reasonable accommodations of amateur radio must be made
C	Amateur radio operations must be permitted in any private residence
D	Use of wireless devices in a vehicle is exempt from regulation

4. - E1C10

What is the permitted mean power of any spurious emission relative to the mean power of the fundamental emission from a station transmitter or external RF amplifier installed after January 1, 2003 and transmitting on a frequency below 30 MHz?

Select	Answer
A	At least 73 dB below
B	At least 63 dB below
C	At least 53 dB below
D	At least 43 dB below

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. - E1E09

What may be the penalty for a VE who fraudulently administers or certifies an examination?

Select	Answer
A	Revocation of the VE's amateur station license grant and the suspension of the VE's amateur operator license grant
B	All these choices are correct
C	A sentence of up to one year in prison
D	A fine of up to $1000 per occurrence

7. - E1F04

Which of the following geographic descriptions approximately describes "Line A"?

Select	Answer
A	A line roughly parallel to and south of the border between the U.S. and Canada
B	A line roughly parallel to and north of the border between the U.S. and Mexico
C	A line roughly parallel to and west of the U.S. Atlantic coastline
D	A line roughly parallel to and east of the U.S. Pacific coastline

8. - E2A05

What do the letters in a satellite's mode designator specify?

Select	Answer
A	The uplink and downlink frequency ranges
B	The polarization of uplink and downlink signals
C	The location of the ground control station
D	Power limits for uplink and downlink transmissions

9. - E2B04

How is color information sent in analog SSTV?

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

10. - E2C12

What technique do individual nodes use to form a mesh network?

Select	Answer
A	Custom code plugs for the local trunking systems
B	Forward error correction and Viterbi codes
C	Acting as store-and-forward digipeaters
D	Discovery and link establishment protocols

11. - E2D04

What technology is used to track, in real time, balloons carrying amateur radio transmitters?

Select	Answer
A	Doppler shift of beacon signals
B	Ultrasonics
C	APRS
D	Bandwidth compressed LORAN

12. - E2E13

Which of these digital modes has the fastest data throughput under clear communication conditions?

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

13. - E3A06

What might help to restore contact when DX signals become too weak to copy across an entire HF band a few hours after sunset?

Select	Answer
A	Switch to a higher frequency HF band
B	Wait 90 minutes or so for the signal degradation to pass
C	Wait 24 hours before attempting another communication on the band
D	Switch to a lower frequency HF band

14. - E3B03

What is the best time of day for transequatorial propagation?

Select	Answer
A	Late at night
B	Noon
C	Morning
D	Afternoon or early evening

15. - E3C07

Which of the following descriptors indicates the greatest solar flare intensity?

Select	Answer
A	Class A
B	Class X
C	Class B
D	Class M

16. - E4A02

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

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

17. - E4B11

Which of the following can be measured with a vector network analyzer?

Select	Answer
A	Reflection coefficient
B	Output impedance
C	All these choices are correct
D	Input impedance

18. - E4C10

What is an advantage of having a variety of receiver IF bandwidths from which to select?

Select	Answer
A	Multiple frequencies can be received simultaneously if desired
B	Receive bandwidth can be set to match the modulation bandwidth, maximizing signal-to-noise ratio and minimizing interference
C	The noise figure of the RF amplifier can be adjusted to match the modulation type, thus increasing receiver sensitivity
D	Receiver power consumption can be reduced when wider bandwidth is not required

19. - E4D07

Which of the following reduces the likelihood of receiver desensitization?

Select	Answer
A	Raise the receiver IF frequency
B	Switch from fast AGC to slow AGC
C	Decrease the RF bandwidth of the receiver
D	Increase the receiver front end gain

20. - E4E01

What problem can occur when using an automatic notch filter (ANF) to remove interfering carriers while receiving CW signals?

Select	Answer
A	Any nearby signal passing through the DSP system will overwhelm the desired signal
B	Received CW signals will appear to be modulated at the DSP clock frequency
C	Ringing in the DSP filter will completely remove the spaces between the CW characters
D	Removal of the CW signal as well as the interfering carrier

21. - E5A12

What is the half-power bandwidth of a resonant circuit that has a resonant frequency of 3.7 MHz and a Q of 118?

Select	Answer
A	31.4 kHz
B	218.3 kHz
C	15.7 kHz
D	436.6 kHz

22. - E5B05

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

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

23. - E5C06

What does the impedance 50-j25 represent?

Select	Answer
A	25 ohms resistance in series with 50 ohms capacitive reactance
B	25 ohms resistance in series with 50 ohms inductive reactance
C	50 ohms resistance in series with 25 ohms inductive reactance
D	50 ohms resistance in series with 25 ohms capacitive reactance

24. - E5D06

In what direction is the magnetic field oriented about a conductor in relation to the direction of electron flow?

Select	Answer
A	In all directions; omni-directional
B	In a circle around the conductor
C	In a direction opposite to the current
D	In the same direction as the current

25. - E6A02

Which of the following semiconductor materials contains excess free electrons?

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

26. - E6B01

What is the most useful characteristic of a Zener diode?

Select	Answer
A	A constant voltage drop under conditions of varying current
B	A negative resistance region
C	An internal capacitance that varies with the applied voltage
D	A constant current drop under conditions of varying voltage

27. - E6C10

In Figure E6-3, what is the schematic symbol for a NOR gate?

Select	Answer
A	2
B	3
C	4
D	1

28. - E6D01

Why should core saturation of an impedance matching transformer be avoided?

Select	Answer
A	Temporary changes of the core permeability could result
B	Harmonics and distortion could result
C	Magnetic flux would increase with frequency
D	RF susceptance would increase

29. - E6E03

Which of the following materials is likely to provide the highest frequency of operation when used in MMICs?

Select	Answer
A	Silicon
B	Silicon nitride
C	Gallium nitride
D	Silicon dioxide

30. - E6F09

What is the efficiency of a photovoltaic cell?

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

31. - E7A08

What logical operation does an OR gate perform?

Select	Answer
A	It produces logic 1 at its output if all inputs are logic 0
B	It produces logic 0 at its output if all inputs are logic 1
C	It produces logic 1 at its output if any or all inputs are logic 1
D	It only produces logic 0 at its output when all inputs are logic 1

32. - E7B06

Which of the following amplifier types reduces even-order harmonics?

Select	Answer
A	Push-push
B	Class C
C	Class AB
D	Push-pull

33. - E7C03

What advantage does a series-L Pi-L-network have over a series-L Pi-network for impedance matching between the final amplifier of a vacuum-tube transmitter and an antenna?

Select	Answer
A	Greater transformation range
B	Higher efficiency
C	Greater harmonic suppression
D	Does not require a capacitor

34. - E7D12

What is the dropout voltage of an analog voltage regulator?

Select	Answer
A	Maximum output voltage drops when the input voltage is varied over its specified range
B	Minimum input voltage for rated power dissipation
C	Minimum input-to-output voltage required to maintain regulation
D	Maximum that the output voltage may decrease at rated load

35. - E7E03

What is a frequency discriminator stage in a FM receiver?

Select	Answer
A	An automatic band-switching circuit
B	A circuit for detecting FM signals
C	An FM generator circuit
D	A circuit for filtering two closely adjacent signals

36. - E7F13

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

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

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

38. - E7H02

What is a microphonic?

Select	Answer
A	Distortion caused by RF pickup on the microphone cable
B	Excess loading of the microphone by an oscillator
C	An IC used for amplifying microphone signals
D	Changes in oscillator frequency due to mechanical vibration

39. - E8A08

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

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

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 modulating signal amplitude to frequency deviation
D	The ratio of frequency deviation to modulating signal frequency

41. - E8C02

What is the definition of symbol rate in a digital transmission?

Select	Answer
A	The rate at which the waveform changes to convey information
B	The number of control characters in a message packet
C	The duration of each bit in a message sent over the air
D	The number of characters carried per second by the station-to-station link

42. - E8D01

Why are received spread spectrum signals resistant to interference?

Select	Answer
A	If interference is detected by the receiver it will signal the transmitter to change frequencies
B	Signals not using the spread spectrum algorithm are suppressed in the receiver
C	The high power used by a spread spectrum transmitter keeps its signal from being easily overpowered
D	The receiver is always equipped with a digital blanker

43. - E9A10

Which of the following improves the efficiency of a ground-mounted quarter-wave vertical antenna?

Select	Answer
A	Shortening the radiating element
B	Installing a radial system
C	All these choices are correct
D	Isolating the coax shield from ground

44. - E9B08

What is the far field of an antenna?

Select	Answer
A	The region where the shape of the antenna pattern is independent of distance
B	The region of the ionosphere where radiated power is not refracted
C	The region where radiated power dissipates over a specified time period
D	The region where radiated field strengths are constant

45. - E9C09

Which of the following describes a G5RV antenna?

Select	Answer
A	A wide band dipole using shorted coaxial cable for the radiating elements and fed with a�4:1 balun
B	A multi-band dipole antenna fed with coax and a balun through a selected length of open wire transmission line
C	A phased array antenna consisting of multiple loops
D	A multi-band trap antenna

46. - E9D05

What usually occurs if a Yagi antenna is designed solely for maximum forward gain?

Select	Answer
A	The front-to-back ratio decreases
B	The front-to-back ratio increases
C	The SWR is reduced
D	The frequency response is widened over the whole frequency band

47. - E9E04

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

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

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	5.3 meters
B	10.6 meters
C	3.5 meters
D	4.3 meters

49. - E9G02

What type of coordinate system is used in a Smith chart?

Select	Answer
A	Voltage circles and current arcs
B	Resistance circles and reactance arcs
C	Voltage lines and current chords
D	Resistance lines and reactance chords

50. - E9H11

What feature of a cardioid pattern antenna makes it useful for direction finding?

Select	Answer
A	A very sharp peak
B	A very sharp single null
C	High radiation angle
D	Broadband response

Figure E6-3

Figure E7-3