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. - E1A06

Where must the carrier frequency of a CW signal be set to comply with FCC rules for 60 meter operation?

Select	Answer
A	At the lowest frequency of the channel
B	At the center frequency of the channel
C	On any frequency where the signal's sidebands are within the channel
D	At the highest frequency of the channel

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

4. - E1C13

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

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

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

6. - E1E01

For which types of out-of-pocket expenses do the Part 97 rules state that VEs and VECs may be reimbursed?

Select	Answer
A	Preparing, processing, administering, and coordinating an examination for an amateur radio operator license
B	Teaching an amateur operator license examination preparation course
C	No expenses are authorized for reimbursement
D	Providing amateur operator license examination preparation training materials

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. - E2A04

What is meant by the term mode? as applied to an amateur radio satellite?

Select	Answer
A	The satellite's uplink and downlink frequency bands
B	Whether the satellite is in a polar or equatorial orbit
C	The satellite's orientation with respect to the Earth
D	Whether the satellite is in a low earth or geostationary orbit

9. - E2B12

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

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

10. - E2C05

What is the function of a DX QSL Manager?

Select	Answer
A	To handle the receiving and sending of confirmation cards for a DX station
B	To run a net to allow many stations to contact a rare DX station
C	To relay calls to and from a DX station
D	To allocate frequencies for DXpeditions

11. - E2D10

How can an APRS station be used to help support a public service communications activity?

Select	Answer
A	An APRS station with an emergency medical technician can automatically transmit medical data to the nearest hospital
B	All these choices are correct
C	APRS stations with General Personnel Scanners can automatically relay the participant numbers and time as they pass the check points
D	An APRS station with a Global Positioning System unit can automatically transmit information to show a mobile station's position during the event

12. - E2E09

Which of the following HF digital modes uses variable-length coding for bandwidth efficiency?

Select	Answer
A	MT63
B	PACTOR
C	RTTY
D	PSK31

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

14. - E3B06

Which of the following amateur bands most frequently provides long-path propagation?

Select	Answer
A	10 meters
B	20 meters
C	6 meters
D	80 meters

15. - E3C04

What does the value of Bz (B sub Z) represent?

Select	Answer
A	Geomagnetic field stability
B	Critical frequency for vertical transmissions
C	Duration of long-delayed echoes
D	Direction and strength of the interplanetary magnetic field

16. - E4A08

Which of the following measures SWR?

Select	Answer
A	An ohmmeter
B	A spectrum analyzer
C	A Q meter
D	An antenna analyzer

17. - E4B08

Which of the following can be used to measure the Q of a series-tuned circuit?

Select	Answer
A	The frequency shift
B	The inductance to capacitance ratio
C	The bandwidth of the circuit's frequency response
D	The resonant frequency of the circuit

18. - E4C09

Which of the following choices is a good reason for selecting a high frequency for the design of the IF in a superheterodyne HF or VHF communications receiver?

Select	Answer
A	Reduced drift
B	Easier for front-end circuitry to eliminate image responses
C	Fewer components in the receiver
D	Improved receiver noise figure

19. - E4D09

What is the purpose of the preselector in a communications receiver?

Select	Answer
A	To allow selection of the optimum RF amplifier device
B	To provide a range of AGC time constants
C	To increase rejection of signals outside the desired band
D	To store often-used frequencies

20. - E4E01

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

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

21. - E5A15

Which of the following increases Q for inductors and capacitors?

Select	Answer
A	Lower self-resonant frequency
B	Higher self-resonant frequency
C	Lower reactance
D	Lower losses

22. - E5B01

What is the term for the time required for the capacitor in an RC circuit to be charged to 63.2% of the applied voltage or to discharge to 36.8% of its initial voltage?

Select	Answer
A	One exponential period
B	An exponential rate of one
C	A time factor of one
D	One time constant

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 phase angle and the Y axis represents the magnitude
B	The X axis represents the magnitude and the Y axis represents the phase angle
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. - E5D08

How many watts are consumed in a circuit having a power factor of 0.6 if the input is 200VAC at 5 amperes?

Select	Answer
A	1600 watts
B	200 watts
C	600 watts
D	1000 watts

25. - E6A07

Which of the following indicates that a silicon NPN junction transistor is biased on?

Select	Answer
A	Base-to-emitter resistance of approximately 0.6 to 0.7 ohms
B	Base-to-emitter voltage of approximately 6 to 7 volts
C	Base-to-emitter resistance of approximately 6 to 7 ohms
D	Base-to-emitter voltage of approximately 0.6 to 0.7 volts

26. - E6B05

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

Select	Answer
A	Extremely high reverse breakdown voltage
B	Reverse bias controls its forward voltage drop
C	Low junction capacitance
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 that ensures that an oscillator frequency does not drift
B	A resistor in a keying circuit used to reduce key clicks
C	A resistor connected to the positive or negative supply line used to establish a voltage when an input or output is an open circuit
D	A resistor connected to an op-amp output that prevents signals from exceeding the power supply voltage

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

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

31. - E7A11

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

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

32. - E7B06

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

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

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

34. - E7D15

What is the purpose of a step-start circuit in a high-voltage power supply?

Select	Answer
A	To allow for remote control of the power supply
B	To compensate for variations of the incoming line voltage
C	To allow the filter capacitors to charge gradually
D	To provide a dual-voltage output for reduced power applications

35. - E7E03

What is a frequency discriminator stage in a FM receiver?

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

36. - E7F04

What is a common method of generating an SSB signal using digital signal processing?

Select	Answer
A	Mixing products are converted to voltages and subtracted by adder circuits
B	A frequency synthesizer removes the unwanted sidebands
C	Varying quartz crystal characteristics emulated in digital form
D	Signals are combined in quadrature phase relationship

37. - E7G08

How does the gain of an ideal operational amplifier vary with frequency?

Select	Answer
A	It decreases linearly with increasing frequency
B	It does not vary with frequency
C	It decreases logarithmically with increasing frequency
D	It increases linearly with increasing frequency

38. - E7H10

What information is contained in the lookup table of a direct digital synthesizer (DDS)?

Select	Answer
A	The phase relationship between a voltage-controlled oscillator and the output waveform
B	Frequently used receiver and transmitter frequencies
C	The phase relationship between a reference oscillator and the output waveform
D	Amplitude values that represent the desired waveform

39. - E8A04

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

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

40. - E8B11

What is digital time division multiplexing?

Select	Answer
A	Two or more signals are quadrature modulated to increase bandwidth efficiency
B	Two or more data streams share the same channel by transmitting time of transmission as the sub-carrier
C	Two or more data streams are assigned to discrete sub-carriers on an FM transmitter
D	Two or more signals are arranged to share discrete time slots of a data transmission

41. - E8C09

Which digital code allows only one bit to change between sequential code values?

Select	Answer
A	Excess 3 code
B	Extended Binary Coded Decimal Interchange Code
C	Binary Coded Decimal Code
D	Gray code

42. - E8D05

What is the most common method of reducing key clicks?

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

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. - E9B06

What is the elevation angle of peak response in the antenna radiation pattern shown in Figure E9-2?

Select	Answer
A	7.5 degrees
B	45 degrees
C	75 degrees
D	25 degrees

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

46. - E9D01

How much does the gain of an ideal parabolic dish antenna change when the operating frequency is doubled?

Select	Answer
A	4 dB
B	6 dB
C	3 dB
D	2 dB

47. - E9E03

What is the name of the matching system that uses a section of transmission line connected in parallel with the feed line at or near the feed point?

Select	Answer
A	The gamma match
B	The omega match
C	The stub match
D	The delta match

48. - E9F07

How does ladder line compare to small-diameter coaxial cable such as RG-58 at 50 MHz?

Select	Answer
A	Smaller reflection coefficient
B	Higher SWR
C	Lower loss
D	Lower velocity factor

49. - E9G08

What is the process of normalization with regard to a Smith chart?

Select	Answer
A	Reassigning prime center with regard to the reactance axis
B	Reassigning resistance values with regard to the reactance axis
C	Reassigning reactance values with regard to the resistance axis
D	Reassigning impedance values with regard to the prime center

50. - E9H11

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

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

Figure E9-2