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

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

3. - E1B12

What must the control operator of a repeater operating in the 70 cm band do if a radiolocation system experiences interference from that repeater?

Select	Answer
A	All these choices are correct
B	File an FAA NOTAM (Notice to Airmen) with the repeater system's ERP, call sign, and six-character grid locator
C	Reduce the repeater antenna HAAT (Height Above Average Terrain)
D	Cease operation or make changes to the repeater to mitigate the interference

4. - E1C11

Which of the following operating arrangements allows an FCC-licensed U.S. citizen to operate in many European countries, and alien amateurs from many European countries to operate in the U.S.?

Select	Answer
A	CEPT agreement
B	ITU reciprocal license
C	IARP agreement
D	All these choices are correct

5. - E1D06

What is the maximum permitted transmitter output power when operating a model craft by telecommand?

Select	Answer
A	100 watts
B	1 watt
C	2 watts
D	5 watts

6. - E1E12

What must the VE team do with the application form if the examinee does not pass the exam?

Select	Answer
A	Send the application form to the FCC and inform the FCC of the grade
B	Maintain the application form with the VEC's records
C	Return the application document to the examinee
D	Destroy the application form

7. - E1F03

Under what circumstances may a dealer sell an external RF power amplifier capable of operation below 144 MHz if it has not been granted FCC certification?

Select	Answer
A	It was imported from a manufacturer in another country and was certificated by that country's government
B	It was purchased in used condition from an amateur operator and is sold to another amateur operator for use at that operator's station
C	The equipment dealer assembled it from a kit
D	It was imported from a manufacturer in a country that does not require certification of RF power amplifiers

8. - E2A11

What type of antenna can be used to minimize the effects of spin modulation and Faraday rotation?

Select	Answer
A	A circularly polarized antenna
B	An isotropic antenna
C	A linearly polarized antenna
D	A log-periodic dipole array

9. - E2B03

How is an interlaced scanning pattern generated in a fast-scan (NTSC) television system?

Select	Answer
A	By scanning lines from left to right in one field and right to left in the next
B	By scanning each field from bottom to top
C	By scanning two fields simultaneously
D	By scanning odd numbered lines in one field and even numbered lines in the next

10. - E2C09

What type of equipment is commonly used to implement an amateur radio mesh network?

Select	Answer
A	A wireless router running custom firmware
B	A 2 meter VHF transceiver with a 1200 baud modem
C	A 440 MHz transceiver with a 9600 baud modem
D	An optical cable connection between the USB ports of 2 separate computers

11. - E2D05

What is one advantage of the JT65 mode?

Select	Answer
A	The ability to decode signals which have a very low signal-to-noise ratio
B	Easily copied by ear if necessary
C	Uses only a 65 Hz bandwidth
D	Permits fast-scan TV transmissions over narrow bandwidth

12. - E2E12

How do ALE stations establish contact?

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

13. - E3A03

When scheduling EME contacts, which of these conditions will generally result in the least path loss?

Select	Answer
A	When the moon is full
B	When the moon is at apogee
C	When the moon is at perigee
D	When the MUF is above 30 MHz

14. - E3B04

What is meant by the terms "extraordinary" and "ordinary" waves?

Select	Answer
A	Long-path and short-path waves
B	Refracted rays and reflected waves
C	Extraordinary waves describe rare long-skip propagation compared to ordinary waves, which travel shorter distances
D	Independent waves created in the ionosphere that are elliptically polarized

15. - E3C01

What does the radio communication term "ray tracing" describe?

Select	Answer
A	Determining the radiation pattern from an array of antennas
B	The process in which an electronic display presents a pattern
C	Modeling a radio wave's path through the ionosphere
D	Evaluating high voltage sources for x-rays

16. - E4A07

Which of the following is an advantage of using an antenna analyzer compared to an SWR bridge to measure antenna SWR?

Select	Answer
A	Antenna analyzers do not need an external RF source
B	Antenna analyzers display a time-varying representation of the modulation envelope
C	Antenna analyzers automatically tune your antenna for resonance
D	All these choices are correct

17. - E4B04

Which S parameter represents input port return loss or reflection coefficient (equivalent to VSWR)?

Select	Answer
A	S11
B	S21
C	S12
D	S22

18. - E4C07

What does the MDS of a receiver represent?

Select	Answer
A	The minimum discernible signal
B	The multiplex distortion stability
C	The maximum detectable spectrum
D	The meter display sensitivity

19. - E4D06

What is the term for spurious signals generated by the combination of two or more signals in a non-linear device or circuit?

Select	Answer
A	Intermodulation
B	Adjacent channel interference
C	Neutralization
D	Amplifier desensitization

20. - E4E07

Which of the following can cause shielded cables to radiate or receive interference?

Select	Answer
A	Common-mode currents on the shield and conductors
B	Low inductance ground connections at both ends of the shield
C	Tying all ground connections to a common point resulting in differential-mode currents in the shield
D	Use of braided shielding material

21. - E5A11

What is the half-power bandwidth of a resonant circuit that has a resonant frequency of 7.1 MHz and a Q of 150?

Select	Answer
A	23.67 kHz
B	315.6 Hz
C	47.3 kHz
D	157.8 Hz

22. - E5B08

What is the phase angle between the voltage across and the current through a series RLC circuit if XC is 100 ohms, R is 100 ohms, and XL is 75 ohms?

Select	Answer
A	14 degrees with the voltage leading the current
B	76 degrees with the voltage leading the current
C	76 degrees with the voltage lagging the current
D	14 degrees with the voltage lagging 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 reactive component and the Y axis represents the resistive component
D	The X axis represents the resistive component and the Y axis represents the reactive component

24. - E5D01

What is the result of skin effect?

Select	Answer
A	Thermal effects on the surface of the conductor decrease the impedance
B	Thermal effects on the surface of the conductor increase the impedance
C	As frequency increases, RF current flows in a thinner layer of the conductor, closer to the surface
D	As frequency decreases, RF current flows in a thinner layer of the conductor, closer to the surface

25. - E6A01

In what application is gallium arsenide used as a semiconductor material?

Select	Answer
A	In high-current rectifier circuits
B	In microwave circuits
C	In very low-frequency RF circuits
D	In high-power audio circuits

26. - E6B03

What type of bias is required for an LED to emit light?

Select	Answer
A	Zero bias
B	Inductive bias
C	Forward bias
D	Reverse bias

27. - E6C04

Which of the following is an advantage of BiCMOS logic?

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

28. - E6D07

What is current in the primary winding of a transformer called if no load is attached to the secondary?

Select	Answer
A	Direct current
B	Excitation current
C	Magnetizing current
D	Stabilizing current

29. - E6E11

What is a characteristic of DIP packaging used for integrated circuits?

Select	Answer
A	Low leakage doubly insulated package
B	Package mounts in a direct inverted position
C	Two chips in each package (Dual In Package)
D	A total of two rows of connecting pins placed on opposite sides of the package (Dual In-line Package)

30. - E6F01

What absorbs the energy from light falling on a photovoltaic cell?

Select	Answer
A	Photons
B	Holes
C	Electrons
D	Protons

31. - E7A07

What logical operation does a NAND gate perform?

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

32. - E7B15

What is one way to prevent thermal runaway in a bipolar transistor amplifier?

Select	Answer
A	Use a resistor in series with the emitter
B	Select transistors with high beta
C	All these choices are correct
D	Neutralization

33. - E7C12

What is one advantage of a Pi-matching network over an L-matching network consisting of a single inductor and a single capacitor?

Select	Answer
A	Pi-networks are more stable
B	The Q of Pi-networks can be controlled
C	L-networks cannot perform impedance transformation
D	Pi-networks provide balanced input and output

34. - E7D08

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

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

35. - E7E09

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

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

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	4 bits
C	8 bits
D	6 bits

37. - E7G03

What is the typical input impedance of an op-amp?

Select	Answer
A	Very high
B	1000 ohms
C	Very low
D	100 ohms

38. - E7H13

Which of the following is a technique for providing highly accurate and stable oscillators needed for microwave transmission and reception?

Select	Answer
A	Use a rubidium stabilized reference oscillator
B	Use a GPS signal reference
C	Use a temperature-controlled high Q dielectric resonator
D	All these choices are correct

39. - E8A02

Which of the following is a type of analog-to-digital conversion?

Select	Answer
A	Phase reversal
B	Level shifting
C	Successive approximation
D	Harmonic regeneration

40. - E8B01

What is the modulation index of an FM signal?

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

41. - E8C07

What is the bandwidth of a 4800-Hz frequency shift, 9600-baud ASCII FM transmission?

Select	Answer
A	9.6 kHz
B	15.36 kHz
C	4.8 kHz
D	5.76 kHz

42. - E8D06

What is the advantage of including parity bits in ASCII characters?

Select	Answer
A	Faster transmission rate
B	Foreign language characters can be sent
C	Some types of errors can be detected
D	The signal can overpower interfering signals

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	Distance from the transmitter
B	Take-off angle
C	Soil conductivity
D	The standing wave ratio

44. - E9B05

What type of antenna pattern is shown in Figure E9-2?

Select	Answer
A	Elevation
B	Azimuth
C	Polarization
D	Radiation resistance

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 phased array antenna consisting of multiple loops
C	A multi-band trap antenna
D	A multi-band dipole antenna fed with coax and a balun through a selected length of open wire transmission line

46. - E9D12

Which of the following would provide the best RF ground for your station?

Select	Answer
A	An electrically short connection to a metal water pipe
B	An electrically short connection to 3 or 4 interconnected ground rods driven into the Earth
C	A 50-ohm resistor connected to ground
D	An electrically short connection to 3 or 4 interconnected ground rods via a series RF choke

47. - E9E09

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

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

48. - E9F02

Which of the following has the biggest effect on the velocity factor of a transmission line?

Select	Answer
A	Dielectric materials used in the line
B	The center conductor resistivity
C	The termination impedance
D	The line length

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 impedance values with regard to the prime center
D	Reassigning reactance values with regard to the resistance axis

50. - E9H10

How can the output voltage of a multiple-turn receiving loop antenna be increased?

Select	Answer
A	By increasing the number of turns and/or the area
B	By reducing the permeability of the loop shield
C	By utilizing high impedance wire for the coupling loop
D	By winding adjacent turns in opposing directions

Figure E7-2

Figure E9-2