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	Zinc oxide
B	Uranium Hexafluoride
C	Mica
D	Beryllium Oxide

2. - E1A14

Except in some parts of Alaska, what is the maximum power permitted on the 630 meter band?

Select	Answer
A	1 watt EIRP
B	5 watts EIRP
C	100 watts PEP
D	50 watts PEP

3. - E1B10

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

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

4. - E1C14

How long must an operator wait after filing a notification with the Utilities Technology Council (UTC) before operating on the 2200 meter or 630 meter band?

Select	Answer
A	Operators must not operate until approval is received
B	Operators may not operate until a test signal has been transmitted in coordination with the local power company
C	Operators may operate after 30 days, providing they have not been told that their station is within 1 km of PLC systems using those frequencies
D	Operations may commence immediately, and may continue unless interference is reported by the UTC

5. - E1D03

What is a space telecommand station?

Select	Answer
A	An amateur station that transmits communications to initiate, modify or terminate functions of a space station
B	An amateur station that receives telemetry from a satellite or balloon more than 50 kilometers above the surface of the Earth
C	An amateur station located in a satellite or a balloon more than 50 kilometers above the surface of the Earth
D	An amateur station located on the surface of the Earth for communication with other Earth stations by means of Earth satellites

6. - E1E11

What must the VE team do if an examinee scores a passing grade on all examination elements needed for an upgrade or new license?

Select	Answer
A	Photocopy all examination documents and forward them to the FCC for processing
B	All these choices are correct
C	Three VEs must certify that the examinee is qualified for the license grant and that they have complied with the administering VE requirements
D	Issue the examinee the new or upgrade license

7. - E1F10

Who may be the control operator of an auxiliary station?

Select	Answer
A	Only Amateur Extra Class operators
B	Only Technician, General, Advanced or Amateur Extra Class operators
C	Only General, Advanced or Amateur Extra Class operators
D	Any licensed amateur operator

8. - E2A01

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

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

9. - E2B11

What is the function of the Vertical Interval Signaling (VIS) code sent as part of an SSTV transmission?

Select	Answer
A	To provide vertical synchronization
B	To lock the color burst oscillator in color SSTV images
C	To identify the call sign of the station transmitting
D	To identify the SSTV mode being used

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

11. - E2D07

What digital protocol is used by APRS?

Select	Answer
A	PACTOR
B	802.11
C	AMTOR
D	AX.25

12. - E2E09

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

Select	Answer
A	MT63
B	PACTOR
C	PSK31
D	RTTY

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 at apogee
B	When the moon is full
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	Independent waves created in the ionosphere that are elliptically polarized
C	Extraordinary waves describe rare long-skip propagation compared to ordinary waves, which travel shorter distances
D	Refracted rays and reflected waves

15. - E3C04

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

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

16. - E4A08

Which of the following measures SWR?

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

17. - E4B07

What do the subscripts of S parameters represent?

Select	Answer
A	The port or ports at which measurements are made
B	Relative quality of the data
C	Frequency order of the measurements
D	The relative time between measurements

18. - E4C03

What is the term for the suppression in an FM receiver of one signal by another stronger signal on the same frequency?

Select	Answer
A	Cross-modulation interference
B	Capture effect
C	Frequency discrimination
D	Desensitization

19. - E4D03

How can intermodulation interference between two repeaters occur?

Select	Answer
A	When the signals from the transmitters are reflected out of phase from airplanes passing overhead
B	When the repeaters are in close proximity and the signals cause feedback in the final amplifier of one or both transmitters
C	When the repeaters are in close proximity and the signals mix in the final amplifier of one or both transmitters
D	When the signals from the transmitters are reflected in phase from airplanes passing overhead

20. - E4E02

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

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

21. - E5A15

Which of the following increases Q for inductors and capacitors?

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

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. - E5C05

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

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

24. - E5D15

What is the power factor of an RL circuit having a 45-degree phase angle between the voltage and the current?

Select	Answer
A	1.0
B	0.707
C	0.5
D	0.866

25. - E6A10

In Figure E6-1, what is the schematic symbol for an N-channel dual-gate MOSFET?

Select	Answer
A	2
B	4
C	5
D	6

26. - E6B01

What is the most useful characteristic of a Zener diode?

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

27. - E6C07

What best describes a pull-up or pull-down resistor?

Select	Answer
A	A resistor in a keying circuit used to reduce key clicks
B	A resistor connected to the positive or negative supply line used to establish a voltage when an input or output is an open circuit
C	A resistor connected to an op-amp output that prevents signals from exceeding the power supply voltage
D	A resistor that ensures that an oscillator frequency does not drift

28. - E6D13

What is the primary cause of inductor self-resonance?

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

29. - E6E10

What advantage does surface-mount technology offer at RF compared to using through-hole components?

Select	Answer
A	Components have less parasitic inductance and capacitance
B	All these choices are correct
C	Smaller circuit area
D	Shorter circuit-board traces

30. - E6F02

What happens to the conductivity of a photoconductive material when light shines on it?

Select	Answer
A	It stays the same
B	It decreases
C	It becomes unstable
D	It increases

31. - E7A11

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

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

32. - E7B17

Why are odd-order rather than even-order intermodulation distortion products of concern in linear power amplifiers?

Select	Answer
A	Because they are relatively far in frequency from the desired signal
B	Because they invert the sidebands causing distortion
C	Because they are relatively close in frequency to the desired signal
D	Because they maintain the sidebands, thus causing multiple duplicate signals

33. - E7C05

Which filter type is described as having ripple in the passband and a sharp cutoff?

Select	Answer
A	A passive op-amp filter
B	An active LC filter
C	A Chebyshev filter
D	A Butterworth filter

34. - E7D14

What is the purpose of connecting equal-value resistors across power supply filter capacitors connected in series?

Select	Answer
A	Equalize the voltage across each capacitor
B	Discharge the capacitors when voltage is removed
C	Provide a minimum load on the supply
D	All these choices are correct

35. - E7E07

What is meant by the term "baseband" in radio communications?

Select	Answer
A	The unmodulated bandwidth of the transmitted signal
B	The frequency range occupied by a message signal prior to modulation
C	The basic oscillator frequency in an FM transmitter that is multiplied to increase the deviation and carrier frequency
D	The lowest frequency band that the transmitter or receiver covers

36. - E7F02

What kind of digital signal processing audio filter is used to remove unwanted noise from a received SSB signal?

Select	Answer
A	A crystal-lattice filter
B	An adaptive filter
C	A phase-inverting filter
D	A Hilbert-transform filter

37. - E7G12

What is an operational amplifier?

Select	Answer
A	A high-gain, direct-coupled differential amplifier with very high input impedance and very low output impedance
B	A digital audio amplifier whose characteristics are determined by components external to the amplifier
C	A RF amplifier used in the UHF and microwave regions
D	An amplifier used to increase the average output of frequency modulated amateur signals to the legal limit

38. - E7H12

Which of the following must be done to ensure that a crystal oscillator provides the frequency specified by the crystal manufacturer?

Select	Answer
A	Bias the crystal at a specified voltage
B	Provide the crystal with a specified parallel inductance
C	Bias the crystal at a specified current
D	Provide the crystal with a specified parallel capacitance

39. - E8A05

What of the following instruments would be the most accurate for measuring the RMS voltage of a complex waveform?

Select	Answer
A	A grid dip meter
B	An absorption wave meter
C	A true-RMS calculating meter
D	A D'Arsonval meter

40. - E8B01

What is the modulation index of an FM signal?

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

41. - E8C10

How may data rate be increased without increasing bandwidth?

Select	Answer
A	It is impossible
B	Using a more efficient digital code
C	Increasing analog-to-digital conversion resolution
D	Using forward error correction

42. - E8D02

What spread spectrum communications technique uses a high-speed binary bit stream to shift the phase of an RF carrier?

Select	Answer
A	Frequency hopping
B	Direct sequence
C	Binary phase-shift keying
D	Phase compandored spread spectrum

43. - E9A05

What is included in the total resistance of an antenna system?

Select	Answer
A	Radiation resistance plus loss resistance
B	Radiation resistance plus transmission resistance
C	Transmission-line resistance plus radiation resistance
D	Radiation resistance plus space impedance

44. - E9B05

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

Select	Answer
A	Azimuth
B	Radiation resistance
C	Polarization
D	Elevation

45. - E9C14

How does the performance of a horizontally polarized antenna mounted on the side of a hill compare with the same antenna mounted on flat ground?

Select	Answer
A	The main lobe takeoff angle decreases in the downhill direction
B	The horizontal beamwidth increases in the uphill direction
C	The main lobe takeoff angle increases in the downhill direction
D	The horizontal beamwidth decreases in the downhill direction

46. - E9D12

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

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

47. - E9E02

What is the name of an antenna matching system that matches an unbalanced feed line to an antenna by feeding the driven element both at the center of the element and at a fraction of a wavelength to one side of center?

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

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	5.2 meters
B	10.4 meters
C	6.9 meters
D	8.3 meters

49. - E9G06

On the Smith chart shown in Figure E9-3, what is the name for the large outer circle on which the reactance arcs terminate?

Select	Answer
A	Reactance axis
B	Impedance axis
C	Polar axis
D	Prime axis

50. - E9H11

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

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

Figure E6-1

Figure E9-2

Figure E9-3