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

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1. - E0A11

Which of the following injuries can result from using high-power UHF or microwave transmitters?

Select	Answer
A	Hearing loss caused by high voltage corona discharge
B	Blood clotting from the intense magnetic field
C	Localized heating of the body from RF exposure in excess of the MPE limits
D	Ingestion of ozone gas from the cooling system

2. - E1A09

What action or actions should you take if your digital message forwarding station inadvertently forwards a communication that violates FCC rules?

Select	Answer
A	All these choices are correct
B	Discontinue forwarding the communication as soon as you become aware of it
C	Notify the nearest FCC Field Engineers office
D	Notify the originating station that the communication does not comply with FCC rules

3. - E1B05

What is the National Radio Quiet Zone?

Select	Answer
A	An area in New Mexico surrounding the White Sands Test Area
B	An area in Puerto Rico surrounding the Arecibo Radio Telescope
C	An area in Florida surrounding Cape Canaveral
D	An area surrounding the National Radio Astronomy Observatory

4. - E1C05

When may an automatically controlled station originate third party communications?

Select	Answer
A	When agreed upon by the sending or receiving station
B	Only when transmitting RTTY or data emissions
C	Never
D	When approved by the National Telecommunication and Information Administration

5. - E1D04

Which of the following is required in the identification transmissions from a balloon-borne telemetry station?

Select	Answer
A	All these choices are correct
B	The station's six-character Maidenhead grid locator
C	Call sign
D	The output power of the balloon transmitter

6. - E1E04

Which of the following best describes the Volunteer Examiner accreditation process?

Select	Answer
A	Each General, Advanced and Amateur Extra Class operator is automatically accredited as a VE when the license is granted
B	The amateur operator applying must pass a VE examination administered by the FCC Enforcement Bureau
C	The prospective VE obtains accreditation from the FCC
D	The procedure by which a VEC confirms that the VE applicant meets FCC requirements to serve as an examiner

7. - E1F07

When may an amateur station send a message to a business?

Select	Answer
A	When neither the amateur nor his or her employer has a pecuniary interest in the communications
B	When the control operator is employed by the FCC or another government agency
C	When transmitting international third-party communications
D	When the total money involved does not exceed $25

8. - E2A12

What is the purpose of digital store-and-forward functions on an amateur radio satellite?

Select	Answer
A	To store digital messages in the satellite for later download by other stations
B	To relay messages between satellites
C	To delay download of telemetry between satellites
D	To upload operational software for the transponder

9. - E2B02

How many horizontal lines make up a fast-scan (NTSC) television frame?

Select	Answer
A	1080
B	60
C	525
D	30

10. - E2C04

Which of the following frequencies are sometimes used for amateur radio mesh networks?

Select	Answer
A	HF frequencies where digital communications are permitted
B	The 60 meter band channel centered on 5373 kHz
C	Frequencies shared with various unlicensed wireless data services
D	Cable TV channels 41 through 43

11. - E2D07

What digital protocol is used by APRS?

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

12. - E2E05

Which of these digital modes does not support keyboard-to-keyboard operation?

Select	Answer
A	RTTY
B	PACTOR
C	PSK31
D	MFSK

13. - E3A11

What is a typical range for tropospheric propagation of microwave signals?

Select	Answer
A	10 miles to 50 miles
B	2500 miles
C	1200 miles
D	100 miles to 300 miles

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. - E3C12

How does the maximum range of ground-wave propagation change when the signal frequency is increased?

Select	Answer
A	It decreases
B	It stays the same
C	It increases
D	It peaks at roughly 14 MHz

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	RF amplitude and time
C	SWR and frequency
D	RF amplitude and frequency

17. - E4B05

What three test loads are used to calibrate an RF vector network analyzer?

Select	Answer
A	Short circuit, open circuit, and resonant circuit
B	50 ohms through 1/8 wavelength, 1/4 wavelength, and 1/2 wavelength of coaxial cable
C	Short circuit, open circuit, and 50 ohms
D	50 ohms, 75 ohms, and 90 ohms

18. - E4C05

What does a receiver noise floor of -174 dBm represent?

Select	Answer
A	The theoretical noise in a 1 Hz bandwidth at the input of a perfect receiver at room temperature
B	The noise figure of a 1 Hz bandwidth receiver
C	The galactic noise contribution to minimum detectable signal
D	The minimum detectable signal as a function of receive frequency

19. - E4D03

How can intermodulation interference between two repeaters occur?

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

20. - E4E11

What could cause local AM broadcast band signals to combine to generate spurious signals in the MF or HF bands?

Select	Answer
A	One or more of the broadcast stations is transmitting an over-modulated signal
B	Your station receiver IF amplifier stage is defective
C	You are receiving skywave signals from a distant station
D	Nearby corroded metal joints are mixing and re-radiating the broadcast signals

21. - E5A06

What is the magnitude of the circulating current within the components of a parallel LC circuit at resonance?

Select	Answer
A	It is at a maximum
B	It equals 1 divided by the quantity 2 times pi, multiplied by the square root of inductance L multiplied by capacitance C
C	It is at a minimum
D	It equals 2 multiplied by pi, multiplied by frequency, multiplied by inductance

22. - E5B02

What letter is commonly used to represent susceptance?

Select	Answer
A	Y
B	X
C	G
D	B

23. - E5C11

Which point in Figure E5-1 best represents the impedance of a series circuit consisting of a 300-ohm resistor and an 18-microhenry inductor at 3.505 MHz?

Select	Answer
A	Point 8
B	Point 1
C	Point 7
D	Point 3

24. - E5D12

How many watts are consumed in a circuit having a power factor of 0.2 if the input is 100 VAC at 4 amperes?

Select	Answer
A	80 watts
B	2000 watts
C	400 watts
D	50 watts

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

26. - E6B08

Which of the following is a Schottky barrier diode?

Select	Answer
A	Thermionic emission diode
B	PIN junction
C	Electrolytic rectifier
D	Metal-semiconductor junction

27. - E6C02

What happens when the level of a comparator's input signal crosses the threshold?

Select	Answer
A	The feedback loop becomes unstable
B	The IC input can be damaged
C	The comparator enters latch-up
D	The comparator changes its output state

28. - E6D02

What is the equivalent circuit of a quartz crystal?

Select	Answer
A	Motional capacitance, motional inductance, loss resistance, and a capacitor representing electrode and stray capacitance all in series
B	Motional capacitance, motional inductance, loss resistance, and a capacitor representing electrode and stray capacitance all in parallel
C	Motional inductance and loss resistance in series, paralleled with motional capacitance and a capacitor representing electrode and stray capacitance
D	Motional capacitance, motional inductance, and loss resistance in series, all in parallel with a shunt capacitor representing electrode and stray capacitance

29. - E6E07

What type of transmission line is used for connections to MMICs?

Select	Answer
A	Circular waveguide
B	Microstrip
C	Miniature coax
D	Parallel wire

30. - E6F09

What is the efficiency of a photovoltaic cell?

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

31. - E7A03

Which of the following can divide the frequency of a pulse train by 2?

Select	Answer
A	A multiplexer
B	A flip-flop
C	An XOR gate
D	An OR gate

32. - E7B18

What is a characteristic of a grounded-grid amplifier?

Select	Answer
A	High filament voltage
B	High power gain
C	Low input impedance
D	Low bandwidth

33. - E7C08

Which of the following factors has the greatest effect on the bandwidth and response shape of a crystal ladder filter?

Select	Answer
A	The relative frequencies of the individual crystals
B	The amplitude of the signals passing through the filter
C	The DC voltage applied to the quartz crystal
D	The gain of the RF stage preceding the filter

34. - E7D13

What is the equation for calculating power dissipated by a series linear voltage regulator?

Select	Answer
A	Voltage difference from input to output multiplied by output current
B	Input voltage divided by output current
C	Input voltage multiplied by input current
D	Output voltage multiplied by output current

35. - E7E01

Which of the following can be used to generate FM phone emissions?

Select	Answer
A	A balanced modulator on the audio amplifier
B	A reactance modulator on the oscillator
C	A reactance modulator on the final amplifier
D	A balanced modulator on the oscillator

36. - E7F05

How frequently must an analog signal be sampled by an analog-to-digital converter so that the signal can be accurately reproduced?

Select	Answer
A	At least twice the rate of the highest frequency component of the signal
B	At least half the rate of the highest frequency component of the signal
C	At four times the rate of the highest frequency component of the signal
D	At the same rate as the highest frequency component of the signal

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	0.03
C	76
D	1

38. - E7H09

What type of frequency synthesizer circuit uses a phase accumulator, lookup table, digital to analog converter, and a low-pass anti-alias filter?

Select	Answer
A	A phase-locked loop synthesizer
B	A direct digital synthesizer
C	A diode-switching matrix synthesizer
D	A hybrid synthesizer

39. - E8A11

Which of the following is a measure of the quality of an analog-to-digital converter?

Select	Answer
A	Peak envelope power
B	Reciprocal mixing
C	Power factor
D	Total harmonic distortion

40. - E8B01

What is the modulation index of an FM signal?

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

41. - E8C11

What is the relationship between symbol rate and baud?

Select	Answer
A	They are the same
B	Baud is twice the symbol rate
C	Symbol rate is only used for packet-based modes
D	Baud is only used for RTTY

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. - E9A13

What term describes station output, taking into account all gains and losses?

Select	Answer
A	Power factor
B	Apparent power
C	Effective radiated power
D	Half-power bandwidth

44. - E9B03

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

Select	Answer
A	24 dB
B	14 dB
C	18 dB
D	12 dB

45. - E9C10

Which of the following describes a Zepp antenna?

Select	Answer
A	An end-fed dipole antenna
B	A vertical array capable of quickly changing the direction of maximum radiation by changing phasing lines
C	A dipole constructed from zip cord
D	An omni-directional antenna commonly used for satellite communications

46. - E9D11

Which of the following conductors would be best for minimizing losses in a station's RF ground system?

Select	Answer
A	Resistive wire, such as spark plug wire
B	Stranded wire
C	Solid wire
D	Wide flat copper strap

47. - E9E10

Which of these choices is an effective way to match an antenna with a 100-ohm feed point impedance to a 50-ohm coaxial cable feed line?

Select	Answer
A	Connect a 1/4-wavelength open stub of 300-ohm twinlead in parallel with the coaxial feed line where it connects to the antenna
B	Connect a 1/2 wavelength shorted stub of 75-ohm cable in parallel with the 50-ohm cable where it attaches to the antenna
C	Insert a 1/2 wavelength piece of 300-ohm twinlead in series between the antenna terminals and the 50-ohm feed cable
D	Insert a 1/4-wavelength piece of 75-ohm coaxial cable transmission line in series between the antenna terminals and the 50-ohm feed cable

48. - E9F01

What is the velocity factor of a transmission line?

Select	Answer
A	The velocity of the wave in the transmission line divided by the velocity of light in a vacuum
B	The ratio of the characteristic impedance of the line to the terminating impedance
C	The index of shielding for coaxial cable
D	The velocity of the wave in the transmission line multiplied by the velocity of light in a vacuum

49. - E9G04

What are the two families of circles and arcs that make up a Smith chart?

Select	Answer
A	Resistance and voltage
B	Resistance and reactance
C	Reactance and voltage
D	Voltage and impedance

50. - E9H02

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

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

Figure E5-1

Figure E7-3

Figure E9-1