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

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1. - E0A03

Over what range of frequencies are the FCC human body RF exposure limits most restrictive?

Select	Answer
A	3 to 30 MHz
B	300 kHz to 3 MHz
C	30 to 300 MHz
D	300 to 3000 MHz

2. - E1A10

If an amateur station is installed aboard a ship or aircraft, what condition must be met before the station is operated?

Select	Answer
A	The amateur station operator must agree not to transmit when the main radio of the ship or aircraft is in use
B	The amateur operator must have an FCC Marine or Aircraft endorsement on his or her amateur license
C	Its operation must be approved by the master of the ship or the pilot in command of the aircraft
D	The amateur station must have a power supply that is completely independent of the main ship or aircraft power supply

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. - E1C05

When may an automatically controlled station originate third party communications?

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

5. - E1D06

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

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

6. - E1E05

What is the minimum passing score on all amateur operator license examinations?

Select	Answer
A	Minimum passing score of 77%
B	Minimum passing score of 80%
C	Minimum passing score of 74%
D	Minimum passing score of 70%

7. - E1F04

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

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

8. - E2A03

How is the signal inverted by an inverting linear transponder?

Select	Answer
A	The signal is passed through a mixer and the difference rather than the sum is transmitted
B	The signal is reduced to I and Q components and the Q component is filtered out
C	The signal is detected and remodulated on the reverse sideband
D	The signal is passed through a non-linear filter

9. - E2B05

Which of the following describes the use of vestigial sideband in analog fast-scan TV transmissions?

Select	Answer
A	Vestigial sideband reduces bandwidth while allowing for simple video detector circuitry
B	The vestigial sideband contains chroma information
C	The vestigial sideband carries the audio information
D	Vestigial sideband provides high frequency emphasis to sharpen the picture

10. - E2C03

From which of the following bands is amateur radio contesting generally excluded?

Select	Answer
A	2 meters
B	30 meters
C	6 meters
D	33 centimeters

11. - E2D11

Which of the following data are used by the APRS network to communicate station location?

Select	Answer
A	Polar coordinates
B	Latitude and longitude
C	Time and frequency
D	Radio direction finding spectrum analysis

12. - E2E09

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

Select	Answer
A	PSK31
B	MT63
C	RTTY
D	PACTOR

13. - E3A03

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

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

14. - E3B11

At what time of day can sporadic E propagation occur?

Select	Answer
A	Only around sunset
B	Only in hours of darkness
C	Only around sunset and sunrise
D	Any time

15. - E3C13

What type of polarization is best for ground-wave propagation?

Select	Answer
A	Horizontal
B	Elliptical
C	Vertical
D	Circular

16. - E4A08

Which of the following measures SWR?

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

17. - E4B10

Which of the following methods measures intermodulation distortion in an SSB transmitter?

Select	Answer
A	Modulate the transmitter using two RF signals having non-harmonically related frequencies and observe the RF output with a spectrum analyzer
B	Modulate the transmitter using two AF signals having harmonically related frequencies and observe the RF output with a peak reading wattmeter
C	Modulate the transmitter using two RF signals having harmonically related frequencies and observe the RF output with a logic analyzer
D	Modulate the transmitter using two AF signals having non-harmonically related frequencies and observe the RF output with a spectrum analyzer

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

19. - E4D05

What transmitter frequencies would cause an intermodulation-product signal in a receiver tuned to 146.70 MHz when a nearby station transmits on 146.52 MHz?

Select	Answer
A	173.35 MHz and 139.40 MHz
B	146.88 MHz and 146.34 MHz
C	146.10 MHz and 147.30 MHz
D	146.34 MHz and 146.61 MHz

20. - E4E04

How can conducted and radiated noise caused by an automobile alternator be suppressed?

Select	Answer
A	By installing a high-pass filter in series with the radio's power lead and a low-pass filter in parallel with the field lead
B	By connecting the radio's power leads directly to the battery and by installing coaxial capacitors in line with the alternator leads
C	By installing a noise suppression resistor and a blocking capacitor in both leads
D	By installing filter capacitors in series with the DC power lead and a blocking capacitor in the field lead

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. - E5B07

What is the phase angle between the voltage across and the current through a series RLC circuit if XC is 500 ohms, R is 1 kilohm, and XL is 250 ohms?

Select	Answer
A	68.2 degrees with the voltage leading the current
B	14.0 degrees with the voltage lagging the current
C	14.0 degrees with the voltage leading the current
D	68.2 degrees with the voltage lagging the current

23. - E5C10

Which point on Figure E5-1 best represents the impedance of a series circuit consisting of a 400-ohm resistor and a 38-picofarad capacitor at 14 MHz?

Select	Answer
A	Point 6
B	Point 4
C	Point 5
D	Point 2

24. - E5D03

What is microstrip?

Select	Answer
A	Precision printed circuit conductors above a ground plane that provide constant impedance interconnects at microwave frequencies
B	Lightweight transmission line made of common zip cord
C	Short lengths of coax mounted on printed circuit boards to minimize time delay between microwave circuits
D	Miniature coax used for low power applications

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

26. - E6B11

What is used to control the attenuation of RF signals by a PIN diode?

Select	Answer
A	Forward DC bias current
B	Capacitance of an RF coupling capacitor
C	Reverse voltage larger than the RF signal
D	A sub-harmonic pump signal

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 that ensures that an oscillator frequency does not drift
D	A resistor connected to an op-amp output that prevents signals from exceeding the power supply voltage

28. - E6D07

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

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

29. - E6E09

Which of the following component package types would be most suitable for use at frequencies above the HF range?

Select	Answer
A	Radial lead
B	TO-220
C	Surface mount
D	Axial lead

30. - E6F10

What is the most common type of photovoltaic cell used for electrical power generation?

Select	Answer
A	Selenium
B	Copper oxide
C	Silicon
D	Cadmium Sulfide

31. - E7A02

What is the function of a decade counter?

Select	Answer
A	It decodes a decimal number for display on a seven-segment LED display
B	It produces one output pulse for every 10 input pulses
C	It decodes a binary number for display on a seven-segment LED display
D	It produces 10 output pulses for every input pulse

32. - E7B10

In Figure E7-1, what is the purpose of R1 and R2?

Select	Answer
A	Voltage divider bias
B	Self bias
C	Feedback
D	Load resistors

33. - E7C02

Which of the following is a property of a T-network with series capacitors and a parallel shunt inductor?

Select	Answer
A	It is a notch filter
B	It is a low-pass filter
C	It is a band-pass filter
D	It is a high-pass 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	Provide a minimum load on the supply
C	Discharge the capacitors when voltage is removed
D	All these choices are correct

35. - E7E11

Which type of detector circuit is used for demodulating SSB signals?

Select	Answer
A	Discriminator
B	Phase comparator
C	Product detector
D	Phase detector

36. - E7F01

What is meant by direct digital conversion as applied to software defined radios?

Select	Answer
A	A switching mixer is used to generate I and Q signals directly from the RF input
B	Incoming RF is digitized by an analog-to-digital converter without being mixed with a local oscillator signal
C	Incoming RF is converted to a control voltage for a voltage controlled oscillator
D	Software is converted from source code to object code during operation of the receiver

37. - E7G03

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

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

38. - E7H04

How is positive feedback supplied in a Colpitts oscillator?

Select	Answer
A	Through a capacitive divider
B	Through a neutralizing capacitor
C	Through link coupling
D	Through a tapped coil

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	An error caused by irregular quantization step size
D	A method of decimation by randomly skipping samples

40. - E8B02

How does the modulation index of a phase-modulated emission vary with RF carrier frequency?

Select	Answer
A	It does not depend on the RF carrier frequency
B	It increases as the RF carrier frequency increases
C	It decreases as the RF carrier frequency increases
D	It varies with the square root of the RF carrier frequency

41. - E8C11

What is the relationship between symbol rate and baud?

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

42. - E8D07

What is a common cause of overmodulation of AFSK signals?

Select	Answer
A	Ground loops
B	Excessive numbers of retries
C	Excessive transmit audio levels
D	Bit errors in the modem

43. - E9A13

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

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

44. - E9B06

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

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

45. - E9C12

Which of the following describes an Extended Double Zepp antenna?

Select	Answer
A	A portable antenna erected using two push support poles
B	An end-fed folded dipole antenna
C	A center-fed 1.25-wavelength antenna (two 5/8-wave elements in phase)
D	A wideband vertical antenna constructed from precisely tapered aluminum tubing

46. - E9D02

How can linearly polarized Yagi antennas be used to produce circular polarization?

Select	Answer
A	Stack two Yagis fed in phase to form an array with the respective elements in parallel planes
B	Arrange two Yagis perpendicular to each other with the driven elements at the same point on the boom fed 90 degrees out of phase
C	Arrange two Yagis collinear to each other with the driven elements fed 180 degrees out of phase
D	Stack two Yagis fed 90 degrees out of phase to form an array with the respective elements in parallel planes

47. - E9E01

What system matches a higher-impedance transmission line to a lower-impedance antenna by connecting the line to the driven element in two places spaced a fraction of a wavelength each side of element center?

Select	Answer
A	The gamma matching system
B	The delta matching system
C	The omega matching system
D	The stub matching system

48. - E9F13

What impedance does a 1/4-wavelength transmission line present to a generator when the line is shorted at the far end?

Select	Answer
A	Very low impedance
B	Very high impedance
C	The same as the generator output impedance
D	The same as the characteristic impedance of the transmission line

49. - E9G11

How are the wavelength scales on a Smith chart calibrated?

Select	Answer
A	In fractions of transmission line electrical frequency
B	In fractions of transmission line electrical wavelength
C	In fractions of antenna electrical frequency
D	In fractions of antenna electrical wavelength

50. - E9H04

What is an advantage of placing a grounded electrostatic shield around a small loop direction-finding antenna?

Select	Answer
A	It adds capacitive loading, increasing the bandwidth of the antenna
B	It eliminates unbalanced capacitive coupling to the surroundings, improving the nulls
C	It eliminates tracking errors caused by strong out-of-band signals
D	It increases signal strength by providing a better match to the feed line

Figure E5-1

Figure E7-1

Figure E9-2