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

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1. - E0A04

When evaluating a site with multiple transmitters operating at the same time, the operators and licensees of which transmitters are responsible for mitigating over-exposure situations?

Select	Answer
A	Each transmitter operating with a duty cycle greater than 50 percent
B	Only commercial transmitters
C	Only the most powerful transmitter
D	Each transmitter that produces 5 percent or more of its MPE limit in areas where the total MPE limit is exceeded.

2. - E1A08

If a station in a message forwarding system inadvertently forwards a message that is in violation of FCC rules, who is primarily accountable for the rules violation?

Select	Answer
A	The control operators of all the stations in the system not authenticating the source from which they accept communications
B	The control operator of the originating station
C	The control operators of all the stations in the system
D	The control operator of the packet bulletin board station

3. - E1B09

Which amateur stations may be operated under RACES rules?

Select	Answer
A	Any FCC-licensed amateur station participating in the Military Auxiliary Radio System (MARS)
B	Only those club stations licensed to Amateur Extra Class operators
C	Any FCC-licensed amateur station except a Technician Class
D	Any FCC-licensed amateur station certified by the responsible civil defense organization for the area served

4. - E1C07

At what level below a signal's mean power level is its bandwidth determined according to FCC rules?

Select	Answer
A	6 dB
B	3 dB
C	23 dB
D	26 dB

5. - E1D03

What is a space telecommand station?

Select	Answer
A	An amateur station located on the surface of the Earth for communication with other Earth stations by means of Earth satellites
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 that transmits communications to initiate, modify or terminate functions of a space station

6. - E1E07

What should a VE do if a candidate fails to comply with the examiner's instructions during an amateur operator license examination?

Select	Answer
A	Warn the candidate that continued failure to comply will result in termination of the examination
B	Allow the candidate to complete the examination, but invalidate the results
C	Immediately terminate everyone's examination and close the session
D	Immediately terminate the candidate's examination

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

8. - E2A13

Which of the following techniques is normally used by low Earth orbiting digital satellites to relay messages around the world?

Select	Answer
A	Multi-satellite relaying
B	Digipeating
C	Node hopping
D	Store-and-forward

9. - E2B10

What aspect of an analog slow-scan television signal encodes the brightness of the picture?

Select	Answer
A	Sync amplitude
B	Sync frequency
C	Tone frequency
D	Tone amplitude

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

11. - E2D10

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

Select	Answer
A	APRS stations with General Personnel Scanners can automatically relay the participant numbers and time as they pass the check points
B	All these choices are correct
C	An APRS station with an emergency medical technician can automatically transmit medical data to the nearest hospital
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	PSK31
B	MT63
C	RTTY
D	PACTOR

13. - E3A13

Which of these emission modes is best for auroral propagation?

Select	Answer
A	RTTY
B	CW
C	FM
D	SSB

14. - E3B09

At what time of year is sporadic E propagation most likely to occur?

Select	Answer
A	Around the solstices, especially the winter solstice
B	Around the equinoxes, especially the fall equinox
C	Around the solstices, especially the summer solstice
D	Around the equinoxes, especially the spring equinox

15. - E3C14

Why does the radio-path horizon distance exceed the geometric horizon?

Select	Answer
A	Due to the Doppler effect
B	D-region skip
C	Downward bending due to density variations in the atmosphere
D	E-region skip

16. - E4A09

Which of the following is good practice when using an oscilloscope probe?

Select	Answer
A	Keep the signal ground connection of the probe as short as possible
B	Never use a high-impedance probe to measure a low-impedance circuit
C	Never use a DC-coupled probe to measure an AC circuit
D	All these choices are correct

17. - E4B09

What is indicated if the current reading on an RF ammeter placed in series with the antenna feed line of a transmitter increases as the transmitter is tuned to resonance?

Select	Answer
A	There is more power going into the antenna
B	The transmitter is not properly neutralized
C	There is possibly a short to ground in the feed line
D	There is an impedance mismatch between the antenna and feed line

18. - E4C14

What transmit frequency might generate an image response signal in a receiver tuned to 14.300 MHz and that uses a 455 kHz IF frequency?

Select	Answer
A	14.445 MHz
B	13.845 MHz
C	14.755 MHz
D	15.210 MHz

19. - E4D04

Which of the following may reduce or eliminate intermodulation interference in a repeater caused by another transmitter operating in close proximity?

Select	Answer
A	A band-pass filter in the feed line between the transmitter and receiver
B	Utilizing a Class C final amplifier
C	A properly terminated circulator at the output of the repeater's transmitter
D	Utilizing a Class D final amplifier

20. - E4E03

Which of the following signals might a receiver noise blanker be able to remove from desired signals?

Select	Answer
A	Signals that appear at one IF but not another
B	Signals that have a sharply peaked frequency distribution
C	Signals that are constant at all IF levels
D	Signals that appear across a wide bandwidth

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. - E5B05

What happens to the magnitude of a pure reactance when it is converted to a susceptance?

Select	Answer
A	It is shifted by 90 degrees
B	The sign is reversed
C	It is unchanged
D	It becomes the reciprocal

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 resistive component and the Y axis represents the reactive component
C	The X axis represents the reactive component and the Y axis represents the resistive component
D	The X axis represents the phase angle and the Y axis represents the magnitude

24. - E5D01

What is the result of skin effect?

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

27. - E6C01

What is the function of hysteresis in a comparator?

Select	Answer
A	To allow the comparator to be used with AC input signals
B	To cause the output to change states continually
C	To increase the sensitivity
D	To prevent input noise from causing unstable output signals

28. - E6D09

What devices are commonly used as VHF and UHF parasitic suppressors at the input and output terminals of a transistor HF amplifier?

Select	Answer
A	Ferrite beads
B	Butterworth filters
C	Electrolytic capacitors
D	Steel-core toroids

29. - E6E07

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

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

30. - E6F04

What is the photovoltaic effect?

Select	Answer
A	The conversion of electrical energy to mechanical energy
B	The conversion of light to electrical energy
C	The tendency of a battery to discharge when exposed to light
D	The conversion of voltage to current when exposed to light

31. - E7A01

Which circuit is bistable?

Select	Answer
A	A flip-flop
B	An OR gate
C	A bipolar amplifier
D	An AND gate

32. - E7B15

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

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

33. - E7C09

What is a crystal lattice filter?

Select	Answer
A	A power supply filter made with interlaced quartz crystals
B	A filter using lattice-shaped quartz crystals for high-Q performance
C	A filter with narrow bandwidth and steep skirts made using quartz crystals
D	An audio filter made with four quartz crystals that resonate at 1 kHz intervals

34. - E7D04

Which of the following types of linear voltage regulator usually make the most efficient use of the primary power source?

Select	Answer
A	A series current source
B	A shunt regulator
C	A series regulator
D	A shunt current source

35. - E7E03

What is a frequency discriminator stage in a FM receiver?

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

36. - E7F08

What is the function of decimation?

Select	Answer
A	Reducing the effective sample rate by removing samples
B	Attenuating the signal
C	Converting data to binary code decimal form
D	Removing unnecessary significant digits

37. - E7G05

How can unwanted ringing and audio instability be prevented in an op-amp RC audio filter circuit?

Select	Answer
A	Restrict both gain and Q
B	Increase both gain and Q
C	Restrict gain but increase Q
D	Restrict Q but increase gain

38. - E7H01

What are three oscillator circuits used in amateur radio equipment?

Select	Answer
A	Taft, Pierce and negative feedback
B	Colpitts, Hartley and Pierce
C	Taft, Hartley and Pierce
D	Pierce, Fenner and Beane

39. - E8A06

What is the approximate ratio of PEP-to-average power in a typical single-sideband phone signal?

Select	Answer
A	100 to 1
B	1 to 1
C	25 to 1
D	2.5 to 1

40. - E8B05

What is the deviation ratio of an FM-phone signal having a maximum frequency swing of plus-or-minus 5 kHz when the maximum modulation frequency is 3 kHz?

Select	Answer
A	1.67
B	60
C	0.167
D	0.6

41. - E8C01

How is Forward Error Correction implemented?

Select	Answer
A	By varying the frequency shift of the transmitted signal according to a predefined algorithm
B	By transmitting a special algorithm to the receiving station along with the data characters
C	By the receiving station repeating each block of three data characters
D	By transmitting extra data that may be used to detect and correct transmission errors

42. - E8D08

What parameter evaluates distortion of an AFSK signal caused by excessive input audio levels?

Select	Answer
A	Signal-to-noise ratio
B	Baud rate
C	Repeat Request Rate (RRR)
D	Intermodulation Distortion (IMD)

43. - E9A12

How much gain does an antenna have compared to a 1/2-wavelength dipole when it has 6 dB gain over an isotropic antenna?

Select	Answer
A	2.79 dB
B	6.0 dB
C	8.15 dB
D	3.85 dB

44. - E9B02

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

Select	Answer
A	14 dB
B	24 dB
C	36 dB
D	18 dB

45. - E9C12

Which of the following describes an Extended Double Zepp antenna?

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

46. - E9D06

What happens to the SWR bandwidth when one or more loading coils are used to resonate an electrically short antenna?

Select	Answer
A	It is increased
B	It is unchanged if the loading coil is located at the feed point
C	It is decreased
D	It is unchanged if the loading coil is located at a voltage maximum point

47. - E9E11

What is the primary purpose of phasing lines when used with an antenna having multiple driven elements?

Select	Answer
A	It allows single-band antennas to operate on other bands
B	It ensures that each driven element operates in concert with the others to create the desired antenna pattern
C	It creates a low-angle radiation pattern
D	It prevents reflected power from traveling back down the feed line and causing harmonic radiation from the transmitter

48. - E9F05

What is the approximate physical length of a solid polyethylene dielectric coaxial transmission line that is electrically 1/4 wavelength long at 14.1 MHz?

Select	Answer
A	4.3 meters
B	3.5 meters
C	10.6 meters
D	5.3 meters

49. - E9G08

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

Select	Answer
A	Reassigning resistance values with regard to the reactance axis
B	Reassigning prime center 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. - E9H10

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

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

Figure E9-1