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

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1. - E0A08

What does SAR measure?

Select	Answer
A	Signal Amplification Rating
B	The rate at which RF energy is absorbed by the body
C	The rate of RF energy reflected from stationary terrain
D	Synthetic Aperture Ratio of the human body

2. - E1A07

What is the maximum power permitted on the 2200 meter band?

Select	Answer
A	5 watts EIRP (Equivalent isotropic radiated power)
B	100 watts PEP
C	1 watt EIRP (Equivalent isotropic radiated power)
D	50 watts PEP

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	Cease operation or make changes to the repeater to mitigate the interference
D	Reduce the repeater antenna HAAT (Height Above Average Terrain)

4. - E1C06

Which of the following is required in order to operate in accordance with CEPT rules in foreign countries where permitted?

Select	Answer
A	The U.S. embassy must approve of your operation
B	You must bring a copy of FCC Public Notice DA 16-1048
C	You must append "/CEPT" to your call sign
D	You must identify in the official language of the country in which you are operating

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. - E1E08

To which of the following examinees may a VE not administer an examination?

Select	Answer
A	Relatives of the VE as listed in the FCC rules
B	Friends of the VE
C	All these choices are correct
D	Employees of the VE

7. - E1F07

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

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

8. - E2A09

What do the terms L band and S band specify regarding satellite communications?

Select	Answer
A	The 23 centimeter and 13 centimeter bands
B	FM and Digital Store-and-Forward systems
C	Which sideband to use
D	The 2 meter and 70 centimeter bands

9. - E2B08

What technique allows commercial analog TV receivers to be used for fast-scan TV operations on the 70 cm band?

Select	Answer
A	Transmitting on the abandoned TV channel 2
B	Transmitting on channels shared with cable TV
C	Using converted satellite TV dishes
D	Using USB and demodulating the signal with a computer sound card

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 middle of each band, usually on the national calling frequency
C	At the top of each band, usually in a segment reserved for contests
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	All these choices are correct
B	An APRS station with an emergency medical technician can automatically transmit medical data to the nearest hospital
C	APRS stations with General Personnel Scanners can automatically relay the participant numbers and time as they pass the check points
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	RTTY
B	PACTOR
C	PSK31
D	MT63

13. - E3A08

When a meteor strikes the Earth's atmosphere, a cylindrical region of free electrons is formed at what layer of the ionosphere?

Select	Answer
A	The D layer
B	The E layer
C	The F2 layer
D	The F1 layer

14. - E3B04

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

Select	Answer
A	Refracted rays and reflected 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	Long-path and short-path waves

15. - E3C05

What orientation of Bz (B sub z) increases the likelihood that incoming particles from the sun will cause disturbed conditions?

Select	Answer
A	Southward
B	Westward
C	Eastward
D	Northward

16. - E4A08

Which of the following measures SWR?

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

17. - E4B11

Which of the following can be measured with a vector network analyzer?

Select	Answer
A	Input impedance
B	Reflection coefficient
C	All these choices are correct
D	Output impedance

18. - E4C08

An SDR receiver is overloaded when input signals exceed what level?

Select	Answer
A	The maximum count value of the analog-to-digital converter
B	One-half the maximum sampling buffer size
C	The reference voltage of the analog-to-digital converter
D	One-half the maximum sample rate

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

20. - E4E01

What problem can occur when using an automatic notch filter (ANF) to remove interfering carriers while receiving CW signals?

Select	Answer
A	Received CW signals will appear to be modulated at the DSP clock frequency
B	Removal of the CW signal as well as the interfering carrier
C	Any nearby signal passing through the DSP system will overwhelm the desired signal
D	Ringing in the DSP filter will completely remove the spaces between the CW characters

21. - E5A16

What is the resonant frequency of an RLC circuit if R is 33 ohms, L is 50 microhenries and C is 10 picofarads?

Select	Answer
A	7.12 MHz
B	23.5 MHz
C	7.12 kHz
D	23.5 kHz

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

23. - E5C08

What coordinate system is often used to display the phase angle of a circuit containing resistance, inductive and/or capacitive reactance?

Select	Answer
A	Elliptical coordinates
B	Maidenhead grid
C	Polar coordinates
D	Faraday grid

24. - E5D07

How many watts are consumed in a circuit having a power factor of 0.71 if the apparent power is 500VA?

Select	Answer
A	252 W
B	355 W
C	1.42 mW
D	704 W

25. - E6A10

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

Select	Answer
A	5
B	6
C	4
D	2

26. - E6B08

Which of the following is a Schottky barrier diode?

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

27. - E6C05

What is an advantage of CMOS logic devices over TTL devices?

Select	Answer
A	Immune to damage from static discharge
B	Lower power consumption
C	Lower distortion
D	Differential output capability

28. - E6D01

Why should core saturation of an impedance matching transformer be avoided?

Select	Answer
A	RF susceptance would increase
B	Harmonics and distortion could result
C	Temporary changes of the core permeability could result
D	Magnetic flux would increase with frequency

29. - E6E10

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

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

30. - E6F04

What is the photovoltaic effect?

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

31. - E7A02

What is the function of a decade counter?

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

32. - E7B12

What type of amplifier circuit is shown in Figure E7-1?

Select	Answer
A	Common base
B	Common collector
C	Emitter follower
D	Common emitter

33. - E7C04

How does an impedance-matching circuit transform a complex impedance to a resistive impedance?

Select	Answer
A	It introduces negative resistance to cancel the resistive part of impedance
B	It introduces transconductance to cancel the reactive part of impedance
C	Reactive currents are dissipated in matched resistances
D	It cancels the reactive part of the impedance and changes the resistive part to a desired value

34. - E7D10

What is the primary reason that a high-frequency switching type high-voltage power supply can be both less expensive and lighter in weight than a conventional power supply?

Select	Answer
A	It uses a large power factor compensation capacitor to recover power from the unused portion of the AC cycle
B	It uses a diode bridge rectifier for increased output
C	The high frequency inverter design uses much smaller transformers and filter components for an equivalent power output
D	The inverter design does not require any output filtering

35. - E7E05

What circuit is added to an FM transmitter to boost the higher audio frequencies?

Select	Answer
A	A heterodyne enhancer
B	A pre-emphasis network
C	A heterodyne suppressor
D	A de-emphasis network

36. - E7F09

Why is an anti-aliasing digital filter required in a digital decimator?

Select	Answer
A	It removes low-frequency signal components to eliminate the need for DC restoration
B	It notches out the sampling frequency to avoid sampling errors
C	It peaks the response of the decimator, improving bandwidth
D	It removes high-frequency signal components that would otherwise be reproduced as lower frequency components

37. - E7G05

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

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

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	Bias the crystal at a specified current
C	Provide the crystal with a specified parallel inductance
D	Provide the crystal with a specified parallel capacitance

39. - E8A03

What type of wave does a Fourier analysis show to be made up of sine waves of a given fundamental frequency plus all its harmonics?

Select	Answer
A	A sine wave
B	A sawtooth wave
C	A square wave
D	A cosine wave

40. - E8B02

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

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

41. - E8C08

How does ARQ accomplish error correction?

Select	Answer
A	Special polynomial codes provide automatic correction
B	Special binary codes provide automatic correction
C	If errors are detected, a retransmission is requested
D	If errors are detected, redundant data is substituted

42. - E8D10

What are some of the differences between the Baudot digital code and ASCII?

Select	Answer
A	Baudot uses 5 data bits per character, ASCII uses 7 or 8; Baudot uses 2 characters as letters/figures shift codes, ASCII has no letters/figures shift code
B	Baudot uses 7 data bits per character, ASCII uses 8; Baudot has no letters/figures shift code, ASCII uses 2 letters/figures shift codes
C	Baudot uses 6 data bits per character, ASCII uses 7 or 8; Baudot has no letters/figures shift code, ASCII uses 2 letters/figures shift codes
D	Baudot uses 4 data bits per character, ASCII uses 7 or 8; Baudot uses 1 character as a letters/figures shift code, ASCII has no letters/figures code

43. - E9A09

What is antenna efficiency?

Select	Answer
A	Total resistance divided by radiation resistance
B	Radiation resistance divided by transmission resistance
C	Effective radiated power divided by transmitter output
D	Radiation resistance divided by total resistance

44. - E9B07

How does the total amount of radiation emitted by a directional gain antenna compare with the total amount of radiation emitted from a theoretical isotropic antenna, assuming each is driven by the same amount of power?

Select	Answer
A	The radiation from the isotropic antenna is 2.15 dB stronger than that from the directional antenna
B	They are the same
C	The total amount of radiation from the directional antenna is stronger by its front-to-back ratio
D	The total amount of radiation from the directional antenna is increased by the gain of the antenna

45. - E9C05

Which of the following is a type of OCFD antenna?

Select	Answer
A	A folded dipole center-fed with 300-ohm transmission line
B	A dipole fed approximately 1/3 the way from one end with a 4:1 balun to provide multiband operation
C	A multiband dipole antenna using one-way circular polarization for frequency diversity
D	A remotely tunable dipole antenna using orthogonally controlled frequency diversity

46. - E9D02

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

Select	Answer
A	Arrange two Yagis collinear to each other with the driven elements fed 180 degrees out of phase
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	Stack two Yagis fed 90 degrees out of phase to form an array with the respective elements in parallel planes
D	Stack two Yagis fed in phase to form an array with the respective elements in parallel planes

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 stub match
B	The epsilon match
C	The delta match
D	The gamma match

48. - E9F10

What impedance does a 1/8-wavelength transmission line present to a generator when the line is shorted at the far end?

Select	Answer
A	An inductive reactance
B	The same as the characteristic impedance of the line
C	Zero
D	A capacitive reactance

49. - E9G10

What do the arcs on a Smith chart represent?

Select	Answer
A	Points with constant reactance
B	Frequency
C	Points with constant resistance
D	SWR

50. - E9H05

What is the main drawback of a small wire-loop antenna for direction finding?

Select	Answer
A	It has a bidirectional pattern
B	All these choices are correct
C	It is practical for use only on VHF and higher bands
D	It has no clearly defined null

Figure E6-1

Figure E7-1