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

Logging in (or registering) will help the system to select questions that you need to focus on.

1. - E0A11

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

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

2. - E1A05

What is the maximum power output permitted on the 60 meter band?

Select	Answer
A	100 watts PEP effective radiated power relative to an isotropic radiator
B	50 watts PEP effective radiated power relative to a dipole
C	100 watts PEP effective radiated power relative to the gain of a half-wave dipole
D	50 watts PEP effective radiated power relative to an isotropic radiator

3. - E1B07

To what type of regulations does PRB-1 apply?

Select	Answer
A	Use of wireless devices in vehicles
B	State and local zoning
C	Homeowners associations
D	FAA tower height limits

4. - E1C09

What is the highest modulation index permitted at the highest modulation frequency for angle modulation below 29.0 MHz?

Select	Answer
A	2.0
B	3.0
C	1.0
D	0.5

5. - E1D02

Which of the following may transmit special codes intended to obscure the meaning of messages?

Select	Answer
A	Auxiliary relay links carrying repeater audio
B	Telecommand signals from a space telecommand station
C	Data containing personal information
D	Binary control characters

6. - E1E12

What must the VE team do with the application form if the examinee does not pass the exam?

Select	Answer
A	Maintain the application form with the VEC's records
B	Destroy the application form
C	Return the application document to the examinee
D	Send the application form to the FCC and inform the FCC of the grade

7. - E1F05

Amateur stations may not transmit in which of the following frequency segments if they are located in the contiguous 48 states and north of Line A?

Select	Answer
A	420 MHz - 430 MHz
B	222 MHz - 223 MHz
C	53 MHz - 54 MHz
D	440 MHz - 450 MHz

8. - E2A12

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

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

9. - E2B09

What hardware, other than a receiver with SSB capability and a suitable computer, is needed to decode SSTV using Digital Radio Mondiale (DRM)?

Select	Answer
A	A special IF converter
B	No other hardware is needed
C	A special front end limiter
D	A special notch filter to remove synchronization pulses

10. - E2C09

What type of equipment is commonly used to implement an amateur radio mesh network?

Select	Answer
A	A 440 MHz transceiver with a 9600 baud modem
B	An optical cable connection between the USB ports of 2 separate computers
C	A 2 meter VHF transceiver with a 1200 baud modem
D	A wireless router running custom firmware

11. - E2D04

What technology is used to track, in real time, balloons carrying amateur radio transmitters?

Select	Answer
A	Bandwidth compressed LORAN
B	Ultrasonics
C	Doppler shift of beacon signals
D	APRS

12. - E2E09

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

Select	Answer
A	RTTY
B	PSK31
C	PACTOR
D	MT63

13. - E3A05

Tropospheric propagation of microwave signals often occurs in association with what phenomenon?

Select	Answer
A	Warm and cold fronts
B	Lightning discharges
C	Sprites and jets
D	Grayline

14. - E3B06

Which of the following amateur bands most frequently provides long-path propagation?

Select	Answer
A	20 meters
B	10 meters
C	80 meters
D	6 meters

15. - E3C15

What might be indicated by a sudden rise in radio background noise across a large portion of the HF spectrum?

Select	Answer
A	Long-path propagation is likely
B	A temperature inversion has occurred
C	A solar flare has occurred
D	Increased transequatorial propagation is likely

16. - E4A10

Which of the following displays multiple digital signal states simultaneously?

Select	Answer
A	Modulation monitor
B	Bit error rate tester
C	Logic analyzer
D	Network analyzer

17. - E4B03

Which S parameter is equivalent to forward gain?

Select	Answer
A	S12
B	S21
C	S22
D	S11

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

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

21. - E5A11

What is the half-power bandwidth of a resonant circuit that has a resonant frequency of 7.1 MHz and a Q of 150?

Select	Answer
A	315.6 Hz
B	23.67 kHz
C	47.3 kHz
D	157.8 Hz

22. - E5B02

What letter is commonly used to represent susceptance?

Select	Answer
A	G
B	Y
C	B
D	X

23. - E5C03

Which of the following represents an inductive reactance in polar coordinates?

Select	Answer
A	A positive magnitude
B	A negative magnitude
C	A negative phase angle
D	A positive phase angle

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	Miniature coax used for low power applications
C	Lightweight transmission line made of common zip cord
D	Short lengths of coax mounted on printed circuit boards to minimize time delay between microwave circuits

25. - E6A02

Which of the following semiconductor materials contains excess free electrons?

Select	Answer
A	N-type
B	P-type
C	Bipolar
D	Insulated gate

26. - E6B08

Which of the following is a Schottky barrier diode?

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

27. - E6C10

In Figure E6-3, what is the schematic symbol for a NOR gate?

Select	Answer
A	1
B	3
C	4
D	2

28. - E6D03

Which of the following is an aspect of the piezoelectric effect?

Select	Answer
A	Generation of electrical energy in the presence of light
B	Mechanical deformation of material by the application of a voltage
C	Increased conductivity in the presence of light
D	Mechanical deformation of material by the application of a magnetic field

29. - E6E03

Which of the following materials is likely to provide the highest frequency of operation when used in MMICs?

Select	Answer
A	Silicon dioxide
B	Silicon
C	Silicon nitride
D	Gallium nitride

30. - E6F03

What is the most common configuration of an optoisolator or optocoupler?

Select	Answer
A	An amplitude modulated helium-neon laser
B	A lens and a photomultiplier
C	An LED and a phototransistor
D	A frequency modulated helium-neon laser

31. - E7A04

How many flip-flops are required to divide a signal frequency by 4?

Select	Answer
A	8
B	1
C	2
D	4

32. - E7B07

Which of the following is a likely result when a Class C amplifier is used to amplify a single-sideband phone signal?

Select	Answer
A	Reduced intermodulation products
B	Signal inversion
C	Increased overall intelligibility
D	Signal distortion and excessive bandwidth

33. - E7C05

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

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

34. - E7D09

What is the main reason to use a charge controller with a solar power system?

Select	Answer
A	Matching of day and night charge rates
B	Prevention of battery undercharge
C	Control of electrolyte levels during battery discharge
D	Prevention of battery damage due to overcharge

35. - E7E04

What is one way a single-sideband phone signal can be generated?

Select	Answer
A	By using a reactance modulator followed by a mixer
B	By using a loop modulator followed by a mixer
C	By using a balanced modulator followed by a filter
D	By driving a product detector with a DSB signal

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	Software is converted from source code to object code during operation of the receiver
C	Incoming RF is converted to a control voltage for a voltage controlled oscillator
D	Incoming RF is digitized by an analog-to-digital converter without being mixed with a local oscillator 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	1
B	76
C	0.03
D	38

38. - E7H13

Which of the following is a technique for providing highly accurate and stable oscillators needed for microwave transmission and reception?

Select	Answer
A	All these choices are correct
B	Use a temperature-controlled high Q dielectric resonator
C	Use a rubidium stabilized reference oscillator
D	Use a GPS signal reference

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

40. - E8B11

What is digital time division multiplexing?

Select	Answer
A	Two or more data streams are assigned to discrete sub-carriers on an FM transmitter
B	Two or more signals are quadrature modulated to increase bandwidth efficiency
C	Two or more signals are arranged to share discrete time slots of a data transmission
D	Two or more data streams share the same channel by transmitting time of transmission as the sub-carrier

41. - E8C07

What is the bandwidth of a 4800-Hz frequency shift, 9600-baud ASCII FM transmission?

Select	Answer
A	15.36 kHz
B	9.6 kHz
C	5.76 kHz
D	4.8 kHz

42. - E8D11

What is one advantage of using ASCII code for data communications?

Select	Answer
A	It includes built-in error correction features
B	It uses one character as a shift code to send numeric and special characters
C	It contains fewer information bits per character than any other code
D	It is possible to transmit both upper and lower case text

43. - E9A04

Which of the following factors affect the feed point impedance of an antenna?

Select	Answer
A	Transmission line length
B	Antenna height
C	The settings of an antenna tuner at the transmitter
D	The input power level

44. - E9B05

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

Select	Answer
A	Elevation
B	Azimuth
C	Radiation resistance
D	Polarization

45. - E9C13

How does the radiation pattern of a horizontally polarized 3-element beam antenna vary with increasing height above ground?

Select	Answer
A	The takeoff angle of the lowest elevation lobe increases
B	The horizontal beamwidth increases
C	The takeoff angle of the lowest elevation lobe decreases
D	The horizontal beamwidth decreases

46. - E9D09

What is the function of a loading coil used as part of an HF mobile antenna?

Select	Answer
A	To increase the SWR bandwidth
B	To lower the Q
C	To cancel capacitive reactance
D	To lower the losses

47. - E9E08

What is a use for a Wilkinson divider?

Select	Answer
A	It divides the operating frequency of a transmitter signal so it can be used on a lower frequency band
B	It is used to divide power equally between two 50-ohm loads while maintaining 50-ohm input impedance
C	It is used to feed low-impedance loads from a high-impedance source
D	It is used to feed high-impedance antennas from a low-impedance source

48. - E9F12

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

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

49. - E9G09

What third family of circles is often added to a Smith chart during the process of solving problems?

Select	Answer
A	Antenna-length circles
B	Coaxial-length circles
C	Radiation-pattern circles
D	Standing wave ratio circles

50. - E9H11

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

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

Figure E6-3

Figure E7-3

Figure E9-2