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

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1. - E0A09

Which insulating material commonly used as a thermal conductor for some types of electronic devices is extremely toxic if broken or crushed and the particles are accidentally inhaled?

Select	Answer
A	Uranium Hexafluoride
B	Beryllium Oxide
C	Zinc oxide
D	Mica

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

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	File an FAA NOTAM (Notice to Airmen) with the repeater system's ERP, call sign, and six-character grid locator
B	All these choices are correct
C	Cease operation or make changes to the repeater to mitigate the interference
D	Reduce the repeater antenna HAAT (Height Above Average Terrain)

4. - E1C01

What is the maximum bandwidth for a data emission on 60 meters?

Select	Answer
A	1.5 kHz
B	60 Hz
C	2.8 kHz
D	170 Hz

5. - E1D07

Which HF amateur bands have frequencies authorized for space stations?

Select	Answer
A	Only the 40, 20, 17, 15, 12, and 10 meter bands
B	All HF bands
C	Only the 40, 30, 20, 15, 12, and 10 meter bands
D	Only the 40, 20, 17, 15, and 10 meter bands

6. - E1E03

What is a Volunteer Examiner Coordinator?

Select	Answer
A	An organization that has entered into an agreement with the FCC to coordinate, prepare, and administer amateur operator license examinations
B	A person who has volunteered to prepare amateur operator license examinations
C	The person who has entered into an agreement with the FCC to be the VE session manager
D	A person who has volunteered to administer amateur operator license examinations

7. - E1F11

Which of the following best describes one of the standards that must be met by an external RF power amplifier if it is to qualify for a grant of FCC certification?

Select	Answer
A	It must exhibit a gain of 0 dB or less over its full output range
B	It must produce full legal output when driven by not more than 5 watts of mean RF input power
C	It must satisfy the FCC's spurious emission standards when operated at the lesser of 1500 watts or its full output power
D	It must be capable of external RF switching between its input and output networks

8. - E2A05

What do the letters in a satellite's mode designator specify?

Select	Answer
A	The uplink and downlink frequency ranges
B	The location of the ground control station
C	The polarization of uplink and downlink signals
D	Power limits for uplink and downlink transmissions

9. - E2B11

What is the function of the Vertical Interval Signaling (VIS) code sent as part of an SSTV transmission?

Select	Answer
A	To identify the call sign of the station transmitting
B	To lock the color burst oscillator in color SSTV images
C	To identify the SSTV mode being used
D	To provide vertical synchronization

10. - E2C10

Why might a DX station state that they are listening on another frequency?

Select	Answer
A	To improve operating efficiency by reducing interference
B	All these choices are correct
C	Because the DX station may be transmitting on a frequency that is prohibited to some responding stations
D	To separate the calling stations from the DX station

11. - E2D02

Which of the following is a good technique for making meteor scatter contacts?

Select	Answer
A	Short transmissions with rapidly repeated call signs and signal reports
B	All these choices are correct
C	15-second timed transmission sequences with stations alternating based on location
D	Use of special digital modes

12. - E2E05

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

Select	Answer
A	RTTY
B	PACTOR
C	MFSK
D	PSK31

13. - E3A03

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

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

14. - E3B06

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

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

15. - E3C07

Which of the following descriptors indicates the greatest solar flare intensity?

Select	Answer
A	Class B
B	Class M
C	Class X
D	Class A

16. - E4A01

Which of the following limits the highest frequency signal that can be accurately displayed on a digital oscilloscope?

Select	Answer
A	Amount of memory
B	All these choices are correct
C	Sampling rate of the analog-to-digital converter
D	Q of the circuit

17. - E4B06

How much power is being absorbed by the load when a directional power meter connected between a transmitter and a terminating load reads 100 watts forward power and 25 watts reflected power?

Select	Answer
A	100 watts
B	125 watts
C	75 watts
D	25 watts

18. - E4C13

How does a narrow-band roofing filter affect receiver performance?

Select	Answer
A	It improves dynamic range by attenuating strong signals near the receive frequency
B	All these choices are correct
C	It improves sensitivity by reducing front end noise
D	It improves intelligibility by using low Q circuitry to reduce ringing

19. - E4D11

Why are odd-order intermodulation products, created within a receiver, of particular interest compared to other products?

Select	Answer
A	Odd-order products are an indication of poor image rejection
B	Odd-order intermodulation produces three products for every input signal within the band of interest
C	Odd-order products of two signals in the band of interest are also likely to be within the band
D	Odd-order products overload the IF filters

20. - E4E02

Which of the following types of noise can often be reduced with a digital signal processing noise filter?

Select	Answer
A	Ignition noise
B	All these choices are correct
C	Power line noise
D	Broadband white noise

21. - E5A08

What is the phase relationship between the current through and the voltage across a series resonant circuit at resonance?

Select	Answer
A	The voltage and current are 180 degrees out of phase
B	The current leads the voltage by 90 degrees
C	The voltage and current are in phase
D	The voltage leads the current by 90 degrees

22. - E5B01

What is the term for the time required for the capacitor in an RC circuit to be charged to 63.2% of the applied voltage or to discharge to 36.8% of its initial voltage?

Select	Answer
A	An exponential rate of one
B	A time factor of one
C	One time constant
D	One exponential period

23. - E5C07

Where is the impedance of a pure resistance plotted on rectangular coordinates?

Select	Answer
A	On the horizontal axis
B	On the vertical axis
C	On a line through the origin, slanted at 45 degrees
D	On a horizontal line, offset vertically above the horizontal axis

24. - E5D04

Why are short connections used at microwave frequencies?

Select	Answer
A	To reduce noise figure
B	To reduce phase shift along the connection
C	To increase neutralizing resistance
D	To increase compensating capacitance

25. - E6A06

What is the beta of a bipolar junction transistor?

Select	Answer
A	The frequency at which the current gain is reduced to 0.707
B	The switching speed
C	The breakdown voltage of the base to collector junction
D	The change in collector current with respect to base current

26. - E6B01

What is the most useful characteristic of a Zener diode?

Select	Answer
A	A constant voltage drop under conditions of varying current
B	A negative resistance region
C	An internal capacitance that varies with the applied voltage
D	A constant current drop under conditions of varying voltage

27. - E6C05

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

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

28. - E6D07

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

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

29. - E6E01

Why is gallium arsenide (GaAs) useful for semiconductor devices operating at UHF and higher frequencies?

Select	Answer
A	Lower transconductance
B	Lower junction voltage drop
C	Higher noise figures
D	Higher electron mobility

30. - E6F06

Which of these materials is most commonly used to create photoconductive devices?

Select	Answer
A	A liquid semiconductor
B	A heavy metal
C	An ordinary metal
D	A crystalline semiconductor

31. - E7A06

What is a characteristic of a monostable multivibrator?

Select	Answer
A	It stores one bit of data in either a 0 or 1 state
B	It switches momentarily to the opposite binary state and then returns to its original state after a set time
C	It maintains a constant output voltage, regardless of variations in the input voltage
D	It produces a continuous square wave oscillating between 1 and 0

32. - E7B05

What can be done to prevent unwanted oscillations in an RF power amplifier?

Select	Answer
A	Tune both the input and output for maximum power
B	Use a phase inverter in the output filter
C	Tune the stage for maximum SWR
D	Install parasitic suppressors and/or neutralize the stage

33. - E7C04

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

Select	Answer
A	Reactive currents are dissipated in matched resistances
B	It introduces negative resistance to cancel the resistive part of impedance
C	It introduces transconductance to cancel the reactive part of impedance
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 diode bridge rectifier for increased output
B	The inverter design does not require any output filtering
C	It uses a large power factor compensation capacitor to recover power from the unused portion of the AC cycle
D	The high frequency inverter design uses much smaller transformers and filter components for an equivalent power output

35. - E7E10

How does a diode envelope detector function?

Select	Answer
A	By mixing signals with noise in the transition region of the diode
B	By sensing the change of reactance in the diode with respect to frequency
C	By rectification and filtering of RF signals
D	By breakdown of the Zener voltage

36. - E7F06

What is the minimum number of bits required for an analog-to-digital converter to sample a signal with a range of 1 volt at a resolution of 1 millivolt?

Select	Answer
A	10 bits
B	4 bits
C	6 bits
D	8 bits

37. - E7G05

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

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

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

39. - E8A10

What is the purpose of a low-pass filter used in conjunction with a digital-to-analog converter?

Select	Answer
A	Improve accuracy by removing out-of-sequence codes from the input
B	All these choices are correct
C	Remove harmonics from the output caused by the discrete analog levels generated
D	Lower the input bandwidth to increase the effective resolution

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

41. - E8C03

Why should phase-shifting of a PSK signal be done at the zero crossing of the RF signal?

Select	Answer
A	To minimize bandwidth
B	To improve carrier suppression
C	To simplify modulation
D	All these choices are correct

42. - E8D10

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

Select	Answer
A	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
B	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
C	Baudot uses 7 data bits per character, ASCII uses 8; Baudot has no letters/figures shift code, ASCII uses 2 letters/figures shift codes
D	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

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	3.85 dB
B	2.79 dB
C	6.0 dB
D	8.15 dB

44. - E9B06

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

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

45. - E9C02

What is the radiation pattern of two 1/4-wavelength vertical antennas spaced 1/4 wavelength apart and fed 90 degrees out of phase?

Select	Answer
A	Cardioid
B	A figure-8 end-fire along the axis of the array
C	Omni-directional
D	A figure-8 broadside to the axis of the array

46. - E9D01

How much does the gain of an ideal parabolic dish antenna change when the operating frequency is doubled?

Select	Answer
A	3 dB
B	6 dB
C	4 dB
D	2 dB

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 stub matching system
B	The delta matching system
C	The omega matching system
D	The gamma matching system

48. - E9F01

What is the velocity factor of a transmission line?

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

49. - E9G10

What do the arcs on a Smith chart represent?

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

50. - E9H08

What is the function of a sense antenna?

Select	Answer
A	It modifies the pattern of a DF antenna array to provide a null in one direction
B	It allows DF antennas to receive signals at different vertical angles
C	It increases the sensitivity of a DF antenna array
D	It provides diversity reception that cancels multipath signals

Figure E9-2