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

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1. - E0A05

What is one of the potential hazards of operating in the amateur radio microwave bands?

Select	Answer
A	Microwaves often travel long distances by ionospheric reflection
B	The extremely high frequency energy can damage the joints of antenna structures
C	Microwaves are ionizing radiation
D	The high gain antennas commonly used can result in high exposure levels

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

3. - E1B08

What limitations may the FCC place on an amateur station if its signal causes interference to domestic broadcast reception, assuming that the receivers involved are of good engineering design?

Select	Answer
A	The amateur station must cease operation on all frequencies below 30 MHz
B	The amateur station must cease operation
C	The amateur station must cease operation on all frequencies above 30 MHz
D	The amateur station must avoid transmitting during certain hours on frequencies that cause the interference

4. - E1C08

What is the maximum permissible duration of a remotely controlled station's transmissions if its control link malfunctions?

Select	Answer
A	10 minutes
B	3 minutes
C	30 seconds
D	5 minutes

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 located on the surface of the Earth for communication with other Earth stations by means of Earth satellites
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 receives telemetry from a satellite or balloon more than 50 kilometers above the surface of the Earth

6. - E1E09

What may be the penalty for a VE who fraudulently administers or certifies an examination?

Select	Answer
A	All these choices are correct
B	A sentence of up to one year in prison
C	Revocation of the VE's amateur station license grant and the suspension of the VE's amateur operator license grant
D	A fine of up to $1000 per occurrence

7. - E1F10

Who may be the control operator of an auxiliary station?

Select	Answer
A	Any licensed amateur operator
B	Only Technician, General, Advanced or Amateur Extra Class operators
C	Only Amateur Extra Class operators
D	Only General, Advanced or Amateur Extra Class operators

8. - E2A04

What is meant by the term mode? as applied to an amateur radio satellite?

Select	Answer
A	The satellite's orientation with respect to the Earth
B	Whether the satellite is in a polar or equatorial orbit
C	Whether the satellite is in a low earth or geostationary orbit
D	The satellite's uplink and downlink frequency bands

9. - E2B07

What is the name of the signal component that carries color information in NTSC video?

Select	Answer
A	Chroma
B	Spectral intensity
C	Hue
D	Luminance

10. - E2C03

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

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

11. - E2D07

What digital protocol is used by APRS?

Select	Answer
A	AX.25
B	802.11
C	AMTOR
D	PACTOR

12. - E2E02

What do the letters FEC mean as they relate to digital operation?

Select	Answer
A	Final Error Correction
B	First Error Correction
C	Fatal Error Correction
D	Forward Error Correction

13. - E3A04

What do Hepburn maps predict?

Select	Answer
A	Locations of auroral reflecting zones
B	Sporadic E propagation
C	Likelihood of rain scatter along cold or warm fronts
D	Probability of tropospheric propagation

14. - E3B02

What is the approximate maximum range for signals using transequatorial propagation?

Select	Answer
A	5000 miles
B	7500 miles
C	1000 miles
D	2500 miles

15. - E3C02

What is indicated by a rising A or K index?

Select	Answer
A	Increasing disruption of the geomagnetic field
B	Decreasing disruption of the geomagnetic field
C	Higher levels of solar UV radiation
D	An increase in the critical frequency

16. - E4A11

How should an antenna analyzer be connected when measuring antenna resonance and feed point impedance?

Select	Answer
A	Loosely couple the analyzer near the antenna base
B	Connect the analyzer via a high-impedance transformer to the antenna
C	Loosely couple the antenna and a dummy load to the analyzer
D	Connect the antenna feed line directly to the analyzer's connector

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	25 watts
B	125 watts
C	100 watts
D	75 watts

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	Improved receiver noise figure
C	Reduced drift
D	Easier for front-end circuitry to eliminate image responses

19. - E4D12

What is the term for the reduction in receiver sensitivity caused by a strong signal near the received frequency?

Select	Answer
A	Cross-modulation interference
B	Quieting
C	Desensitization
D	Squelch gain rollback

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

21. - E5A09

How is the Q of an RLC parallel resonant circuit calculated?

Select	Answer
A	Reactance of either the inductance or capacitance multiplied by the resistance
B	Reactance of either the inductance or capacitance divided by the resistance
C	Resistance divided by the reactance of either the inductance or capacitance
D	Reactance of the inductance multiplied by the reactance of the capacitance

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

23. - E5C01

Which of the following represents capacitive reactance in rectangular notation?

Select	Answer
A	Delta
B	Omega
C	+jX
D	-jX

24. - E5D08

How many watts are consumed in a circuit having a power factor of 0.6 if the input is 200VAC at 5 amperes?

Select	Answer
A	1600 watts
B	1000 watts
C	600 watts
D	200 watts

25. - E6A01

In what application is gallium arsenide used as a semiconductor material?

Select	Answer
A	In very low-frequency RF circuits
B	In microwave circuits
C	In high-current rectifier circuits
D	In high-power audio circuits

26. - E6B03

What type of bias is required for an LED to emit light?

Select	Answer
A	Reverse bias
B	Zero bias
C	Inductive bias
D	Forward bias

27. - E6C03

What is tri-state logic?

Select	Answer
A	Logic devices that utilize ternary math
B	Proprietary logic devices manufactured by Tri-State Devices
C	Low-power logic devices designed to operate at 3 volts
D	Logic devices with 0, 1, and high-impedance output states

28. - E6D13

What is the primary cause of inductor self-resonance?

Select	Answer
A	Inter-turn capacitance
B	The skin effect
C	Non-linear core hysteresis
D	Inductive kickback

29. - E6E10

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

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

30. - E6F09

What is the efficiency of a photovoltaic cell?

Select	Answer
A	The open-circuit voltage divided by the short-circuit current under full illumination
B	The output RF power divided by the input DC power
C	Cost per kilowatt-hour generated
D	The relative fraction of light that is converted to current

31. - E7A05

Which of the following is a circuit that continuously alternates between two states without an external clock?

Select	Answer
A	T flip-flop
B	J-K flip-flop
C	Monostable multivibrator
D	Astable multivibrator

32. - E7B17

Why are odd-order rather than even-order intermodulation distortion products of concern in linear power amplifiers?

Select	Answer
A	Because they invert the sidebands causing distortion
B	Because they maintain the sidebands, thus causing multiple duplicate signals
C	Because they are relatively close in frequency to the desired signal
D	Because they are relatively far in frequency from the desired signal

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 band-pass filter
B	It is a high-pass filter
C	It is a low-pass filter
D	It is a notch filter

34. - E7D15

What is the purpose of a step-start circuit in a high-voltage power supply?

Select	Answer
A	To allow for remote control of the power supply
B	To compensate for variations of the incoming line voltage
C	To allow the filter capacitors to charge gradually
D	To provide a dual-voltage output for reduced power applications

35. - E7E06

Why is de-emphasis commonly used in FM communications receivers?

Select	Answer
A	To reduce impulse noise reception
B	For compatibility with transmitters using phase modulation
C	For higher efficiency
D	To remove third-order distortion products

36. - E7F13

What is the function of taps in a digital signal processing filter?

Select	Answer
A	Select the point at which baseband signals are generated
B	Provide incremental signal delays for filter algorithms
C	To reduce excess signal pressure levels
D	Provide access for debugging software

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	Increase both gain and Q
C	Restrict both gain and Q
D	Restrict gain but increase Q

38. - E7H05

How is positive feedback supplied in a Pierce oscillator?

Select	Answer
A	Through link coupling
B	Through a neutralizing capacitor
C	Through a quartz crystal
D	Through a tapped coil

39. - E8A06

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

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

40. - E8B11

What is digital time division multiplexing?

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

41. - E8C04

What technique minimizes the bandwidth of a PSK31 signal?

Select	Answer
A	Zero-sum character encoding
B	Reed-Solomon character encoding
C	Use of trapezoidal data pulses
D	Use of sinusoidal data pulses

42. - E8D01

Why are received spread spectrum signals resistant to interference?

Select	Answer
A	The receiver is always equipped with a digital blanker
B	The high power used by a spread spectrum transmitter keeps its signal from being easily overpowered
C	Signals not using the spread spectrum algorithm are suppressed in the receiver
D	If interference is detected by the receiver it will signal the transmitter to change frequencies

43. - E9A04

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

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

44. - E9B03

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

Select	Answer
A	24 dB
B	14 dB
C	12 dB
D	18 dB

45. - E9C07

What is the approximate feed point impedance at the center of a two-wire folded dipole antenna?

Select	Answer
A	50 ohms
B	72 ohms
C	300 ohms
D	450 ohms

46. - E9D07

What is an advantage of using top loading in a shortened HF vertical antenna?

Select	Answer
A	Higher losses
B	Improved radiation efficiency
C	Lower Q
D	Greater structural strength

47. - E9E05

How must an antenna's driven element be tuned to use a hairpin matching system?

Select	Answer
A	The driven element reactance must be inductive
B	The driven element radiation resistance must be higher than the characteristic impedance of the transmission line
C	The driven element resonance must be lower than the operating frequency
D	The driven element reactance must be capacitive

48. - E9F01

What is the velocity factor of a transmission line?

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

49. - E9G06

On the Smith chart shown in Figure E9-3, what is the name for the large outer circle on which the reactance arcs terminate?

Select	Answer
A	Polar axis
B	Reactance axis
C	Prime axis
D	Impedance axis

50. - E9H10

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

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

Figure E9-1

Figure E9-3