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

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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	Hearing loss caused by high voltage corona discharge
C	Ingestion of ozone gas from the cooling system
D	Localized heating of the body from RF exposure in excess of the MPE limits

2. - E1A10

If an amateur station is installed aboard a ship or aircraft, what condition must be met before the station is operated?

Select	Answer
A	Its operation must be approved by the master of the ship or the pilot in command of the aircraft
B	The amateur operator must have an FCC Marine or Aircraft endorsement on his or her amateur license
C	The amateur station must have a power supply that is completely independent of the main ship or aircraft power supply
D	The amateur station operator must agree not to transmit when the main radio of the ship or aircraft is in use

3. - E1B03

Within what distance must an amateur station protect an FCC monitoring facility from harmful interference?

Select	Answer
A	1 mile
B	10 miles
C	30 miles
D	3 miles

4. - E1C10

What is the permitted mean power of any spurious emission relative to the mean power of the fundamental emission from a station transmitter or external RF amplifier installed after January 1, 2003 and transmitting on a frequency below 30 MHz?

Select	Answer
A	At least 63 dB below
B	At least 43 dB below
C	At least 73 dB below
D	At least 53 dB below

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. - E1E08

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

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

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

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 low earth or geostationary orbit
C	The satellite's uplink and downlink frequency bands
D	Whether the satellite is in a polar or equatorial orbit

9. - E2B02

How many horizontal lines make up a fast-scan (NTSC) television frame?

Select	Answer
A	1080
B	525
C	30
D	60

10. - E2C09

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

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

11. - E2D08

What type of packet frame is used to transmit APRS beacon data?

Select	Answer
A	Connect
B	Acknowledgement
C	Unnumbered Information
D	Disconnect

12. - E2E12

How do ALE stations establish contact?

Select	Answer
A	ALE radios send a constant tone code to establish a frequency for future use
B	ALE constantly scans a list of frequencies, activating the radio when the designated call sign is received
C	ALE radios activate when they hear their signal echoed by back scatter
D	ALE radios monitor an internet site for the frequency they are being paged on

13. - E3A05

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

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

14. - E3B04

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

Select	Answer
A	Extraordinary waves describe rare long-skip propagation compared to ordinary waves, which travel shorter distances
B	Long-path and short-path waves
C	Independent waves created in the ionosphere that are elliptically polarized
D	Refracted rays and reflected waves

15. - E3C14

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

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

16. - E4A06

What is the effect of aliasing on a digital oscilloscope caused by setting the time base too slow?

Select	Answer
A	Calibration of the vertical scale is no longer valid
B	Excessive blanking occurs, which prevents display of the signal
C	All signals will have a DC offset
D	A false, jittery low-frequency version of the signal is displayed

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

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

19. - E4D06

What is the term for spurious signals generated by the combination of two or more signals in a non-linear device or circuit?

Select	Answer
A	Neutralization
B	Intermodulation
C	Adjacent channel interference
D	Amplifier desensitization

20. - E4E09

What undesirable effect can occur when using an IF noise blanker?

Select	Answer
A	Received audio in the speech range might have an echo effect
B	Nearby signals may appear to be excessively wide even if they meet emission standards
C	FM signals can no longer be demodulated
D	The audio frequency bandwidth of the received signal might be compressed

21. - E5A15

Which of the following increases Q for inductors and capacitors?

Select	Answer
A	Lower self-resonant frequency
B	Lower losses
C	Higher self-resonant frequency
D	Lower reactance

22. - E5B09

What is the relationship between the AC current through a capacitor and the voltage across a capacitor?

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

23. - E5C12

Which point on Figure E5-1 best represents the impedance of a series circuit consisting of a 300-ohm resistor and a 19-picofarad capacitor at 21.200 MHz?

Select	Answer
A	Point 1
B	Point 7
C	Point 8
D	Point 3

24. - E5D13

How many watts are consumed in a circuit consisting of a 100-ohm resistor in series with a 100-ohm inductive reactance drawing 1 ampere?

Select	Answer
A	200 watts
B	141.4 watts
C	100 watts
D	70.7 watts

25. - E6A08

What term indicates the frequency at which the grounded-base current gain of a transistor has decreased to 0.7 of the gain obtainable at 1 kHz?

Select	Answer
A	Alpha rejection frequency
B	Beta cutoff frequency
C	Alpha cutoff frequency
D	Corner frequency

26. - E6B04

What type of semiconductor device is designed for use as a voltage-controlled capacitor?

Select	Answer
A	Varactor diode
B	Zener diode
C	Tunnel diode
D	Silicon-controlled rectifier

27. - E6C08

In Figure E6-3, what is the schematic symbol for a NAND gate?

Select	Answer
A	1
B	3
C	2
D	4

28. - E6D11

Which type of core material decreases inductance when inserted into a coil?

Select	Answer
A	Ferrite
B	Powdered iron
C	Brass
D	Ceramic

29. - E6E01

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

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

30. - E6F09

What is the efficiency of a photovoltaic cell?

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

31. - E7A06

What is a characteristic of a monostable multivibrator?

Select	Answer
A	It produces a continuous square wave oscillating between 1 and 0
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 stores one bit of data in either a 0 or 1 state

32. - E7B14

Why are switching amplifiers more efficient than linear amplifiers?

Select	Answer
A	Switching amplifiers use push-pull circuits
B	Switching amplifiers operate at higher voltages
C	The power transistor is at saturation or cutoff most of the time
D	Linear amplifiers have high gain resulting in higher harmonic content

33. - E7C01

How are the capacitors and inductors of a low-pass filter Pi-network arranged between the network's input and output?

Select	Answer
A	A capacitor is connected between the input and ground, another capacitor is connected between the output and ground, and an inductor is connected between input and output
B	Two capacitors are in series between the input and output, and an inductor is connected between the two capacitors and ground
C	An inductor is connected between the input and ground, another inductor is connected between the output and ground, and a capacitor is connected between the input and output
D	Two inductors are in series between the input and output, and a capacitor is connected between the two inductors and ground

34. - E7D13

What is the equation for calculating power dissipated by a series linear voltage regulator?

Select	Answer
A	Input voltage multiplied by input current
B	Input voltage divided by output current
C	Voltage difference from input to output multiplied by output current
D	Output voltage multiplied by output current

35. - E7E02

What is the function of a reactance modulator?

Select	Answer
A	To produce PM or FM signals by using an electrically variable inductance or capacitance
B	To produce PM signals by using an electrically variable resistance
C	To produce AM signals by using an electrically variable resistance
D	To produce AM signals by using an electrically variable inductance or capacitance

36. - E7F01

What is meant by direct digital conversion as applied to software defined radios?

Select	Answer
A	Incoming RF is digitized by an analog-to-digital converter without being mixed with a local oscillator signal
B	Incoming RF is converted to a control voltage for a voltage controlled oscillator
C	Software is converted from source code to object code during operation of the receiver
D	A switching mixer is used to generate I and Q signals directly from the RF input

37. - E7G06

What is the gain-bandwidth of an operational amplifier?

Select	Answer
A	The maximum frequency for a filter circuit using that type of amplifier
B	The frequency at which the open-loop gain of the amplifier equals one
C	The gain of the amplifier at a filter's cutoff frequency
D	The frequency at which the amplifier's offset voltage is zero

38. - E7H06

Which of the following oscillator circuits are commonly used in VFOs?

Select	Answer
A	Colpitts and Hartley
B	Armstrong and deForest
C	Pierce and Zener
D	Negative feedback and balanced feedback

39. - E8A05

What of the following instruments would be the most accurate for measuring the RMS voltage of a complex waveform?

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

40. - E8B01

What is the modulation index of an FM signal?

Select	Answer
A	The ratio of frequency deviation to modulating signal frequency
B	The type of modulation used by the transmitter
C	The bandwidth of the transmitted signal divided by the modulating signal frequency
D	The ratio of modulating signal amplitude to frequency deviation

41. - E8C05

What is the approximate bandwidth of a 13-WPM International Morse Code transmission?

Select	Answer
A	52 Hz
B	13 Hz
C	104 Hz
D	26 Hz

42. - E8D06

What is the advantage of including parity bits in ASCII characters?

Select	Answer
A	Faster transmission rate
B	Foreign language characters can be sent
C	The signal can overpower interfering signals
D	Some types of errors can be detected

43. - E9A05

What is included in the total resistance of an antenna system?

Select	Answer
A	Transmission-line resistance plus radiation resistance
B	Radiation resistance plus transmission resistance
C	Radiation resistance plus loss resistance
D	Radiation resistance plus space impedance

44. - E9B06

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

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

45. - E9C09

Which of the following describes a G5RV antenna?

Select	Answer
A	A wide band dipole using shorted coaxial cable for the radiating elements and fed with a�4:1 balun
B	A multi-band trap antenna
C	A multi-band dipole antenna fed with coax and a balun through a selected length of open wire transmission line
D	A phased array antenna consisting of multiple loops

46. - E9D01

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

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

47. - E9E04

What is the purpose of the series capacitor in a gamma-type antenna matching network?

Select	Answer
A	To provide a rejection notch that prevents the radiation of harmonics
B	To transform the antenna impedance to a higher value
C	To cancel the inductive reactance of the matching network
D	To provide DC isolation between the feed line and the antenna

48. - E9F08

Which of the following is a significant difference between foam dielectric coaxial cable and solid dielectric cable, assuming all other parameters are the same?

Select	Answer
A	Foam dielectric has lower safe operating voltage limits
B	All these choices are correct
C	Foam dielectric has lower loss per unit of length
D	Foam dielectric has higher velocity factor

49. - E9G05

Which of the following is a common use for a Smith chart?

Select	Answer
A	Determine the length and position of an impedance matching stub
B	Determine the impedance of a transmission line, given the physical dimensions
C	Determine the loss/100 feet of a transmission line, given the velocity factor and conductor materials
D	Determine the gain of an antenna given the physical and electrical parameters

50. - E9H04

What is an advantage of placing a grounded electrostatic shield around a small loop direction-finding antenna?

Select	Answer
A	It eliminates unbalanced capacitive coupling to the surroundings, improving the nulls
B	It eliminates tracking errors caused by strong out-of-band signals
C	It increases signal strength by providing a better match to the feed line
D	It adds capacitive loading, increasing the bandwidth of the antenna

Figure E5-1

Figure E6-3

Figure E9-2