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

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1. - E0A04

When evaluating a site with multiple transmitters operating at the same time, the operators and licensees of which transmitters are responsible for mitigating over-exposure situations?

Select	Answer
A	Each transmitter that produces 5 percent or more of its MPE limit in areas where the total MPE limit is exceeded.
B	Only the most powerful transmitter
C	Only commercial transmitters
D	Each transmitter operating with a duty cycle greater than 50 percent

2. - E1A01

Which of the following carrier frequencies is illegal for LSB AFSK emissions on the 17 meter band RTTY and data segment of 18.068 to 18.110 MHz?

Select	Answer
A	18.100 MHz
B	18.107 MHz
C	18.068 MHz
D	18.110 MHz

3. - E1B01

Which of the following constitutes a spurious emission?

Select	Answer
A	An amateur station transmission made without the proper call sign identification
B	A signal transmitted to prevent its detection by any station other than the intended recipient
C	Any transmitted signal that unintentionally interferes with another licensed radio station
D	An emission outside the signal's necessary bandwidth that can be reduced or eliminated without affecting the information transmitted

4. - E1C07

At what level below a signal's mean power level is its bandwidth determined according to FCC rules?

Select	Answer
A	23 dB
B	26 dB
C	6 dB
D	3 dB

5. - E1D04

Which of the following is required in the identification transmissions from a balloon-borne telemetry station?

Select	Answer
A	The output power of the balloon transmitter
B	All these choices are correct
C	Call sign
D	The station's six-character Maidenhead grid locator

6. - E1E10

What must the administering VEs do after the administration of a successful examination for an amateur operator license?

Select	Answer
A	They must collect and send the documents to the NCVEC for grading
B	They must collect and submit the documents to the coordinating VEC for grading
C	They must submit the application document to the coordinating VEC according to the coordinating VEC instructions
D	They must collect and send the documents to the FCC according to instructions

7. - E1F08

Which of the following types of amateur station communications are prohibited?

Select	Answer
A	Communications transmitted for hire or material compensation, except as otherwise provided in the rules
B	Communications that have religious content
C	Communications in a language other than English
D	Communications that have political content, except as allowed by the Fairness Doctrine

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

9. - E2B06

What is vestigial sideband modulation?

Select	Answer
A	Spread spectrum modulation achieved by applying FM modulation following single sideband amplitude modulation
B	Amplitude modulation in which one complete sideband and a portion of the other are transmitted
C	Narrow-band FM modulation achieved by filtering one sideband from the audio before frequency modulating the carrier
D	A type of modulation in which one sideband is inverted

10. - E2C05

What is the function of a DX QSL Manager?

Select	Answer
A	To allocate frequencies for DXpeditions
B	To handle the receiving and sending of confirmation cards for a DX station
C	To relay calls to and from a DX station
D	To run a net to allow many stations to contact a rare DX station

11. - E2D08

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

Select	Answer
A	Acknowledgement
B	Unnumbered Information
C	Disconnect
D	Connect

12. - E2E05

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

Select	Answer
A	PACTOR
B	PSK31
C	RTTY
D	MFSK

13. - E3A06

What might help to restore contact when DX signals become too weak to copy across an entire HF band a few hours after sunset?

Select	Answer
A	Wait 24 hours before attempting another communication on the band
B	Switch to a lower frequency HF band
C	Wait 90 minutes or so for the signal degradation to pass
D	Switch to a higher frequency HF band

14. - E3B06

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

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

15. - E3C09

How does the intensity of an X3 flare compare to that of an X2 flare?

Select	Answer
A	Twice as great
B	Four times as great
C	10 percent greater
D	50 percent greater

16. - E4A03

Which of the following test instruments is used to display spurious signals and/or intermodulation distortion products generated by an SSB transmitter?

Select	Answer
A	A time-domain reflectometer
B	A spectrum analyzer
C	A wattmeter
D	A logic analyzer

17. - E4B04

Which S parameter represents input port return loss or reflection coefficient (equivalent to VSWR)?

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

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

20. - E4E05

How can radio frequency interference from an AC motor be suppressed?

Select	Answer
A	By using a ground-fault current interrupter in the circuit used to power the motor
B	By installing a high-pass filter in series with the motor's power leads
C	By installing a brute-force AC-line filter in series with the motor leads
D	By installing a bypass capacitor in series with the motor leads

21. - E5A12

What is the half-power bandwidth of a resonant circuit that has a resonant frequency of 3.7 MHz and a Q of 118?

Select	Answer
A	436.6 kHz
B	15.7 kHz
C	31.4 kHz
D	218.3 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	68.2 degrees with the voltage lagging the current
B	68.2 degrees with the voltage leading the current
C	14.0 degrees with the voltage leading the current
D	14.0 degrees with the voltage lagging the current

23. - E5C04

What coordinate system is often used to display the resistive, inductive, and/or capacitive reactance components of impedance?

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

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. - E6A12

Why do many MOSFET devices have internally connected Zener diodes on the gates?

Select	Answer
A	To provide a voltage reference for the correct amount of reverse-bias gate voltage
B	To reduce the chance of static damage to the gate
C	To keep the gate voltage within specifications and prevent the device from overheating
D	To protect the substrate from excessive voltages

26. - E6B08

Which of the following is a Schottky barrier diode?

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

27. - E6C05

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

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

28. - E6D06

What core material property determines the inductance of an inductor?

Select	Answer
A	Reactivity
B	Resistance
C	Permeability
D	Thermal impedance

29. - E6E06

What characteristics of the MMIC make it a popular choice for VHF through microwave circuits?

Select	Answer
A	Controlled gain, low noise figure, and constant input and output impedance over the specified frequency range
B	Nearly infinite gain, very high input impedance, and very low output impedance
C	The ability to retrieve information from a single signal even in the presence of other strong signals
D	Plate current that is controlled by a control grid

30. - E6F02

What happens to the conductivity of a photoconductive material when light shines on it?

Select	Answer
A	It stays the same
B	It increases
C	It decreases
D	It becomes unstable

31. - E7A02

What is the function of a decade counter?

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

32. - E7B10

In Figure E7-1, what is the purpose of R1 and R2?

Select	Answer
A	Feedback
B	Voltage divider bias
C	Self bias
D	Load resistors

33. - E7C08

Which of the following factors has the greatest effect on the bandwidth and response shape of a crystal ladder filter?

Select	Answer
A	The amplitude of the signals passing through the filter
B	The DC voltage applied to the quartz crystal
C	The relative frequencies of the individual crystals
D	The gain of the RF stage preceding the filter

34. - E7D13

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

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

35. - E7E06

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

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

36. - E7F13

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

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

37. - E7G06

What is the gain-bandwidth of an operational amplifier?

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

38. - E7H15

Which of these functions can be performed by a phase-locked loop?

Select	Answer
A	Photovoltaic conversion, optical coupling
B	Frequency synthesis, FM demodulation
C	Wide-band AF and RF power amplification
D	Comparison of two digital input signals, digital pulse counter

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

41. - E8C12

What factors affect the bandwidth of a transmitted CW signal?

Select	Answer
A	Keying speed and shape factor (rise and fall time)
B	All these choices are correct
C	IF bandwidth and Q
D	Modulation index and output power

42. - E8D02

What spread spectrum communications technique uses a high-speed binary bit stream to shift the phase of an RF carrier?

Select	Answer
A	Binary phase-shift keying
B	Phase compandored spread spectrum
C	Direct sequence
D	Frequency hopping

43. - E9A13

What term describes station output, taking into account all gains and losses?

Select	Answer
A	Power factor
B	Apparent power
C	Effective radiated power
D	Half-power bandwidth

44. - E9B09

What type of computer program technique is commonly used for modeling antennas?

Select	Answer
A	Mutual impedance analysis
B	Method of Moments
C	Calculus differentiation with respect to physical properties
D	Graphical analysis

45. - E9C06

What is the effect of adding a terminating resistor to a rhombic antenna?

Select	Answer
A	It decreases the ground loss
B	It changes the radiation pattern from horizontal to vertical polarization
C	It changes the radiation pattern from bidirectional to unidirectional
D	It reflects the standing waves on the antenna elements back to the transmitter

46. - E9D10

What happens to feed-point impedance at the base of a fixed length HF mobile antenna when operated below its resonant frequency?

Select	Answer
A	The radiation resistance increases and the capacitive reactance increases
B	The radiation resistance decreases and the capacitive reactance increases
C	The radiation resistance increases and the capacitive reactance decreases
D	The radiation resistance decreases and the capacitive reactance decreases

47. - E9E11

What is the primary purpose of phasing lines when used with an antenna having multiple driven elements?

Select	Answer
A	It creates a low-angle radiation pattern
B	It prevents reflected power from traveling back down the feed line and causing harmonic radiation from the transmitter
C	It ensures that each driven element operates in concert with the others to create the desired antenna pattern
D	It allows single-band antennas to operate on other bands

48. - E9F07

How does ladder line compare to small-diameter coaxial cable such as RG-58 at 50 MHz?

Select	Answer
A	Smaller reflection coefficient
B	Lower velocity factor
C	Lower loss
D	Higher SWR

49. - E9G09

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

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

50. - E9H09

What is a Pennant antenna?

Select	Answer
A	A form of rhombic antenna terminated in a variable capacitor to provide frequency diversity
B	A small, vertically oriented receiving antenna consisting of a triangular loop terminated in approximately 900 ohms
C	A stealth antenna built to look like a flagpole
D	A four-element, high-gain vertical array invented by George Pennant

Figure E7-1