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	Microwaves are ionizing radiation
C	The extremely high frequency energy can damage the joints of antenna structures
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 originating 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 packet bulletin board station

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

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 73 dB below
B	At least 43 dB below
C	At least 63 dB below
D	At least 53 dB below

5. - E1D01

What is the definition of telemetry?

Select	Answer
A	Two-way transmissions in excess of 1000 feet
B	Two-way transmissions of data
C	One-way transmission of measurements at a distance from the measuring instrument
D	One-way transmission that initiates, modifies, or terminates the functions of a device at a distance

6. - E1E01

For which types of out-of-pocket expenses do the Part 97 rules state that VEs and VECs may be reimbursed?

Select	Answer
A	Preparing, processing, administering, and coordinating an examination for an amateur radio operator license
B	Teaching an amateur operator license examination preparation course
C	Providing amateur operator license examination preparation training materials
D	No expenses are authorized for reimbursement

7. - E1F09

Which of the following conditions apply when transmitting spread spectrum emissions?

Select	Answer
A	The transmission must not be used to obscure the meaning of any communication
B	A station transmitting SS emission must not cause harmful interference to other stations employing other authorized emissions
C	The transmitting station must be in an area regulated by the FCC or in a country that permits SS emissions
D	All these choices are correct

8. - E2A09

What do the terms L band and S band specify regarding satellite communications?

Select	Answer
A	Which sideband to use
B	The 2 meter and 70 centimeter bands
C	FM and Digital Store-and-Forward systems
D	The 23 centimeter and 13 centimeter bands

9. - E2B04

How is color information sent in analog SSTV?

Select	Answer
A	Color is amplitude modulated on the frequency modulated intensity signal
B	Color information is sent on a 2.8 kHz subcarrier
C	Color is sent in a color burst at the end of each line
D	Color lines are sent sequentially

10. - E2C08

Which of the following contacts may be confirmed through the U.S. QSL bureau system?

Select	Answer
A	Repeater contacts between U.S. club members
B	Contacts using tactical call signs
C	Special event contacts between stations in the U.S.
D	Contacts between a U.S. station and a non-U.S. 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. - 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 radios monitor an internet site for the frequency they are being paged on
C	ALE radios activate when they hear their signal echoed by back scatter
D	ALE constantly scans a list of frequencies, activating the radio when the designated call sign is received

13. - E3A10

Which type of atmospheric structure can create a path for microwave propagation?

Select	Answer
A	Wind shear
B	Temperature inversion
C	Dust devil
D	The jet stream

14. - E3B11

At what time of day can sporadic E propagation occur?

Select	Answer
A	Only around sunset and sunrise
B	Any time
C	Only in hours of darkness
D	Only around sunset

15. - E3C09

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

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

16. - E4A05

What is the purpose of the prescaler function on a frequency counter?

Select	Answer
A	It divides a higher frequency signal so a low-frequency counter can display the input frequency
B	It multiplies a higher frequency signal so a low-frequency counter can display the operating frequency
C	It prevents oscillation in a low-frequency counter circuit
D	It amplifies low-level signals for more accurate counting

17. - E4B01

Which of the following factors most affects the accuracy of a frequency counter?

Select	Answer
A	Decade divider accuracy
B	Temperature coefficient of the logic
C	Input attenuator accuracy
D	Time base accuracy

18. - E4C05

What does a receiver noise floor of -174 dBm represent?

Select	Answer
A	The minimum detectable signal as a function of receive frequency
B	The noise figure of a 1 Hz bandwidth receiver
C	The theoretical noise in a 1 Hz bandwidth at the input of a perfect receiver at room temperature
D	The galactic noise contribution to minimum detectable signal

19. - E4D02

Which of the following describes problems caused by poor dynamic range in a receiver?

Select	Answer
A	Cross-modulation of the desired signal and insufficient audio power to operate the speaker
B	Oscillator instability and severe audio distortion of all but the strongest received signals
C	Spurious signals caused by cross-modulation and desensitization from strong adjacent signals
D	Oscillator instability requiring frequent retuning and loss of ability to recover the opposite sideband

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	Broadband white noise
D	Power line noise

21. - E5A06

What is the magnitude of the circulating current within the components of a parallel LC circuit at resonance?

Select	Answer
A	It equals 2 multiplied by pi, multiplied by frequency, multiplied by inductance
B	It is at a maximum
C	It is at a minimum
D	It equals 1 divided by the quantity 2 times pi, multiplied by the square root of inductance L multiplied by capacitance C

22. - E5B02

What letter is commonly used to represent susceptance?

Select	Answer
A	Y
B	X
C	B
D	G

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 8
C	Point 3
D	Point 7

24. - E5D12

How many watts are consumed in a circuit having a power factor of 0.2 if the input is 100 VAC at 4 amperes?

Select	Answer
A	2000 watts
B	50 watts
C	80 watts
D	400 watts

25. - E6A01

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

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

26. - E6B06

Which of the following is a common use of a Schottky diode?

Select	Answer
A	As a variable capacitance in an automatic frequency control circuit
B	As a VHF/UHF mixer or detector
C	As a rectifier in high current power supplies
D	As a constant voltage reference in a power supply

27. - E6C05

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

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

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	Stabilizing current
C	Magnetizing current
D	Excitation current

29. - E6E08

How is power supplied to the most common type of MMIC?

Select	Answer
A	MMICs require no operating bias
B	Directly to the bias voltage (VCC IN) lead
C	Through a capacitor and RF choke connected to the amplifier input lead
D	Through a resistor and/or RF choke connected to the amplifier output lead

30. - E6F04

What is the photovoltaic effect?

Select	Answer
A	The conversion of voltage to current when exposed to light
B	The conversion of light to electrical energy
C	The tendency of a battery to discharge when exposed to light
D	The conversion of electrical energy to mechanical energy

31. - E7A01

Which circuit is bistable?

Select	Answer
A	An AND gate
B	A flip-flop
C	An OR gate
D	A bipolar amplifier

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

33. - E7C09

What is a crystal lattice filter?

Select	Answer
A	A filter using lattice-shaped quartz crystals for high-Q performance
B	A power supply filter made with interlaced quartz crystals
C	An audio filter made with four quartz crystals that resonate at 1 kHz intervals
D	A filter with narrow bandwidth and steep skirts made using quartz crystals

34. - E7D02

What is a characteristic of a switching electronic voltage regulator?

Select	Answer
A	It is generally less efficient than a linear regulator
B	The controlled device's duty cycle is changed to produce a constant average output voltage
C	The resistance of a control element is varied in direct proportion to the line voltage or load current
D	It gives a ramp voltage at its output

35. - E7E09

What occurs when an excessive amount of signal energy reaches a mixer circuit?

Select	Answer
A	Spurious mixer products are generated
B	Automatic limiting occurs
C	Mixer blanking occurs
D	A beat frequency is generated

36. - E7F02

What kind of digital signal processing audio filter is used to remove unwanted noise from a received SSB signal?

Select	Answer
A	A Hilbert-transform filter
B	A phase-inverting filter
C	A crystal-lattice filter
D	An adaptive filter

37. - E7G08

How does the gain of an ideal operational amplifier vary with frequency?

Select	Answer
A	It decreases logarithmically with increasing frequency
B	It decreases linearly with increasing frequency
C	It does not vary with frequency
D	It increases linearly with increasing frequency

38. - E7H01

What are three oscillator circuits used in amateur radio equipment?

Select	Answer
A	Pierce, Fenner and Beane
B	Colpitts, Hartley and Pierce
C	Taft, Pierce and negative feedback
D	Taft, Hartley and Pierce

39. - E8A04

What is "dither" with respect to analog-to-digital converters?

Select	Answer
A	A small amount of noise added to the input signal to allow more precise representation of a signal over time
B	An abnormal condition where the converter cannot settle on a value to represent the signal
C	An error caused by irregular quantization step size
D	A method of decimation by randomly skipping samples

40. - E8B04

What is the modulation index of an FM-phone signal having a maximum carrier deviation of plus or minus 6 kHz when modulated with a 2 kHz modulating frequency?

Select	Answer
A	3
B	2000
C	6000
D	1/3

41. - E8C11

What is the relationship between symbol rate and baud?

Select	Answer
A	They are the same
B	Baud is only used for RTTY
C	Symbol rate is only used for packet-based modes
D	Baud is twice the symbol rate

42. - E8D07

What is a common cause of overmodulation of AFSK signals?

Select	Answer
A	Bit errors in the modem
B	Ground loops
C	Excessive transmit audio levels
D	Excessive numbers of retries

43. - E9A02

What is the effective radiated power relative to a dipole of a repeater station with 150 watts transmitter power output, 2 dB feed line loss, 2.2 dB duplexer loss, and 7 dBd antenna gain?

Select	Answer
A	1977 watts
B	286 watts
C	420 watts
D	78.7 watts

44. - E9B07

How does the total amount of radiation emitted by a directional gain antenna compare with the total amount of radiation emitted from a theoretical isotropic antenna, assuming each is driven by the same amount of power?

Select	Answer
A	The total amount of radiation from the directional antenna is increased by the gain of the antenna
B	The radiation from the isotropic antenna is 2.15 dB stronger than that from the directional antenna
C	They are the same
D	The total amount of radiation from the directional antenna is stronger by its front-to-back ratio

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	A figure-8 broadside to the axis of the array
D	Omni-directional

46. - E9D06

What happens to the SWR bandwidth when one or more loading coils are used to resonate an electrically short antenna?

Select	Answer
A	It is increased
B	It is decreased
C	It is unchanged if the loading coil is located at the feed point
D	It is unchanged if the loading coil is located at a voltage maximum point

47. - E9E02

What is the name of an antenna matching system that matches an unbalanced feed line to an antenna by feeding the driven element both at the center of the element and at a fraction of a wavelength to one side of center?

Select	Answer
A	The delta match
B	The gamma match
C	The epsilon match
D	The stub match

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

49. - E9G11

How are the wavelength scales on a Smith chart calibrated?

Select	Answer
A	In fractions of antenna electrical wavelength
B	In fractions of transmission line electrical frequency
C	In fractions of antenna electrical frequency
D	In fractions of transmission line electrical wavelength

50. - E9H06

What is the triangulation method of direction finding?

Select	Answer
A	A fixed receiving station plots three headings to the signal source
B	The geometric angles of sky waves from the source are used to determine its position
C	Antenna headings from several different receiving locations are used to locate the signal source
D	A fixed receiving station uses three different antennas to plot the location of the signal source

Figure E5-1