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

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1. - E0A01

What is the primary function of an external earth connection or ground rod?

Select	Answer
A	Reduce RF current flow between pieces of equipment
B	Lightning protection
C	Reduce RFI to telephones and home entertainment systems
D	Reduce received noise

2. - E1A02

When using a transceiver that displays the carrier frequency of phone signals, which of the following displayed frequencies represents the lowest frequency at which a properly adjusted LSB emission will be totally within the band?

Select	Answer
A	300 Hz above the lower band edge
B	The exact lower band edge
C	3 kHz above the lower band edge
D	1 kHz above the lower band edge

3. - E1B06

Which of the following additional rules apply if you are installing an amateur station antenna at a site at or near a public use airport?

Select	Answer
A	You must file an Environmental Impact Statement with the EPA before construction begins
B	You may have to notify the Federal Aviation Administration and register it with the FCC as required by Part 17 of the FCC rules
C	You must obtain a construction permit from the airport zoning authority
D	You must submit engineering drawings to the FAA

4. - E1C03

How do the control operator responsibilities of a station under automatic control differ from one under local control?

Select	Answer
A	Under automatic control there is no control operator
B	Under automatic control the control operator is not required to be present at the control point
C	Under local control there is no control operator
D	Under local control a control operator is not required to be present at a control point

5. - E1D11

Which amateur stations are eligible to operate as Earth stations?

Select	Answer
A	Any amateur station whose licensee has filed a pre-space notification with the FCC's International Bureau
B	Only those of General, Advanced or Amateur Extra Class operators
C	Any amateur station, subject to the privileges of the class of operator license held by the control operator
D	Only those of Amateur Extra Class operators

6. - E1E08

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

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

7. - E1F10

Who may be the control operator of an auxiliary station?

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

8. - E2A03

How is the signal inverted by an inverting linear transponder?

Select	Answer
A	The signal is detected and remodulated on the reverse sideband
B	The signal is passed through a non-linear filter
C	The signal is reduced to I and Q components and the Q component is filtered out
D	The signal is passed through a mixer and the difference rather than the sum is transmitted

9. - E2B12

What signals SSTV receiving software to begin a new picture line?

Select	Answer
A	Specific tone amplitudes
B	A two-tone signal
C	Elapsed time
D	Specific tone frequencies

10. - E2C02

Which of the following best describes the term self-spotting? in connection with HF contest operating?

Select	Answer
A	The acceptable practice of manually posting the call signs of stations on a spotting network
B	The often-prohibited practice of posting one's own call sign and frequency on a spotting network
C	A manual technique for rapidly zero beating or tuning to a station's frequency before calling that station
D	An automatic method for rapidly zero beating or tuning to a station's frequency before calling that station

11. - E2D08

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

Select	Answer
A	Acknowledgement
B	Disconnect
C	Unnumbered Information
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. - E3A11

What is a typical range for tropospheric propagation of microwave signals?

Select	Answer
A	100 miles to 300 miles
B	10 miles to 50 miles
C	1200 miles
D	2500 miles

14. - E3B05

Which amateur bands typically support long-path propagation?

Select	Answer
A	Only 30 meters to 10 meters
B	160 meters to 10 meters
C	6 meters to 2 meters
D	Only 160 meters to 40 meters

15. - E3C07

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

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

16. - E4A05

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

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

17. - E4B01

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

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

18. - E4C02

Which of the following receiver circuits can be effective in eliminating interference from strong out-of-band signals?

Select	Answer
A	A narrow IF filter
B	A properly adjusted product detector
C	A notch filter
D	A front-end filter or pre-selector

19. - E4D01

What is meant by the blocking dynamic range of a receiver?

Select	Answer
A	The minimum difference in dB between the levels of two FM signals that will cause one signal to block the other
B	The difference in dB between the noise floor and the level of an incoming signal that will cause 1 dB of gain compression
C	The minimum difference in dB between two signals which produce third-order intermodulation products greater than the noise floor
D	The difference in dB between the noise floor and the third-order intercept point

20. - E4E09

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

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

21. - E5A04

What is the magnitude of the impedance of a parallel RLC circuit at resonance?

Select	Answer
A	Approximately equal to inductive reactance
B	Approximately equal to circuit resistance
C	High compared to the circuit resistance
D	Low compared to the circuit resistance

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 leading the current
B	14.0 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	-jX
B	Omega
C	+jX
D	Delta

24. - E5D02

Why is it important to keep lead lengths short for components used in circuits for VHF and above?

Select	Answer
A	All these choices are correct
B	To increase the thermal time constant
C	To avoid unwanted inductive reactance
D	To maintain component lifetime

25. - E6A04

What is the name given to an impurity atom that adds holes to a semiconductor crystal structure?

Select	Answer
A	N-type impurity
B	Donor impurity
C	Acceptor impurity
D	Insulator impurity

26. - E6B08

Which of the following is a Schottky barrier diode?

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

27. - E6C09

What is a Programmable Logic Device (PLD)?

Select	Answer
A	A logic circuit that can be modified during use
B	A type of transistor whose gain can be changed by digital logic circuits
C	A programmable collection of logic gates and circuits in a single integrated circuit
D	Programmable equipment used for testing digital logic integrated circuits

28. - E6D11

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

Select	Answer
A	Brass
B	Ferrite
C	Ceramic
D	Powdered iron

29. - E6E01

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

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

30. - E6F06

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

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

31. - E7A01

Which circuit is bistable?

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

32. - E7B12

What type of amplifier circuit is shown in Figure E7-1?

Select	Answer
A	Emitter follower
B	Common emitter
C	Common base
D	Common collector

33. - E7C06

What are the distinguishing features of an elliptical filter?

Select	Answer
A	Gradual passband rolloff with minimal stop band ripple
B	Gradual passband rolloff with extreme stop band ripple
C	Extremely flat response over its pass band with gradually rounded stop band corners
D	Extremely sharp cutoff with one or more notches in the stop band

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 large power factor compensation capacitor to recover power from the unused portion of the AC cycle
B	The inverter design does not require any output filtering
C	The high frequency inverter design uses much smaller transformers and filter components for an equivalent power output
D	It uses a diode bridge rectifier for increased output

35. - E7E07

What is meant by the term "baseband" in radio communications?

Select	Answer
A	The lowest frequency band that the transmitter or receiver covers
B	The frequency range occupied by a message signal prior to modulation
C	The unmodulated bandwidth of the transmitted signal
D	The basic oscillator frequency in an FM transmitter that is multiplied to increase the deviation and carrier frequency

36. - E7F08

What is the function of decimation?

Select	Answer
A	Removing unnecessary significant digits
B	Reducing the effective sample rate by removing samples
C	Attenuating the signal
D	Converting data to binary code decimal form

37. - E7G09

What will be the output voltage of the circuit shown in Figure E7-3 if R1 is 1000 ohms, RF is 10,000 ohms, and 0.23 volts DC is applied to the input?

Select	Answer
A	-0.23 volts
B	2.3 volts
C	0.23 volts
D	-2.3 volts

38. - E7H15

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

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

39. - E8A07

What determines the PEP-to-average power ratio of a single-sideband phone signal?

Select	Answer
A	Speech characteristics
B	Amplifier gain
C	The frequency of the modulating signal
D	The degree of carrier suppression

40. - E8B05

What is the deviation ratio of an FM-phone signal having a maximum frequency swing of plus-or-minus 5 kHz when the maximum modulation frequency is 3 kHz?

Select	Answer
A	1.67
B	0.167
C	60
D	0.6

41. - E8C08

How does ARQ accomplish error correction?

Select	Answer
A	If errors are detected, redundant data is substituted
B	Special polynomial codes provide automatic correction
C	Special binary codes provide automatic correction
D	If errors are detected, a retransmission is requested

42. - E8D01

Why are received spread spectrum signals resistant to interference?

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

43. - E9A01

What is an isotropic antenna?

Select	Answer
A	A horizontally polarized antenna used to compare Yagi antennas
B	A spacecraft antenna used to direct signals toward Earth
C	A grounded antenna used to measure Earth conductivity
D	A theoretical, omnidirectional antenna used as a reference for antenna gain

44. - E9B08

What is the far field of an antenna?

Select	Answer
A	The region where the shape of the antenna pattern is independent of distance
B	The region where radiated field strengths are constant
C	The region of the ionosphere where radiated power is not refracted
D	The region where radiated power dissipates over a specified time period

45. - E9C14

How does the performance of a horizontally polarized antenna mounted on the side of a hill compare with the same antenna mounted on flat ground?

Select	Answer
A	The main lobe takeoff angle increases in the downhill direction
B	The horizontal beamwidth decreases in the downhill direction
C	The horizontal beamwidth increases in the uphill direction
D	The main lobe takeoff angle decreases in the downhill direction

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 decreases
C	The radiation resistance decreases and the capacitive reactance increases
D	The radiation resistance increases and the capacitive reactance decreases

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

49. - E9G09

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

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

50. - E9H03

What is Receiving Directivity Factor (RDF)?

Select	Answer
A	Relative directivity compared to isotropic
B	Forward gain compared to the gain in the reverse direction
C	Relative directivity compared to a dipole
D	Forward gain compared to average gain over the entire hemisphere

Figure E7-1

Figure E7-3