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

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1. - E0A10

What toxic material may be present in some electronic components such as high voltage capacitors and transformers?

Select	Answer
A	Polyethylene
B	Polytetrafluoroethylene
C	Polychlorinated biphenyls
D	Polymorphic silicon

2. - E1A04

With your transceiver displaying the carrier frequency of phone signals, you hear a DX station calling CQ on 3.601 MHz LSB. Is it legal to return the call using lower sideband on the same frequency?

Select	Answer
A	No, the sideband will extend beyond the edge of the phone band segment
B	Yes, because the displayed frequency is within the 75 meter phone band segment
C	No, U.S. stations are not permitted to use phone emissions below 3.610 MHz
D	Yes, because the DX station initiated the contact

3. - E1B02

Which of the following is an acceptable bandwidth for Digital Radio Mondiale (DRM) based voice or SSTV digital transmissions made on the HF amateur bands?

Select	Answer
A	20 kHz
B	10 kHz
C	3 kHz
D	15 kHz

4. - E1C07

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

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

5. - E1D02

Which of the following may transmit special codes intended to obscure the meaning of messages?

Select	Answer
A	Telecommand signals from a space telecommand station
B	Binary control characters
C	Data containing personal information
D	Auxiliary relay links carrying repeater audio

6. - E1E07

What should a VE do if a candidate fails to comply with the examiner's instructions during an amateur operator license examination?

Select	Answer
A	Allow the candidate to complete the examination, but invalidate the results
B	Immediately terminate the candidate's examination
C	Warn the candidate that continued failure to comply will result in termination of the examination
D	Immediately terminate everyone's examination and close the session

7. - E1F07

When may an amateur station send a message to a business?

Select	Answer
A	When transmitting international third-party communications
B	When the control operator is employed by the FCC or another government agency
C	When neither the amateur nor his or her employer has a pecuniary interest in the communications
D	When the total money involved does not exceed $25

8. - E2A01

What is the direction of an ascending pass for an amateur satellite?

Select	Answer
A	From east to west
B	From south to north
C	From west to east
D	From north to south

9. - E2B11

What is the function of the Vertical Interval Signaling (VIS) code sent as part of an SSTV transmission?

Select	Answer
A	To identify the call sign of the station transmitting
B	To lock the color burst oscillator in color SSTV images
C	To identify the SSTV mode being used
D	To provide vertical synchronization

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	Contacts between a U.S. station and a non-U.S. station
D	Special event contacts between stations in the U.S.

11. - E2D01

Which of the following digital modes is designed for meteor scatter communications?

Select	Answer
A	APRS
B	Hellschreiber
C	MSK144
D	WSPR

12. - E2E07

Which of the following is a possible reason that attempts to initiate contact with a digital station on a clear frequency are unsuccessful?

Select	Answer
A	All these choices are correct
B	The protocol version you are using is not supported by the digital station
C	Another station you are unable to hear is using the frequency
D	Your transmit frequency is incorrect

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 higher frequency HF band
C	Wait 90 minutes or so for the signal degradation to pass
D	Switch to a lower frequency HF band

14. - E3B09

At what time of year is sporadic E propagation most likely to occur?

Select	Answer
A	Around the solstices, especially the winter solstice
B	Around the solstices, especially the summer solstice
C	Around the equinoxes, especially the spring equinox
D	Around the equinoxes, especially the fall equinox

15. - E3C02

What is indicated by a rising A or K index?

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

16. - E4A09

Which of the following is good practice when using an oscilloscope probe?

Select	Answer
A	Never use a high-impedance probe to measure a low-impedance circuit
B	Keep the signal ground connection of the probe as short as possible
C	Never use a DC-coupled probe to measure an AC circuit
D	All these choices are correct

17. - E4B07

What do the subscripts of S parameters represent?

Select	Answer
A	Relative quality of the data
B	Frequency order of the measurements
C	The port or ports at which measurements are made
D	The relative time between measurements

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

19. - E4D02

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

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

20. - E4E06

What is one type of electrical interference that might be caused by a nearby personal computer?

Select	Answer
A	A loud AC hum in the audio output of your station receiver
B	The appearance of unstable modulated or unmodulated signals at specific frequencies
C	A clicking noise at intervals of a few seconds
D	A whining type noise that continually pulses off and on

21. - E5A07

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

Select	Answer
A	L/R
B	Maximum
C	Minimum
D	R/L

22. - E5B12

What is admittance?

Select	Answer
A	The turns ratio of a transformer
B	The term for the gain of a field effect transistor
C	The inverse of impedance
D	The inverse of Q factor

23. - E5C04

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

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

24. - E5D01

What is the result of skin effect?

Select	Answer
A	Thermal effects on the surface of the conductor increase the impedance
B	As frequency increases, RF current flows in a thinner layer of the conductor, closer to the surface
C	Thermal effects on the surface of the conductor decrease the impedance
D	As frequency decreases, RF current flows in a thinner layer of the conductor, closer to the surface

25. - E6A11

In Figure E6-1, what is the schematic symbol for a P-channel junction FET?

Select	Answer
A	2
B	3
C	6
D	1

26. - E6B05

What characteristic of a PIN diode makes it useful as an RF switch?

Select	Answer
A	Ability to dissipate large amounts of power
B	Extremely high reverse breakdown voltage
C	Low junction capacitance
D	Reverse bias controls its forward voltage drop

27. - E6C08

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

Select	Answer
A	1
B	2
C	3
D	4

28. - E6D05

What is one reason for using ferrite cores rather than powdered iron in an inductor?

Select	Answer
A	Ferrite toroids generally require fewer turns to produce a given inductance value
B	Ferrite toroids generally have better temperature stability
C	Ferrite toroids generally have lower initial permeability
D	Ferrite toroids are easier to use with surface mount technology

29. - E6E02

Which of the following device packages is a through-hole type?

Select	Answer
A	Ball grid array
B	DIP
C	SOT
D	PLCC

30. - E6F07

What is a solid-state relay?

Select	Answer
A	A semiconductor passive delay line
B	A mechanical relay that latches in the on or off state each time it is pulsed
C	A relay using transistors to drive the relay coil
D	A device that uses semiconductors to implement the functions of an electromechanical relay

31. - E7A03

Which of the following can divide the frequency of a pulse train by 2?

Select	Answer
A	A multiplexer
B	A flip-flop
C	An XOR gate
D	An OR gate

32. - E7B14

Why are switching amplifiers more efficient than linear amplifiers?

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

33. - E7C04

How does an impedance-matching circuit transform a complex impedance to a resistive impedance?

Select	Answer
A	It cancels the reactive part of the impedance and changes the resistive part to a desired value
B	It introduces negative resistance to cancel the resistive part of impedance
C	It introduces transconductance to cancel the reactive part of impedance
D	Reactive currents are dissipated in matched resistances

34. - E7D07

What is the purpose of C2 in the circuit shown in Figure E7-2?

Select	Answer
A	It is a brute force filter for the output
B	To provide fixed DC bias for Q1
C	It bypasses rectifier output ripple around D1
D	To self-resonate at the hum frequency

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

37. - E7G08

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

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

38. - E7H09

What type of frequency synthesizer circuit uses a phase accumulator, lookup table, digital to analog converter, and a low-pass anti-alias filter?

Select	Answer
A	A hybrid synthesizer
B	A direct digital synthesizer
C	A diode-switching matrix synthesizer
D	A phase-locked loop synthesizer

39. - E8A07

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

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

40. - E8B03

What is the modulation index of an FM-phone signal having a maximum frequency deviation of 3000 Hz either side of the carrier frequency when the modulating frequency is 1000 Hz?

Select	Answer
A	0.3
B	1000
C	3
D	3000

41. - E8C03

Why should phase-shifting of a PSK signal be done at the zero crossing of the RF signal?

Select	Answer
A	To improve carrier suppression
B	To simplify modulation
C	To minimize bandwidth
D	All these choices are correct

42. - E8D10

What are some of the differences between the Baudot digital code and ASCII?

Select	Answer
A	Baudot uses 4 data bits per character, ASCII uses 7 or 8; Baudot uses 1 character as a letters/figures shift code, ASCII has no letters/figures code
B	Baudot uses 6 data bits per character, ASCII uses 7 or 8; Baudot has no letters/figures shift code, ASCII uses 2 letters/figures shift codes
C	Baudot uses 7 data bits per character, ASCII uses 8; Baudot has no letters/figures shift code, ASCII uses 2 letters/figures shift codes
D	Baudot uses 5 data bits per character, ASCII uses 7 or 8; Baudot uses 2 characters as letters/figures shift codes, ASCII has no letters/figures shift code

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	420 watts
B	286 watts
C	1977 watts
D	78.7 watts

44. - E9B02

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

Select	Answer
A	14 dB
B	36 dB
C	18 dB
D	24 dB

45. - E9C06

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

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

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 unchanged if the loading coil is located at a voltage maximum point
C	It is decreased
D	It is unchanged if the loading coil is located at the feed point

47. - E9E06

Which of these feed line impedances would be suitable for constructing a quarter-wave Q-section for matching a 100-ohm loop to 50-ohm feed line?

Select	Answer
A	62 ohms
B	50 ohms
C	75 ohms
D	450 ohms

48. - E9F03

Why is the physical length of a coaxial cable transmission line shorter than its electrical length?

Select	Answer
A	Electrical signals move more slowly in a coaxial cable than in air
B	The characteristic impedance is higher in a parallel feed line
C	The surge impedance is higher in a parallel feed line
D	Skin effect is less pronounced in the coaxial cable

49. - E9G03

Which of the following is often determined using a Smith chart?

Select	Answer
A	Impedance and SWR values in transmission lines
B	Satellite azimuth and elevation bearings
C	Beam headings and radiation patterns
D	Trigonometric functions

50. - E9H02

Which is generally true for low band (160 meter and 80 meter) receiving antennas?

Select	Answer
A	Atmospheric noise is so high that gain over a dipole is not important
B	All these choices are correct
C	Low loss coax transmission line is essential for good performance
D	They must be erected at least 1/2 wavelength above the ground to attain good directivity

Figure E6-1

Figure E6-3

Figure E7-2

Figure E9-1