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

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1. - E0A07

How may dangerous levels of carbon monoxide from an emergency generator be detected?

Select	Answer
A	Only with a carbon monoxide detector
B	By the yellowish appearance of the gas
C	Any ordinary smoke detector can be used
D	By the odor

2. - E1A11

Which of the following describes authorization or licensing required when operating an amateur station aboard a U.S.-registered vessel in international waters?

Select	Answer
A	Any FCC-issued amateur license
B	Only General Class or higher amateur licenses
C	Any amateur license with an FCC Marine or Aircraft endorsement
D	An unrestricted Radiotelephone Operator Permit

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

4. - E1C05

When may an automatically controlled station originate third party communications?

Select	Answer
A	Only when transmitting RTTY or data emissions
B	When approved by the National Telecommunication and Information Administration
C	When agreed upon by the sending or receiving station
D	Never

5. - E1D11

Which amateur stations are eligible to operate as Earth stations?

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

6. - E1E12

What must the VE team do with the application form if the examinee does not pass the exam?

Select	Answer
A	Return the application document to the examinee
B	Maintain the application form with the VEC's records
C	Send the application form to the FCC and inform the FCC of the grade
D	Destroy the application form

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

8. - E2A10

What type of satellite appears to stay in one position in the sky?

Select	Answer
A	Geostationary
B	Geomagnetic
C	HEO
D	LEO

9. - E2B03

How is an interlaced scanning pattern generated in a fast-scan (NTSC) television system?

Select	Answer
A	By scanning each field from bottom to top
B	By scanning two fields simultaneously
C	By scanning lines from left to right in one field and right to left in the next
D	By scanning odd numbered lines in one field and even numbered lines in the next

10. - E2C02

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

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

11. - E2D11

Which of the following data are used by the APRS network to communicate station location?

Select	Answer
A	Latitude and longitude
B	Polar coordinates
C	Time and frequency
D	Radio direction finding spectrum analysis

12. - E2E03

How is the timing of FT4 contacts organized?

Select	Answer
A	By exchanging ACK/NAK packets
B	It depends on the lunar phase
C	Alternating transmissions at 7.5 second intervals
D	Stations take turns on alternate days

13. - E3A08

When a meteor strikes the Earth's atmosphere, a cylindrical region of free electrons is formed at what layer of the ionosphere?

Select	Answer
A	The D layer
B	The E layer
C	The F1 layer
D	The F2 layer

14. - E3B12

What is the primary characteristic of chordal hop propagation?

Select	Answer
A	Propagation across the geomagnetic equator
B	Propagation away from the great circle bearing between stations
C	Signals reflected back toward the transmitting station
D	Successive ionospheric refractions without an intermediate reflection from the ground

15. - E3C11

What does VOACAP software model?

Select	Answer
A	AC current and impedance
B	VHF radio propagation
C	HF propagation
D	AC voltage and impedance

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

17. - E4B06

How much power is being absorbed by the load when a directional power meter connected between a transmitter and a terminating load reads 100 watts forward power and 25 watts reflected power?

Select	Answer
A	125 watts
B	100 watts
C	25 watts
D	75 watts

18. - E4C04

What is the noise figure of a receiver?

Select	Answer
A	The ratio of thermal noise to atmospheric noise
B	The ratio of atmospheric noise to phase noise
C	The ratio of the noise bandwidth in hertz to the theoretical bandwidth of a resistive network
D	The ratio in dB of the noise generated by the receiver to the theoretical minimum noise

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	Oscillator instability requiring frequent retuning and loss of ability to recover the opposite sideband
D	Spurious signals caused by cross-modulation and desensitization from strong adjacent signals

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	A whining type noise that continually pulses off and on
C	The appearance of unstable modulated or unmodulated signals at specific frequencies
D	A clicking noise at intervals of a few seconds

21. - E5A15

Which of the following increases Q for inductors and capacitors?

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

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	14.0 degrees with the voltage lagging the current
B	14.0 degrees with the voltage leading the current
C	68.2 degrees with the voltage lagging the current
D	68.2 degrees with the voltage leading the current

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 7
B	Point 8
C	Point 3
D	Point 1

24. - E5D04

Why are short connections used at microwave frequencies?

Select	Answer
A	To increase neutralizing resistance
B	To reduce phase shift along the connection
C	To increase compensating capacitance
D	To reduce noise figure

25. - E6A09

What is a depletion-mode FET?

Select	Answer
A	Any FET without a channel
B	An FET that has no current flow between source and drain when no gate voltage is applied
C	Any FET for which holes are the majority carriers
D	An FET that exhibits a current flow between source and drain when no gate voltage is applied

26. - E6B01

What is the most useful characteristic of a Zener diode?

Select	Answer
A	An internal capacitance that varies with the applied voltage
B	A constant current drop under conditions of varying voltage
C	A constant voltage drop under conditions of varying current
D	A negative resistance region

27. - E6C09

What is a Programmable Logic Device (PLD)?

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

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. - E6E03

Which of the following materials is likely to provide the highest frequency of operation when used in MMICs?

Select	Answer
A	Silicon dioxide
B	Silicon
C	Silicon nitride
D	Gallium nitride

30. - E6F06

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

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

31. - E7A03

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

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

32. - E7B18

What is a characteristic of a grounded-grid amplifier?

Select	Answer
A	High power gain
B	High filament voltage
C	Low bandwidth
D	Low input impedance

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

34. - E7D09

What is the main reason to use a charge controller with a solar power system?

Select	Answer
A	Prevention of battery undercharge
B	Matching of day and night charge rates
C	Prevention of battery damage due to overcharge
D	Control of electrolyte levels during battery discharge

35. - E7E07

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

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

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. - E7G05

How can unwanted ringing and audio instability be prevented in an op-amp RC audio filter circuit?

Select	Answer
A	Increase both gain and Q
B	Restrict gain but increase Q
C	Restrict both gain and Q
D	Restrict Q but increase gain

38. - E7H02

What is a microphonic?

Select	Answer
A	Distortion caused by RF pickup on the microphone cable
B	An IC used for amplifying microphone signals
C	Changes in oscillator frequency due to mechanical vibration
D	Excess loading of the microphone by an oscillator

39. - E8A08

Why would a direct or flash conversion analog-to-digital converter be useful for a software defined radio?

Select	Answer
A	Very high speed allows digitizing high frequencies
B	Immunity to out-of-sequence coding reduces spurious responses
C	All these choices are correct
D	Very low power consumption decreases frequency drift

40. - E8B06

What is the deviation ratio of an FM-phone signal having a maximum frequency swing of plus or minus 7.5 kHz when the maximum modulation frequency is 3.5 kHz?

Select	Answer
A	47
B	0.214
C	2.14
D	0.47

41. - E8C04

What technique minimizes the bandwidth of a PSK31 signal?

Select	Answer
A	Use of sinusoidal data pulses
B	Zero-sum character encoding
C	Use of trapezoidal data pulses
D	Reed-Solomon character encoding

42. - E8D08

What parameter evaluates distortion of an AFSK signal caused by excessive input audio levels?

Select	Answer
A	Intermodulation Distortion (IMD)
B	Repeat Request Rate (RRR)
C	Baud rate
D	Signal-to-noise ratio

43. - E9A11

Which of the following factors determines ground losses for a ground-mounted vertical antenna operating in the 3 MHz to 30 MHz range?

Select	Answer
A	Distance from the transmitter
B	Take-off angle
C	The standing wave ratio
D	Soil conductivity

44. - E9B02

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

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

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 phased array antenna consisting of multiple loops
D	A multi-band dipole antenna fed with coax and a balun through a selected length of open wire transmission line

46. - E9D04

Why should an HF mobile antenna loading coil have a high ratio of reactance to resistance?

Select	Answer
A	To swamp out harmonics
B	To minimize the Q
C	To lower the radiation angle
D	To minimize losses

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. - E9F02

Which of the following has the biggest effect on the velocity factor of a transmission line?

Select	Answer
A	Dielectric materials used in the line
B	The line length
C	The termination impedance
D	The center conductor resistivity

49. - E9G10

What do the arcs on a Smith chart represent?

Select	Answer
A	Frequency
B	SWR
C	Points with constant reactance
D	Points with constant resistance

50. - E9H08

What is the function of a sense antenna?

Select	Answer
A	It increases the sensitivity of a DF antenna array
B	It allows DF antennas to receive signals at different vertical angles
C	It provides diversity reception that cancels multipath signals
D	It modifies the pattern of a DF antenna array to provide a null in one direction

Figure E5-1

Figure E9-1