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

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1. - E0A03

Over what range of frequencies are the FCC human body RF exposure limits most restrictive?

Select	Answer
A	300 kHz to 3 MHz
B	300 to 3000 MHz
C	30 to 300 MHz
D	3 to 30 MHz

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

3. - E1B04

What must be done before placing an amateur station within an officially designated wilderness area or wildlife preserve, or an area listed in the National Register of Historic Places?

Select	Answer
A	A form FSD-15 must be submitted to the Department of the Interior
B	A letter of intent must be filed with the Environmental Protection Agency
C	A proposal must be submitted to the National Park Service
D	An Environmental Assessment must be submitted to the FCC

4. - E1C05

When may an automatically controlled station originate third party communications?

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

5. - E1D02

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

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

6. - E1E08

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

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

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. - 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	The 23 centimeter and 13 centimeter bands
D	FM and Digital Store-and-Forward systems

9. - E2B07

What is the name of the signal component that carries color information in NTSC video?

Select	Answer
A	Luminance
B	Chroma
C	Hue
D	Spectral intensity

10. - E2C04

Which of the following frequencies are sometimes used for amateur radio mesh networks?

Select	Answer
A	The 60 meter band channel centered on 5373 kHz
B	Frequencies shared with various unlicensed wireless data services
C	HF frequencies where digital communications are permitted
D	Cable TV channels 41 through 43

11. - E2D01

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

Select	Answer
A	Hellschreiber
B	MSK144
C	APRS
D	WSPR

12. - E2E02

What do the letters FEC mean as they relate to digital operation?

Select	Answer
A	First Error Correction
B	Fatal Error Correction
C	Final Error Correction
D	Forward Error Correction

13. - E3A01

What is the approximate maximum separation measured along the surface of the Earth between two stations communicating by EME?

Select	Answer
A	2000 miles, if the moon is at apogee
B	500 miles, if the moon is at perigee
C	5000 miles, if the moon is at perigee
D	12,000 miles, if the moon is visible by both stations

14. - E3B10

Why is chordal hop propagation desirable?

Select	Answer
A	The MUF for chordal hop propagation is much lower than for normal skip propagation
B	Signals travel faster along ionospheric chords
C	Atmospheric noise is lower in the direction of chordal hop propagation
D	The signal experiences less loss compared to multi-hop using Earth as a reflector

15. - E3C15

What might be indicated by a sudden rise in radio background noise across a large portion of the HF spectrum?

Select	Answer
A	Increased transequatorial propagation is likely
B	Long-path propagation is likely
C	A temperature inversion has occurred
D	A solar flare has occurred

16. - E4A01

Which of the following limits the highest frequency signal that can be accurately displayed on a digital oscilloscope?

Select	Answer
A	Q of the circuit
B	Amount of memory
C	Sampling rate of the analog-to-digital converter
D	All these choices are correct

17. - E4B03

Which S parameter is equivalent to forward gain?

Select	Answer
A	S21
B	S12
C	S11
D	S22

18. - E4C13

How does a narrow-band roofing filter affect receiver performance?

Select	Answer
A	It improves sensitivity by reducing front end noise
B	It improves dynamic range by attenuating strong signals near the receive frequency
C	All these choices are correct
D	It improves intelligibility by using low Q circuitry to reduce ringing

19. - E4D07

Which of the following reduces the likelihood of receiver desensitization?

Select	Answer
A	Switch from fast AGC to slow AGC
B	Raise the receiver IF frequency
C	Decrease the RF bandwidth of the receiver
D	Increase the receiver front end gain

20. - E4E11

What could cause local AM broadcast band signals to combine to generate spurious signals in the MF or HF bands?

Select	Answer
A	You are receiving skywave signals from a distant station
B	Your station receiver IF amplifier stage is defective
C	Nearby corroded metal joints are mixing and re-radiating the broadcast signals
D	One or more of the broadcast stations is transmitting an over-modulated signal

21. - E5A04

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

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

22. - E5B05

What happens to the magnitude of a pure reactance when it is converted to a susceptance?

Select	Answer
A	The sign is reversed
B	It is shifted by 90 degrees
C	It becomes the reciprocal
D	It is unchanged

23. - E5C09

When using rectangular coordinates to graph the impedance of a circuit, what do the axes represent?

Select	Answer
A	The X axis represents the phase angle and the Y axis represents the magnitude
B	The X axis represents the magnitude and the Y axis represents the phase angle
C	The X axis represents the reactive component and the Y axis represents the resistive component
D	The X axis represents the resistive component and the Y axis represents the reactive component

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	Short lengths of coax mounted on printed circuit boards to minimize time delay between microwave circuits
C	Lightweight transmission line made of common zip cord
D	Miniature coax used for low power applications

25. - E6A01

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

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

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	Reverse bias controls its forward voltage drop
D	Low junction capacitance

27. - E6C07

What best describes a pull-up or pull-down resistor?

Select	Answer
A	A resistor in a keying circuit used to reduce key clicks
B	A resistor that ensures that an oscillator frequency does not drift
C	A resistor connected to the positive or negative supply line used to establish a voltage when an input or output is an open circuit
D	A resistor connected to an op-amp output that prevents signals from exceeding the power supply voltage

28. - E6D01

Why should core saturation of an impedance matching transformer be avoided?

Select	Answer
A	Temporary changes of the core permeability could result
B	RF susceptance would increase
C	Magnetic flux would increase with frequency
D	Harmonics and distortion could result

29. - E6E07

What type of transmission line is used for connections to MMICs?

Select	Answer
A	Parallel wire
B	Circular waveguide
C	Microstrip
D	Miniature coax

30. - E6F04

What is the photovoltaic effect?

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

31. - E7A07

What logical operation does a NAND gate perform?

Select	Answer
A	It produces logic 0 at its output if some but not all inputs are logic 1
B	It produces logic 0 at its output only when all inputs are logic 1
C	It produces logic 0 at its output only when all inputs are logic 0
D	It produces logic 1 at its output only when all inputs are logic 1

32. - E7B03

Which of the following components form the output of a class D amplifier circuit?

Select	Answer
A	A temperature compensating load resistor to improve linearity
B	A high-pass filter to compensate for low gain at low frequencies
C	A matched load resistor to prevent damage by switching transients
D	A low-pass filter to remove switching signal components

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

34. - E7D08

What type of circuit is shown in Figure E7-2?

Select	Answer
A	Grounded emitter amplifier
B	Linear voltage regulator
C	Switching voltage regulator
D	Monostable multivibrator

35. - E7E08

What are the principal frequencies that appear at the output of a mixer circuit?

Select	Answer
A	The square root of the product of input frequencies
B	Two and four times the original frequency
C	1.414 and 0.707 times the input frequency
D	The two input frequencies along with their sum and difference frequencies

36. - E7F10

What aspect of receiver analog-to-digital conversion determines the maximum receive bandwidth of a Direct Digital Conversion SDR?

Select	Answer
A	Sample width in bits
B	Sample rate
C	Processor latency
D	Sample clock phase noise

37. - E7G06

What is the gain-bandwidth of an operational amplifier?

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

38. - E7H03

How is positive feedback supplied in a Hartley oscillator?

Select	Answer
A	Through link coupling
B	Through a tapped coil
C	Through a capacitive divider
D	Through a neutralizing capacitor

39. - E8A08

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

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

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	3000
B	3
C	1000
D	0.3

41. - E8C01

How is Forward Error Correction implemented?

Select	Answer
A	By varying the frequency shift of the transmitted signal according to a predefined algorithm
B	By the receiving station repeating each block of three data characters
C	By transmitting extra data that may be used to detect and correct transmission errors
D	By transmitting a special algorithm to the receiving station along with the data characters

42. - E8D05

What is the most common method of reducing key clicks?

Select	Answer
A	Increase keying waveform rise and fall times
B	High-pass filters at the transmitter output
C	Reduce keying waveform rise and fall times
D	Low-pass filters at the transmitter output

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	Soil conductivity
C	Take-off angle
D	The standing wave ratio

44. - E9B06

What is the elevation angle of peak response in the antenna radiation pattern shown in Figure E9-2?

Select	Answer
A	75 degrees
B	7.5 degrees
C	25 degrees
D	45 degrees

45. - E9C09

Which of the following describes a G5RV antenna?

Select	Answer
A	A multi-band trap antenna
B	A wide band dipole using shorted coaxial cable for the radiating elements and fed with a�4:1 balun
C	A multi-band dipole antenna fed with coax and a balun through a selected length of open wire transmission line
D	A phased array antenna consisting of multiple loops

46. - E9D11

Which of the following conductors would be best for minimizing losses in a station's RF ground system?

Select	Answer
A	Stranded wire
B	Solid wire
C	Wide flat copper strap
D	Resistive wire, such as spark plug wire

47. - E9E09

Which of the following is used to shunt-feed a grounded tower at its base?

Select	Answer
A	All these choices are correct
B	Hairpin match
C	Double-bazooka match
D	Gamma match

48. - E9F04

What impedance does a 1/2-wavelength transmission line present to a generator when the line is shorted at the far end?

Select	Answer
A	Very low impedance
B	The same as the output impedance of the generator
C	The same as the characteristic impedance of the line
D	Very high impedance

49. - E9G04

What are the two families of circles and arcs that make up a Smith chart?

Select	Answer
A	Resistance and voltage
B	Voltage and impedance
C	Resistance and reactance
D	Reactance and voltage

50. - E9H07

Why is RF attenuation used when direction-finding?

Select	Answer
A	To increase receiver sensitivity
B	To compensate for isotropic directivity and the antenna effect of feed lines
C	To narrow the receiver bandwidth
D	To prevent receiver overload which reduces pattern nulls

Figure E7-2

Figure E9-2