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	Polytetrafluoroethylene
B	Polyethylene
C	Polychlorinated biphenyls
D	Polymorphic silicon

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

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

5. - E1D12

Which of the following amateur stations may transmit one-way communications?

Select	Answer
A	A message forwarding station or automatically controlled digital station
B	A local repeater or linked repeater station
C	All these choices are correct
D	A space station, beacon station, or telecommand station

6. - E1E10

What must the administering VEs do after the administration of a successful examination for an amateur operator license?

Select	Answer
A	They must collect and submit the documents to the coordinating VEC for grading
B	They must submit the application document to the coordinating VEC according to the coordinating VEC instructions
C	They must collect and send the documents to the NCVEC for grading
D	They must collect and send the documents to the FCC according to instructions

7. - E1F04

Which of the following geographic descriptions approximately describes "Line A"?

Select	Answer
A	A line roughly parallel to and north of the border between the U.S. and Mexico
B	A line roughly parallel to and west of the U.S. Atlantic coastline
C	A line roughly parallel to and east of the U.S. Pacific coastline
D	A line roughly parallel to and south of the border between the U.S. and Canada

8. - E2A01

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

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

9. - E2B10

What aspect of an analog slow-scan television signal encodes the brightness of the picture?

Select	Answer
A	Sync frequency
B	Tone frequency
C	Sync amplitude
D	Tone amplitude

10. - E2C10

Why might a DX station state that they are listening on another frequency?

Select	Answer
A	All these choices are correct
B	To improve operating efficiency by reducing interference
C	Because the DX station may be transmitting on a frequency that is prohibited to some responding stations
D	To separate the calling stations from the DX station

11. - E2D03

Which of the following digital modes is especially useful for EME communications?

Select	Answer
A	Olivia
B	JT65
C	MSK144
D	PACTOR III

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

13. - E3A04

What do Hepburn maps predict?

Select	Answer
A	Locations of auroral reflecting zones
B	Sporadic E propagation
C	Probability of tropospheric propagation
D	Likelihood of rain scatter along cold or warm fronts

14. - E3B01

What is transequatorial propagation?

Select	Answer
A	Propagation between points at the same latitude
B	Propagation between points located on the magnetic equator
C	Propagation between a point on the equator and its antipodal point
D	Propagation between two mid-latitude points at approximately the same distance north and south of the magnetic equator

15. - E3C09

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

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

16. - E4A10

Which of the following displays multiple digital signal states simultaneously?

Select	Answer
A	Network analyzer
B	Bit error rate tester
C	Modulation monitor
D	Logic analyzer

17. - E4B09

What is indicated if the current reading on an RF ammeter placed in series with the antenna feed line of a transmitter increases as the transmitter is tuned to resonance?

Select	Answer
A	The transmitter is not properly neutralized
B	There is possibly a short to ground in the feed line
C	There is an impedance mismatch between the antenna and feed line
D	There is more power going into the antenna

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

19. - E4D03

How can intermodulation interference between two repeaters occur?

Select	Answer
A	When the signals from the transmitters are reflected in phase from airplanes passing overhead
B	When the signals from the transmitters are reflected out of phase from airplanes passing overhead
C	When the repeaters are in close proximity and the signals cause feedback in the final amplifier of one or both transmitters
D	When the repeaters are in close proximity and the signals mix in the final amplifier of one or both transmitters

20. - E4E05

How can radio frequency interference from an AC motor be suppressed?

Select	Answer
A	By using a ground-fault current interrupter in the circuit used to power the motor
B	By installing a brute-force AC-line filter in series with the motor leads
C	By installing a bypass capacitor in series with the motor leads
D	By installing a high-pass filter in series with the motor's power leads

21. - E5A12

What is the half-power bandwidth of a resonant circuit that has a resonant frequency of 3.7 MHz and a Q of 118?

Select	Answer
A	15.7 kHz
B	218.3 kHz
C	436.6 kHz
D	31.4 kHz

22. - E5B09

What is the relationship between the AC current through a capacitor and the voltage across a capacitor?

Select	Answer
A	Voltage leads current by 90 degrees
B	Voltage and current are in phase
C	Voltage and current are 180 degrees out of phase
D	Current leads voltage by 90 degrees

23. - E5C06

What does the impedance 50-j25 represent?

Select	Answer
A	50 ohms resistance in series with 25 ohms inductive reactance
B	25 ohms resistance in series with 50 ohms inductive reactance
C	50 ohms resistance in series with 25 ohms capacitive reactance
D	25 ohms resistance in series with 50 ohms capacitive reactance

24. - E5D05

What is the power factor of an RL circuit having a 30-degree phase angle between the voltage and the current?

Select	Answer
A	0.5
B	0.866
C	0.577
D	1.73

25. - E6A05

How does DC input impedance at the gate of a field-effect transistor compare with the DC input impedance of a bipolar transistor?

Select	Answer
A	An FET has lower input impedance
B	They are both high impedance
C	An FET has higher input impedance
D	They are both low impedance

26. - E6B07

What is the failure mechanism when a junction diode fails due to excessive current?

Select	Answer
A	Excessive junction temperature
B	Charge carrier depletion
C	Excessive inverse voltage
D	Insufficient forward voltage

27. - E6C08

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

Select	Answer
A	1
B	4
C	3
D	2

28. - E6D08

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

Select	Answer
A	Powdered-iron cores generally maintain their characteristics at higher currents
B	Powdered-iron cores generally require fewer turns to produce a given inductance
C	Powdered-iron cores use smaller diameter wire for the same inductance
D	Powdered-iron cores generally have greater initial permeability

29. - E6E06

What characteristics of the MMIC make it a popular choice for VHF through microwave circuits?

Select	Answer
A	Nearly infinite gain, very high input impedance, and very low output impedance
B	Plate current that is controlled by a control grid
C	Controlled gain, low noise figure, and constant input and output impedance over the specified frequency range
D	The ability to retrieve information from a single signal even in the presence of other strong signals

30. - E6F07

What is a solid-state relay?

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

31. - E7A02

What is the function of a decade counter?

Select	Answer
A	It decodes a binary number for display on a seven-segment LED display
B	It produces 10 output pulses for every input pulse
C	It produces one output pulse for every 10 input pulses
D	It decodes a decimal number for display on a seven-segment LED display

32. - E7B06

Which of the following amplifier types reduces even-order harmonics?

Select	Answer
A	Class AB
B	Class C
C	Push-pull
D	Push-push

33. - E7C07

Which describes a Pi-L-network used for matching a vacuum tube final amplifier to a 50-ohm unbalanced output?

Select	Answer
A	A matching network in which all components are isolated from ground
B	A network with only three discrete parts
C	A Phase Inverter Load network
D	A Pi-network with an additional series inductor on the output

34. - E7D13

What is the equation for calculating power dissipated by a series linear voltage regulator?

Select	Answer
A	Input voltage multiplied by input current
B	Voltage difference from input to output multiplied by output current
C	Input voltage divided by output current
D	Output voltage multiplied by output current

35. - E7E10

How does a diode envelope detector function?

Select	Answer
A	By breakdown of the Zener voltage
B	By sensing the change of reactance in the diode with respect to frequency
C	By mixing signals with noise in the transition region of the diode
D	By rectification and filtering of RF signals

36. - E7F09

Why is an anti-aliasing digital filter required in a digital decimator?

Select	Answer
A	It removes low-frequency signal components to eliminate the need for DC restoration
B	It peaks the response of the decimator, improving bandwidth
C	It notches out the sampling frequency to avoid sampling errors
D	It removes high-frequency signal components that would otherwise be reproduced as lower frequency components

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 increases linearly with increasing frequency
D	It does not vary with frequency

38. - E7H03

How is positive feedback supplied in a Hartley oscillator?

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

39. - E8A07

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

Select	Answer
A	Speech characteristics
B	The degree of carrier suppression
C	Amplifier gain
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	3
B	0.3
C	3000
D	1000

41. - E8C03

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

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

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	Signals not using the spread spectrum algorithm are suppressed in the receiver
D	The high power used by a spread spectrum transmitter keeps its signal from being easily overpowered

43. - E9A06

What is the effective radiated power relative to a dipole of a repeater station with 200 watts transmitter power output, 4 dB feed line loss, 3.2 dB duplexer loss, 0.8 dB circulator loss, and 10 dBd antenna gain?

Select	Answer
A	300 watts
B	317 watts
C	126 watts
D	2000 watts

44. - E9B10

What is the principle of a Method of Moments analysis?

Select	Answer
A	A wire is modeled as a single sine-wave current generator
B	A wire is modeled as a single sine-wave voltage source
C	A wire is modeled as a series of segments, each having a distinct value of voltage across it
D	A wire is modeled as a series of segments, each having a uniform value of current

45. - E9C12

Which of the following describes an Extended Double Zepp antenna?

Select	Answer
A	A center-fed 1.25-wavelength antenna (two 5/8-wave elements in phase)
B	A portable antenna erected using two push support poles
C	An end-fed folded dipole antenna
D	A wideband vertical antenna constructed from precisely tapered aluminum tubing

46. - E9D08

What happens as the Q of an antenna increases?

Select	Answer
A	SWR bandwidth decreases
B	Gain is reduced
C	More common-mode current is present on the feed line
D	SWR bandwidth increases

47. - E9E10

Which of these choices is an effective way to match an antenna with a 100-ohm feed point impedance to a 50-ohm coaxial cable feed line?

Select	Answer
A	Insert a 1/2 wavelength piece of 300-ohm twinlead in series between the antenna terminals and the 50-ohm feed cable
B	Connect a 1/4-wavelength open stub of 300-ohm twinlead in parallel with the coaxial feed line where it connects to the antenna
C	Connect a 1/2 wavelength shorted stub of 75-ohm cable in parallel with the 50-ohm cable where it attaches to the antenna
D	Insert a 1/4-wavelength piece of 75-ohm coaxial cable transmission line in series between the antenna terminals and the 50-ohm feed cable

48. - E9F09

What is the approximate physical length of a foam polyethylene dielectric coaxial transmission line that is electrically 1/4 wavelength long at 7.2 MHz?

Select	Answer
A	6.9 meters
B	10.4 meters
C	5.2 meters
D	8.3 meters

49. - E9G06

On the Smith chart shown in Figure E9-3, what is the name for the large outer circle on which the reactance arcs terminate?

Select	Answer
A	Reactance axis
B	Prime axis
C	Impedance axis
D	Polar axis

50. - E9H07

Why is RF attenuation used when direction-finding?

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

Figure E6-3

Figure E9-3