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

2. - E1A10

If an amateur station is installed aboard a ship or aircraft, what condition must be met before the station is operated?

Select	Answer
A	Its operation must be approved by the master of the ship or the pilot in command of the aircraft
B	The amateur station must have a power supply that is completely independent of the main ship or aircraft power supply
C	The amateur station operator must agree not to transmit when the main radio of the ship or aircraft is in use
D	The amateur operator must have an FCC Marine or Aircraft endorsement on his or her amateur license

3. - E1B05

What is the National Radio Quiet Zone?

Select	Answer
A	An area in New Mexico surrounding the White Sands Test Area
B	An area in Puerto Rico surrounding the Arecibo Radio Telescope
C	An area surrounding the National Radio Astronomy Observatory
D	An area in Florida surrounding Cape Canaveral

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

5. - E1D09

Which UHF amateur bands have frequencies authorized for space stations?

Select	Answer
A	70 cm only
B	70 cm and 13 cm
C	70 cm and 33 cm
D	33 cm and 13 cm

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	Warn the candidate that continued failure to comply will result in termination of the examination
C	Immediately terminate the candidate's examination
D	Immediately terminate everyone's examination and close the session

7. - E1F06

Under what circumstances might the FCC issue a Special Temporary Authority (STA) to an amateur station?

Select	Answer
A	To provide for experimental amateur communications
B	To allow regular operation on Land Mobile channels
C	To provide additional spectrum for personal use
D	To provide temporary operation while awaiting normal licensing

8. - E2A04

What is meant by the term mode? as applied to an amateur radio satellite?

Select	Answer
A	Whether the satellite is in a low earth or geostationary orbit
B	The satellite's orientation with respect to the Earth
C	The satellite's uplink and downlink frequency bands
D	Whether the satellite is in a polar or equatorial orbit

9. - E2B03

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

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

10. - E2C08

Which of the following contacts may be confirmed through the U.S. QSL bureau system?

Select	Answer
A	Special event contacts between stations in the U.S.
B	Contacts using tactical call signs
C	Repeater contacts between U.S. club members
D	Contacts between a U.S. station and a non-U.S. station

11. - E2D08

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

Select	Answer
A	Disconnect
B	Unnumbered Information
C	Connect
D	Acknowledgement

12. - E2E08

Which of the following HF digital modes can be used to transfer binary files?

Select	Answer
A	RTTY
B	AMTOR
C	PACTOR
D	Hellschreiber

13. - E3A02

What characterizes libration fading of an EME signal?

Select	Answer
A	A slow change in the pitch of the CW signal
B	A fluttery irregular fading
C	The returning echo is several hertz lower in frequency than the transmitted signal
D	A gradual loss of signal as the sun rises

14. - E3B06

Which of the following amateur bands most frequently provides long-path propagation?

Select	Answer
A	80 meters
B	10 meters
C	6 meters
D	20 meters

15. - E3C05

What orientation of Bz (B sub z) increases the likelihood that incoming particles from the sun will cause disturbed conditions?

Select	Answer
A	Westward
B	Eastward
C	Southward
D	Northward

16. - E4A11

How should an antenna analyzer be connected when measuring antenna resonance and feed point impedance?

Select	Answer
A	Loosely couple the antenna and a dummy load to the analyzer
B	Connect the analyzer via a high-impedance transformer to the antenna
C	Loosely couple the analyzer near the antenna base
D	Connect the antenna feed line directly to the analyzer's connector

17. - E4B10

Which of the following methods measures intermodulation distortion in an SSB transmitter?

Select	Answer
A	Modulate the transmitter using two AF signals having harmonically related frequencies and observe the RF output with a peak reading wattmeter
B	Modulate the transmitter using two AF signals having non-harmonically related frequencies and observe the RF output with a spectrum analyzer
C	Modulate the transmitter using two RF signals having harmonically related frequencies and observe the RF output with a logic analyzer
D	Modulate the transmitter using two RF signals having non-harmonically related frequencies and observe the RF output with a spectrum analyzer

18. - E4C15

What is reciprocal mixing?

Select	Answer
A	Two digital signals combining from alternate time slots
B	In-phase signals cancelling in a mixer resulting in loss of receiver sensitivity
C	Local oscillator phase noise mixing with adjacent strong signals to create interference to desired signals
D	Two out-of-band signals mixing to generate an in-band spurious signal

19. - E4D01

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

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

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

21. - E5A10

How is the Q of an RLC series resonant circuit calculated?

Select	Answer
A	Reactance of the inductance multiplied by the reactance of the capacitance
B	Reactance of either the inductance or capacitance divided by the resistance
C	Reactance of either the inductance or capacitance multiplied by the resistance
D	Resistance divided by the reactance of either the inductance or capacitance

22. - E5B10

What is the relationship between the AC current through an inductor and the voltage across an inductor?

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

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

24. - E5D11

What is the power factor of an RL circuit having a 60-degree phase angle between the voltage and the current?

Select	Answer
A	1.73
B	0.5
C	0.866
D	1.414

25. - E6A08

What term indicates the frequency at which the grounded-base current gain of a transistor has decreased to 0.7 of the gain obtainable at 1 kHz?

Select	Answer
A	Beta cutoff frequency
B	Corner frequency
C	Alpha rejection frequency
D	Alpha cutoff frequency

26. - E6B04

What type of semiconductor device is designed for use as a voltage-controlled capacitor?

Select	Answer
A	Zener diode
B	Tunnel diode
C	Silicon-controlled rectifier
D	Varactor diode

27. - E6C09

What is a Programmable Logic Device (PLD)?

Select	Answer
A	A type of transistor whose gain can be changed by digital logic circuits
B	A logic circuit that can be modified during use
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	Powdered iron
B	Ferrite
C	Brass
D	Ceramic

29. - E6E01

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

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

30. - E6F01

What absorbs the energy from light falling on a photovoltaic cell?

Select	Answer
A	Protons
B	Photons
C	Holes
D	Electrons

31. - E7A01

Which circuit is bistable?

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

32. - E7B10

In Figure E7-1, what is the purpose of R1 and R2?

Select	Answer
A	Feedback
B	Self bias
C	Voltage divider bias
D	Load resistors

33. - E7C03

What advantage does a series-L Pi-L-network have over a series-L Pi-network for impedance matching between the final amplifier of a vacuum-tube transmitter and an antenna?

Select	Answer
A	Higher efficiency
B	Greater harmonic suppression
C	Greater transformation range
D	Does not require a capacitor

34. - E7D09

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

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

35. - E7E09

What occurs when an excessive amount of signal energy reaches a mixer circuit?

Select	Answer
A	Automatic limiting occurs
B	A beat frequency is generated
C	Mixer blanking occurs
D	Spurious mixer products are generated

36. - E7F14

Which of the following would allow a digital signal processing filter to create a sharper filter response?

Select	Answer
A	Higher data rate
B	Double-precision math routines
C	Complex phasor representations
D	More taps

37. - E7G11

What absolute voltage gain can be expected from the circuit in Figure E7-3 when R1 is 3300 ohms and RF is 47 kilohms?

Select	Answer
A	28
B	7
C	14
D	0.07

38. - E7H14

What is a phase-locked loop circuit?

Select	Answer
A	An electronic servo loop consisting of a ratio detector, reactance modulator, and voltage-controlled oscillator
B	An electronic circuit also known as a monostable multivibrator
C	An electronic servo loop consisting of a phase detector, a low-pass filter, a voltage-controlled oscillator, and a stable reference oscillator
D	An electronic circuit consisting of a precision push-pull amplifier with a differential input

39. - E8A11

Which of the following is a measure of the quality of an analog-to-digital converter?

Select	Answer
A	Reciprocal mixing
B	Power factor
C	Total harmonic distortion
D	Peak envelope power

40. - E8B09

What is deviation ratio?

Select	Answer
A	The ratio of the highest audio modulating frequency to the average audio modulating frequency
B	The ratio of the audio modulating frequency to the center carrier frequency
C	The ratio of the maximum carrier frequency deviation to the highest audio modulating frequency
D	The ratio of the carrier center frequency to the audio modulating frequency

41. - E8C10

How may data rate be increased without increasing bandwidth?

Select	Answer
A	It is impossible
B	Increasing analog-to-digital conversion resolution
C	Using a more efficient digital code
D	Using forward error correction

42. - E8D03

How does the spread spectrum technique of frequency hopping work?

Select	Answer
A	The frequency of the transmitted signal is changed very rapidly according to a pseudorandom sequence also used by the receiving station
B	A binary bit stream is used to shift the phase of an RF carrier very rapidly in a pseudorandom sequence
C	If interference is detected by the receiver it will signal the transmitter to wait until the frequency is clear
D	If interference is detected by the receiver it will signal the transmitter to change frequencies

43. - E9A13

What term describes station output, taking into account all gains and losses?

Select	Answer
A	Power factor
B	Effective radiated power
C	Apparent power
D	Half-power bandwidth

44. - E9B08

What is the far field of an antenna?

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

45. - E9C11

How is the far-field elevation pattern of a vertically polarized antenna affected by being mounted over seawater versus soil?

Select	Answer
A	The low-angle radiation decreases
B	The low-angle radiation increases
C	Fewer vertical angle lobes will be present
D	Additional higher vertical angle lobes will appear

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

47. - E9E09

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

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

48. - E9F06

What is the approximate physical length of an air-insulated, parallel conductor transmission line that is electrically 1/2 wavelength long at 14.10 MHz?

Select	Answer
A	13.3 meters
B	8.5 meters
C	10.6 meters
D	7.0 meters

49. - E9G10

What do the arcs on a Smith chart represent?

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

50. - E9H09

What is a Pennant antenna?

Select	Answer
A	A stealth antenna built to look like a flagpole
B	A form of rhombic antenna terminated in a variable capacitor to provide frequency diversity
C	A small, vertically oriented receiving antenna consisting of a triangular loop terminated in approximately 900 ohms
D	A four-element, high-gain vertical array invented by George Pennant

Figure E7-1

Figure E7-3