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

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1. - E0A09

Which insulating material commonly used as a thermal conductor for some types of electronic devices is extremely toxic if broken or crushed and the particles are accidentally inhaled?

Select	Answer
A	Beryllium Oxide
B	Uranium Hexafluoride
C	Mica
D	Zinc oxide

2. - E1A01

Which of the following carrier frequencies is illegal for LSB AFSK emissions on the 17 meter band RTTY and data segment of 18.068 to 18.110 MHz?

Select	Answer
A	18.107 MHz
B	18.068 MHz
C	18.100 MHz
D	18.110 MHz

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

4. - E1C08

What is the maximum permissible duration of a remotely controlled station's transmissions if its control link malfunctions?

Select	Answer
A	10 minutes
B	30 seconds
C	5 minutes
D	3 minutes

5. - E1D09

Which UHF amateur bands have frequencies authorized for space stations?

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

6. - E1E12

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

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

7. - E1F06

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

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

8. - E2A08

Why should effective radiated power to a satellite that uses a linear transponder be limited?

Select	Answer
A	To prevent the satellite from emitting out-of-band signals
B	To prevent creating errors in the satellite telemetry
C	To avoid interfering with terrestrial QSOs
D	To avoid reducing the downlink power to all other users

9. - E2B05

Which of the following describes the use of vestigial sideband in analog fast-scan TV transmissions?

Select	Answer
A	Vestigial sideband reduces bandwidth while allowing for simple video detector circuitry
B	Vestigial sideband provides high frequency emphasis to sharpen the picture
C	The vestigial sideband carries the audio information
D	The vestigial sideband contains chroma information

10. - E2C12

What technique do individual nodes use to form a mesh network?

Select	Answer
A	Custom code plugs for the local trunking systems
B	Acting as store-and-forward digipeaters
C	Forward error correction and Viterbi codes
D	Discovery and link establishment protocols

11. - E2D02

Which of the following is a good technique for making meteor scatter contacts?

Select	Answer
A	15-second timed transmission sequences with stations alternating based on location
B	All these choices are correct
C	Short transmissions with rapidly repeated call signs and signal reports
D	Use of special digital modes

12. - E2E02

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

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

13. - E3A12

What is the cause of auroral activity?

Select	Answer
A	The interaction in the F2 layer between the solar wind and the Van Allen belt
B	Meteor showers concentrated in the extreme northern and southern latitudes
C	An extreme low-pressure area in the polar regions
D	The interaction in the E layer of charged particles from the Sun with the Earth's magnetic field

14. - E3B10

Why is chordal hop propagation desirable?

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

15. - E3C06

By how much does the VHF/UHF radio horizon distance exceed the geometric horizon?

Select	Answer
A	By approximately 50 percent of the distance
B	By approximately twice the distance
C	By approximately four times the distance
D	By approximately 15 percent of the distance

16. - E4A08

Which of the following measures SWR?

Select	Answer
A	A spectrum analyzer
B	An ohmmeter
C	A Q meter
D	An antenna analyzer

17. - E4B04

Which S parameter represents input port return loss or reflection coefficient (equivalent to VSWR)?

Select	Answer
A	S21
B	S22
C	S11
D	S12

18. - E4C10

What is an advantage of having a variety of receiver IF bandwidths from which to select?

Select	Answer
A	Receiver power consumption can be reduced when wider bandwidth is not required
B	Multiple frequencies can be received simultaneously if desired
C	Receive bandwidth can be set to match the modulation bandwidth, maximizing signal-to-noise ratio and minimizing interference
D	The noise figure of the RF amplifier can be adjusted to match the modulation type, thus increasing receiver sensitivity

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 minimum difference in dB between the levels of two FM signals that will cause one signal to block the other
C	The difference in dB between the noise floor and the third-order intercept point
D	The minimum difference in dB between two signals which produce third-order intermodulation products greater than the noise floor

20. - E4E06

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

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

21. - E5A13

What is an effect of increasing Q in a series resonant circuit?

Select	Answer
A	Internal voltages increase
B	Parasitic effects are minimized
C	Fewer components are needed for the same performance
D	Phase shift can become uncontrolled

22. - E5B01

What is the term for the time required for the capacitor in an RC circuit to be charged to 63.2% of the applied voltage or to discharge to 36.8% of its initial voltage?

Select	Answer
A	A time factor of one
B	One exponential period
C	One time constant
D	An exponential rate of one

23. - E5C01

Which of the following represents capacitive reactance in rectangular notation?

Select	Answer
A	Omega
B	-jX
C	+jX
D	Delta

24. - E5D12

How many watts are consumed in a circuit having a power factor of 0.2 if the input is 100 VAC at 4 amperes?

Select	Answer
A	80 watts
B	2000 watts
C	400 watts
D	50 watts

25. - E6A06

What is the beta of a bipolar junction transistor?

Select	Answer
A	The change in collector current with respect to base current
B	The switching speed
C	The breakdown voltage of the base to collector junction
D	The frequency at which the current gain is reduced to 0.707

26. - E6B01

What is the most useful characteristic of a Zener diode?

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

27. - E6C11

In Figure E6-3, what is the schematic symbol for the NOT operation (inverter)?

Select	Answer
A	4
B	5
C	6
D	2

28. - E6D01

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

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

29. - E6E07

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

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

30. - E6F11

What is the approximate open-circuit voltage produced by a fully illuminated silicon photovoltaic cell?

Select	Answer
A	12 V
B	1.5 V
C	0.5 V
D	0.1 V

31. - E7A10

What is a truth table?

Select	Answer
A	A table of logic symbols that indicate the high logic states of an op-amp
B	A table of logic symbols that indicate the logic states of an op-amp
C	A list of inputs and corresponding outputs for a digital device
D	A diagram showing logic states when the digital device output is true

32. - E7B14

Why are switching amplifiers more efficient than linear amplifiers?

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

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

34. - E7D05

Which of the following types of linear voltage regulator places a constant load on the unregulated voltage source?

Select	Answer
A	A series regulator
B	A shunt regulator
C	A shunt current source
D	A constant current source

35. - E7E10

How does a diode envelope detector function?

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

36. - E7F07

What function is performed by a Fast Fourier Transform?

Select	Answer
A	Converting digital signals from the time domain to the frequency domain
B	Converting analog signals to digital form
C	Converting digital signals to analog form
D	Converting 8-bit data to 16-bit data

37. - E7G08

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

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

38. - E7H02

What is a microphonic?

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

39. - E8A03

What type of wave does a Fourier analysis show to be made up of sine waves of a given fundamental frequency plus all its harmonics?

Select	Answer
A	A cosine wave
B	A square wave
C	A sine wave
D	A sawtooth wave

40. - E8B02

How does the modulation index of a phase-modulated emission vary with RF carrier frequency?

Select	Answer
A	It decreases as the RF carrier frequency increases
B	It increases as the RF carrier frequency increases
C	It varies with the square root of the RF carrier frequency
D	It does not depend on the RF carrier frequency

41. - E8C03

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

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

42. - E8D07

What is a common cause of overmodulation of AFSK signals?

Select	Answer
A	Excessive transmit audio levels
B	Bit errors in the modem
C	Excessive numbers of retries
D	Ground loops

43. - E9A10

Which of the following improves the efficiency of a ground-mounted quarter-wave vertical antenna?

Select	Answer
A	Shortening the radiating element
B	Installing a radial system
C	Isolating the coax shield from ground
D	All these choices are correct

44. - E9B08

What is the far field of an antenna?

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

45. - E9C08

What is a folded dipole antenna?

Select	Answer
A	A type of ground-plane antenna
B	A dipole configured to provide forward gain
C	A dipole one-quarter wavelength long
D	A half-wave dipole with an additional parallel wire connecting its two ends

46. - E9D03

Where should a high Q loading coil be placed to minimize losses in a shortened vertical antenna?

Select	Answer
A	Near the center of the vertical radiator
B	As low as possible on the vertical radiator
C	As close to the transmitter as possible
D	At a voltage node

47. - E9E03

What is the name of the matching system that uses a section of transmission line connected in parallel with the feed line at or near the feed point?

Select	Answer
A	The stub match
B	The omega match
C	The delta match
D	The gamma match

48. - E9F05

What is the approximate physical length of a solid polyethylene dielectric coaxial transmission line that is electrically 1/4 wavelength long at 14.1 MHz?

Select	Answer
A	5.3 meters
B	3.5 meters
C	10.6 meters
D	4.3 meters

49. - E9G08

What is the process of normalization with regard to a Smith chart?

Select	Answer
A	Reassigning impedance values with regard to the prime center
B	Reassigning prime center with regard to the reactance axis
C	Reassigning resistance values with regard to the reactance axis
D	Reassigning reactance values with regard to the resistance axis

50. - E9H02

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

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

Figure E6-3