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

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1. - E0A05

What is one of the potential hazards of operating in the amateur radio microwave bands?

Select	Answer
A	The extremely high frequency energy can damage the joints of antenna structures
B	Microwaves are ionizing radiation
C	The high gain antennas commonly used can result in high exposure levels
D	Microwaves often travel long distances by ionospheric reflection

2. - E1A03

What is the maximum legal carrier frequency on the 20 meter band for transmitting USB AFSK digital signals having a 1 kHz bandwidth?

Select	Answer
A	14.349 MHz
B	14.100 MHz
C	14.070 MHz
D	14.149 MHz

3. - E1B01

Which of the following constitutes a spurious emission?

Select	Answer
A	A signal transmitted to prevent its detection by any station other than the intended recipient
B	An emission outside the signal's necessary bandwidth that can be reduced or eliminated without affecting the information transmitted
C	An amateur station transmission made without the proper call sign identification
D	Any transmitted signal that unintentionally interferes with another licensed radio station

4. - E1C14

How long must an operator wait after filing a notification with the Utilities Technology Council (UTC) before operating on the 2200 meter or 630 meter band?

Select	Answer
A	Operators must not operate until approval is received
B	Operations may commence immediately, and may continue unless interference is reported by the UTC
C	Operators may operate after 30 days, providing they have not been told that their station is within 1 km of PLC systems using those frequencies
D	Operators may not operate until a test signal has been transmitted in coordination with the local power company

5. - E1D02

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

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

6. - E1E08

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

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

7. - E1F04

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

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

8. - E2A05

What do the letters in a satellite's mode designator specify?

Select	Answer
A	The polarization of uplink and downlink signals
B	The location of the ground control station
C	Power limits for uplink and downlink transmissions
D	The uplink and downlink frequency ranges

9. - E2B12

What signals SSTV receiving software to begin a new picture line?

Select	Answer
A	Specific tone frequencies
B	Specific tone amplitudes
C	Elapsed time
D	A two-tone signal

10. - E2C09

What type of equipment is commonly used to implement an amateur radio mesh network?

Select	Answer
A	A 2 meter VHF transceiver with a 1200 baud modem
B	A wireless router running custom firmware
C	An optical cable connection between the USB ports of 2 separate computers
D	A 440 MHz transceiver with a 9600 baud modem

11. - E2D02

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

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

12. - E2E02

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

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

13. - E3A04

What do Hepburn maps predict?

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

14. - E3B01

What is transequatorial propagation?

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

15. - E3C12

How does the maximum range of ground-wave propagation change when the signal frequency is increased?

Select	Answer
A	It increases
B	It decreases
C	It stays the same
D	It peaks at roughly 14 MHz

16. - E4A11

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

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

17. - E4B10

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

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

18. - E4C12

Which of the following has the largest effect on an SDR receiver's dynamic range?

Select	Answer
A	Anti-aliasing input filter bandwidth
B	CPU register width in bits
C	Analog-to-digital converter sample width in bits
D	RAM speed used for data storage

19. - E4D06

What is the term for spurious signals generated by the combination of two or more signals in a non-linear device or circuit?

Select	Answer
A	Intermodulation
B	Neutralization
C	Adjacent channel interference
D	Amplifier desensitization

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	One or more of the broadcast stations is transmitting an over-modulated signal
C	You are receiving skywave signals from a distant station
D	Your station receiver IF amplifier stage is defective

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	Low compared to the circuit resistance
C	Approximately equal to inductive reactance
D	High compared to the circuit resistance

22. - E5B06

What is susceptance?

Select	Answer
A	The magnetic impedance of a circuit
B	The imaginary part of admittance
C	The ratio of magnetic field to electric field
D	A measure of the efficiency of a transformer

23. - E5C04

What coordinate system is often used to display the resistive, inductive, and/or capacitive reactance components of impedance?

Select	Answer
A	Rectangular coordinates
B	Faraday grid
C	Elliptical coordinates
D	Maidenhead grid

24. - E5D04

Why are short connections used at microwave frequencies?

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

25. - E6A06

What is the beta of a bipolar junction transistor?

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

26. - E6B07

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

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

27. - E6C03

What is tri-state logic?

Select	Answer
A	Logic devices that utilize ternary math
B	Proprietary logic devices manufactured by Tri-State Devices
C	Low-power logic devices designed to operate at 3 volts
D	Logic devices with 0, 1, and high-impedance output states

28. - E6D01

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

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

29. - E6E01

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

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

30. - E6F08

Why are optoisolators often used in conjunction with solid-state circuits when switching 120 VAC?

Select	Answer
A	Optoisolators provide a very high degree of electrical isolation between a control circuit and the circuit being switched
B	Optoisolators provide impedance matching between the control circuit and power circuit
C	Optoisolators eliminate the effects of reflected light in the control circuit
D	Optoisolators provide a low impedance link between a control circuit and a power circuit

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 1 at its output only when all inputs are logic 1
C	It produces logic 0 at its output only when all inputs are logic 1
D	It produces logic 0 at its output only when all inputs are logic 0

32. - E7B17

Why are odd-order rather than even-order intermodulation distortion products of concern in linear power amplifiers?

Select	Answer
A	Because they invert the sidebands causing distortion
B	Because they maintain the sidebands, thus causing multiple duplicate signals
C	Because they are relatively close in frequency to the desired signal
D	Because they are relatively far in frequency from the desired signal

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

34. - E7D13

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

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

35. - E7E09

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

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

36. - E7F03

What type of digital signal processing filter is used to generate an SSB signal?

Select	Answer
A	An adaptive filter
B	A Hilbert-transform filter
C	An elliptical filter
D	A notch filter

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

38. - E7H03

How is positive feedback supplied in a Hartley oscillator?

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

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

41. - E8C06

What is the bandwidth of a 170-hertz shift, 300-baud ASCII transmission?

Select	Answer
A	0.1 Hz
B	1.0 kHz
C	0.3 kHz
D	0.5 kHz

42. - E8D07

What is a common cause of overmodulation of AFSK signals?

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

43. - E9A10

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

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

44. - E9B06

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

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

45. - E9C05

Which of the following is a type of OCFD antenna?

Select	Answer
A	A remotely tunable dipole antenna using orthogonally controlled frequency diversity
B	A folded dipole center-fed with 300-ohm transmission line
C	A multiband dipole antenna using one-way circular polarization for frequency diversity
D	A dipole fed approximately 1/3 the way from one end with a 4:1 balun to provide multiband operation

46. - E9D10

What happens to feed-point impedance at the base of a fixed length HF mobile antenna when operated below its resonant frequency?

Select	Answer
A	The radiation resistance decreases and the capacitive reactance increases
B	The radiation resistance decreases and the capacitive reactance decreases
C	The radiation resistance increases and the capacitive reactance decreases
D	The radiation resistance increases and the capacitive reactance increases

47. - E9E07

What parameter describes the interactions at the load end of a mismatched transmission line?

Select	Answer
A	Velocity factor
B	Dielectric constant
C	Characteristic impedance
D	Reflection coefficient

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

49. - E9G03

Which of the following is often determined using a Smith chart?

Select	Answer
A	Impedance and SWR values in transmission lines
B	Beam headings and radiation patterns
C	Trigonometric functions
D	Satellite azimuth and elevation bearings

50. - E9H01

When constructing a Beverage antenna, which of the following factors should be included in the design to achieve good performance at the desired frequency?

Select	Answer
A	It should be configured as a four-sided loop
B	It must be mounted more than 1 wavelength above ground
C	It should be one or more wavelengths long
D	Its overall length must not exceed 1/4 wavelength

Figure E9-2