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 to 3000 MHz
B	30 to 300 MHz
C	300 kHz to 3 MHz
D	3 to 30 MHz

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	18.068 MHz
B	18.110 MHz
C	18.100 MHz
D	18.107 MHz

3. - E1B01

Which of the following constitutes a spurious emission?

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

4. - E1C05

When may an automatically controlled station originate third party communications?

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

5. - E1D10

Which amateur stations are eligible to be telecommand stations of space stations (subject to the privileges of the class of operator license held by the control operator of the station)?

Select	Answer
A	All these choices are correct
B	Any amateur station designated by NASA
C	Any amateur station so designated by the space station licensee
D	Any amateur station so designated by the ITU

6. - E1E05

What is the minimum passing score on all amateur operator license examinations?

Select	Answer
A	Minimum passing score of 70%
B	Minimum passing score of 74%
C	Minimum passing score of 80%
D	Minimum passing score of 77%

7. - E1F09

Which of the following conditions apply when transmitting spread spectrum emissions?

Select	Answer
A	The transmitting station must be in an area regulated by the FCC or in a country that permits SS emissions
B	The transmission must not be used to obscure the meaning of any communication
C	A station transmitting SS emission must not cause harmful interference to other stations employing other authorized emissions
D	All these choices are correct

8. - E2A09

What do the terms L band and S band specify regarding satellite communications?

Select	Answer
A	FM and Digital Store-and-Forward systems
B	The 23 centimeter and 13 centimeter bands
C	Which sideband to use
D	The 2 meter and 70 centimeter bands

9. - E2B06

What is vestigial sideband modulation?

Select	Answer
A	Spread spectrum modulation achieved by applying FM modulation following single sideband amplitude modulation
B	Amplitude modulation in which one complete sideband and a portion of the other are transmitted
C	Narrow-band FM modulation achieved by filtering one sideband from the audio before frequency modulating the carrier
D	A type of modulation in which one sideband is inverted

10. - E2C06

During a VHF/UHF contest, in which band segment would you expect to find the highest level of SSB or CW activity?

Select	Answer
A	In the weak signal segment of the band, with most of the activity near the calling frequency
B	In the middle of the band, usually 25 kHz above the national calling frequency
C	In the middle of each band, usually on the national calling frequency
D	At the top of each band, usually in a segment reserved for contests

11. - E2D05

What is one advantage of the JT65 mode?

Select	Answer
A	The ability to decode signals which have a very low signal-to-noise ratio
B	Easily copied by ear if necessary
C	Uses only a 65 Hz bandwidth
D	Permits fast-scan TV transmissions over narrow bandwidth

12. - E2E02

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

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

13. - E3A09

Which of the following frequency ranges is most suited for meteor scatter communications?

Select	Answer
A	220 MHz - 450 MHz
B	1.8 MHz - 1.9 MHz
C	10 MHz - 14 MHz
D	28 MHz - 148 MHz

14. - E3B12

What is the primary characteristic of chordal hop propagation?

Select	Answer
A	Propagation away from the great circle bearing between stations
B	Successive ionospheric refractions without an intermediate reflection from the ground
C	Propagation across the geomagnetic equator
D	Signals reflected back toward the transmitting station

15. - E3C04

What does the value of Bz (B sub Z) represent?

Select	Answer
A	Direction and strength of the interplanetary magnetic field
B	Duration of long-delayed echoes
C	Geomagnetic field stability
D	Critical frequency for vertical transmissions

16. - E4A09

Which of the following is good practice when using an oscilloscope probe?

Select	Answer
A	Never use a high-impedance probe to measure a low-impedance circuit
B	Never use a DC-coupled probe to measure an AC circuit
C	Keep the signal ground connection of the probe as short as possible
D	All these choices are correct

17. - E4B08

Which of the following can be used to measure the Q of a series-tuned circuit?

Select	Answer
A	The bandwidth of the circuit's frequency response
B	The resonant frequency of the circuit
C	The inductance to capacitance ratio
D	The frequency shift

18. - E4C13

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

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

19. - E4D02

Which of the following describes problems caused by poor dynamic range in a receiver?

Select	Answer
A	Cross-modulation of the desired signal and insufficient audio power to operate the speaker
B	Oscillator instability requiring frequent retuning and loss of ability to recover the opposite sideband
C	Oscillator instability and severe audio distortion of all but the strongest received signals
D	Spurious signals caused by cross-modulation and desensitization from strong adjacent signals

20. - E4E09

What undesirable effect can occur when using an IF noise blanker?

Select	Answer
A	Received audio in the speech range might have an echo effect
B	FM signals can no longer be demodulated
C	The audio frequency bandwidth of the received signal might be compressed
D	Nearby signals may appear to be excessively wide even if they meet emission standards

21. - E5A11

What is the half-power bandwidth of a resonant circuit that has a resonant frequency of 7.1 MHz and a Q of 150?

Select	Answer
A	23.67 kHz
B	47.3 kHz
C	315.6 Hz
D	157.8 Hz

22. - E5B03

How is impedance in polar form converted to an equivalent admittance?

Select	Answer
A	Square the magnitude and subtract 90 degrees from the angle
B	Take the reciprocal of the magnitude and change the sign of the angle
C	Take the square root of the magnitude and add 180 degrees to the angle
D	Take the reciprocal of the angle and change the sign of the magnitude

23. - E5C10

Which point on Figure E5-1 best represents the impedance of a series circuit consisting of a 400-ohm resistor and a 38-picofarad capacitor at 14 MHz?

Select	Answer
A	Point 4
B	Point 2
C	Point 5
D	Point 6

24. - E5D03

What is microstrip?

Select	Answer
A	Miniature coax used for low power applications
B	Short lengths of coax mounted on printed circuit boards to minimize time delay between microwave circuits
C	Precision printed circuit conductors above a ground plane that provide constant impedance interconnects at microwave frequencies
D	Lightweight transmission line made of common zip cord

25. - E6A12

Why do many MOSFET devices have internally connected Zener diodes on the gates?

Select	Answer
A	To provide a voltage reference for the correct amount of reverse-bias gate voltage
B	To protect the substrate from excessive voltages
C	To keep the gate voltage within specifications and prevent the device from overheating
D	To reduce the chance of static damage to the gate

26. - E6B07

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

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

27. - E6C02

What happens when the level of a comparator's input signal crosses the threshold?

Select	Answer
A	The comparator changes its output state
B	The feedback loop becomes unstable
C	The IC input can be damaged
D	The comparator enters latch-up

28. - E6D05

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

Select	Answer
A	Ferrite toroids generally have lower initial permeability
B	Ferrite toroids generally require fewer turns to produce a given inductance value
C	Ferrite toroids generally have better temperature stability
D	Ferrite toroids are easier to use with surface mount technology

29. - E6E10

What advantage does surface-mount technology offer at RF compared to using through-hole components?

Select	Answer
A	Smaller circuit area
B	Shorter circuit-board traces
C	Components have less parasitic inductance and capacitance
D	All these choices are correct

30. - E6F05

Which describes an optical shaft encoder?

Select	Answer
A	A device for generating RTTY signals by means of a rotating light source
B	A device that detects rotation of a control by interrupting a light source with a patterned wheel
C	A digital encryption device often used to encrypt spacecraft control signals
D	A device that measures the strength of a beam of light using analog to digital conversion

31. - E7A06

What is a characteristic of a monostable multivibrator?

Select	Answer
A	It maintains a constant output voltage, regardless of variations in the input voltage
B	It stores one bit of data in either a 0 or 1 state
C	It switches momentarily to the opposite binary state and then returns to its original state after a set time
D	It produces a continuous square wave oscillating between 1 and 0

32. - E7B08

How can an RF power amplifier be neutralized?

Select	Answer
A	By reducing the driving power
B	By increasing the driving power
C	By feeding an in-phase component of the output back to the input
D	By feeding a 180-degree out-of-phase portion of the output back to the input

33. - E7C09

What is a crystal lattice filter?

Select	Answer
A	A filter using lattice-shaped quartz crystals for high-Q performance
B	A filter with narrow bandwidth and steep skirts made using quartz crystals
C	A power supply filter made with interlaced quartz crystals
D	An audio filter made with four quartz crystals that resonate at 1 kHz intervals

34. - E7D09

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

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

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	Spurious mixer products are generated
D	Mixer blanking occurs

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	More taps
D	Complex phasor representations

37. - E7G05

How can unwanted ringing and audio instability be prevented in an op-amp RC audio filter circuit?

Select	Answer
A	Restrict gain but increase Q
B	Restrict both gain and Q
C	Restrict Q but increase gain
D	Increase both gain and Q

38. - E7H04

How is positive feedback supplied in a Colpitts oscillator?

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

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 sawtooth wave
C	A cosine wave
D	A sine 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 varies with the square root of the RF carrier frequency
D	It decreases as the RF carrier frequency increases

41. - E8C06

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

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

42. - E8D10

What are some of the differences between the Baudot digital code and ASCII?

Select	Answer
A	Baudot uses 5 data bits per character, ASCII uses 7 or 8; Baudot uses 2 characters as letters/figures shift codes, ASCII has no letters/figures shift code
B	Baudot uses 6 data bits per character, ASCII uses 7 or 8; Baudot has no letters/figures shift code, ASCII uses 2 letters/figures shift codes
C	Baudot uses 7 data bits per character, ASCII uses 8; Baudot has no letters/figures shift code, ASCII uses 2 letters/figures shift codes
D	Baudot uses 4 data bits per character, ASCII uses 7 or 8; Baudot uses 1 character as a letters/figures shift code, ASCII has no letters/figures code

43. - E9A01

What is an isotropic antenna?

Select	Answer
A	A grounded antenna used to measure Earth conductivity
B	A theoretical, omnidirectional antenna used as a reference for antenna gain
C	A horizontally polarized antenna used to compare Yagi antennas
D	A spacecraft antenna used to direct signals toward Earth

44. - E9B07

How does the total amount of radiation emitted by a directional gain antenna compare with the total amount of radiation emitted from a theoretical isotropic antenna, assuming each is driven by the same amount of power?

Select	Answer
A	The radiation from the isotropic antenna is 2.15 dB stronger than that from the directional antenna
B	They are the same
C	The total amount of radiation from the directional antenna is increased by the gain of the antenna
D	The total amount of radiation from the directional antenna is stronger by its front-to-back ratio

45. - E9C02

What is the radiation pattern of two 1/4-wavelength vertical antennas spaced 1/4 wavelength apart and fed 90 degrees out of phase?

Select	Answer
A	A figure-8 end-fire along the axis of the array
B	Omni-directional
C	A figure-8 broadside to the axis of the array
D	Cardioid

46. - E9D12

Which of the following would provide the best RF ground for your station?

Select	Answer
A	An electrically short connection to 3 or 4 interconnected ground rods via a series RF choke
B	A 50-ohm resistor connected to ground
C	An electrically short connection to a metal water pipe
D	An electrically short connection to 3 or 4 interconnected ground rods driven into the Earth

47. - E9E11

What is the primary purpose of phasing lines when used with an antenna having multiple driven elements?

Select	Answer
A	It creates a low-angle radiation pattern
B	It allows single-band antennas to operate on other bands
C	It prevents reflected power from traveling back down the feed line and causing harmonic radiation from the transmitter
D	It ensures that each driven element operates in concert with the others to create the desired antenna pattern

48. - E9F03

Why is the physical length of a coaxial cable transmission line shorter than its electrical length?

Select	Answer
A	Skin effect is less pronounced in the coaxial cable
B	Electrical signals move more slowly in a coaxial cable than in air
C	The surge impedance is higher in a parallel feed line
D	The characteristic impedance is higher in a parallel feed line

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	Satellite azimuth and elevation bearings
D	Trigonometric functions

50. - E9H04

What is an advantage of placing a grounded electrostatic shield around a small loop direction-finding antenna?

Select	Answer
A	It eliminates tracking errors caused by strong out-of-band signals
B	It adds capacitive loading, increasing the bandwidth of the antenna
C	It increases signal strength by providing a better match to the feed line
D	It eliminates unbalanced capacitive coupling to the surroundings, improving the nulls

Figure E5-1