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

2. - E1A05

What is the maximum power output permitted on the 60 meter band?

Select	Answer
A	50 watts PEP effective radiated power relative to a dipole
B	100 watts PEP effective radiated power relative to an isotropic radiator
C	100 watts PEP effective radiated power relative to the gain of a half-wave dipole
D	50 watts PEP effective radiated power relative to an isotropic radiator

3. - E1B10

What frequencies are authorized to an amateur station operating under RACES rules?

Select	Answer
A	Specific segments in the amateur service MF, HF, VHF and UHF bands
B	Specific local government channels
C	All amateur service frequencies authorized to the control operator
D	Military Auxiliary Radio System (MARS) channels

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 may not operate until a test signal has been transmitted in coordination with the local power company
B	Operators must not operate until approval is received
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	Operations may commence immediately, and may continue unless interference is reported by the UTC

5. - E1D04

Which of the following is required in the identification transmissions from a balloon-borne telemetry station?

Select	Answer
A	All these choices are correct
B	The station's six-character Maidenhead grid locator
C	Call sign
D	The output power of the balloon transmitter

6. - E1E04

Which of the following best describes the Volunteer Examiner accreditation process?

Select	Answer
A	The procedure by which a VEC confirms that the VE applicant meets FCC requirements to serve as an examiner
B	The amateur operator applying must pass a VE examination administered by the FCC Enforcement Bureau
C	The prospective VE obtains accreditation from the FCC
D	Each General, Advanced and Amateur Extra Class operator is automatically accredited as a VE when the license is granted

7. - E1F02

What privileges are authorized in the U.S. to persons holding an amateur service license granted by the government of Canada?

Select	Answer
A	None, they must obtain a U.S. license
B	Full privileges, up to and including those of the Amateur Extra Class license, on the 80, 40, 20, 15, and 10 meter bands
C	All privileges of the Amateur Extra Class license
D	The operating terms and conditions of the Canadian amateur service license, not to exceed U.S. Amateur Extra Class license privileges

8. - E2A13

Which of the following techniques is normally used by low Earth orbiting digital satellites to relay messages around the world?

Select	Answer
A	Digipeating
B	Store-and-forward
C	Multi-satellite relaying
D	Node hopping

9. - E2B08

What technique allows commercial analog TV receivers to be used for fast-scan TV operations on the 70 cm band?

Select	Answer
A	Transmitting on the abandoned TV channel 2
B	Transmitting on channels shared with cable TV
C	Using converted satellite TV dishes
D	Using USB and demodulating the signal with a computer sound card

10. - E2C08

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

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

11. - E2D01

Which of the following digital modes is designed for meteor scatter communications?

Select	Answer
A	APRS
B	Hellschreiber
C	WSPR
D	MSK144

12. - E2E13

Which of these digital modes has the fastest data throughput under clear communication conditions?

Select	Answer
A	170 Hz shift, 45 baud RTTY
B	AMTOR
C	300 baud packet
D	PSK31

13. - E3A04

What do Hepburn maps predict?

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

14. - E3B01

What is transequatorial propagation?

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

15. - E3C11

What does VOACAP software model?

Select	Answer
A	AC voltage and impedance
B	AC current and impedance
C	HF propagation
D	VHF radio propagation

16. - E4A09

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

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

17. - E4B05

What three test loads are used to calibrate an RF vector network analyzer?

Select	Answer
A	50 ohms, 75 ohms, and 90 ohms
B	Short circuit, open circuit, and resonant circuit
C	Short circuit, open circuit, and 50 ohms
D	50 ohms through 1/8 wavelength, 1/4 wavelength, and 1/2 wavelength of coaxial cable

18. - E4C07

What does the MDS of a receiver represent?

Select	Answer
A	The meter display sensitivity
B	The maximum detectable spectrum
C	The multiplex distortion stability
D	The minimum discernible signal

19. - E4D07

Which of the following reduces the likelihood of receiver desensitization?

Select	Answer
A	Switch from fast AGC to slow AGC
B	Increase the receiver front end gain
C	Raise the receiver IF frequency
D	Decrease the RF bandwidth of the receiver

20. - E4E03

Which of the following signals might a receiver noise blanker be able to remove from desired signals?

Select	Answer
A	Signals that are constant at all IF levels
B	Signals that have a sharply peaked frequency distribution
C	Signals that appear across a wide bandwidth
D	Signals that appear at one IF but not another

21. - E5A01

What can cause the voltage across reactances in a series RLC circuit to be higher than the voltage applied to the entire circuit?

Select	Answer
A	Capacitance
B	Resonance
C	Conductance
D	Resistance

22. - E5B12

What is admittance?

Select	Answer
A	The inverse of Q factor
B	The term for the gain of a field effect transistor
C	The turns ratio of a transformer
D	The inverse of impedance

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 6
C	Point 2
D	Point 5

24. - E5D04

Why are short connections used at microwave frequencies?

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

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 reduce the chance of static damage to the gate
C	To protect the substrate from excessive voltages
D	To keep the gate voltage within specifications and prevent the device from overheating

26. - E6B11

What is used to control the attenuation of RF signals by a PIN diode?

Select	Answer
A	Reverse voltage larger than the RF signal
B	Forward DC bias current
C	A sub-harmonic pump signal
D	Capacitance of an RF coupling capacitor

27. - E6C06

Why do CMOS digital integrated circuits have high immunity to noise on the input signal or power supply?

Select	Answer
A	Bandwidth is very limited
B	The input switching threshold is about two times the power supply voltage
C	Large bypass capacitance is inherent
D	The input switching threshold is about one-half the power supply voltage

28. - E6D03

Which of the following is an aspect of the piezoelectric effect?

Select	Answer
A	Generation of electrical energy in the presence of light
B	Mechanical deformation of material by the application of a voltage
C	Increased conductivity in the presence of light
D	Mechanical deformation of material by the application of a magnetic field

29. - E6E08

How is power supplied to the most common type of MMIC?

Select	Answer
A	Directly to the bias voltage (VCC IN) lead
B	Through a resistor and/or RF choke connected to the amplifier output lead
C	Through a capacitor and RF choke connected to the amplifier input lead
D	MMICs require no operating bias

30. - E6F06

Which of these materials is most commonly used to create photoconductive devices?

Select	Answer
A	A heavy metal
B	An ordinary metal
C	A crystalline semiconductor
D	A liquid semiconductor

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

32. - E7B16

What is the effect of intermodulation products in a linear power amplifier?

Select	Answer
A	All these choices are correct
B	Low efficiency
C	Transmission of spurious signals
D	Creation of parasitic oscillations

33. - E7C09

What is a crystal lattice filter?

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

34. - E7D10

What is the primary reason that a high-frequency switching type high-voltage power supply can be both less expensive and lighter in weight than a conventional power supply?

Select	Answer
A	The high frequency inverter design uses much smaller transformers and filter components for an equivalent power output
B	It uses a large power factor compensation capacitor to recover power from the unused portion of the AC cycle
C	It uses a diode bridge rectifier for increased output
D	The inverter design does not require any output filtering

35. - E7E06

Why is de-emphasis commonly used in FM communications receivers?

Select	Answer
A	For higher efficiency
B	To remove third-order distortion products
C	For compatibility with transmitters using phase modulation
D	To reduce impulse noise reception

36. - E7F11

What sets the minimum detectable signal level for a direct-sampling SDR receiver in the absence of atmospheric or thermal noise?

Select	Answer
A	Reference voltage level and sample width in bits
B	Data storage transfer rate
C	Missing codes and jitter
D	Sample clock phase noise

37. - E7G10

What absolute voltage gain can be expected from the circuit in Figure E7-3 when R1 is 1800 ohms and RF is 68 kilohms?

Select	Answer
A	76
B	1
C	38
D	0.03

38. - E7H10

What information is contained in the lookup table of a direct digital synthesizer (DDS)?

Select	Answer
A	Frequently used receiver and transmitter frequencies
B	The phase relationship between a voltage-controlled oscillator and the output waveform
C	Amplitude values that represent the desired waveform
D	The phase relationship between a reference oscillator and the output waveform

39. - E8A10

What is the purpose of a low-pass filter used in conjunction with a digital-to-analog converter?

Select	Answer
A	All these choices are correct
B	Remove harmonics from the output caused by the discrete analog levels generated
C	Improve accuracy by removing out-of-sequence codes from the input
D	Lower the input bandwidth to increase the effective resolution

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 carrier center frequency to the audio modulating frequency
D	The ratio of the maximum carrier frequency deviation to the highest audio modulating frequency

41. - E8C12

What factors affect the bandwidth of a transmitted CW signal?

Select	Answer
A	IF bandwidth and Q
B	Keying speed and shape factor (rise and fall time)
C	All these choices are correct
D	Modulation index and output power

42. - E8D11

What is one advantage of using ASCII code for data communications?

Select	Answer
A	It is possible to transmit both upper and lower case text
B	It includes built-in error correction features
C	It uses one character as a shift code to send numeric and special characters
D	It contains fewer information bits per character than any other code

43. - E9A05

What is included in the total resistance of an antenna system?

Select	Answer
A	Radiation resistance plus transmission resistance
B	Transmission-line resistance plus radiation resistance
C	Radiation resistance plus loss resistance
D	Radiation resistance plus space impedance

44. - E9B05

What type of antenna pattern is shown in Figure E9-2?

Select	Answer
A	Radiation resistance
B	Polarization
C	Elevation
D	Azimuth

45. - E9C07

What is the approximate feed point impedance at the center of a two-wire folded dipole antenna?

Select	Answer
A	300 ohms
B	450 ohms
C	72 ohms
D	50 ohms

46. - E9D08

What happens as the Q of an antenna increases?

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

47. - E9E09

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

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

48. - E9F10

What impedance does a 1/8-wavelength transmission line present to a generator when the line is shorted at the far end?

Select	Answer
A	An inductive reactance
B	The same as the characteristic impedance of the line
C	A capacitive reactance
D	Zero

49. - E9G05

Which of the following is a common use for a Smith chart?

Select	Answer
A	Determine the loss/100 feet of a transmission line, given the velocity factor and conductor materials
B	Determine the gain of an antenna given the physical and electrical parameters
C	Determine the length and position of an impedance matching stub
D	Determine the impedance of a transmission line, given the physical dimensions

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

Figure E5-1

Figure E7-3

Figure E9-2