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

2. - E1A09

What action or actions should you take if your digital message forwarding station inadvertently forwards a communication that violates FCC rules?

Select	Answer
A	All these choices are correct
B	Discontinue forwarding the communication as soon as you become aware of it
C	Notify the nearest FCC Field Engineers office
D	Notify the originating station that the communication does not comply with FCC rules

3. - E1B07

To what type of regulations does PRB-1 apply?

Select	Answer
A	Homeowners associations
B	FAA tower height limits
C	Use of wireless devices in vehicles
D	State and local zoning

4. - E1C01

What is the maximum bandwidth for a data emission on 60 meters?

Select	Answer
A	1.5 kHz
B	170 Hz
C	60 Hz
D	2.8 kHz

5. - E1D09

Which UHF amateur bands have frequencies authorized for space stations?

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

6. - E1E06

Who is responsible for the proper conduct and necessary supervision during an amateur operator license examination session?

Select	Answer
A	Each administering VE
B	The VE session manager
C	The FCC
D	The VEC coordinating the session

7. - E1F04

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

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

8. - E2A03

How is the signal inverted by an inverting linear transponder?

Select	Answer
A	The signal is passed through a mixer and the difference rather than the sum is transmitted
B	The signal is detected and remodulated on the reverse sideband
C	The signal is passed through a non-linear filter
D	The signal is reduced to I and Q components and the Q component is filtered out

9. - E2B12

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

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

10. - E2C02

Which of the following best describes the term self-spotting? in connection with HF contest operating?

Select	Answer
A	A manual technique for rapidly zero beating or tuning to a station's frequency before calling that station
B	An automatic method for rapidly zero beating or tuning to a station's frequency before calling that station
C	The acceptable practice of manually posting the call signs of stations on a spotting network
D	The often-prohibited practice of posting one's own call sign and frequency on a spotting network

11. - E2D10

How can an APRS station be used to help support a public service communications activity?

Select	Answer
A	All these choices are correct
B	APRS stations with General Personnel Scanners can automatically relay the participant numbers and time as they pass the check points
C	An APRS station with a Global Positioning System unit can automatically transmit information to show a mobile station's position during the event
D	An APRS station with an emergency medical technician can automatically transmit medical data to the nearest hospital

12. - E2E03

How is the timing of FT4 contacts organized?

Select	Answer
A	Stations take turns on alternate days
B	By exchanging ACK/NAK packets
C	Alternating transmissions at 7.5 second intervals
D	It depends on the lunar phase

13. - E3A06

What might help to restore contact when DX signals become too weak to copy across an entire HF band a few hours after sunset?

Select	Answer
A	Wait 90 minutes or so for the signal degradation to pass
B	Switch to a higher frequency HF band
C	Wait 24 hours before attempting another communication on the band
D	Switch to a lower frequency HF band

14. - E3B10

Why is chordal hop propagation desirable?

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

15. - E3C12

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

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

16. - E4A08

Which of the following measures SWR?

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

17. - E4B09

What is indicated if the current reading on an RF ammeter placed in series with the antenna feed line of a transmitter increases as the transmitter is tuned to resonance?

Select	Answer
A	There is possibly a short to ground in the feed line
B	There is more power going into the antenna
C	The transmitter is not properly neutralized
D	There is an impedance mismatch between the antenna and feed line

18. - E4C10

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

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

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	Adjacent channel interference
C	Neutralization
D	Amplifier desensitization

20. - E4E05

How can radio frequency interference from an AC motor be suppressed?

Select	Answer
A	By installing a high-pass filter in series with the motor's power leads
B	By installing a brute-force AC-line filter in series with the motor leads
C	By using a ground-fault current interrupter in the circuit used to power the motor
D	By installing a bypass capacitor in series with the motor leads

21. - E5A05

What is the result of increasing the Q of an impedance-matching circuit?

Select	Answer
A	Matching range is increased
B	Matching bandwidth is increased
C	Matching bandwidth is decreased
D	It has no effect on impedance matching

22. - E5B04

What is the time constant of a circuit having two 220-microfarad capacitors and two 1-megohm resistors, all in parallel?

Select	Answer
A	55 seconds
B	110 seconds
C	440 seconds
D	220 seconds

23. - E5C07

Where is the impedance of a pure resistance plotted on rectangular coordinates?

Select	Answer
A	On a horizontal line, offset vertically above the horizontal axis
B	On a line through the origin, slanted at 45 degrees
C	On the horizontal axis
D	On the vertical axis

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	1.414
B	0.866
C	0.5
D	1.73

25. - E6A05

How does DC input impedance at the gate of a field-effect transistor compare with the DC input impedance of a bipolar transistor?

Select	Answer
A	An FET has higher input impedance
B	They are both high impedance
C	An FET has lower input impedance
D	They are both low impedance

26. - E6B09

What is a common use for point-contact diodes?

Select	Answer
A	As a high-voltage rectifier
B	As an RF detector
C	As a constant current source
D	As a constant voltage source

27. - E6C08

In Figure E6-3, what is the schematic symbol for a NAND gate?

Select	Answer
A	3
B	1
C	4
D	2

28. - E6D06

What core material property determines the inductance of an inductor?

Select	Answer
A	Resistance
B	Reactivity
C	Thermal impedance
D	Permeability

29. - E6E12

Why are DIP through-hole package ICs not typically used at UHF and higher frequencies?

Select	Answer
A	Epoxy coating is conductive above 300 MHz
B	Excessive lead length
C	Unsuitable for combining analog and digital signals
D	Too many pins

30. - E6F04

What is the photovoltaic effect?

Select	Answer
A	The conversion of light to electrical energy
B	The conversion of electrical energy to mechanical energy
C	The conversion of voltage to current when exposed to light
D	The tendency of a battery to discharge when exposed to light

31. - E7A04

How many flip-flops are required to divide a signal frequency by 4?

Select	Answer
A	1
B	2
C	8
D	4

32. - E7B10

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

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

33. - E7C01

How are the capacitors and inductors of a low-pass filter Pi-network arranged between the network's input and output?

Select	Answer
A	Two inductors are in series between the input and output, and a capacitor is connected between the two inductors and ground
B	Two capacitors are in series between the input and output, and an inductor is connected between the two capacitors and ground
C	An inductor is connected between the input and ground, another inductor is connected between the output and ground, and a capacitor is connected between the input and output
D	A capacitor is connected between the input and ground, another capacitor is connected between the output and ground, and an inductor is connected between input and output

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. - E7E01

Which of the following can be used to generate FM phone emissions?

Select	Answer
A	A reactance modulator on the final amplifier
B	A balanced modulator on the oscillator
C	A balanced modulator on the audio amplifier
D	A reactance modulator on the oscillator

36. - E7F08

What is the function of decimation?

Select	Answer
A	Removing unnecessary significant digits
B	Converting data to binary code decimal form
C	Attenuating the signal
D	Reducing the effective sample rate by removing samples

37. - E7G06

What is the gain-bandwidth of an operational amplifier?

Select	Answer
A	The frequency at which the amplifier's offset voltage is zero
B	The frequency at which the open-loop gain of the amplifier equals one
C	The maximum frequency for a filter circuit using that type of amplifier
D	The gain of the amplifier at a filter's cutoff frequency

38. - E7H04

How is positive feedback supplied in a Colpitts oscillator?

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

39. - E8A06

What is the approximate ratio of PEP-to-average power in a typical single-sideband phone signal?

Select	Answer
A	25 to 1
B	100 to 1
C	1 to 1
D	2.5 to 1

40. - E8B05

What is the deviation ratio of an FM-phone signal having a maximum frequency swing of plus-or-minus 5 kHz when the maximum modulation frequency is 3 kHz?

Select	Answer
A	0.167
B	60
C	1.67
D	0.6

41. - E8C08

How does ARQ accomplish error correction?

Select	Answer
A	If errors are detected, a retransmission is requested
B	If errors are detected, redundant data is substituted
C	Special polynomial codes provide automatic correction
D	Special binary codes provide automatic correction

42. - E8D09

What is considered an acceptable maximum IMD level for an idling PSK signal?

Select	Answer
A	-30 dB
B	+10 dB
C	+15 dB
D	-20 dB

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. - E9B05

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

Select	Answer
A	Azimuth
B	Elevation
C	Polarization
D	Radiation resistance

45. - E9C12

Which of the following describes an Extended Double Zepp antenna?

Select	Answer
A	An end-fed folded dipole antenna
B	A portable antenna erected using two push support poles
C	A wideband vertical antenna constructed from precisely tapered aluminum tubing
D	A center-fed 1.25-wavelength antenna (two 5/8-wave elements in phase)

46. - E9D12

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

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

47. - E9E10

Which of these choices is an effective way to match an antenna with a 100-ohm feed point impedance to a 50-ohm coaxial cable feed line?

Select	Answer
A	Insert a 1/4-wavelength piece of 75-ohm coaxial cable transmission line in series between the antenna terminals and the 50-ohm feed cable
B	Connect a 1/2 wavelength shorted stub of 75-ohm cable in parallel with the 50-ohm cable where it attaches to the antenna
C	Connect a 1/4-wavelength open stub of 300-ohm twinlead in parallel with the coaxial feed line where it connects to the antenna
D	Insert a 1/2 wavelength piece of 300-ohm twinlead in series between the antenna terminals and the 50-ohm feed cable

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	7.0 meters
B	10.6 meters
C	8.5 meters
D	13.3 meters

49. - E9G06

On the Smith chart shown in Figure E9-3, what is the name for the large outer circle on which the reactance arcs terminate?

Select	Answer
A	Reactance axis
B	Polar axis
C	Impedance axis
D	Prime axis

50. - E9H02

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

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

Figure E6-3

Figure E7-1

Figure E9-2

Figure E9-3