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

2. - E1A07

What is the maximum power permitted on the 2200 meter band?

Select	Answer
A	5 watts EIRP (Equivalent isotropic radiated power)
B	50 watts PEP
C	100 watts PEP
D	1 watt EIRP (Equivalent isotropic radiated power)

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. - E1C03

How do the control operator responsibilities of a station under automatic control differ from one under local control?

Select	Answer
A	Under automatic control there is no control operator
B	Under local control a control operator is not required to be present at a control point
C	Under local control there is no control operator
D	Under automatic control the control operator is not required to be present at the control point

5. - E1D02

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

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

6. - E1E10

What must the administering VEs do after the administration of a successful examination for an amateur operator license?

Select	Answer
A	They must submit the application document to the coordinating VEC according to the coordinating VEC instructions
B	They must collect and send the documents to the FCC according to instructions
C	They must collect and send the documents to the NCVEC for grading
D	They must collect and submit the documents to the coordinating VEC for grading

7. - E1F11

Which of the following best describes one of the standards that must be met by an external RF power amplifier if it is to qualify for a grant of FCC certification?

Select	Answer
A	It must produce full legal output when driven by not more than 5 watts of mean RF input power
B	It must satisfy the FCC's spurious emission standards when operated at the lesser of 1500 watts or its full output power
C	It must be capable of external RF switching between its input and output networks
D	It must exhibit a gain of 0 dB or less over its full output range

8. - E2A02

Which of the following occurs when a satellite is using an inverting linear transponder?

Select	Answer
A	Upper sideband on the uplink becomes lower sideband on the downlink, and vice versa
B	All these choices are correct
C	Doppler shift is reduced because the uplink and downlink shifts are in opposite directions
D	Signal position in the band is reversed

9. - E2B02

How many horizontal lines make up a fast-scan (NTSC) television frame?

Select	Answer
A	60
B	30
C	1080
D	525

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

11. - E2D05

What is one advantage of the JT65 mode?

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

12. - E2E13

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

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

13. - E3A12

What is the cause of auroral activity?

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

14. - E3B05

Which amateur bands typically support long-path propagation?

Select	Answer
A	Only 30 meters to 10 meters
B	160 meters to 10 meters
C	6 meters to 2 meters
D	Only 160 meters to 40 meters

15. - E3C10

What does the 304A solar parameter measure?

Select	Answer
A	The solar wind velocity at 304 degrees from the solar equator, correlated to solar activity
B	The ratio of x-ray flux to radio flux, correlated to sunspot number
C	UV emissions at 304 angstroms, correlated to the solar flux index
D	The solar emission at 304 GHz, correlated to x-ray flare levels

16. - E4A02

Which of the following parameters does a spectrum analyzer display on the vertical and horizontal axes?

Select	Answer
A	RF amplitude and frequency
B	RF amplitude and time
C	SWR and time
D	SWR and frequency

17. - E4B06

How much power is being absorbed by the load when a directional power meter connected between a transmitter and a terminating load reads 100 watts forward power and 25 watts reflected power?

Select	Answer
A	25 watts
B	125 watts
C	100 watts
D	75 watts

18. - E4C08

An SDR receiver is overloaded when input signals exceed what level?

Select	Answer
A	The reference voltage of the analog-to-digital converter
B	One-half the maximum sampling buffer size
C	One-half the maximum sample rate
D	The maximum count value of the analog-to-digital converter

19. - E4D12

What is the term for the reduction in receiver sensitivity caused by a strong signal near the received frequency?

Select	Answer
A	Quieting
B	Desensitization
C	Cross-modulation interference
D	Squelch gain rollback

20. - E4E09

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

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

21. - E5A14

What is the resonant frequency of an RLC circuit if R is 22 ohms, L is 50 microhenries and C is 40 picofarads?

Select	Answer
A	22.36 MHz
B	1.78 MHz
C	3.56 MHz
D	44.72 MHz

22. - E5B10

What is the relationship between the AC current through an inductor and the voltage across an inductor?

Select	Answer
A	Voltage and current are in phase
B	Voltage and current are 180 degrees out of phase
C	Current leads voltage by 90 degrees
D	Voltage leads current by 90 degrees

23. - E5C12

Which point on Figure E5-1 best represents the impedance of a series circuit consisting of a 300-ohm resistor and a 19-picofarad capacitor at 21.200 MHz?

Select	Answer
A	Point 7
B	Point 3
C	Point 1
D	Point 8

24. - E5D07

How many watts are consumed in a circuit having a power factor of 0.71 if the apparent power is 500VA?

Select	Answer
A	704 W
B	252 W
C	1.42 mW
D	355 W

25. - E6A02

Which of the following semiconductor materials contains excess free electrons?

Select	Answer
A	N-type
B	Bipolar
C	P-type
D	Insulated gate

26. - E6B04

What type of semiconductor device is designed for use as a voltage-controlled capacitor?

Select	Answer
A	Silicon-controlled rectifier
B	Varactor diode
C	Tunnel diode
D	Zener diode

27. - E6C06

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

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

28. - E6D10

What is a primary advantage of using a toroidal core instead of a solenoidal core in an inductor?

Select	Answer
A	Toroidal cores have lower Q characteristics
B	Toroidal cores exhibit greater hysteresis
C	Toroidal cores make it easier to couple the magnetic energy into other components
D	Toroidal cores confine most of the magnetic field within the core material

29. - E6E06

What characteristics of the MMIC make it a popular choice for VHF through microwave circuits?

Select	Answer
A	Nearly infinite gain, very high input impedance, and very low output impedance
B	Controlled gain, low noise figure, and constant input and output impedance over the specified frequency range
C	The ability to retrieve information from a single signal even in the presence of other strong signals
D	Plate current that is controlled by a control grid

30. - E6F02

What happens to the conductivity of a photoconductive material when light shines on it?

Select	Answer
A	It decreases
B	It increases
C	It becomes unstable
D	It stays the same

31. - E7A10

What is a truth table?

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

32. - E7B15

What is one way to prevent thermal runaway in a bipolar transistor amplifier?

Select	Answer
A	Neutralization
B	All these choices are correct
C	Select transistors with high beta
D	Use a resistor in series with the emitter

33. - E7C09

What is a crystal lattice filter?

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

34. - E7D11

What is the function of the pass transistor in a linear voltage regulator circuit?

Select	Answer
A	Permits a wide range of output voltage settings
B	Maintains nearly constant output voltage over a wide range of load current
C	Maintains nearly constant output impedance over a wide range of load current
D	Provides a stable input impedance over a wide range of source voltage

35. - E7E07

What is meant by the term "baseband" in radio communications?

Select	Answer
A	The unmodulated bandwidth of the transmitted signal
B	The lowest frequency band that the transmitter or receiver covers
C	The frequency range occupied by a message signal prior to modulation
D	The basic oscillator frequency in an FM transmitter that is multiplied to increase the deviation and carrier frequency

36. - E7F03

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

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

37. - E7G04

What is meant by the "op-amp input offset voltage"?

Select	Answer
A	The difference between the output voltage of the op-amp and the input voltage required in the immediately following stage
B	The potential between the amplifier input terminals of the op-amp in an open loop condition
C	The output voltage of the op-amp minus its input voltage
D	The differential input voltage needed to bring the open loop output voltage to zero

38. - E7H13

Which of the following is a technique for providing highly accurate and stable oscillators needed for microwave transmission and reception?

Select	Answer
A	Use a GPS signal reference
B	Use a temperature-controlled high Q dielectric resonator
C	All these choices are correct
D	Use a rubidium stabilized reference oscillator

39. - E8A05

What of the following instruments would be the most accurate for measuring the RMS voltage of a complex waveform?

Select	Answer
A	A D'Arsonval meter
B	A true-RMS calculating meter
C	An absorption wave meter
D	A grid dip meter

40. - E8B07

Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing is a technique used for which type of amateur communication?

Select	Answer
A	High-speed digital modes
B	Extremely low-power contacts
C	OFDM signals are not allowed on amateur bands
D	EME

41. - E8C10

How may data rate be increased without increasing bandwidth?

Select	Answer
A	Using a more efficient digital code
B	Increasing analog-to-digital conversion resolution
C	Using forward error correction
D	It is impossible

42. - E8D02

What spread spectrum communications technique uses a high-speed binary bit stream to shift the phase of an RF carrier?

Select	Answer
A	Frequency hopping
B	Phase compandored spread spectrum
C	Direct sequence
D	Binary phase-shift keying

43. - E9A09

What is antenna efficiency?

Select	Answer
A	Radiation resistance divided by total resistance
B	Total resistance divided by radiation resistance
C	Effective radiated power divided by transmitter output
D	Radiation resistance divided by transmission resistance

44. - E9B09

What type of computer program technique is commonly used for modeling antennas?

Select	Answer
A	Mutual impedance analysis
B	Method of Moments
C	Graphical analysis
D	Calculus differentiation with respect to physical properties

45. - E9C12

Which of the following describes an Extended Double Zepp antenna?

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

46. - E9D08

What happens as the Q of an antenna increases?

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

47. - E9E08

What is a use for a Wilkinson divider?

Select	Answer
A	It is used to divide power equally between two 50-ohm loads while maintaining 50-ohm input impedance
B	It divides the operating frequency of a transmitter signal so it can be used on a lower frequency band
C	It is used to feed high-impedance antennas from a low-impedance source
D	It is used to feed low-impedance loads from a high-impedance source

48. - E9F11

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

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

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	Impedance axis
B	Prime axis
C	Polar axis
D	Reactance axis

50. - E9H04

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

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

Figure E5-1

Figure E9-3