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

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1. - E0A01

What is the primary function of an external earth connection or ground rod?

Select	Answer
A	Reduce RF current flow between pieces of equipment
B	Lightning protection
C	Reduce received noise
D	Reduce RFI to telephones and home entertainment systems

2. - E1A10

If an amateur station is installed aboard a ship or aircraft, what condition must be met before the station is operated?

Select	Answer
A	The amateur station operator must agree not to transmit when the main radio of the ship or aircraft is in use
B	The amateur station must have a power supply that is completely independent of the main ship or aircraft power supply
C	The amateur operator must have an FCC Marine or Aircraft endorsement on his or her amateur license
D	Its operation must be approved by the master of the ship or the pilot in command of the aircraft

3. - E1B03

Within what distance must an amateur station protect an FCC monitoring facility from harmful interference?

Select	Answer
A	30 miles
B	3 miles
C	1 mile
D	10 miles

4. - E1C07

At what level below a signal's mean power level is its bandwidth determined according to FCC rules?

Select	Answer
A	3 dB
B	23 dB
C	6 dB
D	26 dB

5. - E1D11

Which amateur stations are eligible to operate as Earth stations?

Select	Answer
A	Any amateur station, subject to the privileges of the class of operator license held by the control operator
B	Only those of General, Advanced or Amateur Extra Class operators
C	Any amateur station whose licensee has filed a pre-space notification with the FCC's International Bureau
D	Only those of Amateur Extra Class operators

6. - E1E11

What must the VE team do if an examinee scores a passing grade on all examination elements needed for an upgrade or new license?

Select	Answer
A	Photocopy all examination documents and forward them to the FCC for processing
B	Three VEs must certify that the examinee is qualified for the license grant and that they have complied with the administering VE requirements
C	All these choices are correct
D	Issue the examinee the new or upgrade license

7. - E1F08

Which of the following types of amateur station communications are prohibited?

Select	Answer
A	Communications that have political content, except as allowed by the Fairness Doctrine
B	Communications in a language other than English
C	Communications that have religious content
D	Communications transmitted for hire or material compensation, except as otherwise provided in the rules

8. - E2A08

Why should effective radiated power to a satellite that uses a linear transponder be limited?

Select	Answer
A	To avoid interfering with terrestrial QSOs
B	To prevent creating errors in the satellite telemetry
C	To prevent the satellite from emitting out-of-band signals
D	To avoid reducing the downlink power to all other users

9. - E2B11

What is the function of the Vertical Interval Signaling (VIS) code sent as part of an SSTV transmission?

Select	Answer
A	To identify the SSTV mode being used
B	To identify the call sign of the station transmitting
C	To lock the color burst oscillator in color SSTV images
D	To provide vertical synchronization

10. - E2C04

Which of the following frequencies are sometimes used for amateur radio mesh networks?

Select	Answer
A	The 60 meter band channel centered on 5373 kHz
B	Frequencies shared with various unlicensed wireless data services
C	HF frequencies where digital communications are permitted
D	Cable TV channels 41 through 43

11. - E2D06

Which of the following describes a method of establishing EME contacts?

Select	Answer
A	Time synchronous transmissions alternately from each station
B	Judging optimum transmission times by monitoring beacons reflected from the moon
C	Storing and forwarding digital messages
D	High-speed CW identification to avoid fading

12. - E2E07

Which of the following is a possible reason that attempts to initiate contact with a digital station on a clear frequency are unsuccessful?

Select	Answer
A	The protocol version you are using is not supported by the digital station
B	Another station you are unable to hear is using the frequency
C	All these choices are correct
D	Your transmit frequency is incorrect

13. - E3A13

Which of these emission modes is best for auroral propagation?

Select	Answer
A	CW
B	SSB
C	RTTY
D	FM

14. - E3B09

At what time of year is sporadic E propagation most likely to occur?

Select	Answer
A	Around the equinoxes, especially the fall equinox
B	Around the solstices, especially the winter solstice
C	Around the equinoxes, especially the spring equinox
D	Around the solstices, especially the summer solstice

15. - E3C05

What orientation of Bz (B sub z) increases the likelihood that incoming particles from the sun will cause disturbed conditions?

Select	Answer
A	Westward
B	Northward
C	Southward
D	Eastward

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

17. - E4B01

Which of the following factors most affects the accuracy of a frequency counter?

Select	Answer
A	Decade divider accuracy
B	Time base accuracy
C	Input attenuator accuracy
D	Temperature coefficient of the logic

18. - E4C03

What is the term for the suppression in an FM receiver of one signal by another stronger signal on the same frequency?

Select	Answer
A	Cross-modulation interference
B	Desensitization
C	Capture effect
D	Frequency discrimination

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	Neutralization
B	Intermodulation
C	Adjacent channel interference
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 bypass capacitor in series with the motor leads
C	By installing a brute-force AC-line filter in series with the motor leads
D	By using a ground-fault current interrupter in the circuit used to power the motor

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	Resistance
B	Capacitance
C	Resonance
D	Conductance

22. - E5B06

What is susceptance?

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

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. - E5D06

In what direction is the magnetic field oriented about a conductor in relation to the direction of electron flow?

Select	Answer
A	In the same direction as the current
B	In all directions; omni-directional
C	In a direction opposite to the current
D	In a circle around the conductor

25. - E6A12

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

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

26. - E6B10

In Figure E6-2, what is the schematic symbol for a light-emitting diode?

Select	Answer
A	7
B	6
C	1
D	5

27. - E6C10

In Figure E6-3, what is the schematic symbol for a NOR gate?

Select	Answer
A	4
B	2
C	3
D	1

28. - E6D08

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

Select	Answer
A	Powdered-iron cores use smaller diameter wire for the same inductance
B	Powdered-iron cores generally require fewer turns to produce a given inductance
C	Powdered-iron cores generally have greater initial permeability
D	Powdered-iron cores generally maintain their characteristics at higher currents

29. - E6E08

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

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

30. - E6F09

What is the efficiency of a photovoltaic cell?

Select	Answer
A	The relative fraction of light that is converted to current
B	The open-circuit voltage divided by the short-circuit current under full illumination
C	The output RF power divided by the input DC power
D	Cost per kilowatt-hour generated

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. - E7B12

What type of amplifier circuit is shown in Figure E7-1?

Select	Answer
A	Common emitter
B	Emitter follower
C	Common collector
D	Common base

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	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
B	Two inductors are in series between the input and output, and a capacitor is connected between the two inductors 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	Two capacitors are in series between the input and output, and an inductor is connected between the two capacitors and ground

34. - E7D13

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

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

35. - E7E06

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

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

36. - E7F13

What is the function of taps in a digital signal processing filter?

Select	Answer
A	Provide access for debugging software
B	Provide incremental signal delays for filter algorithms
C	Select the point at which baseband signals are generated
D	To reduce excess signal pressure levels

37. - E7G09

What will be the output voltage of the circuit shown in Figure E7-3 if R1 is 1000 ohms, RF is 10,000 ohms, and 0.23 volts DC is applied to the input?

Select	Answer
A	-0.23 volts
B	-2.3 volts
C	2.3 volts
D	0.23 volts

38. - E7H15

Which of these functions can be performed by a phase-locked loop?

Select	Answer
A	Frequency synthesis, FM demodulation
B	Photovoltaic conversion, optical coupling
C	Wide-band AF and RF power amplification
D	Comparison of two digital input signals, digital pulse counter

39. - E8A11

Which of the following is a measure of the quality of an analog-to-digital converter?

Select	Answer
A	Peak envelope power
B	Reciprocal mixing
C	Total harmonic distortion
D	Power factor

40. - E8B06

What is the deviation ratio of an FM-phone signal having a maximum frequency swing of plus or minus 7.5 kHz when the maximum modulation frequency is 3.5 kHz?

Select	Answer
A	47
B	0.47
C	2.14
D	0.214

41. - E8C09

Which digital code allows only one bit to change between sequential code values?

Select	Answer
A	Binary Coded Decimal Code
B	Excess 3 code
C	Extended Binary Coded Decimal Interchange Code
D	Gray code

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

43. - E9A07

What is the effective isotropic radiated power of a repeater station with 200 watts transmitter power output, 2 dB feed line loss, 2.8 dB duplexer loss, 1.2 dB circulator loss, and 7 dBi antenna gain?

Select	Answer
A	159 watts
B	252 watts
C	632 watts
D	63.2 watts

44. - E9B09

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

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

45. - E9C11

How is the far-field elevation pattern of a vertically polarized antenna affected by being mounted over seawater versus soil?

Select	Answer
A	Fewer vertical angle lobes will be present
B	The low-angle radiation increases
C	Additional higher vertical angle lobes will appear
D	The low-angle radiation decreases

46. - E9D03

Where should a high Q loading coil be placed to minimize losses in a shortened vertical antenna?

Select	Answer
A	At a voltage node
B	As close to the transmitter as possible
C	As low as possible on the vertical radiator
D	Near the center of the vertical radiator

47. - E9E03

What is the name of the matching system that uses a section of transmission line connected in parallel with the feed line at or near the feed point?

Select	Answer
A	The stub match
B	The gamma match
C	The delta match
D	The omega match

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

49. - E9G07

On the Smith chart shown in Figure E9-3, what is the only straight line shown?

Select	Answer
A	The current axis
B	The reactance axis
C	The resistance axis
D	The voltage axis

50. - E9H02

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

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

Figure E6-2

Figure E6-3

Figure E7-1

Figure E7-3

Figure E9-3