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

Logging in (or registering) will help the system to select questions that you need to focus on.

1. - E0A01

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

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

2. - E1A08

If a station in a message forwarding system inadvertently forwards a message that is in violation of FCC rules, who is primarily accountable for the rules violation?

Select	Answer
A	The control operators of all the stations in the system
B	The control operator of the packet bulletin board station
C	The control operators of all the stations in the system not authenticating the source from which they accept communications
D	The control operator of the originating station

3. - E1B03

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

Select	Answer
A	10 miles
B	1 mile
C	3 miles
D	30 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. - E1D08

Which VHF amateur bands have frequencies authorized for space stations?

Select	Answer
A	2 meters and 1.25 meters
B	2 meters
C	6 meters, 2 meters, and 1.25 meters
D	6 meters and 2 meters

6. - E1E05

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

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

7. - E1F04

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

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

8. - E2A08

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

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

9. - E2B01

How many times per second is a new frame transmitted in a fast-scan (NTSC) television system?

Select	Answer
A	120
B	60
C	90
D	30

10. - E2C03

From which of the following bands is amateur radio contesting generally excluded?

Select	Answer
A	2 meters
B	33 centimeters
C	6 meters
D	30 meters

11. - E2D04

What technology is used to track, in real time, balloons carrying amateur radio transmitters?

Select	Answer
A	Ultrasonics
B	Bandwidth compressed LORAN
C	APRS
D	Doppler shift of beacon signals

12. - E2E13

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

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

13. - E3A09

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

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

14. - E3B07

What happens to linearly polarized radio waves that split into ordinary and extraordinary waves in the ionosphere?

Select	Answer
A	They become elliptically polarized
B	They are bent toward the magnetic poles
C	They become phase locked
D	They become depolarized

15. - E3C14

Why does the radio-path horizon distance exceed the geometric horizon?

Select	Answer
A	D-region skip
B	E-region skip
C	Downward bending due to density variations in the atmosphere
D	Due to the Doppler effect

16. - E4A07

Which of the following is an advantage of using an antenna analyzer compared to an SWR bridge to measure antenna SWR?

Select	Answer
A	All these choices are correct
B	Antenna analyzers automatically tune your antenna for resonance
C	Antenna analyzers display a time-varying representation of the modulation envelope
D	Antenna analyzers do not need an external RF source

17. - E4B10

Which of the following methods measures intermodulation distortion in an SSB transmitter?

Select	Answer
A	Modulate the transmitter using two AF signals having harmonically related frequencies and observe the RF output with a peak reading wattmeter
B	Modulate the transmitter using two AF signals having non-harmonically related frequencies and observe the RF output with a spectrum analyzer
C	Modulate the transmitter using two RF signals having non-harmonically related frequencies and observe the RF output with a spectrum analyzer
D	Modulate the transmitter using two RF signals having harmonically related frequencies and observe the RF output with a logic analyzer

18. - E4C04

What is the noise figure of a receiver?

Select	Answer
A	The ratio of atmospheric noise to phase noise
B	The ratio in dB of the noise generated by the receiver to the theoretical minimum noise
C	The ratio of the noise bandwidth in hertz to the theoretical bandwidth of a resistive network
D	The ratio of thermal noise to atmospheric noise

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	Adjacent channel interference
B	Amplifier desensitization
C	Intermodulation
D	Neutralization

20. - E4E06

What is one type of electrical interference that might be caused by a nearby personal computer?

Select	Answer
A	A whining type noise that continually pulses off and on
B	The appearance of unstable modulated or unmodulated signals at specific frequencies
C	A loud AC hum in the audio output of your station receiver
D	A clicking noise at intervals of a few seconds

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	Resonance
B	Capacitance
C	Resistance
D	Conductance

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	110 seconds
B	220 seconds
C	440 seconds
D	55 seconds

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 5
B	Point 2
C	Point 6
D	Point 4

24. - E5D14

What is reactive power?

Select	Answer
A	Power consumed in wire resistance in an inductor
B	Power consumed in circuit Q
C	Power lost because of capacitor leakage
D	Wattless, nonproductive power

25. - E6A01

In what application is gallium arsenide used as a semiconductor material?

Select	Answer
A	In very low-frequency RF circuits
B	In high-current rectifier circuits
C	In microwave circuits
D	In high-power audio circuits

26. - E6B10

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

Select	Answer
A	5
B	6
C	1
D	7

27. - E6C08

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

Select	Answer
A	1
B	2
C	4
D	3

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

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. - E6F07

What is a solid-state relay?

Select	Answer
A	A device that uses semiconductors to implement the functions of an electromechanical relay
B	A semiconductor passive delay line
C	A relay using transistors to drive the relay coil
D	A mechanical relay that latches in the on or off state each time it is pulsed

31. - E7A08

What logical operation does an OR gate perform?

Select	Answer
A	It produces logic 1 at its output if any or all inputs are logic 1
B	It produces logic 1 at its output if all inputs are logic 0
C	It produces logic 0 at its output if all inputs are logic 1
D	It only produces logic 0 at its output when all inputs are logic 1

32. - E7B18

What is a characteristic of a grounded-grid amplifier?

Select	Answer
A	High filament voltage
B	High power gain
C	Low input impedance
D	Low bandwidth

33. - E7C02

Which of the following is a property of a T-network with series capacitors and a parallel shunt inductor?

Select	Answer
A	It is a band-pass filter
B	It is a notch filter
C	It is a high-pass filter
D	It is a low-pass filter

34. - E7D12

What is the dropout voltage of an analog voltage regulator?

Select	Answer
A	Maximum that the output voltage may decrease at rated load
B	Maximum output voltage drops when the input voltage is varied over its specified range
C	Minimum input voltage for rated power dissipation
D	Minimum input-to-output voltage required to maintain regulation

35. - E7E01

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

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

36. - E7F01

What is meant by direct digital conversion as applied to software defined radios?

Select	Answer
A	A switching mixer is used to generate I and Q signals directly from the RF input
B	Software is converted from source code to object code during operation of the receiver
C	Incoming RF is converted to a control voltage for a voltage controlled oscillator
D	Incoming RF is digitized by an analog-to-digital converter without being mixed with a local oscillator signal

37. - E7G03

What is the typical input impedance of an op-amp?

Select	Answer
A	1000 ohms
B	Very high
C	Very low
D	100 ohms

38. - E7H07

How can an oscillator's microphonic responses be reduced?

Select	Answer
A	Reduce noise on the oscillator's power supply
B	Mechanically isolate the oscillator circuitry from its enclosure
C	Use NP0 capacitors
D	Increase the bias voltage

39. - E8A09

How many different input levels can be encoded by an analog-to-digital converter with 8-bit resolution?

Select	Answer
A	256
B	8 multiplied by the gain of the input amplifier
C	8
D	256 divided by the gain of the input amplifier

40. - E8B01

What is the modulation index of an FM signal?

Select	Answer
A	The bandwidth of the transmitted signal divided by the modulating signal frequency
B	The type of modulation used by the transmitter
C	The ratio of modulating signal amplitude to frequency deviation
D	The ratio of frequency deviation to modulating signal frequency

41. - E8C12

What factors affect the bandwidth of a transmitted CW signal?

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

42. - E8D04

What is the primary effect of extremely short rise or fall time on a CW signal?

Select	Answer
A	Limits data speed
B	The generation of RF harmonics
C	The generation of key clicks
D	More difficult to copy

43. - E9A03

What is the radiation resistance of an antenna?

Select	Answer
A	The resistance in the atmosphere that an antenna must overcome to be able to radiate a signal
B	The value of a resistance that would dissipate the same amount of power as that radiated from an antenna
C	The specific impedance of the antenna
D	The combined losses of the antenna elements and feed line

44. - E9B01

In the antenna radiation pattern shown in Figure E9-1, what is the beamwidth?

Select	Answer
A	30 degrees
B	75 degrees
C	50 degrees
D	25 degrees

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 decreases
C	Additional higher vertical angle lobes will appear
D	The low-angle radiation increases

46. - E9D09

What is the function of a loading coil used as part of an HF mobile antenna?

Select	Answer
A	To cancel capacitive reactance
B	To increase the SWR bandwidth
C	To lower the losses
D	To lower the Q

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. - E9F09

What is the approximate physical length of a foam polyethylene dielectric coaxial transmission line that is electrically 1/4 wavelength long at 7.2 MHz?

Select	Answer
A	8.3 meters
B	10.4 meters
C	6.9 meters
D	5.2 meters

49. - E9G03

Which of the following is often determined using a Smith chart?

Select	Answer
A	Trigonometric functions
B	Beam headings and radiation patterns
C	Impedance and SWR values in transmission lines
D	Satellite azimuth and elevation bearings

50. - E9H05

What is the main drawback of a small wire-loop antenna for direction finding?

Select	Answer
A	It has no clearly defined null
B	All these choices are correct
C	It has a bidirectional pattern
D	It is practical for use only on VHF and higher bands

Figure E5-1

Figure E6-2

Figure E6-3

Figure E9-1