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

2. - E1A07

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

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

3. - E1B02

Which of the following is an acceptable bandwidth for Digital Radio Mondiale (DRM) based voice or SSTV digital transmissions made on the HF amateur bands?

Select	Answer
A	20 kHz
B	10 kHz
C	3 kHz
D	15 kHz

4. - E1C11

Which of the following operating arrangements allows an FCC-licensed U.S. citizen to operate in many European countries, and alien amateurs from many European countries to operate in the U.S.?

Select	Answer
A	CEPT agreement
B	All these choices are correct
C	ITU reciprocal license
D	IARP agreement

5. - E1D08

Which VHF amateur bands have frequencies authorized for space stations?

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

6. - E1E07

What should a VE do if a candidate fails to comply with the examiner's instructions during an amateur operator license examination?

Select	Answer
A	Warn the candidate that continued failure to comply will result in termination of the examination
B	Immediately terminate the candidate's examination
C	Immediately terminate everyone's examination and close the session
D	Allow the candidate to complete the examination, but invalidate the results

7. - E1F10

Who may be the control operator of an auxiliary station?

Select	Answer
A	Only Amateur Extra Class operators
B	Any licensed amateur operator
C	Only Technician, General, Advanced or Amateur Extra Class operators
D	Only General, Advanced or Amateur Extra Class operators

8. - E2A06

What are Keplerian elements?

Select	Answer
A	High-emission heater filaments used in magnetron tubes
B	Parameters that define the orbit of a satellite
C	Encrypting codes used for spread spectrum modulation
D	Phase reversing elements in a Yagi antenna

9. - E2B10

What aspect of an analog slow-scan television signal encodes the brightness of the picture?

Select	Answer
A	Sync amplitude
B	Sync frequency
C	Tone amplitude
D	Tone frequency

10. - E2C08

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

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

11. - E2D04

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

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

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

13. - E3A11

What is a typical range for tropospheric propagation of microwave signals?

Select	Answer
A	10 miles to 50 miles
B	100 miles to 300 miles
C	2500 miles
D	1200 miles

14. - E3B04

What is meant by the terms "extraordinary" and "ordinary" waves?

Select	Answer
A	Refracted rays and reflected waves
B	Long-path and short-path waves
C	Independent waves created in the ionosphere that are elliptically polarized
D	Extraordinary waves describe rare long-skip propagation compared to ordinary waves, which travel shorter distances

15. - E3C04

What does the value of Bz (B sub Z) represent?

Select	Answer
A	Geomagnetic field stability
B	Duration of long-delayed echoes
C	Critical frequency for vertical transmissions
D	Direction and strength of the interplanetary magnetic field

16. - E4A09

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

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

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	Temperature coefficient of the logic
D	Input attenuator accuracy

18. - E4C13

How does a narrow-band roofing filter affect receiver performance?

Select	Answer
A	It improves sensitivity by reducing front end noise
B	It improves intelligibility by using low Q circuitry to reduce ringing
C	All these choices are correct
D	It improves dynamic range by attenuating strong signals near the receive frequency

19. - E4D07

Which of the following reduces the likelihood of receiver desensitization?

Select	Answer
A	Raise the receiver IF frequency
B	Switch from fast AGC to slow AGC
C	Increase the receiver front end gain
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 appear at one IF but not another
C	Signals that have a sharply peaked frequency distribution
D	Signals that appear across a wide bandwidth

21. - E5A15

Which of the following increases Q for inductors and capacitors?

Select	Answer
A	Lower reactance
B	Higher self-resonant frequency
C	Lower losses
D	Lower self-resonant frequency

22. - E5B06

What is susceptance?

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

23. - E5C05

What is the name of the diagram used to show the phase relationship between impedances at a given frequency?

Select	Answer
A	Venn diagram
B	Far field diagram
C	Phasor diagram
D	Near field diagram

24. - E5D04

Why are short connections used at microwave frequencies?

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

25. - E6A04

What is the name given to an impurity atom that adds holes to a semiconductor crystal structure?

Select	Answer
A	Donor impurity
B	Insulator impurity
C	Acceptor impurity
D	N-type impurity

26. - E6B11

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

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

27. - E6C11

In Figure E6-3, what is the schematic symbol for the NOT operation (inverter)?

Select	Answer
A	6
B	4
C	5
D	2

28. - E6D01

Why should core saturation of an impedance matching transformer be avoided?

Select	Answer
A	Temporary changes of the core permeability could result
B	Magnetic flux would increase with frequency
C	Harmonics and distortion could result
D	RF susceptance would increase

29. - E6E07

What type of transmission line is used for connections to MMICs?

Select	Answer
A	Miniature coax
B	Parallel wire
C	Microstrip
D	Circular waveguide

30. - E6F04

What is the photovoltaic effect?

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

31. - E7A07

What logical operation does a NAND gate perform?

Select	Answer
A	It produces logic 1 at its output only when all inputs are logic 1
B	It produces logic 0 at its output only when all inputs are logic 1
C	It produces logic 0 at its output if some but not all inputs are logic 1
D	It produces logic 0 at its output only when all inputs are logic 0

32. - E7B04

Where on the load line of a Class A common emitter amplifier would bias normally be set?

Select	Answer
A	At a point where the load line intersects the zero bias current curve
B	Approximately halfway between saturation and cutoff
C	At a point where the bias resistor equals the load resistor
D	Where the load line intersects the voltage axis

33. - E7C04

How does an impedance-matching circuit transform a complex impedance to a resistive impedance?

Select	Answer
A	It cancels the reactive part of the impedance and changes the resistive part to a desired value
B	It introduces transconductance to cancel the reactive part of impedance
C	It introduces negative resistance to cancel the resistive part of impedance
D	Reactive currents are dissipated in matched resistances

34. - E7D15

What is the purpose of a step-start circuit in a high-voltage power supply?

Select	Answer
A	To allow for remote control of the power supply
B	To compensate for variations of the incoming line voltage
C	To allow the filter capacitors to charge gradually
D	To provide a dual-voltage output for reduced power applications

35. - E7E10

How does a diode envelope detector function?

Select	Answer
A	By sensing the change of reactance in the diode with respect to frequency
B	By rectification and filtering of RF signals
C	By breakdown of the Zener voltage
D	By mixing signals with noise in the transition region of the diode

36. - E7F02

What kind of digital signal processing audio filter is used to remove unwanted noise from a received SSB signal?

Select	Answer
A	An adaptive filter
B	A Hilbert-transform filter
C	A crystal-lattice filter
D	A phase-inverting filter

37. - E7G08

How does the gain of an ideal operational amplifier vary with frequency?

Select	Answer
A	It decreases linearly with increasing frequency
B	It does not vary with frequency
C	It increases linearly with increasing frequency
D	It decreases logarithmically with increasing frequency

38. - E7H02

What is a microphonic?

Select	Answer
A	Distortion caused by RF pickup on the microphone cable
B	An IC used for amplifying microphone signals
C	Changes in oscillator frequency due to mechanical vibration
D	Excess loading of the microphone by an oscillator

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	1 to 1
C	100 to 1
D	2.5 to 1

40. - E8B02

How does the modulation index of a phase-modulated emission vary with RF carrier frequency?

Select	Answer
A	It decreases as the RF carrier frequency increases
B	It does not depend on the RF carrier frequency
C	It varies with the square root of the RF carrier frequency
D	It increases as the RF carrier frequency increases

41. - E8C03

Why should phase-shifting of a PSK signal be done at the zero crossing of the RF signal?

Select	Answer
A	All these choices are correct
B	To simplify modulation
C	To improve carrier suppression
D	To minimize bandwidth

42. - E8D01

Why are received spread spectrum signals resistant to interference?

Select	Answer
A	If interference is detected by the receiver it will signal the transmitter to change frequencies
B	The high power used by a spread spectrum transmitter keeps its signal from being easily overpowered
C	The receiver is always equipped with a digital blanker
D	Signals not using the spread spectrum algorithm are suppressed in the receiver

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	Polarization
B	Azimuth
C	Elevation
D	Radiation resistance

45. - E9C03

What is the radiation pattern of two 1/4-wavelength vertical antennas spaced 1/2-wavelength apart and fed in phase?

Select	Answer
A	A Figure-8 end-fire along the axis of the array
B	Cardioid
C	A Figure-8 broadside to the axis of the array
D	Omni-directional

46. - E9D10

What happens to feed-point impedance at the base of a fixed length HF mobile antenna when operated below its resonant frequency?

Select	Answer
A	The radiation resistance decreases and the capacitive reactance decreases
B	The radiation resistance increases and the capacitive reactance decreases
C	The radiation resistance decreases and the capacitive reactance increases
D	The radiation resistance increases and the capacitive reactance increases

47. - E9E01

What system matches a higher-impedance transmission line to a lower-impedance antenna by connecting the line to the driven element in two places spaced a fraction of a wavelength each side of element center?

Select	Answer
A	The omega matching system
B	The stub matching system
C	The delta matching system
D	The gamma matching system

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	Infinite
D	A capacitive reactance

49. - E9G03

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

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

50. - E9H08

What is the function of a sense antenna?

Select	Answer
A	It increases the sensitivity of a DF antenna array
B	It allows DF antennas to receive signals at different vertical angles
C	It provides diversity reception that cancels multipath signals
D	It modifies the pattern of a DF antenna array to provide a null in one direction

Figure E6-3

Figure E9-2