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

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	Notify the nearest FCC Field Engineers office
B	Discontinue forwarding the communication as soon as you become aware of it
C	All these choices are correct
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	State and local zoning
B	Use of wireless devices in vehicles
C	Homeowners associations
D	FAA tower height limits

4. - E1C01

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

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

5. - E1D02

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

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

6. - E1E03

What is a Volunteer Examiner Coordinator?

Select	Answer
A	An organization that has entered into an agreement with the FCC to coordinate, prepare, and administer amateur operator license examinations
B	The person who has entered into an agreement with the FCC to be the VE session manager
C	A person who has volunteered to administer amateur operator license examinations
D	A person who has volunteered to prepare amateur operator license examinations

7. - E1F07

When may an amateur station send a message to a business?

Select	Answer
A	When the control operator is employed by the FCC or another government agency
B	When the total money involved does not exceed $25
C	When transmitting international third-party communications
D	When neither the amateur nor his or her employer has a pecuniary interest in the communications

8. - E2A02

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

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

9. - E2B03

How is an interlaced scanning pattern generated in a fast-scan (NTSC) television system?

Select	Answer
A	By scanning lines from left to right in one field and right to left in the next
B	By scanning two fields simultaneously
C	By scanning odd numbered lines in one field and even numbered lines in the next
D	By scanning each field from bottom to top

10. - E2C12

What technique do individual nodes use to form a mesh network?

Select	Answer
A	Forward error correction and Viterbi codes
B	Discovery and link establishment protocols
C	Custom code plugs for the local trunking systems
D	Acting as store-and-forward digipeaters

11. - E2D09

What type of modulation is used for JT65 contacts?

Select	Answer
A	IEEE 802.11
B	PSK
C	RTTY
D	Multi-tone AFSK

12. - E2E06

What is the most common data rate used for HF packet?

Select	Answer
A	300 baud
B	48 baud
C	1200 baud
D	110 baud

13. - E3A12

What is the cause of auroral activity?

Select	Answer
A	Meteor showers concentrated in the extreme northern and southern latitudes
B	An extreme low-pressure area in the polar regions
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. - E3B04

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

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

15. - E3C11

What does VOACAP software model?

Select	Answer
A	AC current and impedance
B	HF propagation
C	VHF radio propagation
D	AC voltage and impedance

16. - E4A08

Which of the following measures SWR?

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

17. - E4B10

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

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

18. - E4C05

What does a receiver noise floor of -174 dBm represent?

Select	Answer
A	The theoretical noise in a 1 Hz bandwidth at the input of a perfect receiver at room temperature
B	The minimum detectable signal as a function of receive frequency
C	The noise figure of a 1 Hz bandwidth receiver
D	The galactic noise contribution to minimum detectable signal

19. - E4D10

What does a third-order intercept level of 40 dBm mean with respect to receiver performance?

Select	Answer
A	A pair of 1 mW input signals will produce a third-order intermodulation product that is 40 dB stronger than the input signal
B	The receiver can tolerate signals up to 40 dB above the noise floor without producing third-order intermodulation products
C	Signals less than 40 dBm will not generate audible third-order intermodulation products
D	A pair of 40 dBm input signals will theoretically generate a third-order intermodulation product that has the same output amplitude as either of the input signals

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. - E5A12

What is the half-power bandwidth of a resonant circuit that has a resonant frequency of 3.7 MHz and a Q of 118?

Select	Answer
A	436.6 kHz
B	15.7 kHz
C	218.3 kHz
D	31.4 kHz

22. - E5B12

What is admittance?

Select	Answer
A	The inverse of Q factor
B	The inverse of impedance
C	The turns ratio of a transformer
D	The term for the gain of a field effect transistor

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 3
B	Point 1
C	Point 7
D	Point 8

24. - E5D03

What is microstrip?

Select	Answer
A	Short lengths of coax mounted on printed circuit boards to minimize time delay between microwave circuits
B	Lightweight transmission line made of common zip cord
C	Precision printed circuit conductors above a ground plane that provide constant impedance interconnects at microwave frequencies
D	Miniature coax used for low power applications

25. - E6A02

Which of the following semiconductor materials contains excess free electrons?

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

26. - E6B10

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

Select	Answer
A	7
B	1
C	5
D	6

27. - E6C04

Which of the following is an advantage of BiCMOS logic?

Select	Answer
A	It is immune to electrostatic damage
B	It has the high input impedance of CMOS and the low output impedance of bipolar transistors
C	All these choices are correct
D	Its simplicity results in much less expensive devices than standard CMOS

28. - E6D08

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

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

29. - E6E03

Which of the following materials is likely to provide the highest frequency of operation when used in MMICs?

Select	Answer
A	Silicon dioxide
B	Gallium nitride
C	Silicon
D	Silicon nitride

30. - E6F10

What is the most common type of photovoltaic cell used for electrical power generation?

Select	Answer
A	Selenium
B	Cadmium Sulfide
C	Silicon
D	Copper oxide

31. - E7A07

What logical operation does a NAND gate perform?

Select	Answer
A	It produces logic 0 at its output only when all inputs are logic 0
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 1 at its output only when all inputs are logic 1

32. - E7B03

Which of the following components form the output of a class D amplifier circuit?

Select	Answer
A	A matched load resistor to prevent damage by switching transients
B	A temperature compensating load resistor to improve linearity
C	A low-pass filter to remove switching signal components
D	A high-pass filter to compensate for low gain at low frequencies

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	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
C	Two capacitors are in series between the input and output, and an inductor is connected between the two capacitors and ground
D	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

34. - E7D09

What is the main reason to use a charge controller with a solar power system?

Select	Answer
A	Matching of day and night charge rates
B	Prevention of battery undercharge
C	Prevention of battery damage due to overcharge
D	Control of electrolyte levels during battery discharge

35. - E7E11

Which type of detector circuit is used for demodulating SSB signals?

Select	Answer
A	Product detector
B	Discriminator
C	Phase comparator
D	Phase detector

36. - E7F07

What function is performed by a Fast Fourier Transform?

Select	Answer
A	Converting analog signals to digital form
B	Converting digital signals to analog form
C	Converting 8-bit data to 16-bit data
D	Converting digital signals from the time domain to the frequency domain

37. - E7G11

What absolute voltage gain can be expected from the circuit in Figure E7-3 when R1 is 3300 ohms and RF is 47 kilohms?

Select	Answer
A	0.07
B	28
C	7
D	14

38. - E7H06

Which of the following oscillator circuits are commonly used in VFOs?

Select	Answer
A	Negative feedback and balanced feedback
B	Colpitts and Hartley
C	Armstrong and deForest
D	Pierce and Zener

39. - E8A03

What type of wave does a Fourier analysis show to be made up of sine waves of a given fundamental frequency plus all its harmonics?

Select	Answer
A	A cosine wave
B	A sawtooth wave
C	A sine wave
D	A square wave

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	0.214
B	2.14
C	0.47
D	47

41. - E8C04

What technique minimizes the bandwidth of a PSK31 signal?

Select	Answer
A	Use of sinusoidal data pulses
B	Reed-Solomon character encoding
C	Zero-sum character encoding
D	Use of trapezoidal data pulses

42. - E8D09

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

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

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	63.2 watts
B	632 watts
C	159 watts
D	252 watts

44. - E9B08

What is the far field of an antenna?

Select	Answer
A	The region where radiated power dissipates over a specified time period
B	The region of the ionosphere where radiated power is not refracted
C	The region where the shape of the antenna pattern is independent of distance
D	The region where radiated field strengths are constant

45. - E9C06

What is the effect of adding a terminating resistor to a rhombic antenna?

Select	Answer
A	It decreases the ground loss
B	It reflects the standing waves on the antenna elements back to the transmitter
C	It changes the radiation pattern from bidirectional to unidirectional
D	It changes the radiation pattern from horizontal to vertical polarization

46. - E9D03

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

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

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	Connect a 1/4-wavelength open stub of 300-ohm twinlead in parallel with the coaxial feed line where it connects to the antenna
B	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
C	Connect a 1/2 wavelength shorted stub of 75-ohm cable in parallel with the 50-ohm cable where it attaches 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. - 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	The same as the characteristic impedance of the line
C	A capacitive reactance
D	An inductive reactance

49. - E9G02

What type of coordinate system is used in a Smith chart?

Select	Answer
A	Resistance lines and reactance chords
B	Voltage lines and current chords
C	Resistance circles and reactance arcs
D	Voltage circles and current arcs

50. - E9H01

When constructing a Beverage antenna, which of the following factors should be included in the design to achieve good performance at the desired frequency?

Select	Answer
A	It must be mounted more than 1 wavelength above ground
B	It should be configured as a four-sided loop
C	It should be one or more wavelengths long
D	Its overall length must not exceed 1/4 wavelength

Figure E5-1

Figure E6-2

Figure E7-3