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

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1. - E0A08

What does SAR measure?

Select	Answer
A	The rate at which RF energy is absorbed by the body
B	Synthetic Aperture Ratio of the human body
C	Signal Amplification Rating
D	The rate of RF energy reflected from stationary terrain

2. - E1A11

Which of the following describes authorization or licensing required when operating an amateur station aboard a U.S.-registered vessel in international waters?

Select	Answer
A	Only General Class or higher amateur licenses
B	An unrestricted Radiotelephone Operator Permit
C	Any FCC-issued amateur license
D	Any amateur license with an FCC Marine or Aircraft endorsement

3. - E1B10

What frequencies are authorized to an amateur station operating under RACES rules?

Select	Answer
A	Specific local government channels
B	Specific segments in the amateur service MF, HF, VHF and UHF bands
C	All amateur service frequencies authorized to the control operator
D	Military Auxiliary Radio System (MARS) channels

4. - E1C13

What notifications must be given before transmitting on the 630 meter or 2200 meter bands?

Select	Answer
A	Operators must inform the Utilities Technology Council (UTC) of their call sign and coordinates of the station
B	An environmental impact statement must be filed with the Department of the Interior
C	A special endorsement must be requested from the FCC
D	Operators must inform the FAA of their intent to operate, giving their call sign and distance to the nearest runway

5. - E1D06

What is the maximum permitted transmitter output power when operating a model craft by telecommand?

Select	Answer
A	2 watts
B	5 watts
C	100 watts
D	1 watt

6. - E1E09

What may be the penalty for a VE who fraudulently administers or certifies an examination?

Select	Answer
A	A sentence of up to one year in prison
B	A fine of up to $1000 per occurrence
C	Revocation of the VE's amateur station license grant and the suspension of the VE's amateur operator license grant
D	All these choices are correct

7. - E1F10

Who may be the control operator of an auxiliary station?

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

8. - E2A04

What is meant by the term mode? as applied to an amateur radio satellite?

Select	Answer
A	Whether the satellite is in a low earth or geostationary orbit
B	Whether the satellite is in a polar or equatorial orbit
C	The satellite's orientation with respect to the Earth
D	The satellite's uplink and downlink frequency bands

9. - E2B06

What is vestigial sideband modulation?

Select	Answer
A	Narrow-band FM modulation achieved by filtering one sideband from the audio before frequency modulating the carrier
B	A type of modulation in which one sideband is inverted
C	Spread spectrum modulation achieved by applying FM modulation following single sideband amplitude modulation
D	Amplitude modulation in which one complete sideband and a portion of the other are transmitted

10. - E2C03

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

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

11. - E2D07

What digital protocol is used by APRS?

Select	Answer
A	PACTOR
B	AX.25
C	802.11
D	AMTOR

12. - E2E08

Which of the following HF digital modes can be used to transfer binary files?

Select	Answer
A	RTTY
B	PACTOR
C	Hellschreiber
D	AMTOR

13. - E3A06

What might help to restore contact when DX signals become too weak to copy across an entire HF band a few hours after sunset?

Select	Answer
A	Wait 90 minutes or so for the signal degradation to pass
B	Switch to a lower frequency HF band
C	Switch to a higher frequency HF band
D	Wait 24 hours before attempting another communication on the band

14. - E3B06

Which of the following amateur bands most frequently provides long-path propagation?

Select	Answer
A	10 meters
B	80 meters
C	6 meters
D	20 meters

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	Southward
B	Northward
C	Eastward
D	Westward

16. - E4A08

Which of the following measures SWR?

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

17. - E4B09

What is indicated if the current reading on an RF ammeter placed in series with the antenna feed line of a transmitter increases as the transmitter is tuned to resonance?

Select	Answer
A	The transmitter is not properly neutralized
B	There is an impedance mismatch between the antenna and feed line
C	There is possibly a short to ground in the feed line
D	There is more power going into the antenna

18. - E4C02

Which of the following receiver circuits can be effective in eliminating interference from strong out-of-band signals?

Select	Answer
A	A notch filter
B	A front-end filter or pre-selector
C	A narrow IF filter
D	A properly adjusted product detector

19. - E4D10

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

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

20. - E4E07

Which of the following can cause shielded cables to radiate or receive interference?

Select	Answer
A	Low inductance ground connections at both ends of the shield
B	Common-mode currents on the shield and conductors
C	Use of braided shielding material
D	Tying all ground connections to a common point resulting in differential-mode currents in the shield

21. - E5A08

What is the phase relationship between the current through and the voltage across a series resonant circuit at resonance?

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

22. - E5B03

How is impedance in polar form converted to an equivalent admittance?

Select	Answer
A	Take the reciprocal of the angle and change the sign of the magnitude
B	Square the magnitude and subtract 90 degrees from the angle
C	Take the square root of the magnitude and add 180 degrees to the angle
D	Take the reciprocal of the magnitude and change the sign of the angle

23. - E5C07

Where is the impedance of a pure resistance plotted on rectangular coordinates?

Select	Answer
A	On a horizontal line, offset vertically above the horizontal axis
B	On the horizontal axis
C	On the vertical axis
D	On a line through the origin, slanted at 45 degrees

24. - E5D02

Why is it important to keep lead lengths short for components used in circuits for VHF and above?

Select	Answer
A	All these choices are correct
B	To maintain component lifetime
C	To increase the thermal time constant
D	To avoid unwanted inductive reactance

25. - E6A04

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

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

26. - E6B01

What is the most useful characteristic of a Zener diode?

Select	Answer
A	A constant current drop under conditions of varying voltage
B	A constant voltage drop under conditions of varying current
C	A negative resistance region
D	An internal capacitance that varies with the applied voltage

27. - E6C04

Which of the following is an advantage of BiCMOS logic?

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

28. - E6D07

What is current in the primary winding of a transformer called if no load is attached to the secondary?

Select	Answer
A	Direct current
B	Excitation current
C	Magnetizing current
D	Stabilizing current

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. - E6F02

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

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

31. - E7A06

What is a characteristic of a monostable multivibrator?

Select	Answer
A	It produces a continuous square wave oscillating between 1 and 0
B	It maintains a constant output voltage, regardless of variations in the input voltage
C	It switches momentarily to the opposite binary state and then returns to its original state after a set time
D	It stores one bit of data in either a 0 or 1 state

32. - E7B02

What is a Class D amplifier?

Select	Answer
A	A low power amplifier that uses a differential amplifier for improved linearity
B	A type of amplifier that uses switching technology to achieve high efficiency
C	An amplifier that uses drift-mode FETs for high efficiency
D	A frequency doubling amplifier

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. - 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	Control of electrolyte levels during battery discharge
C	Prevention of battery undercharge
D	Prevention of battery damage due to overcharge

35. - E7E11

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

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

36. - E7F01

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

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

37. - E7G04

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

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

38. - E7H06

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

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

39. - E8A08

Why would a direct or flash conversion analog-to-digital converter be useful for a software defined radio?

Select	Answer
A	Immunity to out-of-sequence coding reduces spurious responses
B	Very high speed allows digitizing high frequencies
C	Very low power consumption decreases frequency drift
D	All these choices are correct

40. - E8B02

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

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

41. - E8C03

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

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

42. - E8D04

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

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

43. - E9A13

What term describes station output, taking into account all gains and losses?

Select	Answer
A	Effective radiated power
B	Half-power bandwidth
C	Apparent power
D	Power factor

44. - E9B07

How does the total amount of radiation emitted by a directional gain antenna compare with the total amount of radiation emitted from a theoretical isotropic antenna, assuming each is driven by the same amount of power?

Select	Answer
A	The radiation from the isotropic antenna is 2.15 dB stronger than that from the directional antenna
B	They are the same
C	The total amount of radiation from the directional antenna is increased by the gain of the antenna
D	The total amount of radiation from the directional antenna is stronger by its front-to-back ratio

45. - E9C07

What is the approximate feed point impedance at the center of a two-wire folded dipole antenna?

Select	Answer
A	50 ohms
B	72 ohms
C	300 ohms
D	450 ohms

46. - E9D05

What usually occurs if a Yagi antenna is designed solely for maximum forward gain?

Select	Answer
A	The front-to-back ratio decreases
B	The frequency response is widened over the whole frequency band
C	The front-to-back ratio increases
D	The SWR is reduced

47. - E9E11

What is the primary purpose of phasing lines when used with an antenna having multiple driven elements?

Select	Answer
A	It ensures that each driven element operates in concert with the others to create the desired antenna pattern
B	It allows single-band antennas to operate on other bands
C	It prevents reflected power from traveling back down the feed line and causing harmonic radiation from the transmitter
D	It creates a low-angle radiation pattern

48. - E9F06

What is the approximate physical length of an air-insulated, parallel conductor transmission line that is electrically 1/2 wavelength long at 14.10 MHz?

Select	Answer
A	13.3 meters
B	10.6 meters
C	8.5 meters
D	7.0 meters

49. - E9G01

Which of the following can be calculated using a Smith chart?

Select	Answer
A	Radio propagation
B	Impedance along transmission lines
C	Antenna radiation pattern
D	Radiation resistance

50. - E9H02

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

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