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

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1. - E0A03

Over what range of frequencies are the FCC human body RF exposure limits most restrictive?

Select	Answer
A	30 to 300 MHz
B	300 kHz to 3 MHz
C	3 to 30 MHz
D	300 to 3000 MHz

2. - E1A12

What special operating frequency restrictions are imposed on slow scan TV transmissions?

Select	Answer
A	They are not permitted above 54 MHz
B	They are restricted to phone band segments
C	None; they are allowed on all amateur frequencies
D	They are restricted to 7.245 MHz, 14.245 MHz, 21.345 MHz, and 28.945 MHz

3. - E1B12

What must the control operator of a repeater operating in the 70 cm band do if a radiolocation system experiences interference from that repeater?

Select	Answer
A	All these choices are correct
B	Reduce the repeater antenna HAAT (Height Above Average Terrain)
C	File an FAA NOTAM (Notice to Airmen) with the repeater system's ERP, call sign, and six-character grid locator
D	Cease operation or make changes to the repeater to mitigate the interference

4. - E1C06

Which of the following is required in order to operate in accordance with CEPT rules in foreign countries where permitted?

Select	Answer
A	You must append "/CEPT" to your call sign
B	The U.S. embassy must approve of your operation
C	You must identify in the official language of the country in which you are operating
D	You must bring a copy of FCC Public Notice DA 16-1048

5. - E1D12

Which of the following amateur stations may transmit one-way communications?

Select	Answer
A	A local repeater or linked repeater station
B	A message forwarding station or automatically controlled digital station
C	A space station, beacon station, or telecommand station
D	All these choices are correct

6. - E1E12

What must the VE team do with the application form if the examinee does not pass the exam?

Select	Answer
A	Destroy the application form
B	Return the application document to the examinee
C	Send the application form to the FCC and inform the FCC of the grade
D	Maintain the application form with the VEC's records

7. - E1F03

Under what circumstances may a dealer sell an external RF power amplifier capable of operation below 144 MHz if it has not been granted FCC certification?

Select	Answer
A	It was imported from a manufacturer in another country and was certificated by that country's government
B	It was imported from a manufacturer in a country that does not require certification of RF power amplifiers
C	The equipment dealer assembled it from a kit
D	It was purchased in used condition from an amateur operator and is sold to another amateur operator for use at that operator's station

8. - E2A13

Which of the following techniques is normally used by low Earth orbiting digital satellites to relay messages around the world?

Select	Answer
A	Node hopping
B	Digipeating
C	Store-and-forward
D	Multi-satellite relaying

9. - E2B05

Which of the following describes the use of vestigial sideband in analog fast-scan TV transmissions?

Select	Answer
A	The vestigial sideband contains chroma information
B	The vestigial sideband carries the audio information
C	Vestigial sideband provides high frequency emphasis to sharpen the picture
D	Vestigial sideband reduces bandwidth while allowing for simple video detector circuitry

10. - E2C09

What type of equipment is commonly used to implement an amateur radio mesh network?

Select	Answer
A	A 2 meter VHF transceiver with a 1200 baud modem
B	An optical cable connection between the USB ports of 2 separate computers
C	A 440 MHz transceiver with a 9600 baud modem
D	A wireless router running custom firmware

11. - E2D02

Which of the following is a good technique for making meteor scatter contacts?

Select	Answer
A	All these choices are correct
B	Use of special digital modes
C	15-second timed transmission sequences with stations alternating based on location
D	Short transmissions with rapidly repeated call signs and signal reports

12. - E2E09

Which of the following HF digital modes uses variable-length coding for bandwidth efficiency?

Select	Answer
A	MT63
B	PSK31
C	PACTOR
D	RTTY

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	220 MHz - 450 MHz
C	28 MHz - 148 MHz
D	10 MHz - 14 MHz

14. - E3B10

Why is chordal hop propagation desirable?

Select	Answer
A	Signals travel faster along ionospheric chords
B	Atmospheric noise is lower in the direction of chordal hop propagation
C	The MUF for chordal hop propagation is much lower than for normal skip propagation
D	The signal experiences less loss compared to multi-hop using Earth as a reflector

15. - E3C10

What does the 304A solar parameter measure?

Select	Answer
A	UV emissions at 304 angstroms, correlated to the solar flux index
B	The ratio of x-ray flux to radio flux, correlated to sunspot number
C	The solar wind velocity at 304 degrees from the solar equator, correlated to solar activity
D	The solar emission at 304 GHz, correlated to x-ray flare levels

16. - E4A10

Which of the following displays multiple digital signal states simultaneously?

Select	Answer
A	Logic analyzer
B	Network analyzer
C	Bit error rate tester
D	Modulation monitor

17. - E4B01

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

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

18. - E4C08

An SDR receiver is overloaded when input signals exceed what level?

Select	Answer
A	One-half the maximum sampling buffer size
B	The maximum count value of the analog-to-digital converter
C	One-half the maximum sample rate
D	The reference voltage of the analog-to-digital converter

19. - E4D07

Which of the following reduces the likelihood of receiver desensitization?

Select	Answer
A	Decrease the RF bandwidth of the receiver
B	Switch from fast AGC to slow AGC
C	Raise the receiver IF frequency
D	Increase the receiver front end gain

20. - E4E08

What current flows equally on all conductors of an unshielded multi-conductor cable?

Select	Answer
A	Return current
B	Common-mode current
C	Reactive current only
D	Differential-mode current

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

22. - E5B02

What letter is commonly used to represent susceptance?

Select	Answer
A	Y
B	B
C	G
D	X

23. - E5C06

What does the impedance 50-j25 represent?

Select	Answer
A	25 ohms resistance in series with 50 ohms capacitive reactance
B	50 ohms resistance in series with 25 ohms inductive reactance
C	25 ohms resistance in series with 50 ohms inductive reactance
D	50 ohms resistance in series with 25 ohms capacitive reactance

24. - E5D09

What happens to reactive power in an AC circuit that has both ideal inductors and ideal capacitors?

Select	Answer
A	It is dissipated as heat in the circuit
B	It is repeatedly exchanged between the associated magnetic and electric fields, but is not dissipated
C	It is dissipated in the formation of inductive and capacitive fields
D	It is dissipated as kinetic energy in the circuit

25. - E6A07

Which of the following indicates that a silicon NPN junction transistor is biased on?

Select	Answer
A	Base-to-emitter resistance of approximately 0.6 to 0.7 ohms
B	Base-to-emitter voltage of approximately 0.6 to 0.7 volts
C	Base-to-emitter resistance of approximately 6 to 7 ohms
D	Base-to-emitter voltage of approximately 6 to 7 volts

26. - E6B02

What is an important characteristic of a Schottky diode as compared to an ordinary silicon diode when used as a power supply rectifier?

Select	Answer
A	Much higher reverse voltage breakdown
B	Less forward voltage drop
C	Longer carrier retention time
D	More constant reverse avalanche voltage

27. - E6C02

What happens when the level of a comparator's input signal crosses the threshold?

Select	Answer
A	The feedback loop becomes unstable
B	The comparator changes its output state
C	The comparator enters latch-up
D	The IC input can be damaged

28. - E6D09

What devices are commonly used as VHF and UHF parasitic suppressors at the input and output terminals of a transistor HF amplifier?

Select	Answer
A	Butterworth filters
B	Ferrite beads
C	Steel-core toroids
D	Electrolytic capacitors

29. - E6E06

What characteristics of the MMIC make it a popular choice for VHF through microwave circuits?

Select	Answer
A	Controlled gain, low noise figure, and constant input and output impedance over the specified frequency range
B	Plate current that is controlled by a control grid
C	The ability to retrieve information from a single signal even in the presence of other strong signals
D	Nearly infinite gain, very high input impedance, and very low output impedance

30. - E6F02

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

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

31. - E7A02

What is the function of a decade counter?

Select	Answer
A	It produces one output pulse for every 10 input pulses
B	It decodes a binary number for display on a seven-segment LED display
C	It produces 10 output pulses for every input pulse
D	It decodes a decimal number for display on a seven-segment LED display

32. - E7B17

Why are odd-order rather than even-order intermodulation distortion products of concern in linear power amplifiers?

Select	Answer
A	Because they are relatively close in frequency to the desired signal
B	Because they invert the sidebands causing distortion
C	Because they maintain the sidebands, thus causing multiple duplicate signals
D	Because they are relatively far in frequency from the desired signal

33. - E7C04

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

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

34. - E7D03

What device is typically used as a stable voltage reference in a linear voltage regulator?

Select	Answer
A	An SCR
B	A tunnel diode
C	A varactor diode
D	A Zener diode

35. - E7E03

What is a frequency discriminator stage in a FM receiver?

Select	Answer
A	A circuit for filtering two closely adjacent signals
B	A circuit for detecting FM signals
C	An FM generator circuit
D	An automatic band-switching circuit

36. - E7F03

What type of digital signal processing filter is used to generate an SSB signal?

Select	Answer
A	An elliptical filter
B	A Hilbert-transform filter
C	A notch filter
D	An adaptive filter

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	-2.3 volts
B	-0.23 volts
C	0.23 volts
D	2.3 volts

38. - E7H13

Which of the following is a technique for providing highly accurate and stable oscillators needed for microwave transmission and reception?

Select	Answer
A	Use a rubidium stabilized reference oscillator
B	Use a GPS signal reference
C	All these choices are correct
D	Use a temperature-controlled high Q dielectric resonator

39. - E8A05

What of the following instruments would be the most accurate for measuring the RMS voltage of a complex waveform?

Select	Answer
A	A D'Arsonval meter
B	A grid dip meter
C	A true-RMS calculating meter
D	An absorption wave meter

40. - E8B07

Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing is a technique used for which type of amateur communication?

Select	Answer
A	EME
B	High-speed digital modes
C	OFDM signals are not allowed on amateur bands
D	Extremely low-power contacts

41. - E8C10

How may data rate be increased without increasing bandwidth?

Select	Answer
A	It is impossible
B	Using forward error correction
C	Increasing analog-to-digital conversion resolution
D	Using a more efficient digital code

42. - E8D11

What is one advantage of using ASCII code for data communications?

Select	Answer
A	It uses one character as a shift code to send numeric and special characters
B	It contains fewer information bits per character than any other code
C	It is possible to transmit both upper and lower case text
D	It includes built-in error correction features

43. - E9A06

What is the effective radiated power relative to a dipole of a repeater station with 200 watts transmitter power output, 4 dB feed line loss, 3.2 dB duplexer loss, 0.8 dB circulator loss, and 10 dBd antenna gain?

Select	Answer
A	300 watts
B	317 watts
C	2000 watts
D	126 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. - E9C14

How does the performance of a horizontally polarized antenna mounted on the side of a hill compare with the same antenna mounted on flat ground?

Select	Answer
A	The horizontal beamwidth decreases in the downhill direction
B	The horizontal beamwidth increases in the uphill direction
C	The main lobe takeoff angle increases in the downhill direction
D	The main lobe takeoff angle decreases in the downhill direction

46. - E9D04

Why should an HF mobile antenna loading coil have a high ratio of reactance to resistance?

Select	Answer
A	To lower the radiation angle
B	To minimize the Q
C	To minimize losses
D	To swamp out harmonics

47. - E9E11

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

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

48. - E9F12

What impedance does a 1/4-wavelength transmission line present to a generator when the line is open at the far end?

Select	Answer
A	Very low impedance
B	The same as the input impedance to the generator
C	The same as the characteristic impedance of the line
D	Very high impedance

49. - E9G04

What are the two families of circles and arcs that make up a Smith chart?

Select	Answer
A	Voltage and impedance
B	Resistance and voltage
C	Resistance and reactance
D	Reactance and voltage

50. - E9H03

What is Receiving Directivity Factor (RDF)?

Select	Answer
A	Forward gain compared to the gain in the reverse direction
B	Relative directivity compared to isotropic
C	Relative directivity compared to a dipole
D	Forward gain compared to average gain over the entire hemisphere

Figure E7-3