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	Signal Amplification Rating
C	Synthetic Aperture Ratio of the human body
D	The rate of RF energy reflected from stationary terrain

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	All these choices are correct
B	Discontinue forwarding the communication as soon as you become aware of it
C	Notify the originating station that the communication does not comply with FCC rules
D	Notify the nearest FCC Field Engineers office

3. - E1B04

What must be done before placing an amateur station within an officially designated wilderness area or wildlife preserve, or an area listed in the National Register of Historic Places?

Select	Answer
A	An Environmental Assessment must be submitted to the FCC
B	A form FSD-15 must be submitted to the Department of the Interior
C	A proposal must be submitted to the National Park Service
D	A letter of intent must be filed with the Environmental Protection Agency

4. - E1C13

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

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

5. - E1D08

Which VHF amateur bands have frequencies authorized for space stations?

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

6. - E1E08

To which of the following examinees may a VE not administer an examination?

Select	Answer
A	Friends of the VE
B	Employees of the VE
C	All these choices are correct
D	Relatives of the VE as listed in the FCC rules

7. - E1F05

Amateur stations may not transmit in which of the following frequency segments if they are located in the contiguous 48 states and north of Line A?

Select	Answer
A	53 MHz - 54 MHz
B	420 MHz - 430 MHz
C	440 MHz - 450 MHz
D	222 MHz - 223 MHz

8. - E2A01

What is the direction of an ascending pass for an amateur satellite?

Select	Answer
A	From west to east
B	From north to south
C	From south to north
D	From east to west

9. - E2B04

How is color information sent in analog SSTV?

Select	Answer
A	Color is sent in a color burst at the end of each line
B	Color lines are sent sequentially
C	Color information is sent on a 2.8 kHz subcarrier
D	Color is amplitude modulated on the frequency modulated intensity signal

10. - E2C10

Why might a DX station state that they are listening on another frequency?

Select	Answer
A	All these choices are correct
B	Because the DX station may be transmitting on a frequency that is prohibited to some responding stations
C	To separate the calling stations from the DX station
D	To improve operating efficiency by reducing interference

11. - E2D08

What type of packet frame is used to transmit APRS beacon data?

Select	Answer
A	Disconnect
B	Connect
C	Acknowledgement
D	Unnumbered Information

12. - E2E06

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

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

13. - E3A02

What characterizes libration fading of an EME signal?

Select	Answer
A	A gradual loss of signal as the sun rises
B	The returning echo is several hertz lower in frequency than the transmitted signal
C	A slow change in the pitch of the CW signal
D	A fluttery irregular fading

14. - E3B06

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

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

15. - E3C15

What might be indicated by a sudden rise in radio background noise across a large portion of the HF spectrum?

Select	Answer
A	Increased transequatorial propagation is likely
B	Long-path propagation is likely
C	A solar flare has occurred
D	A temperature inversion has occurred

16. - E4A06

What is the effect of aliasing on a digital oscilloscope caused by setting the time base too slow?

Select	Answer
A	Excessive blanking occurs, which prevents display of the signal
B	All signals will have a DC offset
C	Calibration of the vertical scale is no longer valid
D	A false, jittery low-frequency version of the signal is displayed

17. - E4B05

What three test loads are used to calibrate an RF vector network analyzer?

Select	Answer
A	Short circuit, open circuit, and 50 ohms
B	50 ohms through 1/8 wavelength, 1/4 wavelength, and 1/2 wavelength of coaxial cable
C	Short circuit, open circuit, and resonant circuit
D	50 ohms, 75 ohms, and 90 ohms

18. - E4C02

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

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

19. - E4D04

Which of the following may reduce or eliminate intermodulation interference in a repeater caused by another transmitter operating in close proximity?

Select	Answer
A	Utilizing a Class C final amplifier
B	A band-pass filter in the feed line between the transmitter and receiver
C	A properly terminated circulator at the output of the repeater's transmitter
D	Utilizing a Class D final amplifier

20. - E4E04

How can conducted and radiated noise caused by an automobile alternator be suppressed?

Select	Answer
A	By connecting the radio's power leads directly to the battery and by installing coaxial capacitors in line with the alternator leads
B	By installing a noise suppression resistor and a blocking capacitor in both leads
C	By installing a high-pass filter in series with the radio's power lead and a low-pass filter in parallel with the field lead
D	By installing filter capacitors in series with the DC power lead and a blocking capacitor in the field lead

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	Conductance
B	Resonance
C	Resistance
D	Capacitance

22. - E5B06

What is susceptance?

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

23. - E5C08

What coordinate system is often used to display the phase angle of a circuit containing resistance, inductive and/or capacitive reactance?

Select	Answer
A	Elliptical coordinates
B	Faraday grid
C	Maidenhead grid
D	Polar coordinates

24. - E5D04

Why are short connections used at microwave frequencies?

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

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. - 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	More constant reverse avalanche voltage
B	Less forward voltage drop
C	Much higher reverse voltage breakdown
D	Longer carrier retention time

27. - E6C08

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

Select	Answer
A	4
B	1
C	3
D	2

28. - E6D13

What is the primary cause of inductor self-resonance?

Select	Answer
A	The skin effect
B	Non-linear core hysteresis
C	Inter-turn capacitance
D	Inductive kickback

29. - E6E11

What is a characteristic of DIP packaging used for integrated circuits?

Select	Answer
A	Package mounts in a direct inverted position
B	Low leakage doubly insulated package
C	Two chips in each package (Dual In Package)
D	A total of two rows of connecting pins placed on opposite sides of the package (Dual In-line Package)

30. - E6F10

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

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

31. - E7A04

How many flip-flops are required to divide a signal frequency by 4?

Select	Answer
A	4
B	8
C	2
D	1

32. - E7B02

What is a Class D amplifier?

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

33. - E7C11

Which of the following describes a receiving filter's ability to reject signals occupying an adjacent channel?

Select	Answer
A	Passband ripple
B	Phase response
C	Noise factor
D	Shape factor

34. - E7D11

What is the function of the pass transistor in a linear voltage regulator circuit?

Select	Answer
A	Maintains nearly constant output impedance over a wide range of load current
B	Permits a wide range of output voltage settings
C	Provides a stable input impedance over a wide range of source voltage
D	Maintains nearly constant output voltage over a wide range of load current

35. - E7E06

Why is de-emphasis commonly used in FM communications receivers?

Select	Answer
A	For higher efficiency
B	To reduce impulse noise reception
C	To remove third-order distortion products
D	For compatibility with transmitters using phase modulation

36. - E7F03

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

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

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	7
B	28
C	0.07
D	14

38. - E7H11

What are the major spectral impurity components of direct digital synthesizers?

Select	Answer
A	Spurious signals at discrete frequencies
B	Nyquist limit noise
C	Digital conversion noise
D	Broadband noise

39. - E8A07

What determines the PEP-to-average power ratio of a single-sideband phone signal?

Select	Answer
A	Speech characteristics
B	The frequency of the modulating signal
C	The degree of carrier suppression
D	Amplifier gain

40. - E8B05

What is the deviation ratio of an FM-phone signal having a maximum frequency swing of plus-or-minus 5 kHz when the maximum modulation frequency is 3 kHz?

Select	Answer
A	0.6
B	1.67
C	0.167
D	60

41. - E8C01

How is Forward Error Correction implemented?

Select	Answer
A	By varying the frequency shift of the transmitted signal according to a predefined algorithm
B	By transmitting extra data that may be used to detect and correct transmission errors
C	By the receiving station repeating each block of three data characters
D	By transmitting a special algorithm to the receiving station along with the data characters

42. - E8D01

Why are received spread spectrum signals resistant to interference?

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

43. - E9A03

What is the radiation resistance of an antenna?

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

44. - E9B02

In the antenna radiation pattern shown in Figure E9-1, what is the front-to-back ratio?

Select	Answer
A	24 dB
B	18 dB
C	14 dB
D	36 dB

45. - E9C08

What is a folded dipole antenna?

Select	Answer
A	A type of ground-plane antenna
B	A half-wave dipole with an additional parallel wire connecting its two ends
C	A dipole configured to provide forward gain
D	A dipole one-quarter wavelength long

46. - E9D03

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

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

47. - E9E06

Which of these feed line impedances would be suitable for constructing a quarter-wave Q-section for matching a 100-ohm loop to 50-ohm feed line?

Select	Answer
A	62 ohms
B	450 ohms
C	75 ohms
D	50 ohms

48. - E9F07

How does ladder line compare to small-diameter coaxial cable such as RG-58 at 50 MHz?

Select	Answer
A	Lower loss
B	Lower velocity factor
C	Smaller reflection coefficient
D	Higher SWR

49. - E9G11

How are the wavelength scales on a Smith chart calibrated?

Select	Answer
A	In fractions of transmission line electrical frequency
B	In fractions of transmission line electrical wavelength
C	In fractions of antenna electrical wavelength
D	In fractions of antenna electrical frequency

50. - E9H10

How can the output voltage of a multiple-turn receiving loop antenna be increased?

Select	Answer
A	By winding adjacent turns in opposing directions
B	By reducing the permeability of the loop shield
C	By increasing the number of turns and/or the area
D	By utilizing high impedance wire for the coupling loop

Figure E6-3

Figure E7-3

Figure E9-1