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

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1. - E0A10

What toxic material may be present in some electronic components such as high voltage capacitors and transformers?

Select	Answer
A	Polyethylene
B	Polymorphic silicon
C	Polytetrafluoroethylene
D	Polychlorinated biphenyls

2. - E1A05

What is the maximum power output permitted on the 60 meter band?

Select	Answer
A	100 watts PEP effective radiated power relative to the gain of a half-wave dipole
B	100 watts PEP effective radiated power relative to an isotropic radiator
C	50 watts PEP effective radiated power relative to a dipole
D	50 watts PEP effective radiated power relative to an isotropic radiator

3. - E1B10

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

Select	Answer
A	Military Auxiliary Radio System (MARS) 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	Specific local government channels

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

5. - E1D06

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

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

6. - E1E01

For which types of out-of-pocket expenses do the Part 97 rules state that VEs and VECs may be reimbursed?

Select	Answer
A	Preparing, processing, administering, and coordinating an examination for an amateur radio operator license
B	No expenses are authorized for reimbursement
C	Providing amateur operator license examination preparation training materials
D	Teaching an amateur operator license examination preparation course

7. - E1F06

Under what circumstances might the FCC issue a Special Temporary Authority (STA) to an amateur station?

Select	Answer
A	To allow regular operation on Land Mobile channels
B	To provide for experimental amateur communications
C	To provide additional spectrum for personal use
D	To provide temporary operation while awaiting normal licensing

8. - E2A07

Which of the following types of signals can be relayed through a linear transponder?

Select	Answer
A	PSK and packet
B	All these choices are correct
C	FM and CW
D	SSB and SSTV

9. - E2B05

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

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

10. - E2C02

Which of the following best describes the term self-spotting? in connection with HF contest operating?

Select	Answer
A	A manual technique for rapidly zero beating or tuning to a station's frequency before calling that station
B	The often-prohibited practice of posting one's own call sign and frequency on a spotting network
C	The acceptable practice of manually posting the call signs of stations on a spotting network
D	An automatic method for rapidly zero beating or tuning to a station's frequency before calling that station

11. - E2D04

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

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

12. - E2E05

Which of these digital modes does not support keyboard-to-keyboard operation?

Select	Answer
A	MFSK
B	PSK31
C	PACTOR
D	RTTY

13. - E3A05

Tropospheric propagation of microwave signals often occurs in association with what phenomenon?

Select	Answer
A	Warm and cold fronts
B	Grayline
C	Lightning discharges
D	Sprites and jets

14. - E3B12

What is the primary characteristic of chordal hop propagation?

Select	Answer
A	Signals reflected back toward the transmitting station
B	Successive ionospheric refractions without an intermediate reflection from the ground
C	Propagation away from the great circle bearing between stations
D	Propagation across the geomagnetic equator

15. - E3C01

What does the radio communication term "ray tracing" describe?

Select	Answer
A	Modeling a radio wave's path through the ionosphere
B	Determining the radiation pattern from an array of antennas
C	Evaluating high voltage sources for x-rays
D	The process in which an electronic display presents a pattern

16. - E4A02

Which of the following parameters does a spectrum analyzer display on the vertical and horizontal axes?

Select	Answer
A	SWR and time
B	RF amplitude and frequency
C	RF amplitude and time
D	SWR and frequency

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

18. - E4C10

What is an advantage of having a variety of receiver IF bandwidths from which to select?

Select	Answer
A	Receiver power consumption can be reduced when wider bandwidth is not required
B	The noise figure of the RF amplifier can be adjusted to match the modulation type, thus increasing receiver sensitivity
C	Multiple frequencies can be received simultaneously if desired
D	Receive bandwidth can be set to match the modulation bandwidth, maximizing signal-to-noise ratio and minimizing interference

19. - E4D11

Why are odd-order intermodulation products, created within a receiver, of particular interest compared to other products?

Select	Answer
A	Odd-order products of two signals in the band of interest are also likely to be within the band
B	Odd-order products overload the IF filters
C	Odd-order intermodulation produces three products for every input signal within the band of interest
D	Odd-order products are an indication of poor image rejection

20. - E4E05

How can radio frequency interference from an AC motor be suppressed?

Select	Answer
A	By using a ground-fault current interrupter in the circuit used to power the motor
B	By installing a high-pass filter in series with the motor's power leads
C	By installing a brute-force AC-line filter in series with the motor leads
D	By installing a bypass capacitor in series with the motor leads

21. - E5A04

What is the magnitude of the impedance of a parallel RLC circuit at resonance?

Select	Answer
A	Low compared to the circuit resistance
B	High compared to the circuit resistance
C	Approximately equal to inductive reactance
D	Approximately equal to circuit resistance

22. - E5B03

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

Select	Answer
A	Take the reciprocal of the magnitude and change the sign of the angle
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 angle and change the sign of the magnitude

23. - E5C05

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

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

24. - E5D03

What is microstrip?

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

25. - E6A10

In Figure E6-1, what is the schematic symbol for an N-channel dual-gate MOSFET?

Select	Answer
A	5
B	4
C	6
D	2

26. - E6B11

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

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

27. - E6C11

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

Select	Answer
A	2
B	6
C	4
D	5

28. - E6D02

What is the equivalent circuit of a quartz crystal?

Select	Answer
A	Motional capacitance, motional inductance, loss resistance, and a capacitor representing electrode and stray capacitance all in series
B	Motional inductance and loss resistance in series, paralleled with motional capacitance and a capacitor representing electrode and stray capacitance
C	Motional capacitance, motional inductance, and loss resistance in series, all in parallel with a shunt capacitor representing electrode and stray capacitance
D	Motional capacitance, motional inductance, loss resistance, and a capacitor representing electrode and stray capacitance all in parallel

29. - E6E03

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

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

30. - E6F02

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

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

31. - E7A08

What logical operation does an OR gate perform?

Select	Answer
A	It produces logic 1 at its output if all inputs are logic 0
B	It produces logic 1 at its output if any or all inputs are logic 1
C	It only produces logic 0 at its output when all inputs are logic 1
D	It produces logic 0 at its output if all inputs are logic 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 frequency doubling amplifier
D	A low power amplifier that uses a differential amplifier for improved linearity

33. - E7C02

Which of the following is a property of a T-network with series capacitors and a parallel shunt inductor?

Select	Answer
A	It is a low-pass filter
B	It is a band-pass filter
C	It is a high-pass filter
D	It is a notch filter

34. - E7D11

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

Select	Answer
A	Permits a wide range of output voltage settings
B	Maintains nearly constant output impedance over a wide range of load current
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. - E7E02

What is the function of a reactance modulator?

Select	Answer
A	To produce PM signals by using an electrically variable resistance
B	To produce PM or FM signals by using an electrically variable inductance or capacitance
C	To produce AM signals by using an electrically variable resistance
D	To produce AM signals by using an electrically variable inductance or capacitance

36. - E7F13

What is the function of taps in a digital signal processing filter?

Select	Answer
A	Provide incremental signal delays for filter algorithms
B	Select the point at which baseband signals are generated
C	Provide access for debugging software
D	To reduce excess signal pressure levels

37. - E7G02

What is ringing in a filter?

Select	Answer
A	Partial cancellation of the signal over a range of frequencies
B	An echo caused by a long time delay
C	Undesired oscillations added to the desired signal
D	A reduction in high frequency response

38. - E7H02

What is a microphonic?

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

39. - E8A01

What is the name of the process that shows that a square wave is made up of a sine wave plus all its odd harmonics?

Select	Answer
A	Differential analysis
B	Fourier analysis
C	Vector analysis
D	Numerical analysis

40. - E8B01

What is the modulation index of an FM signal?

Select	Answer
A	The ratio of modulating signal amplitude to frequency deviation
B	The bandwidth of the transmitted signal divided by the modulating signal frequency
C	The type of modulation used by the transmitter
D	The ratio of frequency deviation to modulating signal frequency

41. - E8C08

How does ARQ accomplish error correction?

Select	Answer
A	If errors are detected, redundant data is substituted
B	Special binary codes provide automatic correction
C	If errors are detected, a retransmission is requested
D	Special polynomial codes provide automatic correction

42. - E8D08

What parameter evaluates distortion of an AFSK signal caused by excessive input audio levels?

Select	Answer
A	Intermodulation Distortion (IMD)
B	Signal-to-noise ratio
C	Repeat Request Rate (RRR)
D	Baud rate

43. - E9A10

Which of the following improves the efficiency of a ground-mounted quarter-wave vertical antenna?

Select	Answer
A	Isolating the coax shield from ground
B	Installing a radial system
C	All these choices are correct
D	Shortening the radiating element

44. - E9B01

In the antenna radiation pattern shown in Figure E9-1, what is the beamwidth?

Select	Answer
A	75 degrees
B	50 degrees
C	25 degrees
D	30 degrees

45. - E9C06

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

Select	Answer
A	It changes the radiation pattern from horizontal to vertical polarization
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 decreases the ground loss

46. - E9D12

Which of the following would provide the best RF ground for your station?

Select	Answer
A	An electrically short connection to 3 or 4 interconnected ground rods driven into the Earth
B	An electrically short connection to a metal water pipe
C	An electrically short connection to 3 or 4 interconnected ground rods via a series RF choke
D	A 50-ohm resistor connected to ground

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	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
B	Connect a 1/4-wavelength open stub of 300-ohm twinlead in parallel with the coaxial feed line where it connects to the antenna
C	Insert a 1/2 wavelength piece of 300-ohm twinlead in series between the antenna terminals and the 50-ohm feed cable
D	Connect a 1/2 wavelength shorted stub of 75-ohm cable in parallel with the 50-ohm cable where it attaches to the antenna

48. - E9F08

Which of the following is a significant difference between foam dielectric coaxial cable and solid dielectric cable, assuming all other parameters are the same?

Select	Answer
A	All these choices are correct
B	Foam dielectric has lower safe operating voltage limits
C	Foam dielectric has lower loss per unit of length
D	Foam dielectric has higher velocity factor

49. - E9G01

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

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

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	Forward gain compared to average gain over the entire hemisphere
D	Relative directivity compared to a dipole

Figure E6-1

Figure E6-3

Figure E9-1