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

2. - E1A12

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

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

3. - E1B05

What is the National Radio Quiet Zone?

Select	Answer
A	An area in New Mexico surrounding the White Sands Test Area
B	An area surrounding the National Radio Astronomy Observatory
C	An area in Puerto Rico surrounding the Arecibo Radio Telescope
D	An area in Florida surrounding Cape Canaveral

4. - E1C07

At what level below a signal's mean power level is its bandwidth determined according to FCC rules?

Select	Answer
A	3 dB
B	26 dB
C	23 dB
D	6 dB

5. - E1D01

What is the definition of telemetry?

Select	Answer
A	One-way transmission of measurements at a distance from the measuring instrument
B	Two-way transmissions of data
C	One-way transmission that initiates, modifies, or terminates the functions of a device at a distance
D	Two-way transmissions in excess of 1000 feet

6. - E1E05

What is the minimum passing score on all amateur operator license examinations?

Select	Answer
A	Minimum passing score of 77%
B	Minimum passing score of 80%
C	Minimum passing score of 70%
D	Minimum passing score of 74%

7. - E1F01

On what frequencies are spread spectrum transmissions permitted?

Select	Answer
A	Only on amateur frequencies above 50 MHz
B	Only on amateur frequencies above 222 MHz
C	Only on amateur frequencies above 144 MHz
D	Only on amateur frequencies above 420 MHz

8. - E2A11

What type of antenna can be used to minimize the effects of spin modulation and Faraday rotation?

Select	Answer
A	A log-periodic dipole array
B	An isotropic antenna
C	A linearly polarized antenna
D	A circularly polarized antenna

9. - E2B02

How many horizontal lines make up a fast-scan (NTSC) television frame?

Select	Answer
A	60
B	30
C	1080
D	525

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

11. - E2D07

What digital protocol is used by APRS?

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

12. - E2E02

What do the letters FEC mean as they relate to digital operation?

Select	Answer
A	Final Error Correction
B	Fatal Error Correction
C	First Error Correction
D	Forward Error Correction

13. - E3A09

Which of the following frequency ranges is most suited for meteor scatter communications?

Select	Answer
A	10 MHz - 14 MHz
B	28 MHz - 148 MHz
C	1.8 MHz - 1.9 MHz
D	220 MHz - 450 MHz

14. - E3B03

What is the best time of day for transequatorial propagation?

Select	Answer
A	Late at night
B	Afternoon or early evening
C	Noon
D	Morning

15. - E3C04

What does the value of Bz (B sub Z) represent?

Select	Answer
A	Duration of long-delayed echoes
B	Critical frequency for vertical transmissions
C	Direction and strength of the interplanetary magnetic field
D	Geomagnetic field stability

16. - E4A04

How is the compensation of an oscilloscope probe typically adjusted?

Select	Answer
A	A DC voltage standard is displayed and the probe is adjusted until the displayed voltage is accurate
B	A square wave is displayed and the probe is adjusted until the horizontal portions of the displayed wave are as nearly flat as possible
C	A frequency standard is displayed and the probe is adjusted until the deflection time is accurate
D	A high frequency sine wave is displayed and the probe is adjusted for maximum amplitude

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

18. - E4C15

What is reciprocal mixing?

Select	Answer
A	Two out-of-band signals mixing to generate an in-band spurious signal
B	Local oscillator phase noise mixing with adjacent strong signals to create interference to desired signals
C	Two digital signals combining from alternate time slots
D	In-phase signals cancelling in a mixer resulting in loss of receiver sensitivity

19. - E4D12

What is the term for the reduction in receiver sensitivity caused by a strong signal near the received frequency?

Select	Answer
A	Quieting
B	Squelch gain rollback
C	Desensitization
D	Cross-modulation interference

20. - E4E03

Which of the following signals might a receiver noise blanker be able to remove from desired signals?

Select	Answer
A	Signals that appear at one IF but not another
B	Signals that are constant at all IF levels
C	Signals that have a sharply peaked frequency distribution
D	Signals that appear across a wide bandwidth

21. - E5A03

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

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

22. - E5B06

What is susceptance?

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

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	Polar coordinates
C	Faraday grid
D	Maidenhead grid

24. - E5D07

How many watts are consumed in a circuit having a power factor of 0.71 if the apparent power is 500VA?

Select	Answer
A	704 W
B	355 W
C	252 W
D	1.42 mW

25. - E6A09

What is a depletion-mode FET?

Select	Answer
A	Any FET for which holes are the majority carriers
B	An FET that exhibits a current flow between source and drain when no gate voltage is applied
C	Any FET without a channel
D	An FET that has no current flow between source and drain when no gate voltage is applied

26. - E6B09

What is a common use for point-contact diodes?

Select	Answer
A	As a constant current source
B	As a high-voltage rectifier
C	As a constant voltage source
D	As an RF detector

27. - E6C05

What is an advantage of CMOS logic devices over TTL devices?

Select	Answer
A	Immune to damage from static discharge
B	Differential output capability
C	Lower distortion
D	Lower power consumption

28. - E6D13

What is the primary cause of inductor self-resonance?

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

29. - E6E05

Which of the following noise figure values is typical of a low-noise UHF preamplifier?

Select	Answer
A	2 dB
B	-20 dBm
C	-10 dB
D	44 dBm

30. - E6F01

What absorbs the energy from light falling on a photovoltaic cell?

Select	Answer
A	Holes
B	Protons
C	Electrons
D	Photons

31. - E7A01

Which circuit is bistable?

Select	Answer
A	An AND gate
B	A bipolar amplifier
C	A flip-flop
D	An OR gate

32. - E7B10

In Figure E7-1, what is the purpose of R1 and R2?

Select	Answer
A	Load resistors
B	Self bias
C	Voltage divider bias
D	Feedback

33. - E7C11

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

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

34. - E7D07

What is the purpose of C2 in the circuit shown in Figure E7-2?

Select	Answer
A	To self-resonate at the hum frequency
B	To provide fixed DC bias for Q1
C	It is a brute force filter for the output
D	It bypasses rectifier output ripple around D1

35. - E7E10

How does a diode envelope detector function?

Select	Answer
A	By sensing the change of reactance in the diode with respect to frequency
B	By breakdown of the Zener voltage
C	By mixing signals with noise in the transition region of the diode
D	By rectification and filtering of RF signals

36. - E7F10

What aspect of receiver analog-to-digital conversion determines the maximum receive bandwidth of a Direct Digital Conversion SDR?

Select	Answer
A	Sample width in bits
B	Sample rate
C	Processor latency
D	Sample clock phase noise

37. - E7G05

How can unwanted ringing and audio instability be prevented in an op-amp RC audio filter circuit?

Select	Answer
A	Increase both gain and Q
B	Restrict gain but increase Q
C	Restrict both gain and Q
D	Restrict Q but increase gain

38. - E7H04

How is positive feedback supplied in a Colpitts oscillator?

Select	Answer
A	Through a capacitive divider
B	Through a neutralizing capacitor
C	Through a tapped coil
D	Through link coupling

39. - E8A02

Which of the following is a type of analog-to-digital conversion?

Select	Answer
A	Phase reversal
B	Successive approximation
C	Harmonic regeneration
D	Level shifting

40. - E8B11

What is digital time division multiplexing?

Select	Answer
A	Two or more signals are arranged to share discrete time slots of a data transmission
B	Two or more data streams share the same channel by transmitting time of transmission as the sub-carrier
C	Two or more signals are quadrature modulated to increase bandwidth efficiency
D	Two or more data streams are assigned to discrete sub-carriers on an FM transmitter

41. - E8C05

What is the approximate bandwidth of a 13-WPM International Morse Code transmission?

Select	Answer
A	104 Hz
B	13 Hz
C	26 Hz
D	52 Hz

42. - E8D03

How does the spread spectrum technique of frequency hopping work?

Select	Answer
A	If interference is detected by the receiver it will signal the transmitter to wait until the frequency is clear
B	A binary bit stream is used to shift the phase of an RF carrier very rapidly in a pseudorandom sequence
C	The frequency of the transmitted signal is changed very rapidly according to a pseudorandom sequence also used by the receiving station
D	If interference is detected by the receiver it will signal the transmitter to change frequencies

43. - E9A12

How much gain does an antenna have compared to a 1/2-wavelength dipole when it has 6 dB gain over an isotropic antenna?

Select	Answer
A	8.15 dB
B	6.0 dB
C	2.79 dB
D	3.85 dB

44. - E9B09

What type of computer program technique is commonly used for modeling antennas?

Select	Answer
A	Mutual impedance analysis
B	Calculus differentiation with respect to physical properties
C	Method of Moments
D	Graphical analysis

45. - E9C08

What is a folded dipole antenna?

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

46. - E9D10

What happens to feed-point impedance at the base of a fixed length HF mobile antenna when operated below its resonant frequency?

Select	Answer
A	The radiation resistance decreases and the capacitive reactance decreases
B	The radiation resistance increases and the capacitive reactance increases
C	The radiation resistance decreases and the capacitive reactance increases
D	The radiation resistance increases and the capacitive reactance decreases

47. - E9E09

Which of the following is used to shunt-feed a grounded tower at its base?

Select	Answer
A	Gamma match
B	Hairpin match
C	Double-bazooka match
D	All these choices are correct

48. - E9F09

What is the approximate physical length of a foam polyethylene dielectric coaxial transmission line that is electrically 1/4 wavelength long at 7.2 MHz?

Select	Answer
A	6.9 meters
B	10.4 meters
C	8.3 meters
D	5.2 meters

49. - E9G05

Which of the following is a common use for a Smith chart?

Select	Answer
A	Determine the loss/100 feet of a transmission line, given the velocity factor and conductor materials
B	Determine the length and position of an impedance matching stub
C	Determine the gain of an antenna given the physical and electrical parameters
D	Determine the impedance of a transmission line, given the physical dimensions

50. - E9H10

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

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

Figure E7-1

Figure E7-2