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	The rate of RF energy reflected from stationary terrain
D	Signal Amplification Rating

2. - E1A04

With your transceiver displaying the carrier frequency of phone signals, you hear a DX station calling CQ on 3.601 MHz LSB. Is it legal to return the call using lower sideband on the same frequency?

Select	Answer
A	No, U.S. stations are not permitted to use phone emissions below 3.610 MHz
B	Yes, because the displayed frequency is within the 75 meter phone band segment
C	No, the sideband will extend beyond the edge of the phone band segment
D	Yes, because the DX station initiated the contact

3. - E1B03

Within what distance must an amateur station protect an FCC monitoring facility from harmful interference?

Select	Answer
A	30 miles
B	1 mile
C	3 miles
D	10 miles

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

5. - E1D04

Which of the following is required in the identification transmissions from a balloon-borne telemetry station?

Select	Answer
A	Call sign
B	All these choices are correct
C	The output power of the balloon transmitter
D	The station's six-character Maidenhead grid locator

6. - E1E05

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

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

7. - E1F09

Which of the following conditions apply when transmitting spread spectrum emissions?

Select	Answer
A	All these choices are correct
B	The transmission must not be used to obscure the meaning of any communication
C	A station transmitting SS emission must not cause harmful interference to other stations employing other authorized emissions
D	The transmitting station must be in an area regulated by the FCC or in a country that permits SS emissions

8. - E2A02

Which of the following occurs when a satellite is using an inverting linear transponder?

Select	Answer
A	All these choices are correct
B	Signal position in the band is reversed
C	Upper sideband on the uplink becomes lower sideband on the downlink, and vice versa
D	Doppler shift is reduced because the uplink and downlink shifts are in opposite directions

9. - E2B11

What is the function of the Vertical Interval Signaling (VIS) code sent as part of an SSTV transmission?

Select	Answer
A	To lock the color burst oscillator in color SSTV images
B	To provide vertical synchronization
C	To identify the SSTV mode being used
D	To identify the call sign of the station transmitting

10. - E2C07

What is the Cabrillo format?

Select	Answer
A	The rules of order for meetings between contest sponsors
B	A method of exchanging information during a contest QSO
C	A standard for submission of electronic contest logs
D	The most common set of contest rules

11. - E2D08

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

Select	Answer
A	Unnumbered Information
B	Connect
C	Acknowledgement
D	Disconnect

12. - E2E02

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

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

13. - E3A12

What is the cause of auroral activity?

Select	Answer
A	The interaction in the F2 layer between the solar wind and the Van Allen belt
B	Meteor showers concentrated in the extreme northern and southern latitudes
C	The interaction in the E layer of charged particles from the Sun with the Earth's magnetic field
D	An extreme low-pressure area in the polar regions

14. - E3B12

What is the primary characteristic of chordal hop propagation?

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

15. - E3C14

Why does the radio-path horizon distance exceed the geometric horizon?

Select	Answer
A	D-region skip
B	Downward bending due to density variations in the atmosphere
C	Due to the Doppler effect
D	E-region skip

16. - E4A01

Which of the following limits the highest frequency signal that can be accurately displayed on a digital oscilloscope?

Select	Answer
A	Amount of memory
B	Q of the circuit
C	All these choices are correct
D	Sampling rate of the analog-to-digital converter

17. - E4B03

Which S parameter is equivalent to forward gain?

Select	Answer
A	S12
B	S11
C	S21
D	S22

18. - E4C10

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

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

19. - E4D01

What is meant by the blocking dynamic range of a receiver?

Select	Answer
A	The minimum difference in dB between the levels of two FM signals that will cause one signal to block the other
B	The difference in dB between the noise floor and the third-order intercept point
C	The minimum difference in dB between two signals which produce third-order intermodulation products greater than the noise floor
D	The difference in dB between the noise floor and the level of an incoming signal that will cause 1 dB of gain compression

20. - E4E04

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

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

21. - E5A16

What is the resonant frequency of an RLC circuit if R is 33 ohms, L is 50 microhenries and C is 10 picofarads?

Select	Answer
A	7.12 kHz
B	7.12 MHz
C	23.5 MHz
D	23.5 kHz

22. - E5B11

What is the phase angle between the voltage across and the current through a series RLC circuit if XC is 25 ohms, R is 100 ohms, and XL is 50 ohms?

Select	Answer
A	76 degrees with the voltage leading the current
B	14 degrees with the voltage leading the current
C	14 degrees with the voltage lagging the current
D	76 degrees with the voltage lagging the current

23. - E5C02

How are impedances described in polar coordinates?

Select	Answer
A	By phase angle and magnitude
B	By X and R values
C	By real and imaginary parts
D	By Y and G values

24. - E5D02

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

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

25. - E6A12

Why do many MOSFET devices have internally connected Zener diodes on the gates?

Select	Answer
A	To protect the substrate from excessive voltages
B	To provide a voltage reference for the correct amount of reverse-bias gate voltage
C	To reduce the chance of static damage to the gate
D	To keep the gate voltage within specifications and prevent the device from overheating

26. - E6B11

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

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

27. - E6C08

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

Select	Answer
A	3
B	2
C	1
D	4

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	Magnetizing current
C	Excitation current
D	Stabilizing current

29. - E6E10

What advantage does surface-mount technology offer at RF compared to using through-hole components?

Select	Answer
A	All these choices are correct
B	Shorter circuit-board traces
C	Smaller circuit area
D	Components have less parasitic inductance and capacitance

30. - E6F02

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

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

31. - E7A07

What logical operation does a NAND gate perform?

Select	Answer
A	It produces logic 0 at its output if some but not all inputs are logic 1
B	It produces logic 0 at its output only when all inputs are logic 1
C	It produces logic 0 at its output only when all inputs are logic 0
D	It produces logic 1 at its output only when all inputs are logic 1

32. - E7B03

Which of the following components form the output of a class D amplifier circuit?

Select	Answer
A	A low-pass filter to remove switching signal components
B	A high-pass filter to compensate for low gain at low frequencies
C	A temperature compensating load resistor to improve linearity
D	A matched load resistor to prevent damage by switching transients

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

34. - E7D04

Which of the following types of linear voltage regulator usually make the most efficient use of the primary power source?

Select	Answer
A	A series regulator
B	A series current source
C	A shunt current source
D	A shunt regulator

35. - E7E05

What circuit is added to an FM transmitter to boost the higher audio frequencies?

Select	Answer
A	A heterodyne suppressor
B	A heterodyne enhancer
C	A de-emphasis network
D	A pre-emphasis network

36. - E7F06

What is the minimum number of bits required for an analog-to-digital converter to sample a signal with a range of 1 volt at a resolution of 1 millivolt?

Select	Answer
A	8 bits
B	10 bits
C	4 bits
D	6 bits

37. - E7G08

How does the gain of an ideal operational amplifier vary with frequency?

Select	Answer
A	It does not vary with frequency
B	It decreases linearly with increasing frequency
C	It decreases logarithmically with increasing frequency
D	It increases linearly with increasing frequency

38. - E7H08

Which of the following components can be used to reduce thermal drift in crystal oscillators?

Select	Answer
A	Non-inductive resistors
B	Wirewound resistors
C	NP0 capacitors
D	Toroidal inductors

39. - E8A08

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

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

40. - E8B09

What is deviation ratio?

Select	Answer
A	The ratio of the highest audio modulating frequency to the average audio modulating frequency
B	The ratio of the maximum carrier frequency deviation to the highest audio modulating frequency
C	The ratio of the carrier center frequency to the audio modulating frequency
D	The ratio of the audio modulating frequency to the center carrier frequency

41. - E8C10

How may data rate be increased without increasing bandwidth?

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

42. - E8D06

What is the advantage of including parity bits in ASCII characters?

Select	Answer
A	Some types of errors can be detected
B	Foreign language characters can be sent
C	Faster transmission rate
D	The signal can overpower interfering signals

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	126 watts
B	2000 watts
C	317 watts
D	300 watts

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	14 dB
C	18 dB
D	36 dB

45. - E9C06

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

Select	Answer
A	It reflects the standing waves on the antenna elements back to the transmitter
B	It changes the radiation pattern from bidirectional to unidirectional
C	It changes the radiation pattern from horizontal to vertical polarization
D	It decreases the ground loss

46. - E9D11

Which of the following conductors would be best for minimizing losses in a station's RF ground system?

Select	Answer
A	Wide flat copper strap
B	Solid wire
C	Resistive wire, such as spark plug wire
D	Stranded wire

47. - E9E09

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

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

48. - E9F11

What impedance does a 1/8-wavelength transmission line present to a generator when the line is open at the far end?

Select	Answer
A	An inductive reactance
B	The same as the characteristic impedance of the line
C	Infinite
D	A capacitive reactance

49. - E9G05

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

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

50. - E9H04

What is an advantage of placing a grounded electrostatic shield around a small loop direction-finding antenna?

Select	Answer
A	It increases signal strength by providing a better match to the feed line
B	It adds capacitive loading, increasing the bandwidth of the antenna
C	It eliminates unbalanced capacitive coupling to the surroundings, improving the nulls
D	It eliminates tracking errors caused by strong out-of-band signals

Figure E6-3

Figure E9-1