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

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1. - E0A09

Which insulating material commonly used as a thermal conductor for some types of electronic devices is extremely toxic if broken or crushed and the particles are accidentally inhaled?

Select	Answer
A	Mica
B	Zinc oxide
C	Beryllium Oxide
D	Uranium Hexafluoride

2. - E1A01

Which of the following carrier frequencies is illegal for LSB AFSK emissions on the 17 meter band RTTY and data segment of 18.068 to 18.110 MHz?

Select	Answer
A	18.107 MHz
B	18.100 MHz
C	18.068 MHz
D	18.110 MHz

3. - E1B09

Which amateur stations may be operated under RACES rules?

Select	Answer
A	Any FCC-licensed amateur station certified by the responsible civil defense organization for the area served
B	Any FCC-licensed amateur station participating in the Military Auxiliary Radio System (MARS)
C	Any FCC-licensed amateur station except a Technician Class
D	Only those club stations licensed to Amateur Extra Class operators

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

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. - E1E11

What must the VE team do if an examinee scores a passing grade on all examination elements needed for an upgrade or new license?

Select	Answer
A	All these choices are correct
B	Issue the examinee the new or upgrade license
C	Three VEs must certify that the examinee is qualified for the license grant and that they have complied with the administering VE requirements
D	Photocopy all examination documents and forward them to the FCC for processing

7. - E1F01

On what frequencies are spread spectrum transmissions permitted?

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

8. - E2A04

What is meant by the term mode? as applied to an amateur radio satellite?

Select	Answer
A	The satellite's uplink and downlink frequency bands
B	Whether the satellite is in a polar or equatorial orbit
C	Whether the satellite is in a low earth or geostationary orbit
D	The satellite's orientation with respect to the Earth

9. - E2B01

How many times per second is a new frame transmitted in a fast-scan (NTSC) television system?

Select	Answer
A	30
B	90
C	60
D	120

10. - E2C12

What technique do individual nodes use to form a mesh network?

Select	Answer
A	Custom code plugs for the local trunking systems
B	Discovery and link establishment protocols
C	Forward error correction and Viterbi codes
D	Acting as store-and-forward digipeaters

11. - E2D07

What digital protocol is used by APRS?

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

12. - E2E07

Which of the following is a possible reason that attempts to initiate contact with a digital station on a clear frequency are unsuccessful?

Select	Answer
A	The protocol version you are using is not supported by the digital station
B	All these choices are correct
C	Another station you are unable to hear is using the frequency
D	Your transmit frequency is incorrect

13. - E3A13

Which of these emission modes is best for auroral propagation?

Select	Answer
A	FM
B	RTTY
C	SSB
D	CW

14. - E3B07

What happens to linearly polarized radio waves that split into ordinary and extraordinary waves in the ionosphere?

Select	Answer
A	They become depolarized
B	They become elliptically polarized
C	They become phase locked
D	They are bent toward the magnetic poles

15. - E3C12

How does the maximum range of ground-wave propagation change when the signal frequency is increased?

Select	Answer
A	It peaks at roughly 14 MHz
B	It increases
C	It stays the same
D	It decreases

16. - E4A07

Which of the following is an advantage of using an antenna analyzer compared to an SWR bridge to measure antenna SWR?

Select	Answer
A	All these choices are correct
B	Antenna analyzers do not need an external RF source
C	Antenna analyzers automatically tune your antenna for resonance
D	Antenna analyzers display a time-varying representation of the modulation envelope

17. - E4B03

Which S parameter is equivalent to forward gain?

Select	Answer
A	S11
B	S21
C	S22
D	S12

18. - E4C14

What transmit frequency might generate an image response signal in a receiver tuned to 14.300 MHz and that uses a 455 kHz IF frequency?

Select	Answer
A	15.210 MHz
B	13.845 MHz
C	14.445 MHz
D	14.755 MHz

19. - E4D05

What transmitter frequencies would cause an intermodulation-product signal in a receiver tuned to 146.70 MHz when a nearby station transmits on 146.52 MHz?

Select	Answer
A	146.88 MHz and 146.34 MHz
B	146.10 MHz and 147.30 MHz
C	173.35 MHz and 139.40 MHz
D	146.34 MHz and 146.61 MHz

20. - E4E06

What is one type of electrical interference that might be caused by a nearby personal computer?

Select	Answer
A	A whining type noise that continually pulses off and on
B	A clicking noise at intervals of a few seconds
C	A loud AC hum in the audio output of your station receiver
D	The appearance of unstable modulated or unmodulated signals at specific frequencies

21. - E5A09

How is the Q of an RLC parallel resonant circuit calculated?

Select	Answer
A	Reactance of either the inductance or capacitance divided by the resistance
B	Resistance divided by the reactance of either the inductance or capacitance
C	Reactance of either the inductance or capacitance multiplied by the resistance
D	Reactance of the inductance multiplied by the reactance of the capacitance

22. - E5B07

What is the phase angle between the voltage across and the current through a series RLC circuit if XC is 500 ohms, R is 1 kilohm, and XL is 250 ohms?

Select	Answer
A	14.0 degrees with the voltage leading the current
B	68.2 degrees with the voltage leading the current
C	14.0 degrees with the voltage lagging the current
D	68.2 degrees with the voltage lagging the current

23. - E5C05

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

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

24. - E5D04

Why are short connections used at microwave frequencies?

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

25. - E6A05

How does DC input impedance at the gate of a field-effect transistor compare with the DC input impedance of a bipolar transistor?

Select	Answer
A	They are both high impedance
B	They are both low impedance
C	An FET has lower input impedance
D	An FET has higher input impedance

26. - E6B06

Which of the following is a common use of a Schottky diode?

Select	Answer
A	As a constant voltage reference in a power supply
B	As a VHF/UHF mixer or detector
C	As a rectifier in high current power supplies
D	As a variable capacitance in an automatic frequency control circuit

27. - E6C07

What best describes a pull-up or pull-down resistor?

Select	Answer
A	A resistor that ensures that an oscillator frequency does not drift
B	A resistor in a keying circuit used to reduce key clicks
C	A resistor connected to the positive or negative supply line used to establish a voltage when an input or output is an open circuit
D	A resistor connected to an op-amp output that prevents signals from exceeding the power supply voltage

28. - E6D01

Why should core saturation of an impedance matching transformer be avoided?

Select	Answer
A	Harmonics and distortion could result
B	Temporary changes of the core permeability could result
C	Magnetic flux would increase with frequency
D	RF susceptance would increase

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. - E6F08

Why are optoisolators often used in conjunction with solid-state circuits when switching 120 VAC?

Select	Answer
A	Optoisolators provide a very high degree of electrical isolation between a control circuit and the circuit being switched
B	Optoisolators provide a low impedance link between a control circuit and a power circuit
C	Optoisolators eliminate the effects of reflected light in the control circuit
D	Optoisolators provide impedance matching between the control circuit and power circuit

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 only produces logic 0 at its output when all inputs are logic 1
C	It produces logic 0 at its output if all inputs are logic 1
D	It produces logic 1 at its output if any or all inputs are logic 1

32. - E7B05

What can be done to prevent unwanted oscillations in an RF power amplifier?

Select	Answer
A	Install parasitic suppressors and/or neutralize the stage
B	Tune the stage for maximum SWR
C	Use a phase inverter in the output filter
D	Tune both the input and output for maximum power

33. - E7C04

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

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

34. - E7D09

What is the main reason to use a charge controller with a solar power system?

Select	Answer
A	Matching of day and night charge rates
B	Prevention of battery undercharge
C	Control of electrolyte levels during battery discharge
D	Prevention of battery damage due to overcharge

35. - E7E06

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

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

36. - E7F03

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

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

37. - E7G08

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

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

38. - E7H02

What is a microphonic?

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

39. - E8A04

What is "dither" with respect to analog-to-digital converters?

Select	Answer
A	An error caused by irregular quantization step size
B	A small amount of noise added to the input signal to allow more precise representation of a signal over time
C	An abnormal condition where the converter cannot settle on a value to represent the signal
D	A method of decimation by randomly skipping samples

40. - E8B07

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

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

41. - E8C04

What technique minimizes the bandwidth of a PSK31 signal?

Select	Answer
A	Use of sinusoidal data pulses
B	Use of trapezoidal data pulses
C	Zero-sum character encoding
D	Reed-Solomon character encoding

42. - E8D07

What is a common cause of overmodulation of AFSK signals?

Select	Answer
A	Bit errors in the modem
B	Excessive numbers of retries
C	Excessive transmit audio levels
D	Ground loops

43. - E9A13

What term describes station output, taking into account all gains and losses?

Select	Answer
A	Half-power bandwidth
B	Effective radiated power
C	Apparent power
D	Power factor

44. - E9B09

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

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

45. - E9C12

Which of the following describes an Extended Double Zepp antenna?

Select	Answer
A	An end-fed folded dipole antenna
B	A wideband vertical antenna constructed from precisely tapered aluminum tubing
C	A portable antenna erected using two push support poles
D	A center-fed 1.25-wavelength antenna (two 5/8-wave elements in phase)

46. - E9D03

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

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

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	Insert a 1/2 wavelength piece of 300-ohm twinlead in series between the antenna terminals and the 50-ohm feed cable
C	Connect a 1/4-wavelength open stub of 300-ohm twinlead in parallel with the coaxial feed line where it connects to the antenna
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. - E9F03

Why is the physical length of a coaxial cable transmission line shorter than its electrical length?

Select	Answer
A	The surge impedance is higher in a parallel feed line
B	The characteristic impedance is higher in a parallel feed line
C	Skin effect is less pronounced in the coaxial cable
D	Electrical signals move more slowly in a coaxial cable than in air

49. - E9G03

Which of the following is often determined using a Smith chart?

Select	Answer
A	Beam headings and radiation patterns
B	Satellite azimuth and elevation bearings
C	Impedance and SWR values in transmission lines
D	Trigonometric functions

50. - E9H01

When constructing a Beverage antenna, which of the following factors should be included in the design to achieve good performance at the desired frequency?

Select	Answer
A	Its overall length must not exceed 1/4 wavelength
B	It should be configured as a four-sided loop
C	It must be mounted more than 1 wavelength above ground
D	It should be one or more wavelengths long