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	Zinc oxide
B	Beryllium Oxide
C	Uranium Hexafluoride
D	Mica

2. - E1A06

Where must the carrier frequency of a CW signal be set to comply with FCC rules for 60 meter operation?

Select	Answer
A	At the highest frequency of the channel
B	On any frequency where the signal's sidebands are within the channel
C	At the center frequency of the channel
D	At the lowest frequency of the channel

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

5. - E1D05

What must be posted at the station location of a station being operated by telecommand on or within 50 km of the earth's surface?

Select	Answer
A	A label with the name, address, and telephone number of the control operator
B	All these choices are correct
C	A label with the name, address, and telephone number of the station licensee
D	A photocopy of the station license

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

7. - E1F11

Which of the following best describes one of the standards that must be met by an external RF power amplifier if it is to qualify for a grant of FCC certification?

Select	Answer
A	It must produce full legal output when driven by not more than 5 watts of mean RF input power
B	It must exhibit a gain of 0 dB or less over its full output range
C	It must satisfy the FCC's spurious emission standards when operated at the lesser of 1500 watts or its full output power
D	It must be capable of external RF switching between its input and output networks

8. - E2A06

What are Keplerian elements?

Select	Answer
A	High-emission heater filaments used in magnetron tubes
B	Phase reversing elements in a Yagi antenna
C	Encrypting codes used for spread spectrum modulation
D	Parameters that define the orbit of a satellite

9. - E2B07

What is the name of the signal component that carries color information in NTSC video?

Select	Answer
A	Spectral intensity
B	Luminance
C	Hue
D	Chroma

10. - E2C10

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

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

11. - E2D03

Which of the following digital modes is especially useful for EME communications?

Select	Answer
A	Olivia
B	JT65
C	PACTOR III
D	MSK144

12. - E2E03

How is the timing of FT4 contacts organized?

Select	Answer
A	Stations take turns on alternate days
B	By exchanging ACK/NAK packets
C	Alternating transmissions at 7.5 second intervals
D	It depends on the lunar phase

13. - E3A13

Which of these emission modes is best for auroral propagation?

Select	Answer
A	FM
B	SSB
C	CW
D	RTTY

14. - E3B10

Why is chordal hop propagation desirable?

Select	Answer
A	Signals travel faster along ionospheric chords
B	The MUF for chordal hop propagation is much lower than for normal skip propagation
C	The signal experiences less loss compared to multi-hop using Earth as a reflector
D	Atmospheric noise is lower in the direction of chordal hop propagation

15. - E3C02

What is indicated by a rising A or K index?

Select	Answer
A	Higher levels of solar UV radiation
B	Increasing disruption of the geomagnetic field
C	An increase in the critical frequency
D	Decreasing disruption of the geomagnetic field

16. - E4A08

Which of the following measures SWR?

Select	Answer
A	An antenna analyzer
B	A spectrum analyzer
C	A Q meter
D	An ohmmeter

17. - E4B08

Which of the following can be used to measure the Q of a series-tuned circuit?

Select	Answer
A	The bandwidth of the circuit's frequency response
B	The inductance to capacitance ratio
C	The resonant frequency of the circuit
D	The frequency shift

18. - E4C09

Which of the following choices is a good reason for selecting a high frequency for the design of the IF in a superheterodyne HF or VHF communications receiver?

Select	Answer
A	Reduced drift
B	Fewer components in the receiver
C	Easier for front-end circuitry to eliminate image responses
D	Improved receiver noise figure

19. - E4D07

Which of the following reduces the likelihood of receiver desensitization?

Select	Answer
A	Switch from fast AGC to slow AGC
B	Raise the receiver IF frequency
C	Increase the receiver front end gain
D	Decrease the RF bandwidth of the receiver

20. - E4E02

Which of the following types of noise can often be reduced with a digital signal processing noise filter?

Select	Answer
A	Ignition noise
B	All these choices are correct
C	Power line noise
D	Broadband white noise

21. - E5A13

What is an effect of increasing Q in a series resonant circuit?

Select	Answer
A	Internal voltages increase
B	Parasitic effects are minimized
C	Fewer components are needed for the same performance
D	Phase shift can become uncontrolled

22. - E5B01

What is the term for the time required for the capacitor in an RC circuit to be charged to 63.2% of the applied voltage or to discharge to 36.8% of its initial voltage?

Select	Answer
A	A time factor of one
B	One exponential period
C	An exponential rate of one
D	One time constant

23. - E5C12

Which point on Figure E5-1 best represents the impedance of a series circuit consisting of a 300-ohm resistor and a 19-picofarad capacitor at 21.200 MHz?

Select	Answer
A	Point 1
B	Point 3
C	Point 7
D	Point 8

24. - E5D15

What is the power factor of an RL circuit having a 45-degree phase angle between the voltage and the current?

Select	Answer
A	0.5
B	0.707
C	0.866
D	1.0

25. - E6A01

In what application is gallium arsenide used as a semiconductor material?

Select	Answer
A	In high-current rectifier circuits
B	In very low-frequency RF circuits
C	In microwave circuits
D	In high-power audio circuits

26. - E6B09

What is a common use for point-contact diodes?

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

27. - E6C05

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

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

28. - E6D04

Which materials are commonly used as a core in an inductor?

Select	Answer
A	Polystyrene and polyethylene
B	Cobalt and aluminum
C	Teflon and Delrin
D	Ferrite and brass

29. - E6E03

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

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

30. - E6F08

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

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

31. - E7A02

What is the function of a decade counter?

Select	Answer
A	It decodes a decimal number for display on a seven-segment LED display
B	It produces one output pulse for every 10 input pulses
C	It produces 10 output pulses for every input pulse
D	It decodes a binary number for display on a seven-segment LED display

32. - E7B02

What is a Class D amplifier?

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

33. - E7C04

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

Select	Answer
A	Reactive currents are dissipated in matched resistances
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	It introduces negative resistance to cancel the resistive part of impedance

34. - E7D06

What is the purpose of Q1 in the circuit shown in Figure E7-2?

Select	Answer
A	It provides negative feedback to improve regulation
B	It provides D1 with current
C	It controls the current supplied to the load
D	It provides a constant load for the voltage source

35. - E7E10

How does a diode envelope detector function?

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

36. - E7F07

What function is performed by a Fast Fourier Transform?

Select	Answer
A	Converting 8-bit data to 16-bit data
B	Converting digital signals from the time domain to the frequency domain
C	Converting digital signals to analog form
D	Converting analog signals to digital form

37. - E7G03

What is the typical input impedance of an op-amp?

Select	Answer
A	100 ohms
B	1000 ohms
C	Very high
D	Very low

38. - E7H10

What information is contained in the lookup table of a direct digital synthesizer (DDS)?

Select	Answer
A	The phase relationship between a reference oscillator and the output waveform
B	The phase relationship between a voltage-controlled oscillator and the output waveform
C	Amplitude values that represent the desired waveform
D	Frequently used receiver and transmitter frequencies

39. - E8A03

What type of wave does a Fourier analysis show to be made up of sine waves of a given fundamental frequency plus all its harmonics?

Select	Answer
A	A sawtooth wave
B	A square wave
C	A cosine wave
D	A sine wave

40. - E8B09

What is deviation ratio?

Select	Answer
A	The ratio of the audio modulating frequency to the center carrier 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 highest audio modulating frequency to the average audio modulating frequency

41. - E8C09

Which digital code allows only one bit to change between sequential code values?

Select	Answer
A	Binary Coded Decimal Code
B	Extended Binary Coded Decimal Interchange Code
C	Excess 3 code
D	Gray code

42. - E8D08

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

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

43. - E9A08

What is antenna bandwidth?

Select	Answer
A	Antenna length divided by the number of elements
B	The angle formed between two imaginary lines drawn through the element ends
C	The frequency range over which an antenna satisfies a performance requirement
D	The angle between the half-power radiation points

44. - E9B06

What is the elevation angle of peak response in the antenna radiation pattern shown in Figure E9-2?

Select	Answer
A	25 degrees
B	75 degrees
C	45 degrees
D	7.5 degrees

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 horizontal to vertical polarization
C	It changes the radiation pattern from bidirectional to unidirectional
D	It decreases the ground loss

46. - E9D02

How can linearly polarized Yagi antennas be used to produce circular polarization?

Select	Answer
A	Arrange two Yagis collinear to each other with the driven elements fed 180 degrees out of phase
B	Arrange two Yagis perpendicular to each other with the driven elements at the same point on the boom fed 90 degrees out of phase
C	Stack two Yagis fed 90 degrees out of phase to form an array with the respective elements in parallel planes
D	Stack two Yagis fed in phase to form an array with the respective elements in parallel planes

47. - E9E05

How must an antenna's driven element be tuned to use a hairpin matching system?

Select	Answer
A	The driven element reactance must be capacitive
B	The driven element radiation resistance must be higher than the characteristic impedance of the transmission line
C	The driven element resonance must be lower than the operating frequency
D	The driven element reactance must be inductive

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	8.3 meters
B	5.2 meters
C	10.4 meters
D	6.9 meters

49. - E9G10

What do the arcs on a Smith chart represent?

Select	Answer
A	Points with constant resistance
B	SWR
C	Points with constant reactance
D	Frequency

50. - E9H03

What is Receiving Directivity Factor (RDF)?

Select	Answer
A	Relative directivity compared to isotropic
B	Relative directivity compared to a dipole
C	Forward gain compared to the gain in the reverse direction
D	Forward gain compared to average gain over the entire hemisphere

Figure E5-1

Figure E7-2

Figure E9-2