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

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1. - E0A03

Over what range of frequencies are the FCC human body RF exposure limits most restrictive?

Select	Answer
A	30 to 300 MHz
B	300 kHz to 3 MHz
C	300 to 3000 MHz
D	3 to 30 MHz

2. - E1A14

Except in some parts of Alaska, what is the maximum power permitted on the 630 meter band?

Select	Answer
A	5 watts EIRP
B	1 watt EIRP
C	100 watts PEP
D	50 watts PEP

3. - E1B02

Which of the following is an acceptable bandwidth for Digital Radio Mondiale (DRM) based voice or SSTV digital transmissions made on the HF amateur bands?

Select	Answer
A	20 kHz
B	10 kHz
C	3 kHz
D	15 kHz

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

5. - E1D12

Which of the following amateur stations may transmit one-way communications?

Select	Answer
A	A message forwarding station or automatically controlled digital station
B	A space station, beacon station, or telecommand station
C	A local repeater or linked repeater station
D	All these choices are correct

6. - E1E02

Who does Part 97 task with maintaining the pools of questions for all U.S. amateur license examinations?

Select	Answer
A	The ARRL
B	The VECs
C	The FCC
D	The VEs

7. - E1F06

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

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

8. - E2A05

What do the letters in a satellite's mode designator specify?

Select	Answer
A	The polarization of uplink and downlink signals
B	The uplink and downlink frequency ranges
C	Power limits for uplink and downlink transmissions
D	The location of the ground control station

9. - E2B05

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

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

10. - E2C06

During a VHF/UHF contest, in which band segment would you expect to find the highest level of SSB or CW activity?

Select	Answer
A	In the weak signal segment of the band, with most of the activity near the calling frequency
B	In the middle of the band, usually 25 kHz above the national calling frequency
C	At the top of each band, usually in a segment reserved for contests
D	In the middle of each band, usually on the national calling frequency

11. - E2D03

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

Select	Answer
A	PACTOR III
B	MSK144
C	JT65
D	Olivia

12. - E2E04

What is indicated when one of the ellipses in an FSK crossed-ellipse display suddenly disappears?

Select	Answer
A	The receiver has drifted 5 kHz from the desired receive frequency
B	One of the signal filters is saturated
C	The mark and space signal have been inverted
D	Selective fading has occurred

13. - E3A06

What might help to restore contact when DX signals become too weak to copy across an entire HF band a few hours after sunset?

Select	Answer
A	Wait 90 minutes or so for the signal degradation to pass
B	Wait 24 hours before attempting another communication on the band
C	Switch to a higher frequency HF band
D	Switch to a lower frequency HF band

14. - E3B07

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

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

15. - E3C06

By how much does the VHF/UHF radio horizon distance exceed the geometric horizon?

Select	Answer
A	By approximately 50 percent of the distance
B	By approximately four times the distance
C	By approximately twice the distance
D	By approximately 15 percent of the distance

16. - E4A06

What is the effect of aliasing on a digital oscilloscope caused by setting the time base too slow?

Select	Answer
A	All signals will have a DC offset
B	Calibration of the vertical scale is no longer valid
C	A false, jittery low-frequency version of the signal is displayed
D	Excessive blanking occurs, which prevents display of the signal

17. - E4B07

What do the subscripts of S parameters represent?

Select	Answer
A	The port or ports at which measurements are made
B	Relative quality of the data
C	The relative time between measurements
D	Frequency order of the measurements

18. - E4C06

A CW receiver with the AGC off has an equivalent input noise power density of -174 dBm/Hz. What would be the level of an unmodulated carrier input to this receiver that would yield an audio output SNR of 0 dB in a 400 Hz noise bandwidth?

Select	Answer
A	-148 dBm
B	-164 dBm
C	-174 dBm
D	-155 dBm

19. - E4D09

What is the purpose of the preselector in a communications receiver?

Select	Answer
A	To provide a range of AGC time constants
B	To increase rejection of signals outside the desired band
C	To store often-used frequencies
D	To allow selection of the optimum RF amplifier device

20. - E4E10

What might be the cause of a loud roaring or buzzing AC line interference that comes and goes at intervals?

Select	Answer
A	A malfunctioning illuminated advertising display
B	All these choices are correct
C	A defective doorbell or doorbell transformer inside a nearby residence
D	Arcing contacts in a thermostatically controlled device

21. - E5A02

What is resonance in an LC or RLC circuit?

Select	Answer
A	The frequency at which the reactive impedance equals the resistive impedance
B	The frequency at which the capacitive reactance equals the inductive reactance
C	The lowest frequency that will pass current
D	The highest frequency that will pass current

22. - E5B12

What is admittance?

Select	Answer
A	The term for the gain of a field effect transistor
B	The turns ratio of a transformer
C	The inverse of impedance
D	The inverse of Q factor

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	Faraday grid
B	Elliptical coordinates
C	Maidenhead grid
D	Polar coordinates

24. - E5D04

Why are short connections used at microwave frequencies?

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

25. - E6A10

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

Select	Answer
A	5
B	2
C	6
D	4

26. - E6B03

What type of bias is required for an LED to emit light?

Select	Answer
A	Zero bias
B	Forward bias
C	Reverse bias
D	Inductive bias

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 connected to an op-amp output that prevents signals from exceeding the power supply voltage
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 in a keying circuit used to reduce key clicks

28. - E6D07

What is current in the primary winding of a transformer called if no load is attached to the secondary?

Select	Answer
A	Stabilizing current
B	Direct current
C	Excitation current
D	Magnetizing current

29. - E6E04

Which is the most common input and output impedance of circuits that use MMICs?

Select	Answer
A	10 ohms
B	50 ohms
C	450 ohms
D	300 ohms

30. - E6F09

What is the efficiency of a photovoltaic cell?

Select	Answer
A	The output RF power divided by the input DC power
B	The relative fraction of light that is converted to current
C	The open-circuit voltage divided by the short-circuit current under full illumination
D	Cost per kilowatt-hour generated

31. - E7A06

What is a characteristic of a monostable multivibrator?

Select	Answer
A	It stores one bit of data in either a 0 or 1 state
B	It switches momentarily to the opposite binary state and then returns to its original state after a set time
C	It maintains a constant output voltage, regardless of variations in the input voltage
D	It produces a continuous square wave oscillating between 1 and 0

32. - E7B06

Which of the following amplifier types reduces even-order harmonics?

Select	Answer
A	Class C
B	Push-pull
C	Class AB
D	Push-push

33. - E7C06

What are the distinguishing features of an elliptical filter?

Select	Answer
A	Extremely flat response over its pass band with gradually rounded stop band corners
B	Gradual passband rolloff with extreme stop band ripple
C	Extremely sharp cutoff with one or more notches in the stop band
D	Gradual passband rolloff with minimal stop band ripple

34. - E7D14

What is the purpose of connecting equal-value resistors across power supply filter capacitors connected in series?

Select	Answer
A	Provide a minimum load on the supply
B	Equalize the voltage across each capacitor
C	All these choices are correct
D	Discharge the capacitors when voltage is removed

35. - E7E11

Which type of detector circuit is used for demodulating SSB signals?

Select	Answer
A	Phase comparator
B	Discriminator
C	Phase detector
D	Product detector

36. - E7F08

What is the function of decimation?

Select	Answer
A	Reducing the effective sample rate by removing samples
B	Attenuating the signal
C	Converting data to binary code decimal form
D	Removing unnecessary significant digits

37. - E7G07

What magnitude of voltage gain can be expected from the circuit in Figure E73 when R1 is 10 ohms and RF is 470 ohms?

Select	Answer
A	0.21
B	94
C	47
D	24

38. - E7H15

Which of these functions can be performed by a phase-locked loop?

Select	Answer
A	Frequency synthesis, FM demodulation
B	Wide-band AF and RF power amplification
C	Comparison of two digital input signals, digital pulse counter
D	Photovoltaic conversion, optical coupling

39. - E8A08

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

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

40. - E8B01

What is the modulation index of an FM signal?

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

41. - E8C08

How does ARQ accomplish error correction?

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

42. - E8D02

What spread spectrum communications technique uses a high-speed binary bit stream to shift the phase of an RF carrier?

Select	Answer
A	Phase compandored spread spectrum
B	Frequency hopping
C	Binary phase-shift keying
D	Direct sequence

43. - E9A02

What is the effective radiated power relative to a dipole of a repeater station with 150 watts transmitter power output, 2 dB feed line loss, 2.2 dB duplexer loss, and 7 dBd antenna gain?

Select	Answer
A	1977 watts
B	420 watts
C	78.7 watts
D	286 watts

44. - E9B11

What is a disadvantage of decreasing the number of wire segments in an antenna model below 10 segments per half-wavelength?

Select	Answer
A	Ground conductivity will not be accurately modeled
B	The resulting design will favor radiation of harmonic energy
C	The antenna will become mechanically unstable
D	The computed feed point impedance may be incorrect

45. - E9C13

How does the radiation pattern of a horizontally polarized 3-element beam antenna vary with increasing height above ground?

Select	Answer
A	The horizontal beamwidth increases
B	The horizontal beamwidth decreases
C	The takeoff angle of the lowest elevation lobe increases
D	The takeoff angle of the lowest elevation lobe decreases

46. - E9D08

What happens as the Q of an antenna increases?

Select	Answer
A	More common-mode current is present on the feed line
B	SWR bandwidth decreases
C	SWR bandwidth increases
D	Gain is reduced

47. - E9E08

What is a use for a Wilkinson divider?

Select	Answer
A	It divides the operating frequency of a transmitter signal so it can be used on a lower frequency band
B	It is used to divide power equally between two 50-ohm loads while maintaining 50-ohm input impedance
C	It is used to feed high-impedance antennas from a low-impedance source
D	It is used to feed low-impedance loads from a high-impedance source

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 higher velocity factor
D	Foam dielectric has lower loss per unit of length

49. - E9G09

What third family of circles is often added to a Smith chart during the process of solving problems?

Select	Answer
A	Antenna-length circles
B	Standing wave ratio circles
C	Coaxial-length circles
D	Radiation-pattern circles

50. - E9H05

What is the main drawback of a small wire-loop antenna for direction finding?

Select	Answer
A	All these choices are correct
B	It has a bidirectional pattern
C	It has no clearly defined null
D	It is practical for use only on VHF and higher bands

Figure E6-1