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

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

3. - E1B06

Which of the following additional rules apply if you are installing an amateur station antenna at a site at or near a public use airport?

Select	Answer
A	You must submit engineering drawings to the FAA
B	You must file an Environmental Impact Statement with the EPA before construction begins
C	You must obtain a construction permit from the airport zoning authority
D	You may have to notify the Federal Aviation Administration and register it with the FCC as required by Part 17 of the FCC rules

4. - E1C12

On what portion of the 630 meter band are phone emissions permitted?

Select	Answer
A	The entire band
B	Only the bottom 3 kHz
C	None
D	Only the top 3 kHz

5. - E1D06

What is the maximum permitted transmitter output power when operating a model craft by telecommand?

Select	Answer
A	2 watts
B	1 watt
C	5 watts
D	100 watts

6. - E1E04

Which of the following best describes the Volunteer Examiner accreditation process?

Select	Answer
A	Each General, Advanced and Amateur Extra Class operator is automatically accredited as a VE when the license is granted
B	The procedure by which a VEC confirms that the VE applicant meets FCC requirements to serve as an examiner
C	The prospective VE obtains accreditation from the FCC
D	The amateur operator applying must pass a VE examination administered by the FCC Enforcement Bureau

7. - E1F04

Which of the following geographic descriptions approximately describes "Line A"?

Select	Answer
A	A line roughly parallel to and west of the U.S. Atlantic coastline
B	A line roughly parallel to and east of the U.S. Pacific coastline
C	A line roughly parallel to and south of the border between the U.S. and Canada
D	A line roughly parallel to and north of the border between the U.S. and Mexico

8. - E2A06

What are Keplerian elements?

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

9. - E2B08

What technique allows commercial analog TV receivers to be used for fast-scan TV operations on the 70 cm band?

Select	Answer
A	Transmitting on channels shared with cable TV
B	Transmitting on the abandoned TV channel 2
C	Using USB and demodulating the signal with a computer sound card
D	Using converted satellite TV dishes

10. - E2C05

What is the function of a DX QSL Manager?

Select	Answer
A	To handle the receiving and sending of confirmation cards for a DX station
B	To relay calls to and from a DX station
C	To run a net to allow many stations to contact a rare DX station
D	To allocate frequencies for DXpeditions

11. - E2D05

What is one advantage of the JT65 mode?

Select	Answer
A	Uses only a 65 Hz bandwidth
B	The ability to decode signals which have a very low signal-to-noise ratio
C	Permits fast-scan TV transmissions over narrow bandwidth
D	Easily copied by ear if necessary

12. - E2E06

What is the most common data rate used for HF packet?

Select	Answer
A	48 baud
B	1200 baud
C	110 baud
D	300 baud

13. - E3A04

What do Hepburn maps predict?

Select	Answer
A	Likelihood of rain scatter along cold or warm fronts
B	Probability of tropospheric propagation
C	Locations of auroral reflecting zones
D	Sporadic E propagation

14. - E3B11

At what time of day can sporadic E propagation occur?

Select	Answer
A	Any time
B	Only in hours of darkness
C	Only around sunset and sunrise
D	Only around sunset

15. - E3C09

How does the intensity of an X3 flare compare to that of an X2 flare?

Select	Answer
A	10 percent greater
B	50 percent greater
C	Twice as great
D	Four times as great

16. - E4A02

Which of the following parameters does a spectrum analyzer display on the vertical and horizontal axes?

Select	Answer
A	SWR and time
B	SWR and frequency
C	RF amplitude and frequency
D	RF amplitude and time

17. - E4B07

What do the subscripts of S parameters represent?

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

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	-164 dBm
B	-174 dBm
C	-155 dBm
D	-148 dBm

19. - E4D04

Which of the following may reduce or eliminate intermodulation interference in a repeater caused by another transmitter operating in close proximity?

Select	Answer
A	A properly terminated circulator at the output of the repeater's transmitter
B	Utilizing a Class D final amplifier
C	A band-pass filter in the feed line between the transmitter and receiver
D	Utilizing a Class C final amplifier

20. - E4E09

What undesirable effect can occur when using an IF noise blanker?

Select	Answer
A	Nearby signals may appear to be excessively wide even if they meet emission standards
B	FM signals can no longer be demodulated
C	The audio frequency bandwidth of the received signal might be compressed
D	Received audio in the speech range might have an echo effect

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	23.5 kHz
B	7.12 MHz
C	7.12 kHz
D	23.5 MHz

22. - E5B06

What is susceptance?

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

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	Maidenhead grid
B	Faraday grid
C	Elliptical coordinates
D	Polar coordinates

24. - E5D01

What is the result of skin effect?

Select	Answer
A	Thermal effects on the surface of the conductor increase the impedance
B	As frequency increases, RF current flows in a thinner layer of the conductor, closer to the surface
C	Thermal effects on the surface of the conductor decrease the impedance
D	As frequency decreases, RF current flows in a thinner layer of the conductor, closer to the surface

25. - E6A04

What is the name given to an impurity atom that adds holes to a semiconductor crystal structure?

Select	Answer
A	Acceptor impurity
B	Insulator impurity
C	Donor impurity
D	N-type impurity

26. - E6B06

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

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

27. - E6C10

In Figure E6-3, what is the schematic symbol for a NOR gate?

Select	Answer
A	3
B	4
C	2
D	1

28. - E6D06

What core material property determines the inductance of an inductor?

Select	Answer
A	Permeability
B	Resistance
C	Thermal impedance
D	Reactivity

29. - E6E08

How is power supplied to the most common type of MMIC?

Select	Answer
A	Directly to the bias voltage (VCC IN) lead
B	Through a capacitor and RF choke connected to the amplifier input lead
C	MMICs require no operating bias
D	Through a resistor and/or RF choke connected to the amplifier output lead

30. - E6F10

What is the most common type of photovoltaic cell used for electrical power generation?

Select	Answer
A	Cadmium Sulfide
B	Copper oxide
C	Selenium
D	Silicon

31. - E7A07

What logical operation does a NAND gate perform?

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

32. - E7B15

What is one way to prevent thermal runaway in a bipolar transistor amplifier?

Select	Answer
A	Neutralization
B	Select transistors with high beta
C	All these choices are correct
D	Use a resistor in series with the emitter

33. - E7C03

What advantage does a series-L Pi-L-network have over a series-L Pi-network for impedance matching between the final amplifier of a vacuum-tube transmitter and an antenna?

Select	Answer
A	Greater harmonic suppression
B	Higher efficiency
C	Greater transformation range
D	Does not require a capacitor

34. - E7D15

What is the purpose of a step-start circuit in a high-voltage power supply?

Select	Answer
A	To provide a dual-voltage output for reduced power applications
B	To allow for remote control of the power supply
C	To allow the filter capacitors to charge gradually
D	To compensate for variations of the incoming line voltage

35. - E7E01

Which of the following can be used to generate FM phone emissions?

Select	Answer
A	A reactance modulator on the final amplifier
B	A balanced modulator on the oscillator
C	A balanced modulator on the audio amplifier
D	A reactance modulator on the oscillator

36. - E7F04

What is a common method of generating an SSB signal using digital signal processing?

Select	Answer
A	Varying quartz crystal characteristics emulated in digital form
B	Mixing products are converted to voltages and subtracted by adder circuits
C	A frequency synthesizer removes the unwanted sidebands
D	Signals are combined in quadrature phase relationship

37. - E7G04

What is meant by the "op-amp input offset voltage"?

Select	Answer
A	The potential between the amplifier input terminals of the op-amp in an open loop condition
B	The output voltage of the op-amp minus its input voltage
C	The differential input voltage needed to bring the open loop output voltage to zero
D	The difference between the output voltage of the op-amp and the input voltage required in the immediately following stage

38. - E7H15

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

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

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

41. - E8C09

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

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

42. - E8D09

What is considered an acceptable maximum IMD level for an idling PSK signal?

Select	Answer
A	+10 dB
B	-30 dB
C	+15 dB
D	-20 dB

43. - E9A11

Which of the following factors determines ground losses for a ground-mounted vertical antenna operating in the 3 MHz to 30 MHz range?

Select	Answer
A	Take-off angle
B	Soil conductivity
C	Distance from the transmitter
D	The standing wave ratio

44. - E9B07

How does the total amount of radiation emitted by a directional gain antenna compare with the total amount of radiation emitted from a theoretical isotropic antenna, assuming each is driven by the same amount of power?

Select	Answer
A	The total amount of radiation from the directional antenna is stronger by its front-to-back ratio
B	The total amount of radiation from the directional antenna is increased by the gain of the antenna
C	They are the same
D	The radiation from the isotropic antenna is 2.15 dB stronger than that from the directional antenna

45. - E9C07

What is the approximate feed point impedance at the center of a two-wire folded dipole antenna?

Select	Answer
A	450 ohms
B	50 ohms
C	300 ohms
D	72 ohms

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	Gain is reduced
C	SWR bandwidth decreases
D	SWR bandwidth increases

47. - E9E09

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

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

48. - E9F07

How does ladder line compare to small-diameter coaxial cable such as RG-58 at 50 MHz?

Select	Answer
A	Lower velocity factor
B	Lower loss
C	Smaller reflection coefficient
D	Higher SWR

49. - E9G07

On the Smith chart shown in Figure E9-3, what is the only straight line shown?

Select	Answer
A	The current axis
B	The voltage axis
C	The reactance axis
D	The resistance axis

50. - E9H02

Which is generally true for low band (160 meter and 80 meter) receiving antennas?

Select	Answer
A	They must be erected at least 1/2 wavelength above the ground to attain good directivity
B	Atmospheric noise is so high that gain over a dipole is not important
C	Low loss coax transmission line is essential for good performance
D	All these choices are correct

Figure E6-3

Figure E9-3