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

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1. - E0A10

What toxic material may be present in some electronic components such as high voltage capacitors and transformers?

Select	Answer
A	Polymorphic silicon
B	Polyethylene
C	Polytetrafluoroethylene
D	Polychlorinated biphenyls

2. - E1A08

If a station in a message forwarding system inadvertently forwards a message that is in violation of FCC rules, who is primarily accountable for the rules violation?

Select	Answer
A	The control operators of all the stations in the system not authenticating the source from which they accept communications
B	The control operator of the originating station
C	The control operators of all the stations in the system
D	The control operator of the packet bulletin board station

3. - E1B11

What does PRB-1 require of regulations affecting amateur radio?

Select	Answer
A	Use of wireless devices in a vehicle is exempt from regulation
B	Amateur radio operations must be permitted in any private residence
C	Reasonable accommodations of amateur radio must be made
D	No limitations may be placed on antenna size or placement

4. - E1C01

What is the maximum bandwidth for a data emission on 60 meters?

Select	Answer
A	1.5 kHz
B	2.8 kHz
C	60 Hz
D	170 Hz

5. - E1D09

Which UHF amateur bands have frequencies authorized for space stations?

Select	Answer
A	33 cm and 13 cm
B	70 cm and 33 cm
C	70 cm only
D	70 cm and 13 cm

6. - E1E08

To which of the following examinees may a VE not administer an examination?

Select	Answer
A	Relatives of the VE as listed in the FCC rules
B	Friends of the VE
C	Employees of the VE
D	All these choices are correct

7. - E1F07

When may an amateur station send a message to a business?

Select	Answer
A	When neither the amateur nor his or her employer has a pecuniary interest in the communications
B	When the total money involved does not exceed $25
C	When the control operator is employed by the FCC or another government agency
D	When transmitting international third-party communications

8. - E2A01

What is the direction of an ascending pass for an amateur satellite?

Select	Answer
A	From east to west
B	From north to south
C	From west to east
D	From south to north

9. - E2B01

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

Select	Answer
A	30
B	120
C	60
D	90

10. - E2C02

Which of the following best describes the term self-spotting? in connection with HF contest operating?

Select	Answer
A	The often-prohibited practice of posting one's own call sign and frequency on a spotting network
B	The acceptable practice of manually posting the call signs of stations on a spotting network
C	An automatic method for rapidly zero beating or tuning to a station's frequency before calling that station
D	A manual technique for rapidly zero beating or tuning to a station's frequency before calling that station

11. - E2D11

Which of the following data are used by the APRS network to communicate station location?

Select	Answer
A	Latitude and longitude
B	Time and frequency
C	Radio direction finding spectrum analysis
D	Polar coordinates

12. - E2E02

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

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

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

14. - E3B03

What is the best time of day for transequatorial propagation?

Select	Answer
A	Afternoon or early evening
B	Noon
C	Late at night
D	Morning

15. - E3C06

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

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

16. - E4A03

Which of the following test instruments is used to display spurious signals and/or intermodulation distortion products generated by an SSB transmitter?

Select	Answer
A	A time-domain reflectometer
B	A wattmeter
C	A spectrum analyzer
D	A logic analyzer

17. - E4B05

What three test loads are used to calibrate an RF vector network analyzer?

Select	Answer
A	50 ohms through 1/8 wavelength, 1/4 wavelength, and 1/2 wavelength of coaxial cable
B	Short circuit, open circuit, and 50 ohms
C	50 ohms, 75 ohms, and 90 ohms
D	Short circuit, open circuit, and resonant circuit

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	14.445 MHz
B	14.755 MHz
C	15.210 MHz
D	13.845 MHz

19. - E4D03

How can intermodulation interference between two repeaters occur?

Select	Answer
A	When the repeaters are in close proximity and the signals cause feedback in the final amplifier of one or both transmitters
B	When the signals from the transmitters are reflected out of phase from airplanes passing overhead
C	When the repeaters are in close proximity and the signals mix in the final amplifier of one or both transmitters
D	When the signals from the transmitters are reflected in phase from airplanes passing overhead

20. - E4E11

What could cause local AM broadcast band signals to combine to generate spurious signals in the MF or HF bands?

Select	Answer
A	Your station receiver IF amplifier stage is defective
B	One or more of the broadcast stations is transmitting an over-modulated signal
C	You are receiving skywave signals from a distant station
D	Nearby corroded metal joints are mixing and re-radiating the broadcast signals

21. - E5A03

What is the magnitude of the impedance of a series RLC circuit at resonance?

Select	Answer
A	Approximately equal to capacitive reactance
B	Approximately equal to inductive reactance
C	Approximately equal to circuit resistance
D	High, as compared to the circuit resistance

22. - E5B12

What is admittance?

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

23. - E5C10

Which point on Figure E5-1 best represents the impedance of a series circuit consisting of a 400-ohm resistor and a 38-picofarad capacitor at 14 MHz?

Select	Answer
A	Point 2
B	Point 6
C	Point 4
D	Point 5

24. - E5D09

What happens to reactive power in an AC circuit that has both ideal inductors and ideal capacitors?

Select	Answer
A	It is repeatedly exchanged between the associated magnetic and electric fields, but is not dissipated
B	It is dissipated as kinetic energy in the circuit
C	It is dissipated in the formation of inductive and capacitive fields
D	It is dissipated as heat in the circuit

25. - E6A08

What term indicates the frequency at which the grounded-base current gain of a transistor has decreased to 0.7 of the gain obtainable at 1 kHz?

Select	Answer
A	Alpha rejection frequency
B	Alpha cutoff frequency
C	Corner frequency
D	Beta cutoff frequency

26. - E6B01

What is the most useful characteristic of a Zener diode?

Select	Answer
A	A constant voltage drop under conditions of varying current
B	A negative resistance region
C	An internal capacitance that varies with the applied voltage
D	A constant current drop under conditions of varying voltage

27. - E6C07

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

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

28. - E6D06

What core material property determines the inductance of an inductor?

Select	Answer
A	Permeability
B	Resistance
C	Reactivity
D	Thermal impedance

29. - E6E04

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

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

30. - E6F05

Which describes an optical shaft encoder?

Select	Answer
A	A digital encryption device often used to encrypt spacecraft control signals
B	A device for generating RTTY signals by means of a rotating light source
C	A device that detects rotation of a control by interrupting a light source with a patterned wheel
D	A device that measures the strength of a beam of light using analog to digital conversion

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 1 at its output only when all inputs are logic 1
D	It produces logic 0 at its output if some but not all inputs are logic 1

32. - E7B12

What type of amplifier circuit is shown in Figure E7-1?

Select	Answer
A	Common emitter
B	Common base
C	Emitter follower
D	Common collector

33. - E7C01

How are the capacitors and inductors of a low-pass filter Pi-network arranged between the network's input and output?

Select	Answer
A	An inductor is connected between the input and ground, another inductor is connected between the output and ground, and a capacitor is connected between the input and output
B	Two inductors are in series between the input and output, and a capacitor is connected between the two inductors and ground
C	A capacitor is connected between the input and ground, another capacitor is connected between the output and ground, and an inductor is connected between input and output
D	Two capacitors are in series between the input and output, and an inductor is connected between the two capacitors and ground

34. - E7D02

What is a characteristic of a switching electronic voltage regulator?

Select	Answer
A	The resistance of a control element is varied in direct proportion to the line voltage or load current
B	The controlled device's duty cycle is changed to produce a constant average output voltage
C	It is generally less efficient than a linear regulator
D	It gives a ramp voltage at its output

35. - E7E08

What are the principal frequencies that appear at the output of a mixer circuit?

Select	Answer
A	1.414 and 0.707 times the input frequency
B	Two and four times the original frequency
C	The two input frequencies along with their sum and difference frequencies
D	The square root of the product of input frequencies

36. - E7F10

What aspect of receiver analog-to-digital conversion determines the maximum receive bandwidth of a Direct Digital Conversion SDR?

Select	Answer
A	Sample width in bits
B	Sample rate
C	Processor latency
D	Sample clock phase noise

37. - E7G05

How can unwanted ringing and audio instability be prevented in an op-amp RC audio filter circuit?

Select	Answer
A	Restrict gain but increase Q
B	Restrict both gain and Q
C	Restrict Q but increase gain
D	Increase both gain and Q

38. - E7H06

Which of the following oscillator circuits are commonly used in VFOs?

Select	Answer
A	Armstrong and deForest
B	Negative feedback and balanced feedback
C	Pierce and Zener
D	Colpitts and Hartley

39. - E8A01

What is the name of the process that shows that a square wave is made up of a sine wave plus all its odd harmonics?

Select	Answer
A	Differential analysis
B	Numerical analysis
C	Fourier analysis
D	Vector analysis

40. - E8B05

What is the deviation ratio of an FM-phone signal having a maximum frequency swing of plus-or-minus 5 kHz when the maximum modulation frequency is 3 kHz?

Select	Answer
A	1.67
B	60
C	0.6
D	0.167

41. - E8C02

What is the definition of symbol rate in a digital transmission?

Select	Answer
A	The rate at which the waveform changes to convey information
B	The number of characters carried per second by the station-to-station link
C	The duration of each bit in a message sent over the air
D	The number of control characters in a message packet

42. - E8D06

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

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

43. - E9A05

What is included in the total resistance of an antenna system?

Select	Answer
A	Radiation resistance plus transmission resistance
B	Radiation resistance plus loss resistance
C	Transmission-line resistance plus radiation resistance
D	Radiation resistance plus space impedance

44. - E9B10

What is the principle of a Method of Moments analysis?

Select	Answer
A	A wire is modeled as a single sine-wave current generator
B	A wire is modeled as a series of segments, each having a distinct value of voltage across it
C	A wire is modeled as a series of segments, each having a uniform value of current
D	A wire is modeled as a single sine-wave voltage source

45. - E9C02

What is the radiation pattern of two 1/4-wavelength vertical antennas spaced 1/4 wavelength apart and fed 90 degrees out of phase?

Select	Answer
A	Cardioid
B	A figure-8 end-fire along the axis of the array
C	A figure-8 broadside to the axis of the array
D	Omni-directional

46. - E9D08

What happens as the Q of an antenna increases?

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

47. - E9E11

What is the primary purpose of phasing lines when used with an antenna having multiple driven elements?

Select	Answer
A	It allows single-band antennas to operate on other bands
B	It prevents reflected power from traveling back down the feed line and causing harmonic radiation from the transmitter
C	It creates a low-angle radiation pattern
D	It ensures that each driven element operates in concert with the others to create the desired antenna pattern

48. - E9F05

What is the approximate physical length of a solid polyethylene dielectric coaxial transmission line that is electrically 1/4 wavelength long at 14.1 MHz?

Select	Answer
A	4.3 meters
B	3.5 meters
C	5.3 meters
D	10.6 meters

49. - E9G03

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

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

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

Figure E5-1

Figure E7-1