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	Beryllium Oxide
B	Zinc oxide
C	Mica
D	Uranium Hexafluoride

2. - E1A07

What is the maximum power permitted on the 2200 meter band?

Select	Answer
A	50 watts PEP
B	5 watts EIRP (Equivalent isotropic radiated power)
C	100 watts PEP
D	1 watt EIRP (Equivalent isotropic radiated power)

3. - E1B03

Within what distance must an amateur station protect an FCC monitoring facility from harmful interference?

Select	Answer
A	1 mile
B	10 miles
C	3 miles
D	30 miles

4. - E1C07

At what level below a signal's mean power level is its bandwidth determined according to FCC rules?

Select	Answer
A	26 dB
B	3 dB
C	6 dB
D	23 dB

5. - E1D10

Which amateur stations are eligible to be telecommand stations of space stations (subject to the privileges of the class of operator license held by the control operator of the station)?

Select	Answer
A	Any amateur station designated by NASA
B	All these choices are correct
C	Any amateur station so designated by the space station licensee
D	Any amateur station so designated by the ITU

6. - E1E12

What must the VE team do with the application form if the examinee does not pass the exam?

Select	Answer
A	Maintain the application form with the VEC's records
B	Destroy the application form
C	Send the application form to the FCC and inform the FCC of the grade
D	Return the application document to the examinee

7. - E1F09

Which of the following conditions apply when transmitting spread spectrum emissions?

Select	Answer
A	A station transmitting SS emission must not cause harmful interference to other stations employing other authorized emissions
B	All these choices are correct
C	The transmitting station must be in an area regulated by the FCC or in a country that permits SS emissions
D	The transmission must not be used to obscure the meaning of any communication

8. - E2A03

How is the signal inverted by an inverting linear transponder?

Select	Answer
A	The signal is detected and remodulated on the reverse sideband
B	The signal is passed through a non-linear filter
C	The signal is reduced to I and Q components and the Q component is filtered out
D	The signal is passed through a mixer and the difference rather than the sum is transmitted

9. - E2B12

What signals SSTV receiving software to begin a new picture line?

Select	Answer
A	Specific tone frequencies
B	A two-tone signal
C	Elapsed time
D	Specific tone amplitudes

10. - E2C08

Which of the following contacts may be confirmed through the U.S. QSL bureau system?

Select	Answer
A	Repeater contacts between U.S. club members
B	Contacts between a U.S. station and a non-U.S. station
C	Special event contacts between stations in the U.S.
D	Contacts using tactical call signs

11. - E2D02

Which of the following is a good technique for making meteor scatter contacts?

Select	Answer
A	15-second timed transmission sequences with stations alternating based on location
B	Short transmissions with rapidly repeated call signs and signal reports
C	Use of special digital modes
D	All these choices are correct

12. - E2E03

How is the timing of FT4 contacts organized?

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

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. - E3B10

Why is chordal hop propagation desirable?

Select	Answer
A	The MUF for chordal hop propagation is much lower than for normal skip propagation
B	Signals travel faster along ionospheric chords
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. - E3C06

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

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

16. - E4A11

How should an antenna analyzer be connected when measuring antenna resonance and feed point impedance?

Select	Answer
A	Connect the antenna feed line directly to the analyzer's connector
B	Loosely couple the antenna and a dummy load to the analyzer
C	Loosely couple the analyzer near the antenna base
D	Connect the analyzer via a high-impedance transformer to the antenna

17. - E4B11

Which of the following can be measured with a vector network analyzer?

Select	Answer
A	Reflection coefficient
B	Input impedance
C	All these choices are correct
D	Output impedance

18. - E4C01

What is an effect of excessive phase noise in a receiver's local oscillator?

Select	Answer
A	It can combine with strong signals on nearby frequencies to generate interference
B	It decreases receiver third-order intercept point
C	It limits the receiver's ability to receive strong signals
D	It can affect the receiver's frequency calibration

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

20. - E4E08

What current flows equally on all conductors of an unshielded multi-conductor cable?

Select	Answer
A	Return current
B	Reactive current only
C	Differential-mode current
D	Common-mode current

21. - E5A08

What is the phase relationship between the current through and the voltage across a series resonant circuit at resonance?

Select	Answer
A	The voltage and current are 180 degrees out of phase
B	The current leads the voltage by 90 degrees
C	The voltage and current are in phase
D	The voltage leads the current by 90 degrees

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

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 4
B	Point 2
C	Point 5
D	Point 6

24. - E5D13

How many watts are consumed in a circuit consisting of a 100-ohm resistor in series with a 100-ohm inductive reactance drawing 1 ampere?

Select	Answer
A	100 watts
B	200 watts
C	141.4 watts
D	70.7 watts

25. - E6A09

What is a depletion-mode FET?

Select	Answer
A	Any FET for which holes are the majority carriers
B	Any FET without a channel
C	An FET that has no current flow between source and drain when no gate voltage is applied
D	An FET that exhibits a current flow between source and drain when no gate voltage is applied

26. - E6B10

In Figure E6-2, what is the schematic symbol for a light-emitting diode?

Select	Answer
A	6
B	5
C	1
D	7

27. - E6C02

What happens when the level of a comparator's input signal crosses the threshold?

Select	Answer
A	The feedback loop becomes unstable
B	The IC input can be damaged
C	The comparator enters latch-up
D	The comparator changes its output state

28. - E6D02

What is the equivalent circuit of a quartz crystal?

Select	Answer
A	Motional capacitance, motional inductance, loss resistance, and a capacitor representing electrode and stray capacitance all in series
B	Motional capacitance, motional inductance, and loss resistance in series, all in parallel with a shunt capacitor representing electrode and stray capacitance
C	Motional inductance and loss resistance in series, paralleled with motional capacitance and a capacitor representing electrode and stray capacitance
D	Motional capacitance, motional inductance, loss resistance, and a capacitor representing electrode and stray capacitance all in parallel

29. - E6E10

What advantage does surface-mount technology offer at RF compared to using through-hole components?

Select	Answer
A	Shorter circuit-board traces
B	All these choices are correct
C	Smaller circuit area
D	Components have less parasitic inductance and capacitance

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

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 produces a continuous square wave oscillating between 1 and 0
C	It switches momentarily to the opposite binary state and then returns to its original state after a set time
D	It maintains a constant output voltage, regardless of variations in the input voltage

32. - E7B09

Which of the following describes how the loading and tuning capacitors are to be adjusted when tuning a vacuum tube RF power amplifier that employs a Pi-network output circuit?

Select	Answer
A	The loading capacitor is adjusted to minimum plate current while alternately adjusting the tuning capacitor for maximum allowable plate current
B	The loading capacitor is set to maximum capacitance and the tuning capacitor is adjusted for minimum allowable plate current
C	The tuning capacitor is set to maximum capacitance and the loading capacitor is adjusted for minimum plate permissible current
D	The tuning capacitor is adjusted for minimum plate current, and the loading capacitor is adjusted for maximum permissible plate current

33. - E7C07

Which describes a Pi-L-network used for matching a vacuum tube final amplifier to a 50-ohm unbalanced output?

Select	Answer
A	A network with only three discrete parts
B	A matching network in which all components are isolated from ground
C	A Phase Inverter Load network
D	A Pi-network with an additional series inductor on the output

34. - E7D08

What type of circuit is shown in Figure E7-2?

Select	Answer
A	Grounded emitter amplifier
B	Linear voltage regulator
C	Switching voltage regulator
D	Monostable multivibrator

35. - E7E06

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

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

36. - E7F12

Which of the following is an advantage of a Finite Impulse Response (FIR) filter vs an Infinite Impulse Response (IIR) digital filter?

Select	Answer
A	FIR filters can delay all frequency components of the signal by the same amount
B	FIR filters are easier to implement for a given set of passband rolloff requirements
C	All these choices are correct
D	FIR filters can respond faster to impulses

37. - E7G08

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

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

38. - E7H03

How is positive feedback supplied in a Hartley oscillator?

Select	Answer
A	Through a capacitive divider
B	Through a neutralizing capacitor
C	Through a tapped coil
D	Through link coupling

39. - E8A06

What is the approximate ratio of PEP-to-average power in a typical single-sideband phone signal?

Select	Answer
A	1 to 1
B	2.5 to 1
C	100 to 1
D	25 to 1

40. - E8B02

How does the modulation index of a phase-modulated emission vary with RF carrier frequency?

Select	Answer
A	It varies with the square root of the RF carrier frequency
B	It decreases as the RF carrier frequency increases
C	It increases as the RF carrier frequency increases
D	It does not depend on the RF carrier frequency

41. - E8C10

How may data rate be increased without increasing bandwidth?

Select	Answer
A	It is impossible
B	Using forward error correction
C	Increasing analog-to-digital conversion resolution
D	Using a more efficient digital code

42. - E8D04

What is the primary effect of extremely short rise or fall time on a CW signal?

Select	Answer
A	More difficult to copy
B	Limits data speed
C	The generation of key clicks
D	The generation of RF harmonics

43. - E9A06

What is the effective radiated power relative to a dipole of a repeater station with 200 watts transmitter power output, 4 dB feed line loss, 3.2 dB duplexer loss, 0.8 dB circulator loss, and 10 dBd antenna gain?

Select	Answer
A	317 watts
B	300 watts
C	2000 watts
D	126 watts

44. - E9B03

In the antenna radiation pattern shown in Figure E9-1, what is the front-to-side ratio?

Select	Answer
A	14 dB
B	18 dB
C	24 dB
D	12 dB

45. - E9C12

Which of the following describes an Extended Double Zepp antenna?

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

46. - E9D05

What usually occurs if a Yagi antenna is designed solely for maximum forward gain?

Select	Answer
A	The front-to-back ratio decreases
B	The SWR is reduced
C	The front-to-back ratio increases
D	The frequency response is widened over the whole frequency band

47. - E9E06

Which of these feed line impedances would be suitable for constructing a quarter-wave Q-section for matching a 100-ohm loop to 50-ohm feed line?

Select	Answer
A	50 ohms
B	75 ohms
C	450 ohms
D	62 ohms

48. - E9F07

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

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

49. - E9G08

What is the process of normalization with regard to a Smith chart?

Select	Answer
A	Reassigning prime center with regard to the reactance axis
B	Reassigning reactance values with regard to the resistance axis
C	Reassigning resistance values with regard to the reactance axis
D	Reassigning impedance values with regard to the prime center

50. - E9H04

What is an advantage of placing a grounded electrostatic shield around a small loop direction-finding antenna?

Select	Answer
A	It increases signal strength by providing a better match to the feed line
B	It eliminates tracking errors caused by strong out-of-band signals
C	It adds capacitive loading, increasing the bandwidth of the antenna
D	It eliminates unbalanced capacitive coupling to the surroundings, improving the nulls

Figure E5-1

Figure E6-2

Figure E7-2

Figure E9-1