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

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1. - E0A01

What is the primary function of an external earth connection or ground rod?

Select	Answer
A	Reduce RFI to telephones and home entertainment systems
B	Reduce received noise
C	Lightning protection
D	Reduce RF current flow between pieces of equipment

2. - E1A07

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

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

3. - E1B01

Which of the following constitutes a spurious emission?

Select	Answer
A	A signal transmitted to prevent its detection by any station other than the intended recipient
B	An amateur station transmission made without the proper call sign identification
C	Any transmitted signal that unintentionally interferes with another licensed radio station
D	An emission outside the signal's necessary bandwidth that can be reduced or eliminated without affecting the information transmitted

4. - E1C01

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

Select	Answer
A	2.8 kHz
B	170 Hz
C	1.5 kHz
D	60 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 and 13 cm
D	70 cm only

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	All these choices are correct
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	Issue the examinee the new or upgrade license

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

8. - E2A06

What are Keplerian elements?

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

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. - E2C01

What indicator is required to be used by U.S.-licensed operators when operating a station via remote control and the remote transmitter is located in the U.S.?

Select	Answer
A	/ followed by the USPS two-letter abbreviation for the state in which the remote station is located
B	/ followed by the ARRL Section of the remote station
C	/R# where # is the district of the remote station
D	No additional indicator is required

11. - E2D02

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

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

12. - E2E11

What is the difference between direct FSK and audio FSK?

Select	Answer
A	Direct FSK applies the data signal to the transmitter VFO, while AFSK transmits tones via phone
B	Direct FSK occupies less bandwidth
C	Direct FSK can transmit faster baud rates
D	Only direct FSK can be decoded by computer

13. - E3A14

What is meant by circularly polarized electromagnetic waves?

Select	Answer
A	Waves with a rotating electric field
B	Waves with an electric field bent into a circular shape
C	Waves that circle the Earth
D	Waves produced by a loop antenna

14. - E3B12

What is the primary characteristic of chordal hop propagation?

Select	Answer
A	Propagation across the geomagnetic equator
B	Propagation away from the great circle bearing between stations
C	Signals reflected back toward the transmitting station
D	Successive ionospheric refractions without an intermediate reflection from the ground

15. - E3C13

What type of polarization is best for ground-wave propagation?

Select	Answer
A	Vertical
B	Circular
C	Horizontal
D	Elliptical

16. - E4A09

Which of the following is good practice when using an oscilloscope probe?

Select	Answer
A	Never use a high-impedance probe to measure a low-impedance circuit
B	Never use a DC-coupled probe to measure an AC circuit
C	Keep the signal ground connection of the probe as short as possible
D	All these choices are correct

17. - E4B05

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

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

18. - E4C12

Which of the following has the largest effect on an SDR receiver's dynamic range?

Select	Answer
A	Anti-aliasing input filter bandwidth
B	RAM speed used for data storage
C	Analog-to-digital converter sample width in bits
D	CPU register width in bits

19. - E4D01

What is meant by the blocking dynamic range of a receiver?

Select	Answer
A	The minimum difference in dB between the levels of two FM signals that will cause one signal to block the other
B	The minimum difference in dB between two signals which produce third-order intermodulation products greater than the noise floor
C	The difference in dB between the noise floor and the level of an incoming signal that will cause 1 dB of gain compression
D	The difference in dB between the noise floor and the third-order intercept point

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

21. - E5A07

What is the magnitude of the current at the input of a parallel RLC circuit at resonance?

Select	Answer
A	Minimum
B	L/R
C	Maximum
D	R/L

22. - E5B06

What is susceptance?

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

23. - E5C01

Which of the following represents capacitive reactance in rectangular notation?

Select	Answer
A	Omega
B	-jX
C	Delta
D	+jX

24. - E5D12

How many watts are consumed in a circuit having a power factor of 0.2 if the input is 100 VAC at 4 amperes?

Select	Answer
A	400 watts
B	50 watts
C	2000 watts
D	80 watts

25. - E6A05

How does DC input impedance at the gate of a field-effect transistor compare with the DC input impedance of a bipolar transistor?

Select	Answer
A	They are both low impedance
B	An FET has lower input impedance
C	An FET has higher input impedance
D	They are both high impedance

26. - E6B11

What is used to control the attenuation of RF signals by a PIN diode?

Select	Answer
A	Reverse voltage larger than the RF signal
B	Forward DC bias current
C	A sub-harmonic pump signal
D	Capacitance of an RF coupling capacitor

27. - E6C11

In Figure E6-3, what is the schematic symbol for the NOT operation (inverter)?

Select	Answer
A	2
B	5
C	6
D	4

28. - E6D08

What is one reason for using powdered-iron cores rather than ferrite cores in an inductor?

Select	Answer
A	Powdered-iron cores generally maintain their characteristics at higher currents
B	Powdered-iron cores generally have greater initial permeability
C	Powdered-iron cores use smaller diameter wire for the same inductance
D	Powdered-iron cores generally require fewer turns to produce a given inductance

29. - E6E01

Why is gallium arsenide (GaAs) useful for semiconductor devices operating at UHF and higher frequencies?

Select	Answer
A	Lower transconductance
B	Higher electron mobility
C	Lower junction voltage drop
D	Higher noise figures

30. - E6F10

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

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

31. - E7A08

What logical operation does an OR gate perform?

Select	Answer
A	It only produces logic 0 at its output when all inputs are logic 1
B	It produces logic 0 at its output if all inputs are logic 1
C	It produces logic 1 at its output if any or all inputs are logic 1
D	It produces logic 1 at its output if all inputs are logic 0

32. - E7B03

Which of the following components form the output of a class D amplifier circuit?

Select	Answer
A	A high-pass filter to compensate for low gain at low frequencies
B	A low-pass filter to remove switching signal components
C	A matched load resistor to prevent damage by switching transients
D	A temperature compensating load resistor to improve linearity

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

34. - E7D06

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

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

35. - E7E04

What is one way a single-sideband phone signal can be generated?

Select	Answer
A	By using a balanced modulator followed by a filter
B	By using a loop modulator followed by a mixer
C	By driving a product detector with a DSB signal
D	By using a reactance modulator followed by a mixer

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

37. - E7G11

What absolute voltage gain can be expected from the circuit in Figure E7-3 when R1 is 3300 ohms and RF is 47 kilohms?

Select	Answer
A	14
B	28
C	7
D	0.07

38. - E7H05

How is positive feedback supplied in a Pierce oscillator?

Select	Answer
A	Through a quartz crystal
B	Through link coupling
C	Through a neutralizing capacitor
D	Through a tapped coil

39. - E8A04

What is "dither" with respect to analog-to-digital converters?

Select	Answer
A	An error caused by irregular quantization step size
B	An abnormal condition where the converter cannot settle on a value to represent the signal
C	A method of decimation by randomly skipping samples
D	A small amount of noise added to the input signal to allow more precise representation of a signal over time

40. - E8B02

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

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

41. - E8C10

How may data rate be increased without increasing bandwidth?

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

42. - E8D07

What is a common cause of overmodulation of AFSK signals?

Select	Answer
A	Bit errors in the modem
B	Ground loops
C	Excessive transmit audio levels
D	Excessive numbers of retries

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	126 watts
C	2000 watts
D	300 watts

44. - E9B08

What is the far field of an antenna?

Select	Answer
A	The region of the ionosphere where radiated power is not refracted
B	The region where the shape of the antenna pattern is independent of distance
C	The region where radiated field strengths are constant
D	The region where radiated power dissipates over a specified time period

45. - E9C12

Which of the following describes an Extended Double Zepp antenna?

Select	Answer
A	An end-fed folded dipole antenna
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	A portable antenna erected using two push support poles

46. - E9D04

Why should an HF mobile antenna loading coil have a high ratio of reactance to resistance?

Select	Answer
A	To minimize the Q
B	To lower the radiation angle
C	To minimize losses
D	To swamp out harmonics

47. - E9E11

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

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

48. - E9F01

What is the velocity factor of a transmission line?

Select	Answer
A	The velocity of the wave in the transmission line multiplied by the velocity of light in a vacuum
B	The velocity of the wave in the transmission line divided by the velocity of light in a vacuum
C	The index of shielding for coaxial cable
D	The ratio of the characteristic impedance of the line to the terminating impedance

49. - E9G10

What do the arcs on a Smith chart represent?

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

50. - E9H06

What is the triangulation method of direction finding?

Select	Answer
A	Antenna headings from several different receiving locations are used to locate the signal source
B	The geometric angles of sky waves from the source are used to determine its position
C	A fixed receiving station uses three different antennas to plot the location of the signal source
D	A fixed receiving station plots three headings to the signal source

Figure E6-3

Figure E7-2

Figure E7-3