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

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1. - E0A04

When evaluating a site with multiple transmitters operating at the same time, the operators and licensees of which transmitters are responsible for mitigating over-exposure situations?

Select	Answer
A	Each transmitter operating with a duty cycle greater than 50 percent
B	Only commercial transmitters
C	Only the most powerful transmitter
D	Each transmitter that produces 5 percent or more of its MPE limit in areas where the total MPE limit is exceeded.

2. - E1A14

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

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

3. - E1B01

Which of the following constitutes a spurious emission?

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

4. - E1C04

What is meant by IARP?

Select	Answer
A	The internal amateur radio practices policy of the FCC
B	An international amateur radio permit that allows U.S. amateurs to operate in certain countries of the Americas
C	An indication of increased antenna reflected power
D	A forecast of intermittent aurora radio propagation

5. - E1D08

Which VHF amateur bands have frequencies authorized for space stations?

Select	Answer
A	6 meters and 2 meters
B	2 meters and 1.25 meters
C	6 meters, 2 meters, and 1.25 meters
D	2 meters

6. - E1E09

What may be the penalty for a VE who fraudulently administers or certifies an examination?

Select	Answer
A	A sentence of up to one year in prison
B	A fine of up to $1000 per occurrence
C	All these choices are correct
D	Revocation of the VE's amateur station license grant and the suspension of the VE's amateur operator license grant

7. - E1F10

Who may be the control operator of an auxiliary station?

Select	Answer
A	Only General, Advanced or Amateur Extra Class operators
B	Any licensed amateur operator
C	Only Technician, General, Advanced or Amateur Extra Class operators
D	Only Amateur Extra Class operators

8. - E2A12

What is the purpose of digital store-and-forward functions on an amateur radio satellite?

Select	Answer
A	To relay messages between satellites
B	To upload operational software for the transponder
C	To store digital messages in the satellite for later download by other stations
D	To delay download of telemetry between satellites

9. - E2B01

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

Select	Answer
A	60
B	120
C	90
D	30

10. - E2C09

What type of equipment is commonly used to implement an amateur radio mesh network?

Select	Answer
A	A 2 meter VHF transceiver with a 1200 baud modem
B	A 440 MHz transceiver with a 9600 baud modem
C	An optical cable connection between the USB ports of 2 separate computers
D	A wireless router running custom firmware

11. - E2D03

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

Select	Answer
A	Olivia
B	JT65
C	MSK144
D	PACTOR III

12. - E2E10

Which of these digital modes has the narrowest bandwidth?

Select	Answer
A	MFSK16
B	PSK31
C	300-baud packet
D	170 Hz shift, 45-baud RTTY

13. - E3A05

Tropospheric propagation of microwave signals often occurs in association with what phenomenon?

Select	Answer
A	Warm and cold fronts
B	Lightning discharges
C	Grayline
D	Sprites and jets

14. - E3B01

What is transequatorial propagation?

Select	Answer
A	Propagation between a point on the equator and its antipodal point
B	Propagation between points at the same latitude
C	Propagation between two mid-latitude points at approximately the same distance north and south of the magnetic equator
D	Propagation between points located on the magnetic equator

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. - 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 analyzer near the antenna base
C	Connect the analyzer via a high-impedance transformer to the antenna
D	Loosely couple the antenna and a dummy load to the analyzer

17. - E4B07

What do the subscripts of S parameters represent?

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

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	15.210 MHz
B	13.845 MHz
C	14.755 MHz
D	14.445 MHz

19. - E4D02

Which of the following describes problems caused by poor dynamic range in a receiver?

Select	Answer
A	Oscillator instability and severe audio distortion of all but the strongest received signals
B	Oscillator instability requiring frequent retuning and loss of ability to recover the opposite sideband
C	Cross-modulation of the desired signal and insufficient audio power to operate the speaker
D	Spurious signals caused by cross-modulation and desensitization from strong adjacent signals

20. - E4E04

How can conducted and radiated noise caused by an automobile alternator be suppressed?

Select	Answer
A	By connecting the radio's power leads directly to the battery and by installing coaxial capacitors in line with the alternator leads
B	By installing a noise suppression resistor and a blocking capacitor in both leads
C	By installing a high-pass filter in series with the radio's power lead and a low-pass filter in parallel with the field lead
D	By installing filter capacitors in series with the DC power lead and a blocking capacitor in the field lead

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	7.12 kHz
B	7.12 MHz
C	23.5 kHz
D	23.5 MHz

22. - E5B03

How is impedance in polar form converted to an equivalent admittance?

Select	Answer
A	Square the magnitude and subtract 90 degrees from the angle
B	Take the reciprocal of the angle and change the sign of the magnitude
C	Take the square root of the magnitude and add 180 degrees to the angle
D	Take the reciprocal of the magnitude and change the sign of the angle

23. - E5C02

How are impedances described in polar coordinates?

Select	Answer
A	By X and R values
B	By Y and G values
C	By real and imaginary parts
D	By phase angle and magnitude

24. - E5D02

Why is it important to keep lead lengths short for components used in circuits for VHF and above?

Select	Answer
A	To avoid unwanted inductive reactance
B	To increase the thermal time constant
C	To maintain component lifetime
D	All these choices are correct

25. - E6A04

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

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

26. - E6B09

What is a common use for point-contact diodes?

Select	Answer
A	As a constant voltage source
B	As an RF detector
C	As a high-voltage rectifier
D	As a constant current source

27. - E6C06

Why do CMOS digital integrated circuits have high immunity to noise on the input signal or power supply?

Select	Answer
A	The input switching threshold is about one-half the power supply voltage
B	The input switching threshold is about two times the power supply voltage
C	Large bypass capacitance is inherent
D	Bandwidth is very limited

28. - E6D03

Which of the following is an aspect of the piezoelectric effect?

Select	Answer
A	Mechanical deformation of material by the application of a magnetic field
B	Mechanical deformation of material by the application of a voltage
C	Generation of electrical energy in the presence of light
D	Increased conductivity in the presence of light

29. - E6E06

What characteristics of the MMIC make it a popular choice for VHF through microwave circuits?

Select	Answer
A	The ability to retrieve information from a single signal even in the presence of other strong signals
B	Controlled gain, low noise figure, and constant input and output impedance over the specified frequency range
C	Nearly infinite gain, very high input impedance, and very low output impedance
D	Plate current that is controlled by a control grid

30. - E6F04

What is the photovoltaic effect?

Select	Answer
A	The tendency of a battery to discharge when exposed to light
B	The conversion of voltage to current when exposed to light
C	The conversion of electrical energy to mechanical energy
D	The conversion of light to electrical energy

31. - E7A08

What logical operation does an OR gate perform?

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

32. - E7B16

What is the effect of intermodulation products in a linear power amplifier?

Select	Answer
A	All these choices are correct
B	Creation of parasitic oscillations
C	Transmission of spurious signals
D	Low efficiency

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

34. - E7D02

What is a characteristic of a switching electronic voltage regulator?

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

35. - E7E05

What circuit is added to an FM transmitter to boost the higher audio frequencies?

Select	Answer
A	A heterodyne enhancer
B	A heterodyne suppressor
C	A de-emphasis network
D	A pre-emphasis network

36. - E7F09

Why is an anti-aliasing digital filter required in a digital decimator?

Select	Answer
A	It peaks the response of the decimator, improving bandwidth
B	It removes low-frequency signal components to eliminate the need for DC restoration
C	It notches out the sampling frequency to avoid sampling errors
D	It removes high-frequency signal components that would otherwise be reproduced as lower frequency components

37. - E7G09

What will be the output voltage of the circuit shown in Figure E7-3 if R1 is 1000 ohms, RF is 10,000 ohms, and 0.23 volts DC is applied to the input?

Select	Answer
A	-2.3 volts
B	-0.23 volts
C	0.23 volts
D	2.3 volts

38. - E7H12

Which of the following must be done to ensure that a crystal oscillator provides the frequency specified by the crystal manufacturer?

Select	Answer
A	Provide the crystal with a specified parallel inductance
B	Bias the crystal at a specified current
C	Provide the crystal with a specified parallel capacitance
D	Bias the crystal at a specified voltage

39. - E8A04

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

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

40. - E8B10

What is frequency division multiplexing?

Select	Answer
A	Two or more information streams are merged into a baseband, which then modulates the transmitter
B	The transmitted signal is divided into packets of information
C	The transmitted signal jumps from band to band at a predetermined rate
D	Two or more information streams are merged into a digital combiner, which then pulse position modulates the transmitter

41. - E8C03

Why should phase-shifting of a PSK signal be done at the zero crossing of the RF signal?

Select	Answer
A	To improve carrier suppression
B	To simplify modulation
C	To minimize bandwidth
D	All these choices are correct

42. - E8D03

How does the spread spectrum technique of frequency hopping work?

Select	Answer
A	A binary bit stream is used to shift the phase of an RF carrier very rapidly in a pseudorandom sequence
B	If interference is detected by the receiver it will signal the transmitter to change frequencies
C	If interference is detected by the receiver it will signal the transmitter to wait until the frequency is clear
D	The frequency of the transmitted signal is changed very rapidly according to a pseudorandom sequence also used by the receiving station

43. - E9A01

What is an isotropic antenna?

Select	Answer
A	A spacecraft antenna used to direct signals toward Earth
B	A grounded antenna used to measure Earth conductivity
C	A horizontally polarized antenna used to compare Yagi antennas
D	A theoretical, omnidirectional antenna used as a reference for antenna gain

44. - E9B08

What is the far field of an antenna?

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

45. - E9C06

What is the effect of adding a terminating resistor to a rhombic antenna?

Select	Answer
A	It reflects the standing waves on the antenna elements back to the transmitter
B	It changes the radiation pattern from bidirectional to unidirectional
C	It changes the radiation pattern from horizontal to vertical polarization
D	It decreases the ground loss

46. - E9D07

What is an advantage of using top loading in a shortened HF vertical antenna?

Select	Answer
A	Greater structural strength
B	Improved radiation efficiency
C	Higher losses
D	Lower Q

47. - E9E10

Which of these choices is an effective way to match an antenna with a 100-ohm feed point impedance to a 50-ohm coaxial cable feed line?

Select	Answer
A	Insert a 1/2 wavelength piece of 300-ohm twinlead in series between the antenna terminals and the 50-ohm feed cable
B	Connect a 1/2 wavelength shorted stub of 75-ohm cable in parallel with the 50-ohm cable where it attaches to the antenna
C	Insert a 1/4-wavelength piece of 75-ohm coaxial cable transmission line in series between the antenna terminals and the 50-ohm feed cable
D	Connect a 1/4-wavelength open stub of 300-ohm twinlead in parallel with the coaxial feed line where it connects to the antenna

48. - E9F02

Which of the following has the biggest effect on the velocity factor of a transmission line?

Select	Answer
A	Dielectric materials used in the line
B	The center conductor resistivity
C	The line length
D	The termination impedance

49. - E9G11

How are the wavelength scales on a Smith chart calibrated?

Select	Answer
A	In fractions of antenna electrical frequency
B	In fractions of transmission line electrical wavelength
C	In fractions of transmission line electrical frequency
D	In fractions of antenna electrical wavelength

50. - E9H11

What feature of a cardioid pattern antenna makes it useful for direction finding?

Select	Answer
A	Broadband response
B	A very sharp peak
C	High radiation angle
D	A very sharp single null

Figure E7-3