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

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1. - E0A03

Over what range of frequencies are the FCC human body RF exposure limits most restrictive?

Select	Answer
A	30 to 300 MHz
B	300 kHz to 3 MHz
C	3 to 30 MHz
D	300 to 3000 MHz

2. - E1A02

When using a transceiver that displays the carrier frequency of phone signals, which of the following displayed frequencies represents the lowest frequency at which a properly adjusted LSB emission will be totally within the band?

Select	Answer
A	1 kHz above the lower band edge
B	300 Hz above the lower band edge
C	The exact lower band edge
D	3 kHz above the lower band edge

3. - E1B04

What must be done before placing an amateur station within an officially designated wilderness area or wildlife preserve, or an area listed in the National Register of Historic Places?

Select	Answer
A	A letter of intent must be filed with the Environmental Protection Agency
B	A proposal must be submitted to the National Park Service
C	An Environmental Assessment must be submitted to the FCC
D	A form FSD-15 must be submitted to the Department of the Interior

4. - E1C06

Which of the following is required in order to operate in accordance with CEPT rules in foreign countries where permitted?

Select	Answer
A	You must identify in the official language of the country in which you are operating
B	You must append "/CEPT" to your call sign
C	The U.S. embassy must approve of your operation
D	You must bring a copy of FCC Public Notice DA 16-1048

5. - E1D06

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

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

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	Three VEs must certify that the examinee is qualified for the license grant and that they have complied with the administering VE requirements
B	All these choices are correct
C	Issue the examinee the new or upgrade license
D	Photocopy all examination documents and forward them to the FCC for processing

7. - E1F04

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

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

8. - E2A08

Why should effective radiated power to a satellite that uses a linear transponder be limited?

Select	Answer
A	To avoid reducing the downlink power to all other users
B	To avoid interfering with terrestrial QSOs
C	To prevent creating errors in the satellite telemetry
D	To prevent the satellite from emitting out-of-band signals

9. - E2B01

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

Select	Answer
A	120
B	60
C	90
D	30

10. - E2C02

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

Select	Answer
A	The acceptable practice of manually posting the call signs of stations on a spotting network
B	The often-prohibited practice of posting one's own call sign and frequency 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. - E2D10

How can an APRS station be used to help support a public service communications activity?

Select	Answer
A	All these choices are correct
B	An APRS station with a Global Positioning System unit can automatically transmit information to show a mobile station's position during the event
C	APRS stations with General Personnel Scanners can automatically relay the participant numbers and time as they pass the check points
D	An APRS station with an emergency medical technician can automatically transmit medical data to the nearest hospital

12. - E2E05

Which of these digital modes does not support keyboard-to-keyboard operation?

Select	Answer
A	PSK31
B	PACTOR
C	MFSK
D	RTTY

13. - E3A09

Which of the following frequency ranges is most suited for meteor scatter communications?

Select	Answer
A	28 MHz - 148 MHz
B	10 MHz - 14 MHz
C	220 MHz - 450 MHz
D	1.8 MHz - 1.9 MHz

14. - E3B09

At what time of year is sporadic E propagation most likely to occur?

Select	Answer
A	Around the equinoxes, especially the fall equinox
B	Around the equinoxes, especially the spring equinox
C	Around the solstices, especially the winter solstice
D	Around the solstices, especially the summer solstice

15. - E3C02

What is indicated by a rising A or K index?

Select	Answer
A	Higher levels of solar UV radiation
B	Decreasing disruption of the geomagnetic field
C	Increasing disruption of the geomagnetic field
D	An increase in the critical frequency

16. - E4A08

Which of the following measures SWR?

Select	Answer
A	A Q meter
B	A spectrum analyzer
C	An ohmmeter
D	An antenna analyzer

17. - E4B06

How much power is being absorbed by the load when a directional power meter connected between a transmitter and a terminating load reads 100 watts forward power and 25 watts reflected power?

Select	Answer
A	75 watts
B	125 watts
C	25 watts
D	100 watts

18. - E4C15

What is reciprocal mixing?

Select	Answer
A	Local oscillator phase noise mixing with adjacent strong signals to create interference to desired signals
B	Two digital signals combining from alternate time slots
C	Two out-of-band signals mixing to generate an in-band spurious signal
D	In-phase signals cancelling in a mixer resulting in loss of receiver sensitivity

19. - E4D10

What does a third-order intercept level of 40 dBm mean with respect to receiver performance?

Select	Answer
A	Signals less than 40 dBm will not generate audible third-order intermodulation products
B	A pair of 1 mW input signals will produce a third-order intermodulation product that is 40 dB stronger than the input signal
C	A pair of 40 dBm input signals will theoretically generate a third-order intermodulation product that has the same output amplitude as either of the input signals
D	The receiver can tolerate signals up to 40 dB above the noise floor without producing third-order intermodulation products

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

21. - E5A12

What is the half-power bandwidth of a resonant circuit that has a resonant frequency of 3.7 MHz and a Q of 118?

Select	Answer
A	436.6 kHz
B	31.4 kHz
C	218.3 kHz
D	15.7 kHz

22. - E5B09

What is the relationship between the AC current through a capacitor and the voltage across a capacitor?

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

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 phase angle and magnitude
D	By real and imaginary parts

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	200 watts
B	70.7 watts
C	141.4 watts
D	100 watts

25. - E6A11

In Figure E6-1, what is the schematic symbol for a P-channel junction FET?

Select	Answer
A	1
B	2
C	6
D	3

26. - E6B02

What is an important characteristic of a Schottky diode as compared to an ordinary silicon diode when used as a power supply rectifier?

Select	Answer
A	Much higher reverse voltage breakdown
B	Less forward voltage drop
C	Longer carrier retention time
D	More constant reverse avalanche voltage

27. - E6C03

What is tri-state logic?

Select	Answer
A	Proprietary logic devices manufactured by Tri-State Devices
B	Logic devices with 0, 1, and high-impedance output states
C	Logic devices that utilize ternary math
D	Low-power logic devices designed to operate at 3 volts

28. - E6D01

Why should core saturation of an impedance matching transformer be avoided?

Select	Answer
A	Harmonics and distortion could result
B	Magnetic flux would increase with frequency
C	RF susceptance would increase
D	Temporary changes of the core permeability could result

29. - E6E07

What type of transmission line is used for connections to MMICs?

Select	Answer
A	Microstrip
B	Miniature coax
C	Parallel wire
D	Circular waveguide

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

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 produces logic 1 at its output if all inputs are logic 0
D	It only produces logic 0 at its output when all inputs are logic 1

32. - E7B11

In Figure E7-1, what is the purpose of R3?

Select	Answer
A	Emitter bypass
B	Fixed bias
C	Output load resistor
D	Self bias

33. - E7C10

Which of the following filters would be the best choice for use in a 2 meter band repeater duplexer?

Select	Answer
A	An L-C filter
B	A cavity filter
C	A crystal filter
D	A DSP filter

34. - E7D09

What is the main reason to use a charge controller with a solar power system?

Select	Answer
A	Matching of day and night charge rates
B	Control of electrolyte levels during battery discharge
C	Prevention of battery damage due to overcharge
D	Prevention of battery undercharge

35. - E7E08

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

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

36. - E7F11

What sets the minimum detectable signal level for a direct-sampling SDR receiver in the absence of atmospheric or thermal noise?

Select	Answer
A	Missing codes and jitter
B	Reference voltage level and sample width in bits
C	Sample clock phase noise
D	Data storage transfer rate

37. - E7G12

What is an operational amplifier?

Select	Answer
A	An amplifier used to increase the average output of frequency modulated amateur signals to the legal limit
B	A RF amplifier used in the UHF and microwave regions
C	A digital audio amplifier whose characteristics are determined by components external to the amplifier
D	A high-gain, direct-coupled differential amplifier with very high input impedance and very low output impedance

38. - E7H09

What type of frequency synthesizer circuit uses a phase accumulator, lookup table, digital to analog converter, and a low-pass anti-alias filter?

Select	Answer
A	A direct digital synthesizer
B	A diode-switching matrix synthesizer
C	A phase-locked loop synthesizer
D	A hybrid synthesizer

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	Fourier analysis
B	Vector analysis
C	Differential analysis
D	Numerical analysis

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

41. - E8C05

What is the approximate bandwidth of a 13-WPM International Morse Code transmission?

Select	Answer
A	26 Hz
B	52 Hz
C	13 Hz
D	104 Hz

42. - E8D10

What are some of the differences between the Baudot digital code and ASCII?

Select	Answer
A	Baudot uses 5 data bits per character, ASCII uses 7 or 8; Baudot uses 2 characters as letters/figures shift codes, ASCII has no letters/figures shift code
B	Baudot uses 4 data bits per character, ASCII uses 7 or 8; Baudot uses 1 character as a letters/figures shift code, ASCII has no letters/figures code
C	Baudot uses 6 data bits per character, ASCII uses 7 or 8; Baudot has no letters/figures shift code, ASCII uses 2 letters/figures shift codes
D	Baudot uses 7 data bits per character, ASCII uses 8; Baudot has no letters/figures shift code, ASCII uses 2 letters/figures shift codes

43. - E9A12

How much gain does an antenna have compared to a 1/2-wavelength dipole when it has 6 dB gain over an isotropic antenna?

Select	Answer
A	3.85 dB
B	8.15 dB
C	6.0 dB
D	2.79 dB

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. - E9C11

How is the far-field elevation pattern of a vertically polarized antenna affected by being mounted over seawater versus soil?

Select	Answer
A	Fewer vertical angle lobes will be present
B	Additional higher vertical angle lobes will appear
C	The low-angle radiation decreases
D	The low-angle radiation increases

46. - E9D09

What is the function of a loading coil used as part of an HF mobile antenna?

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

48. - E9F08

Which of the following is a significant difference between foam dielectric coaxial cable and solid dielectric cable, assuming all other parameters are the same?

Select	Answer
A	Foam dielectric has lower safe operating voltage limits
B	All these choices are correct
C	Foam dielectric has higher velocity factor
D	Foam dielectric has lower loss per unit of length

49. - E9G04

What are the two families of circles and arcs that make up a Smith chart?

Select	Answer
A	Voltage and impedance
B	Reactance and voltage
C	Resistance and voltage
D	Resistance and reactance

50. - E9H05

What is the main drawback of a small wire-loop antenna for direction finding?

Select	Answer
A	It is practical for use only on VHF and higher bands
B	It has no clearly defined null
C	It has a bidirectional pattern
D	All these choices are correct

Figure E6-1

Figure E7-1

Figure E9-1