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

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1. - E0A08

What does SAR measure?

Select	Answer
A	The rate at which RF energy is absorbed by the body
B	The rate of RF energy reflected from stationary terrain
C	Synthetic Aperture Ratio of the human body
D	Signal Amplification Rating

2. - E1A11

Which of the following describes authorization or licensing required when operating an amateur station aboard a U.S.-registered vessel in international waters?

Select	Answer
A	An unrestricted Radiotelephone Operator Permit
B	Only General Class or higher amateur licenses
C	Any FCC-issued amateur license
D	Any amateur license with an FCC Marine or Aircraft endorsement

3. - E1B10

What frequencies are authorized to an amateur station operating under RACES rules?

Select	Answer
A	Military Auxiliary Radio System (MARS) channels
B	Specific local government channels
C	All amateur service frequencies authorized to the control operator
D	Specific segments in the amateur service MF, HF, VHF and UHF bands

4. - E1C04

What is meant by IARP?

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

5. - E1D06

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

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

6. - E1E12

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

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

7. - E1F10

Who may be the control operator of an auxiliary station?

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

8. - E2A07

Which of the following types of signals can be relayed through a linear transponder?

Select	Answer
A	SSB and SSTV
B	PSK and packet
C	All these choices are correct
D	FM and CW

9. - E2B06

What is vestigial sideband modulation?

Select	Answer
A	Spread spectrum modulation achieved by applying FM modulation following single sideband amplitude modulation
B	Narrow-band FM modulation achieved by filtering one sideband from the audio before frequency modulating the carrier
C	Amplitude modulation in which one complete sideband and a portion of the other are transmitted
D	A type of modulation in which one sideband is inverted

10. - E2C04

Which of the following frequencies are sometimes used for amateur radio mesh networks?

Select	Answer
A	Cable TV channels 41 through 43
B	Frequencies shared with various unlicensed wireless data services
C	HF frequencies where digital communications are permitted
D	The 60 meter band channel centered on 5373 kHz

11. - E2D02

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

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

12. - E2E12

How do ALE stations establish contact?

Select	Answer
A	ALE radios send a constant tone code to establish a frequency for future use
B	ALE radios monitor an internet site for the frequency they are being paged on
C	ALE constantly scans a list of frequencies, activating the radio when the designated call sign is received
D	ALE radios activate when they hear their signal echoed by back scatter

13. - E3A07

Atmospheric ducts capable of propagating microwave signals often form over what geographic feature?

Select	Answer
A	Bodies of water
B	Urban areas
C	Forests
D	Mountain ranges

14. - E3B04

What is meant by the terms "extraordinary" and "ordinary" waves?

Select	Answer
A	Independent waves created in the ionosphere that are elliptically polarized
B	Extraordinary waves describe rare long-skip propagation compared to ordinary waves, which travel shorter distances
C	Long-path and short-path waves
D	Refracted rays and reflected waves

15. - E3C08

What does the space weather term G5 mean?

Select	Answer
A	Very low solar activity
B	Moderate solar wind
C	An extreme geomagnetic storm
D	Waning sunspot numbers

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 wattmeter
B	A time-domain reflectometer
C	A spectrum analyzer
D	A logic 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	125 watts
B	100 watts
C	25 watts
D	75 watts

18. - E4C13

How does a narrow-band roofing filter affect receiver performance?

Select	Answer
A	It improves intelligibility by using low Q circuitry to reduce ringing
B	It improves sensitivity by reducing front end noise
C	All these choices are correct
D	It improves dynamic range by attenuating strong signals near the receive frequency

19. - E4D01

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

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

20. - E4E02

Which of the following types of noise can often be reduced with a digital signal processing noise filter?

Select	Answer
A	Power line noise
B	Ignition noise
C	Broadband white noise
D	All these choices are correct

21. - E5A01

What can cause the voltage across reactances in a series RLC circuit to be higher than the voltage applied to the entire circuit?

Select	Answer
A	Resistance
B	Resonance
C	Capacitance
D	Conductance

22. - E5B08

What is the phase angle between the voltage across and the current through a series RLC circuit if XC is 100 ohms, R is 100 ohms, and XL is 75 ohms?

Select	Answer
A	14 degrees with the voltage lagging the current
B	76 degrees with the voltage lagging the current
C	14 degrees with the voltage leading the current
D	76 degrees with the voltage leading the current

23. - E5C01

Which of the following represents capacitive reactance in rectangular notation?

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

24. - E5D15

What is the power factor of an RL circuit having a 45-degree phase angle between the voltage and the current?

Select	Answer
A	1.0
B	0.5
C	0.707
D	0.866

25. - E6A01

In what application is gallium arsenide used as a semiconductor material?

Select	Answer
A	In microwave circuits
B	In high-current rectifier circuits
C	In high-power audio circuits
D	In very low-frequency RF circuits

26. - E6B11

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

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

27. - E6C11

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

Select	Answer
A	4
B	6
C	2
D	5

28. - E6D01

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

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

29. - E6E03

Which of the following materials is likely to provide the highest frequency of operation when used in MMICs?

Select	Answer
A	Silicon nitride
B	Silicon
C	Gallium nitride
D	Silicon dioxide

30. - E6F04

What is the photovoltaic effect?

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

31. - E7A11

What type of logic defines "1" as a high voltage?

Select	Answer
A	Assertive Logic
B	Reverse Logic
C	Negative logic
D	Positive Logic

32. - E7B12

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

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

33. - E7C06

What are the distinguishing features of an elliptical filter?

Select	Answer
A	Extremely sharp cutoff with one or more notches in the stop band
B	Gradual passband rolloff with extreme stop band ripple
C	Gradual passband rolloff with minimal stop band ripple
D	Extremely flat response over its pass band with gradually rounded stop band corners

34. - E7D11

What is the function of the pass transistor in a linear voltage regulator circuit?

Select	Answer
A	Maintains nearly constant output impedance over a wide range of load current
B	Provides a stable input impedance over a wide range of source voltage
C	Permits a wide range of output voltage settings
D	Maintains nearly constant output voltage over a wide range of load current

35. - E7E04

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

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

36. - E7F06

What is the minimum number of bits required for an analog-to-digital converter to sample a signal with a range of 1 volt at a resolution of 1 millivolt?

Select	Answer
A	4 bits
B	6 bits
C	8 bits
D	10 bits

37. - E7G05

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

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

38. - E7H08

Which of the following components can be used to reduce thermal drift in crystal oscillators?

Select	Answer
A	Non-inductive resistors
B	NP0 capacitors
C	Toroidal inductors
D	Wirewound resistors

39. - E8A09

How many different input levels can be encoded by an analog-to-digital converter with 8-bit resolution?

Select	Answer
A	256
B	256 divided by the gain of the input amplifier
C	8
D	8 multiplied by the gain of the input amplifier

40. - E8B10

What is frequency division multiplexing?

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

41. - E8C01

How is Forward Error Correction implemented?

Select	Answer
A	By transmitting a special algorithm to the receiving station along with the data characters
B	By the receiving station repeating each block of three data characters
C	By transmitting extra data that may be used to detect and correct transmission errors
D	By varying the frequency shift of the transmitted signal according to a predefined algorithm

42. - E8D08

What parameter evaluates distortion of an AFSK signal caused by excessive input audio levels?

Select	Answer
A	Baud rate
B	Repeat Request Rate (RRR)
C	Intermodulation Distortion (IMD)
D	Signal-to-noise ratio

43. - E9A05

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

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

44. - E9B07

How does the total amount of radiation emitted by a directional gain antenna compare with the total amount of radiation emitted from a theoretical isotropic antenna, assuming each is driven by the same amount of power?

Select	Answer
A	The total amount of radiation from the directional antenna is stronger by its front-to-back ratio
B	They are the same
C	The total amount of radiation from the directional antenna is increased by the gain of the antenna
D	The radiation from the isotropic antenna is 2.15 dB stronger than that from the directional antenna

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

46. - E9D11

Which of the following conductors would be best for minimizing losses in a station's RF ground system?

Select	Answer
A	Resistive wire, such as spark plug wire
B	Solid wire
C	Stranded wire
D	Wide flat copper strap

47. - E9E03

What is the name of the matching system that uses a section of transmission line connected in parallel with the feed line at or near the feed point?

Select	Answer
A	The gamma match
B	The delta match
C	The omega match
D	The stub match

48. - E9F01

What is the velocity factor of a transmission line?

Select	Answer
A	The ratio of the characteristic impedance of the line to the terminating impedance
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 velocity of the wave in the transmission line multiplied by the velocity of light in a vacuum

49. - E9G04

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

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

50. - E9H03

What is Receiving Directivity Factor (RDF)?

Select	Answer
A	Relative directivity compared to a dipole
B	Forward gain compared to the gain in the reverse direction
C	Relative directivity compared to isotropic
D	Forward gain compared to average gain over the entire hemisphere

Figure E6-3

Figure E7-1