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

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1. - E0A06

Why are there separate electric (E) and magnetic (H) field MPE limits?

Select	Answer
A	E field and H field radiation intensity peaks can occur at different locations
B	The body reacts to electromagnetic radiation from both the E and H fields
C	All these choices are correct
D	Ground reflections and scattering make the field strength vary with location

2. - E1A08

If a station in a message forwarding system inadvertently forwards a message that is in violation of FCC rules, who is primarily accountable for the rules violation?

Select	Answer
A	The control operators of all the stations in the system not authenticating the source from which they accept communications
B	The control operator of the packet bulletin board station
C	The control operator of the originating station
D	The control operators of all the stations in the system

3. - E1B08

What limitations may the FCC place on an amateur station if its signal causes interference to domestic broadcast reception, assuming that the receivers involved are of good engineering design?

Select	Answer
A	The amateur station must cease operation on all frequencies below 30 MHz
B	The amateur station must cease operation on all frequencies above 30 MHz
C	The amateur station must avoid transmitting during certain hours on frequencies that cause the interference
D	The amateur station must cease operation

4. - E1C11

Which of the following operating arrangements allows an FCC-licensed U.S. citizen to operate in many European countries, and alien amateurs from many European countries to operate in the U.S.?

Select	Answer
A	IARP agreement
B	All these choices are correct
C	ITU reciprocal license
D	CEPT agreement

5. - E1D11

Which amateur stations are eligible to operate as Earth stations?

Select	Answer
A	Only those of Amateur Extra Class operators
B	Any amateur station, subject to the privileges of the class of operator license held by the control operator
C	Only those of General, Advanced or Amateur Extra Class operators
D	Any amateur station whose licensee has filed a pre-space notification with the FCC's International Bureau

6. - E1E06

Who is responsible for the proper conduct and necessary supervision during an amateur operator license examination session?

Select	Answer
A	The VEC coordinating the session
B	Each administering VE
C	The FCC
D	The VE session manager

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

8. - E2A04

What is meant by the term mode? as applied to an amateur radio satellite?

Select	Answer
A	Whether the satellite is in a low earth or geostationary orbit
B	The satellite's uplink and downlink frequency bands
C	The satellite's orientation with respect to the Earth
D	Whether the satellite is in a polar or equatorial orbit

9. - E2B06

What is vestigial sideband modulation?

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

10. - E2C11

How should you generally identify your station when attempting to contact a DX station during a contest or in a pileup?

Select	Answer
A	Send your full call sign once or twice
B	Send only the last two letters of your call sign until you make contact
C	Send the call sign of the DX station three times, the words this is,then your call sign three times
D	Send your full call sign and grid square

11. - E2D07

What digital protocol is used by APRS?

Select	Answer
A	AMTOR
B	PACTOR
C	AX.25
D	802.11

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 can transmit faster baud rates
C	Only direct FSK can be decoded by computer
D	Direct FSK occupies less bandwidth

13. - E3A08

When a meteor strikes the Earth's atmosphere, a cylindrical region of free electrons is formed at what layer of the ionosphere?

Select	Answer
A	The E layer
B	The D layer
C	The F1 layer
D	The F2 layer

14. - E3B04

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

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

15. - E3C02

What is indicated by a rising A or K index?

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

16. - E4A07

Which of the following is an advantage of using an antenna analyzer compared to an SWR bridge to measure antenna SWR?

Select	Answer
A	All these choices are correct
B	Antenna analyzers display a time-varying representation of the modulation envelope
C	Antenna analyzers automatically tune your antenna for resonance
D	Antenna analyzers do not need an external RF source

17. - E4B08

Which of the following can be used to measure the Q of a series-tuned circuit?

Select	Answer
A	The frequency shift
B	The inductance to capacitance ratio
C	The bandwidth of the circuit's frequency response
D	The resonant frequency of the circuit

18. - E4C13

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

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

19. - E4D09

What is the purpose of the preselector in a communications receiver?

Select	Answer
A	To allow selection of the optimum RF amplifier device
B	To store often-used frequencies
C	To increase rejection of signals outside the desired band
D	To provide a range of AGC time constants

20. - E4E09

What undesirable effect can occur when using an IF noise blanker?

Select	Answer
A	Received audio in the speech range might have an echo effect
B	The audio frequency bandwidth of the received signal might be compressed
C	Nearby signals may appear to be excessively wide even if they meet emission standards
D	FM signals can no longer be demodulated

21. - E5A14

What is the resonant frequency of an RLC circuit if R is 22 ohms, L is 50 microhenries and C is 40 picofarads?

Select	Answer
A	44.72 MHz
B	22.36 MHz
C	1.78 MHz
D	3.56 MHz

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

23. - E5C09

When using rectangular coordinates to graph the impedance of a circuit, what do the axes represent?

Select	Answer
A	The X axis represents the magnitude and the Y axis represents the phase angle
B	The X axis represents the reactive component and the Y axis represents the resistive component
C	The X axis represents the resistive component and the Y axis represents the reactive component
D	The X axis represents the phase angle and the Y axis represents the magnitude

24. - E5D09

What happens to reactive power in an AC circuit that has both ideal inductors and ideal capacitors?

Select	Answer
A	It is dissipated as kinetic energy in the circuit
B	It is dissipated as heat in the circuit
C	It is dissipated in the formation of inductive and capacitive fields
D	It is repeatedly exchanged between the associated magnetic and electric fields, but is not dissipated

25. - E6A01

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

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

26. - E6B04

What type of semiconductor device is designed for use as a voltage-controlled capacitor?

Select	Answer
A	Varactor diode
B	Silicon-controlled rectifier
C	Tunnel diode
D	Zener diode

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	Bandwidth is very limited
D	Large bypass capacitance is inherent

28. - E6D10

What is a primary advantage of using a toroidal core instead of a solenoidal core in an inductor?

Select	Answer
A	Toroidal cores make it easier to couple the magnetic energy into other components
B	Toroidal cores exhibit greater hysteresis
C	Toroidal cores have lower Q characteristics
D	Toroidal cores confine most of the magnetic field within the core material

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	Components have less parasitic inductance and capacitance
C	Smaller circuit area
D	All these choices are correct

30. - E6F10

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

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

31. - E7A04

How many flip-flops are required to divide a signal frequency by 4?

Select	Answer
A	2
B	4
C	1
D	8

32. - E7B11

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

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

33. - E7C06

What are the distinguishing features of an elliptical filter?

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

34. - E7D05

Which of the following types of linear voltage regulator places a constant load on the unregulated voltage source?

Select	Answer
A	A shunt current source
B	A constant current source
C	A shunt regulator
D	A series regulator

35. - E7E02

What is the function of a reactance modulator?

Select	Answer
A	To produce AM signals by using an electrically variable inductance or capacitance
B	To produce PM or FM signals by using an electrically variable inductance or capacitance
C	To produce AM signals by using an electrically variable resistance
D	To produce PM signals by using an electrically variable resistance

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

37. - E7G08

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

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

38. - E7H11

What are the major spectral impurity components of direct digital synthesizers?

Select	Answer
A	Spurious signals at discrete frequencies
B	Digital conversion noise
C	Broadband noise
D	Nyquist limit noise

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	Numerical analysis
C	Differential analysis
D	Vector analysis

40. - E8B03

What is the modulation index of an FM-phone signal having a maximum frequency deviation of 3000 Hz either side of the carrier frequency when the modulating frequency is 1000 Hz?

Select	Answer
A	0.3
B	3000
C	3
D	1000

41. - E8C02

What is the definition of symbol rate in a digital transmission?

Select	Answer
A	The number of characters carried per second by the station-to-station link
B	The duration of each bit in a message sent over the air
C	The rate at which the waveform changes to convey information
D	The number of control characters in a message packet

42. - E8D01

Why are received spread spectrum signals resistant to interference?

Select	Answer
A	The receiver is always equipped with a digital blanker
B	Signals not using the spread spectrum algorithm are suppressed in the receiver
C	If interference is detected by the receiver it will signal the transmitter to change frequencies
D	The high power used by a spread spectrum transmitter keeps its signal from being easily overpowered

43. - E9A09

What is antenna efficiency?

Select	Answer
A	Radiation resistance divided by total resistance
B	Radiation resistance divided by transmission resistance
C	Effective radiated power divided by transmitter output
D	Total resistance divided by radiation resistance

44. - E9B10

What is the principle of a Method of Moments analysis?

Select	Answer
A	A wire is modeled as a series of segments, each having a distinct value of voltage across it
B	A wire is modeled as a single sine-wave voltage source
C	A wire is modeled as a series of segments, each having a uniform value of current
D	A wire is modeled as a single sine-wave current generator

45. - E9C06

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

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

46. - E9D06

What happens to the SWR bandwidth when one or more loading coils are used to resonate an electrically short antenna?

Select	Answer
A	It is unchanged if the loading coil is located at the feed point
B	It is unchanged if the loading coil is located at a voltage maximum point
C	It is decreased
D	It is increased

47. - E9E08

What is a use for a Wilkinson divider?

Select	Answer
A	It is used to feed low-impedance loads from a high-impedance source
B	It divides the operating frequency of a transmitter signal so it can be used on a lower frequency band
C	It is used to divide power equally between two 50-ohm loads while maintaining 50-ohm input impedance
D	It is used to feed high-impedance antennas from a low-impedance source

48. - E9F06

What is the approximate physical length of an air-insulated, parallel conductor transmission line that is electrically 1/2 wavelength long at 14.10 MHz?

Select	Answer
A	13.3 meters
B	8.5 meters
C	10.6 meters
D	7.0 meters

49. - E9G07

On the Smith chart shown in Figure E9-3, what is the only straight line shown?

Select	Answer
A	The resistance axis
B	The current axis
C	The reactance axis
D	The voltage axis

50. - E9H03

What is Receiving Directivity Factor (RDF)?

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

Figure E7-1

Figure E9-3