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

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1. - E0A02

When evaluating RF exposure levels from your station at a neighbor's home, what must you do?

Select	Answer
A	Ensure signals from your station are less than the controlled Maximum Permitted Emission (MPE) limits
B	Ensure signals from your station are less than the uncontrolled Maximum Permitted Exposure (MPE) limits
C	Ensure signals from your station are less than the controlled Maximum Permitted Exposure (MPE) limits
D	Ensure signals from your station are less than the uncontrolled Maximum Permitted Emission (MPE) limits

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

3. - E1B05

What is the National Radio Quiet Zone?

Select	Answer
A	An area in New Mexico surrounding the White Sands Test Area
B	An area in Puerto Rico surrounding the Arecibo Radio Telescope
C	An area in Florida surrounding Cape Canaveral
D	An area surrounding the National Radio Astronomy Observatory

4. - E1C04

What is meant by IARP?

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

5. - E1D02

Which of the following may transmit special codes intended to obscure the meaning of messages?

Select	Answer
A	Data containing personal information
B	Binary control characters
C	Auxiliary relay links carrying repeater audio
D	Telecommand signals from a space telecommand station

6. - E1E05

What is the minimum passing score on all amateur operator license examinations?

Select	Answer
A	Minimum passing score of 74%
B	Minimum passing score of 77%
C	Minimum passing score of 70%
D	Minimum passing score of 80%

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 east of the U.S. Pacific coastline
D	A line roughly parallel to and west of the U.S. Atlantic coastline

8. - E2A02

Which of the following occurs when a satellite is using an inverting linear transponder?

Select	Answer
A	Upper sideband on the uplink becomes lower sideband on the downlink, and vice versa
B	Signal position in the band is reversed
C	All these choices are correct
D	Doppler shift is reduced because the uplink and downlink shifts are in opposite directions

9. - E2B11

What is the function of the Vertical Interval Signaling (VIS) code sent as part of an SSTV transmission?

Select	Answer
A	To identify the call sign of the station transmitting
B	To identify the SSTV mode being used
C	To provide vertical synchronization
D	To lock the color burst oscillator in color SSTV images

10. - E2C02

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

Select	Answer
A	A manual technique for rapidly zero beating or tuning to a station's frequency before calling that station
B	An automatic method for rapidly zero beating or tuning to a station's frequency before calling that station
C	The acceptable practice of manually posting the call signs of stations on a spotting network
D	The often-prohibited practice of posting one's own call sign and frequency on a spotting network

11. - E2D02

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

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

12. - E2E09

Which of the following HF digital modes uses variable-length coding for bandwidth efficiency?

Select	Answer
A	PACTOR
B	PSK31
C	RTTY
D	MT63

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 F2 layer
D	The F1 layer

14. - E3B07

What happens to linearly polarized radio waves that split into ordinary and extraordinary waves in the ionosphere?

Select	Answer
A	They become phase locked
B	They become elliptically polarized
C	They are bent toward the magnetic poles
D	They become depolarized

15. - E3C13

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

Select	Answer
A	Horizontal
B	Vertical
C	Elliptical
D	Circular

16. - E4A10

Which of the following displays multiple digital signal states simultaneously?

Select	Answer
A	Modulation monitor
B	Logic analyzer
C	Bit error rate tester
D	Network analyzer

17. - E4B10

Which of the following methods measures intermodulation distortion in an SSB transmitter?

Select	Answer
A	Modulate the transmitter using two RF signals having harmonically related frequencies and observe the RF output with a logic analyzer
B	Modulate the transmitter using two AF signals having harmonically related frequencies and observe the RF output with a peak reading wattmeter
C	Modulate the transmitter using two RF signals having non-harmonically related frequencies and observe the RF output with a spectrum analyzer
D	Modulate the transmitter using two AF signals having non-harmonically related frequencies and observe the RF output with a spectrum analyzer

18. - E4C10

What is an advantage of having a variety of receiver IF bandwidths from which to select?

Select	Answer
A	Receiver power consumption can be reduced when wider bandwidth is not required
B	The noise figure of the RF amplifier can be adjusted to match the modulation type, thus increasing receiver sensitivity
C	Multiple frequencies can be received simultaneously if desired
D	Receive bandwidth can be set to match the modulation bandwidth, maximizing signal-to-noise ratio and minimizing interference

19. - E4D10

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

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

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

21. - E5A10

How is the Q of an RLC series resonant circuit calculated?

Select	Answer
A	Reactance of the inductance multiplied by the reactance of the capacitance
B	Resistance divided by the reactance of either the inductance or capacitance
C	Reactance of either the inductance or capacitance multiplied by the resistance
D	Reactance of either the inductance or capacitance divided by the resistance

22. - E5B02

What letter is commonly used to represent susceptance?

Select	Answer
A	X
B	Y
C	B
D	G

23. - E5C01

Which of the following represents capacitive reactance in rectangular notation?

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

24. - E5D06

In what direction is the magnetic field oriented about a conductor in relation to the direction of electron flow?

Select	Answer
A	In a direction opposite to the current
B	In a circle around the conductor
C	In the same direction as the current
D	In all directions; omni-directional

25. - E6A12

Why do many MOSFET devices have internally connected Zener diodes on the gates?

Select	Answer
A	To reduce the chance of static damage to the gate
B	To provide a voltage reference for the correct amount of reverse-bias gate voltage
C	To protect the substrate from excessive voltages
D	To keep the gate voltage within specifications and prevent the device from overheating

26. - E6B03

What type of bias is required for an LED to emit light?

Select	Answer
A	Reverse bias
B	Zero bias
C	Forward bias
D	Inductive bias

27. - E6C06

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

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

28. - E6D04

Which materials are commonly used as a core in an inductor?

Select	Answer
A	Ferrite and brass
B	Cobalt and aluminum
C	Teflon and Delrin
D	Polystyrene and polyethylene

29. - E6E06

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

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

30. - E6F02

What happens to the conductivity of a photoconductive material when light shines on it?

Select	Answer
A	It stays the same
B	It decreases
C	It becomes unstable
D	It increases

31. - E7A09

What logical operation is performed by an exclusive NOR gate?

Select	Answer
A	It produces logic 1 at its output only if all inputs are logic 1
B	It produces logic 0 at its output only if all inputs are logic 0
C	It produces logic 1 at its output if only one input is logic 1
D	It produces logic 0 at its output if only one input is logic 1

32. - E7B18

What is a characteristic of a grounded-grid amplifier?

Select	Answer
A	High filament voltage
B	Low bandwidth
C	High power gain
D	Low input impedance

33. - E7C08

Which of the following factors has the greatest effect on the bandwidth and response shape of a crystal ladder filter?

Select	Answer
A	The DC voltage applied to the quartz crystal
B	The relative frequencies of the individual crystals
C	The gain of the RF stage preceding the filter
D	The amplitude of the signals passing through the filter

34. - E7D14

What is the purpose of connecting equal-value resistors across power supply filter capacitors connected in series?

Select	Answer
A	Equalize the voltage across each capacitor
B	Discharge the capacitors when voltage is removed
C	Provide a minimum load on the supply
D	All these choices are correct

35. - E7E05

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

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

36. - E7F12

Which of the following is an advantage of a Finite Impulse Response (FIR) filter vs an Infinite Impulse Response (IIR) digital filter?

Select	Answer
A	FIR filters can delay all frequency components of the signal by the same amount
B	FIR filters can respond faster to impulses
C	FIR filters are easier to implement for a given set of passband rolloff requirements
D	All these choices are correct

37. - E7G03

What is the typical input impedance of an op-amp?

Select	Answer
A	Very low
B	1000 ohms
C	100 ohms
D	Very high

38. - E7H06

Which of the following oscillator circuits are commonly used in VFOs?

Select	Answer
A	Armstrong and deForest
B	Colpitts and Hartley
C	Negative feedback and balanced feedback
D	Pierce and Zener

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 method of decimation by randomly skipping samples
C	An abnormal condition where the converter cannot settle on a value to represent the signal
D	A small amount of noise added to the input signal to allow more precise representation of a signal over time

40. - E8B05

What is the deviation ratio of an FM-phone signal having a maximum frequency swing of plus-or-minus 5 kHz when the maximum modulation frequency is 3 kHz?

Select	Answer
A	0.167
B	1.67
C	0.6
D	60

41. - E8C05

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

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

42. - E8D01

Why are received spread spectrum signals resistant to interference?

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

43. - E9A04

Which of the following factors affect the feed point impedance of an antenna?

Select	Answer
A	Antenna height
B	The settings of an antenna tuner at the transmitter
C	Transmission line length
D	The input power level

44. - E9B02

In the antenna radiation pattern shown in Figure E9-1, what is the front-to-back ratio?

Select	Answer
A	18 dB
B	36 dB
C	14 dB
D	24 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. - E9D01

How much does the gain of an ideal parabolic dish antenna change when the operating frequency is doubled?

Select	Answer
A	2 dB
B	3 dB
C	4 dB
D	6 dB

47. - E9E04

What is the purpose of the series capacitor in a gamma-type antenna matching network?

Select	Answer
A	To provide a rejection notch that prevents the radiation of harmonics
B	To provide DC isolation between the feed line and the antenna
C	To cancel the inductive reactance of the matching network
D	To transform the antenna impedance to a higher value

48. - E9F04

What impedance does a 1/2-wavelength transmission line present to a generator when the line is shorted at the far end?

Select	Answer
A	The same as the characteristic impedance of the line
B	The same as the output impedance of the generator
C	Very low impedance
D	Very high impedance

49. - E9G05

Which of the following is a common use for a Smith chart?

Select	Answer
A	Determine the gain of an antenna given the physical and electrical parameters
B	Determine the impedance of a transmission line, given the physical dimensions
C	Determine the length and position of an impedance matching stub
D	Determine the loss/100 feet of a transmission line, given the velocity factor and conductor materials

50. - E9H05

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

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

Figure E9-1