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	Signal Amplification Rating
D	Synthetic Aperture Ratio of the human body

2. - E1A10

If an amateur station is installed aboard a ship or aircraft, what condition must be met before the station is operated?

Select	Answer
A	The amateur station operator must agree not to transmit when the main radio of the ship or aircraft is in use
B	Its operation must be approved by the master of the ship or the pilot in command of the aircraft
C	The amateur operator must have an FCC Marine or Aircraft endorsement on his or her amateur license
D	The amateur station must have a power supply that is completely independent of the main ship or aircraft power supply

3. - E1B09

Which amateur stations may be operated under RACES rules?

Select	Answer
A	Any FCC-licensed amateur station except a Technician Class
B	Only those club stations licensed to Amateur Extra Class operators
C	Any FCC-licensed amateur station certified by the responsible civil defense organization for the area served
D	Any FCC-licensed amateur station participating in the Military Auxiliary Radio System (MARS)

4. - E1C07

At what level below a signal's mean power level is its bandwidth determined according to FCC rules?

Select	Answer
A	3 dB
B	26 dB
C	23 dB
D	6 dB

5. - E1D11

Which amateur stations are eligible to operate as Earth stations?

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

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	Send the application form to the FCC and inform the FCC of the grade
D	Maintain the application form with the VEC's records

7. - E1F03

Under what circumstances may a dealer sell an external RF power amplifier capable of operation below 144 MHz if it has not been granted FCC certification?

Select	Answer
A	It was purchased in used condition from an amateur operator and is sold to another amateur operator for use at that operator's station
B	It was imported from a manufacturer in a country that does not require certification of RF power amplifiers
C	It was imported from a manufacturer in another country and was certificated by that country's government
D	The equipment dealer assembled it from a kit

8. - E2A11

What type of antenna can be used to minimize the effects of spin modulation and Faraday rotation?

Select	Answer
A	A log-periodic dipole array
B	A linearly polarized antenna
C	An isotropic antenna
D	A circularly polarized antenna

9. - E2B10

What aspect of an analog slow-scan television signal encodes the brightness of the picture?

Select	Answer
A	Sync frequency
B	Sync amplitude
C	Tone amplitude
D	Tone frequency

10. - E2C07

What is the Cabrillo format?

Select	Answer
A	The most common set of contest rules
B	The rules of order for meetings between contest sponsors
C	A standard for submission of electronic contest logs
D	A method of exchanging information during a contest QSO

11. - E2D02

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

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

12. - E2E12

How do ALE stations establish contact?

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

13. - E3A04

What do Hepburn maps predict?

Select	Answer
A	Sporadic E propagation
B	Likelihood of rain scatter along cold or warm fronts
C	Locations of auroral reflecting zones
D	Probability of tropospheric propagation

14. - E3B02

What is the approximate maximum range for signals using transequatorial propagation?

Select	Answer
A	1000 miles
B	7500 miles
C	2500 miles
D	5000 miles

15. - E3C01

What does the radio communication term "ray tracing" describe?

Select	Answer
A	Determining the radiation pattern from an array of antennas
B	Evaluating high voltage sources for x-rays
C	The process in which an electronic display presents a pattern
D	Modeling a radio wave's path through the ionosphere

16. - E4A05

What is the purpose of the prescaler function on a frequency counter?

Select	Answer
A	It amplifies low-level signals for more accurate counting
B	It divides a higher frequency signal so a low-frequency counter can display the input frequency
C	It multiplies a higher frequency signal so a low-frequency counter can display the operating frequency
D	It prevents oscillation in a low-frequency counter circuit

17. - E4B11

Which of the following can be measured with a vector network analyzer?

Select	Answer
A	Output impedance
B	Reflection coefficient
C	All these choices are correct
D	Input impedance

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	14.755 MHz
B	13.845 MHz
C	15.210 MHz
D	14.445 MHz

19. - E4D04

Which of the following may reduce or eliminate intermodulation interference in a repeater caused by another transmitter operating in close proximity?

Select	Answer
A	A properly terminated circulator at the output of the repeater's transmitter
B	Utilizing a Class C final amplifier
C	Utilizing a Class D final amplifier
D	A band-pass filter in the feed line between the transmitter and receiver

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

21. - E5A03

What is the magnitude of the impedance of a series RLC circuit at resonance?

Select	Answer
A	Approximately equal to circuit resistance
B	Approximately equal to inductive reactance
C	Approximately equal to capacitive reactance
D	High, as compared to the circuit resistance

22. - E5B07

What is the phase angle between the voltage across and the current through a series RLC circuit if XC is 500 ohms, R is 1 kilohm, and XL is 250 ohms?

Select	Answer
A	14.0 degrees with the voltage lagging the current
B	68.2 degrees with the voltage lagging the current
C	68.2 degrees with the voltage leading the current
D	14.0 degrees with the voltage leading the current

23. - E5C04

What coordinate system is often used to display the resistive, inductive, and/or capacitive reactance components of impedance?

Select	Answer
A	Faraday grid
B	Maidenhead grid
C	Rectangular coordinates
D	Elliptical coordinates

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	100 watts
C	70.7 watts
D	141.4 watts

25. - E6A01

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

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

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	More constant reverse avalanche voltage
C	Longer carrier retention time
D	Less forward voltage drop

27. - E6C01

What is the function of hysteresis in a comparator?

Select	Answer
A	To prevent input noise from causing unstable output signals
B	To allow the comparator to be used with AC input signals
C	To cause the output to change states continually
D	To increase the sensitivity

28. - E6D09

What devices are commonly used as VHF and UHF parasitic suppressors at the input and output terminals of a transistor HF amplifier?

Select	Answer
A	Steel-core toroids
B	Butterworth filters
C	Electrolytic capacitors
D	Ferrite beads

29. - E6E10

What advantage does surface-mount technology offer at RF compared to using through-hole components?

Select	Answer
A	All these choices are correct
B	Smaller circuit area
C	Components have less parasitic inductance and capacitance
D	Shorter circuit-board traces

30. - E6F11

What is the approximate open-circuit voltage produced by a fully illuminated silicon photovoltaic cell?

Select	Answer
A	0.5 V
B	0.1 V
C	1.5 V
D	12 V

31. - E7A06

What is a characteristic of a monostable multivibrator?

Select	Answer
A	It stores one bit of data in either a 0 or 1 state
B	It maintains a constant output voltage, regardless of variations in the input voltage
C	It switches momentarily to the opposite binary state and then returns to its original state after a set time
D	It produces a continuous square wave oscillating between 1 and 0

32. - E7B16

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

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

33. - E7C09

What is a crystal lattice filter?

Select	Answer
A	A filter using lattice-shaped quartz crystals for high-Q performance
B	A power supply filter made with interlaced quartz crystals
C	An audio filter made with four quartz crystals that resonate at 1 kHz intervals
D	A filter with narrow bandwidth and steep skirts made using quartz crystals

34. - E7D03

What device is typically used as a stable voltage reference in a linear voltage regulator?

Select	Answer
A	A Zener diode
B	An SCR
C	A tunnel diode
D	A varactor diode

35. - E7E03

What is a frequency discriminator stage in a FM receiver?

Select	Answer
A	A circuit for filtering two closely adjacent signals
B	A circuit for detecting FM signals
C	An FM generator circuit
D	An automatic band-switching circuit

36. - E7F07

What function is performed by a Fast Fourier Transform?

Select	Answer
A	Converting 8-bit data to 16-bit data
B	Converting digital signals from the time domain to the frequency domain
C	Converting analog signals to digital form
D	Converting digital signals to analog form

37. - E7G05

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

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

38. - E7H03

How is positive feedback supplied in a Hartley oscillator?

Select	Answer
A	Through a tapped coil
B	Through link coupling
C	Through a capacitive divider
D	Through a neutralizing capacitor

39. - E8A03

What type of wave does a Fourier analysis show to be made up of sine waves of a given fundamental frequency plus all its harmonics?

Select	Answer
A	A sawtooth wave
B	A sine wave
C	A cosine wave
D	A square wave

40. - E8B02

How does the modulation index of a phase-modulated emission vary with RF carrier frequency?

Select	Answer
A	It does not depend on the RF carrier frequency
B	It varies with the square root of the RF carrier frequency
C	It increases as the RF carrier frequency increases
D	It decreases as the RF carrier frequency increases

41. - E8C07

What is the bandwidth of a 4800-Hz frequency shift, 9600-baud ASCII FM transmission?

Select	Answer
A	15.36 kHz
B	4.8 kHz
C	9.6 kHz
D	5.76 kHz

42. - E8D11

What is one advantage of using ASCII code for data communications?

Select	Answer
A	It contains fewer information bits per character than any other code
B	It uses one character as a shift code to send numeric and special characters
C	It is possible to transmit both upper and lower case text
D	It includes built-in error correction features

43. - E9A07

What is the effective isotropic radiated power of a repeater station with 200 watts transmitter power output, 2 dB feed line loss, 2.8 dB duplexer loss, 1.2 dB circulator loss, and 7 dBi antenna gain?

Select	Answer
A	632 watts
B	63.2 watts
C	159 watts
D	252 watts

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

45. - E9C14

How does the performance of a horizontally polarized antenna mounted on the side of a hill compare with the same antenna mounted on flat ground?

Select	Answer
A	The main lobe takeoff angle decreases in the downhill direction
B	The horizontal beamwidth increases in the uphill direction
C	The main lobe takeoff angle increases in the downhill direction
D	The horizontal beamwidth decreases in the downhill direction

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	4 dB
C	3 dB
D	6 dB

47. - E9E05

How must an antenna's driven element be tuned to use a hairpin matching system?

Select	Answer
A	The driven element reactance must be capacitive
B	The driven element resonance must be lower than the operating frequency
C	The driven element reactance must be inductive
D	The driven element radiation resistance must be higher than the characteristic impedance of the transmission line

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	10.6 meters
B	13.3 meters
C	7.0 meters
D	8.5 meters

49. - E9G03

Which of the following is often determined using a Smith chart?

Select	Answer
A	Beam headings and radiation patterns
B	Impedance and SWR values in transmission lines
C	Satellite azimuth and elevation bearings
D	Trigonometric functions

50. - E9H06

What is the triangulation method of direction finding?

Select	Answer
A	A fixed receiving station uses three different antennas to plot the location of the signal source
B	Antenna headings from several different receiving locations are used to locate the signal source
C	The geometric angles of sky waves from the source are used to determine its position
D	A fixed receiving station plots three headings to the signal source