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	Signal Amplification Rating
C	Synthetic Aperture Ratio of the human body
D	The rate of RF energy reflected from stationary terrain

2. - E1A03

What is the maximum legal carrier frequency on the 20 meter band for transmitting USB AFSK digital signals having a 1 kHz bandwidth?

Select	Answer
A	14.100 MHz
B	14.070 MHz
C	14.349 MHz
D	14.149 MHz

3. - E1B07

To what type of regulations does PRB-1 apply?

Select	Answer
A	Use of wireless devices in vehicles
B	FAA tower height limits
C	State and local zoning
D	Homeowners associations

4. - E1C07

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

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

5. - E1D03

What is a space telecommand station?

Select	Answer
A	An amateur station located on the surface of the Earth for communication with other Earth stations by means of Earth satellites
B	An amateur station that transmits communications to initiate, modify or terminate functions of a space station
C	An amateur station that receives telemetry from a satellite or balloon more than 50 kilometers above the surface of the Earth
D	An amateur station located in a satellite or a balloon more than 50 kilometers above the surface of the Earth

6. - E1E10

What must the administering VEs do after the administration of a successful examination for an amateur operator license?

Select	Answer
A	They must collect and submit the documents to the coordinating VEC for grading
B	They must submit the application document to the coordinating VEC according to the coordinating VEC instructions
C	They must collect and send the documents to the NCVEC for grading
D	They must collect and send the documents to the FCC according to instructions

7. - E1F01

On what frequencies are spread spectrum transmissions permitted?

Select	Answer
A	Only on amateur frequencies above 420 MHz
B	Only on amateur frequencies above 222 MHz
C	Only on amateur frequencies above 50 MHz
D	Only on amateur frequencies above 144 MHz

8. - E2A05

What do the letters in a satellite's mode designator specify?

Select	Answer
A	The location of the ground control station
B	The polarization of uplink and downlink signals
C	The uplink and downlink frequency ranges
D	Power limits for uplink and downlink transmissions

9. - E2B06

What is vestigial sideband modulation?

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

10. - E2C10

Why might a DX station state that they are listening on another frequency?

Select	Answer
A	To separate the calling stations from the DX station
B	Because the DX station may be transmitting on a frequency that is prohibited to some responding stations
C	To improve operating efficiency by reducing interference
D	All these choices are correct

11. - E2D03

Which of the following digital modes is especially useful for EME communications?

Select	Answer
A	Olivia
B	PACTOR III
C	JT65
D	MSK144

12. - E2E08

Which of the following HF digital modes can be used to transfer binary files?

Select	Answer
A	AMTOR
B	Hellschreiber
C	PACTOR
D	RTTY

13. - E3A10

Which type of atmospheric structure can create a path for microwave propagation?

Select	Answer
A	Temperature inversion
B	Dust devil
C	The jet stream
D	Wind shear

14. - E3B07

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

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

15. - E3C15

What might be indicated by a sudden rise in radio background noise across a large portion of the HF spectrum?

Select	Answer
A	Increased transequatorial propagation is likely
B	A solar flare has occurred
C	Long-path propagation is likely
D	A temperature inversion has occurred

16. - E4A01

Which of the following limits the highest frequency signal that can be accurately displayed on a digital oscilloscope?

Select	Answer
A	Amount of memory
B	Q of the circuit
C	Sampling rate of the analog-to-digital converter
D	All these choices are correct

17. - E4B03

Which S parameter is equivalent to forward gain?

Select	Answer
A	S11
B	S21
C	S22
D	S12

18. - E4C06

A CW receiver with the AGC off has an equivalent input noise power density of -174 dBm/Hz. What would be the level of an unmodulated carrier input to this receiver that would yield an audio output SNR of 0 dB in a 400 Hz noise bandwidth?

Select	Answer
A	-174 dBm
B	-155 dBm
C	-148 dBm
D	-164 dBm

19. - E4D05

What transmitter frequencies would cause an intermodulation-product signal in a receiver tuned to 146.70 MHz when a nearby station transmits on 146.52 MHz?

Select	Answer
A	146.88 MHz and 146.34 MHz
B	173.35 MHz and 139.40 MHz
C	146.34 MHz and 146.61 MHz
D	146.10 MHz and 147.30 MHz

20. - E4E08

What current flows equally on all conductors of an unshielded multi-conductor cable?

Select	Answer
A	Return current
B	Common-mode current
C	Differential-mode current
D	Reactive current only

21. - E5A13

What is an effect of increasing Q in a series resonant circuit?

Select	Answer
A	Internal voltages increase
B	Phase shift can become uncontrolled
C	Fewer components are needed for the same performance
D	Parasitic effects are minimized

22. - E5B11

What is the phase angle between the voltage across and the current through a series RLC circuit if XC is 25 ohms, R is 100 ohms, and XL is 50 ohms?

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

23. - E5C02

How are impedances described in polar coordinates?

Select	Answer
A	By Y and G values
B	By real and imaginary parts
C	By phase angle and magnitude
D	By X and R values

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	0.866
B	0.707
C	1.0
D	0.5

25. - E6A08

What term indicates the frequency at which the grounded-base current gain of a transistor has decreased to 0.7 of the gain obtainable at 1 kHz?

Select	Answer
A	Alpha rejection frequency
B	Beta cutoff frequency
C	Alpha cutoff frequency
D	Corner frequency

26. - E6B05

What characteristic of a PIN diode makes it useful as an RF switch?

Select	Answer
A	Low junction capacitance
B	Reverse bias controls its forward voltage drop
C	Ability to dissipate large amounts of power
D	Extremely high reverse breakdown voltage

27. - E6C01

What is the function of hysteresis in a comparator?

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

28. - E6D08

What is one reason for using powdered-iron cores rather than ferrite cores in an inductor?

Select	Answer
A	Powdered-iron cores generally have greater initial permeability
B	Powdered-iron cores generally require fewer turns to produce a given inductance
C	Powdered-iron cores use smaller diameter wire for the same inductance
D	Powdered-iron cores generally maintain their characteristics at higher currents

29. - E6E09

Which of the following component package types would be most suitable for use at frequencies above the HF range?

Select	Answer
A	Radial lead
B	Axial lead
C	TO-220
D	Surface mount

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 tendency of a battery to discharge when exposed to light
D	The conversion of voltage to current when exposed to light

31. - E7A01

Which circuit is bistable?

Select	Answer
A	A flip-flop
B	A bipolar amplifier
C	An OR gate
D	An AND gate

32. - E7B16

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

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

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 DSP filter
D	A crystal filter

34. - E7D10

What is the primary reason that a high-frequency switching type high-voltage power supply can be both less expensive and lighter in weight than a conventional power supply?

Select	Answer
A	It uses a diode bridge rectifier for increased output
B	It uses a large power factor compensation capacitor to recover power from the unused portion of the AC cycle
C	The inverter design does not require any output filtering
D	The high frequency inverter design uses much smaller transformers and filter components for an equivalent power output

35. - E7E01

Which of the following can be used to generate FM phone emissions?

Select	Answer
A	A reactance modulator on the oscillator
B	A balanced modulator on the audio amplifier
C	A balanced modulator on the oscillator
D	A reactance modulator on the final amplifier

36. - E7F02

What kind of digital signal processing audio filter is used to remove unwanted noise from a received SSB signal?

Select	Answer
A	A phase-inverting filter
B	A Hilbert-transform filter
C	A crystal-lattice filter
D	An adaptive filter

37. - E7G06

What is the gain-bandwidth of an operational amplifier?

Select	Answer
A	The gain of the amplifier at a filter's cutoff frequency
B	The maximum frequency for a filter circuit using that type of amplifier
C	The frequency at which the open-loop gain of the amplifier equals one
D	The frequency at which the amplifier's offset voltage is zero

38. - E7H15

Which of these functions can be performed by a phase-locked loop?

Select	Answer
A	Frequency synthesis, FM demodulation
B	Photovoltaic conversion, optical coupling
C	Wide-band AF and RF power amplification
D	Comparison of two digital input signals, digital pulse counter

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

40. - E8B07

Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing is a technique used for which type of amateur communication?

Select	Answer
A	High-speed digital modes
B	Extremely low-power contacts
C	OFDM signals are not allowed on amateur bands
D	EME

41. - E8C09

Which digital code allows only one bit to change between sequential code values?

Select	Answer
A	Extended Binary Coded Decimal Interchange Code
B	Binary Coded Decimal Code
C	Gray code
D	Excess 3 code

42. - E8D06

What is the advantage of including parity bits in ASCII characters?

Select	Answer
A	Foreign language characters can be sent
B	Some types of errors can be detected
C	Faster transmission rate
D	The signal can overpower interfering signals

43. - E9A13

What term describes station output, taking into account all gains and losses?

Select	Answer
A	Half-power bandwidth
B	Apparent power
C	Effective radiated power
D	Power factor

44. - E9B05

What type of antenna pattern is shown in Figure E9-2?

Select	Answer
A	Polarization
B	Azimuth
C	Elevation
D	Radiation resistance

45. - E9C04

What happens to the radiation pattern of an unterminated long wire antenna as the wire length is increased?

Select	Answer
A	The front-to-back ratio decreases
B	The lobes align more in the direction of the wire
C	The vertical angle increases
D	The lobes become more perpendicular to the wire

46. - E9D08

What happens as the Q of an antenna increases?

Select	Answer
A	SWR bandwidth increases
B	Gain is reduced
C	More common-mode current is present on the feed line
D	SWR bandwidth decreases

47. - E9E01

What system matches a higher-impedance transmission line to a lower-impedance antenna by connecting the line to the driven element in two places spaced a fraction of a wavelength each side of element center?

Select	Answer
A	The stub matching system
B	The omega matching system
C	The delta matching system
D	The gamma matching system

48. - E9F01

What is the velocity factor of a transmission line?

Select	Answer
A	The velocity of the wave in the transmission line divided by the velocity of light in a vacuum
B	The velocity of the wave in the transmission line multiplied by the velocity of light in a vacuum
C	The index of shielding for coaxial cable
D	The ratio of the characteristic impedance of the line to the terminating impedance

49. - E9G01

Which of the following can be calculated using a Smith chart?

Select	Answer
A	Radiation resistance
B	Antenna radiation pattern
C	Impedance along transmission lines
D	Radio propagation

50. - E9H07

Why is RF attenuation used when direction-finding?

Select	Answer
A	To narrow the receiver bandwidth
B	To compensate for isotropic directivity and the antenna effect of feed lines
C	To prevent receiver overload which reduces pattern nulls
D	To increase receiver sensitivity

Figure E9-2