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

Logging in (or registering) will help the system to select questions that you need to focus on.

1. - E0A05

What is one of the potential hazards of operating in the amateur radio microwave bands?

Select	Answer
A	The high gain antennas commonly used can result in high exposure levels
B	Microwaves are ionizing radiation
C	The extremely high frequency energy can damage the joints of antenna structures
D	Microwaves often travel long distances by ionospheric reflection

2. - E1A13

Who must be in physical control of the station apparatus of an amateur station aboard any vessel or craft that is documented or registered in the United States?

Select	Answer
A	Any person holding an FCC issued amateur license or who is authorized for alien reciprocal operation
B	Only a person named in an amateur station license grant
C	Any person named in an amateur station license grant or a person holding an unrestricted Radiotelephone Operator Permit
D	Only a person with an FCC Marine Radio license grant

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

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	26 dB
C	23 dB
D	3 dB

5. - E1D03

What is a space telecommand station?

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

6. - E1E04

Which of the following best describes the Volunteer Examiner accreditation process?

Select	Answer
A	The amateur operator applying must pass a VE examination administered by the FCC Enforcement Bureau
B	The prospective VE obtains accreditation from the FCC
C	The procedure by which a VEC confirms that the VE applicant meets FCC requirements to serve as an examiner
D	Each General, Advanced and Amateur Extra Class operator is automatically accredited as a VE when the license is granted

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 50 MHz
C	Only on amateur frequencies above 222 MHz
D	Only on amateur frequencies above 144 MHz

8. - E2A09

What do the terms L band and S band specify regarding satellite communications?

Select	Answer
A	Which sideband to use
B	The 23 centimeter and 13 centimeter bands
C	The 2 meter and 70 centimeter bands
D	FM and Digital Store-and-Forward systems

9. - E2B10

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

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

10. - E2C09

What type of equipment is commonly used to implement an amateur radio mesh network?

Select	Answer
A	An optical cable connection between the USB ports of 2 separate computers
B	A 2 meter VHF transceiver with a 1200 baud modem
C	A 440 MHz transceiver with a 9600 baud modem
D	A wireless router running custom firmware

11. - E2D03

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

Select	Answer
A	Olivia
B	MSK144
C	JT65
D	PACTOR III

12. - E2E08

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

Select	Answer
A	RTTY
B	AMTOR
C	Hellschreiber
D	PACTOR

13. - E3A03

When scheduling EME contacts, which of these conditions will generally result in the least path loss?

Select	Answer
A	When the moon is full
B	When the moon is at perigee
C	When the MUF is above 30 MHz
D	When the moon is at apogee

14. - E3B09

At what time of year is sporadic E propagation most likely to occur?

Select	Answer
A	Around the solstices, especially the summer solstice
B	Around the equinoxes, especially the fall equinox
C	Around the equinoxes, especially the spring equinox
D	Around the solstices, especially the winter solstice

15. - E3C05

What orientation of Bz (B sub z) increases the likelihood that incoming particles from the sun will cause disturbed conditions?

Select	Answer
A	Eastward
B	Southward
C	Northward
D	Westward

16. - E4A10

Which of the following displays multiple digital signal states simultaneously?

Select	Answer
A	Logic analyzer
B	Modulation monitor
C	Bit error rate tester
D	Network 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	75 watts
B	100 watts
C	25 watts
D	125 watts

18. - E4C07

What does the MDS of a receiver represent?

Select	Answer
A	The meter display sensitivity
B	The maximum detectable spectrum
C	The multiplex distortion stability
D	The minimum discernible signal

19. - E4D03

How can intermodulation interference between two repeaters occur?

Select	Answer
A	When the repeaters are in close proximity and the signals cause feedback in the final amplifier of one or both transmitters
B	When the signals from the transmitters are reflected in phase from airplanes passing overhead
C	When the signals from the transmitters are reflected out of phase from airplanes passing overhead
D	When the repeaters are in close proximity and the signals mix in the final amplifier of one or both transmitters

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	You are receiving skywave signals from a distant station
D	One or more of the broadcast stations is transmitting an over-modulated signal

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	22.36 MHz
B	44.72 MHz
C	1.78 MHz
D	3.56 MHz

22. - E5B06

What is susceptance?

Select	Answer
A	The imaginary part of admittance
B	The ratio of magnetic field to electric field
C	A measure of the efficiency of a transformer
D	The magnetic impedance of a circuit

23. - E5C06

What does the impedance 50-j25 represent?

Select	Answer
A	25 ohms resistance in series with 50 ohms inductive reactance
B	50 ohms resistance in series with 25 ohms capacitive reactance
C	25 ohms resistance in series with 50 ohms capacitive reactance
D	50 ohms resistance in series with 25 ohms inductive reactance

24. - E5D02

Why is it important to keep lead lengths short for components used in circuits for VHF and above?

Select	Answer
A	To maintain component lifetime
B	All these choices are correct
C	To increase the thermal time constant
D	To avoid unwanted inductive reactance

25. - E6A04

What is the name given to an impurity atom that adds holes to a semiconductor crystal structure?

Select	Answer
A	Insulator impurity
B	Acceptor impurity
C	Donor impurity
D	N-type impurity

26. - E6B09

What is a common use for point-contact diodes?

Select	Answer
A	As an RF detector
B	As a constant current source
C	As a constant voltage source
D	As a high-voltage rectifier

27. - E6C07

What best describes a pull-up or pull-down resistor?

Select	Answer
A	A resistor in a keying circuit used to reduce key clicks
B	A resistor connected to the positive or negative supply line used to establish a voltage when an input or output is an open circuit
C	A resistor that ensures that an oscillator frequency does not drift
D	A resistor connected to an op-amp output that prevents signals from exceeding the power supply voltage

28. - E6D01

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

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

29. - E6E07

What type of transmission line is used for connections to MMICs?

Select	Answer
A	Parallel wire
B	Circular waveguide
C	Miniature coax
D	Microstrip

30. - E6F06

Which of these materials is most commonly used to create photoconductive devices?

Select	Answer
A	A crystalline semiconductor
B	A heavy metal
C	A liquid semiconductor
D	An ordinary metal

31. - E7A08

What logical operation does an OR gate perform?

Select	Answer
A	It produces logic 1 at its output if any or all inputs are logic 1
B	It produces logic 1 at its output if all inputs are logic 0
C	It only produces logic 0 at its output when all inputs are logic 1
D	It produces logic 0 at its output if all inputs are logic 1

32. - E7B14

Why are switching amplifiers more efficient than linear amplifiers?

Select	Answer
A	Switching amplifiers use push-pull circuits
B	Switching amplifiers operate at higher voltages
C	The power transistor is at saturation or cutoff most of the time
D	Linear amplifiers have high gain resulting in higher harmonic content

33. - E7C04

How does an impedance-matching circuit transform a complex impedance to a resistive impedance?

Select	Answer
A	Reactive currents are dissipated in matched resistances
B	It introduces transconductance to cancel the reactive part of impedance
C	It introduces negative resistance to cancel the resistive part of impedance
D	It cancels the reactive part of the impedance and changes the resistive part to a desired value

34. - E7D14

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

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

35. - E7E08

What are the principal frequencies that appear at the output of a mixer circuit?

Select	Answer
A	Two and four times the original frequency
B	The two input frequencies along with their sum and difference frequencies
C	The square root of the product of input frequencies
D	1.414 and 0.707 times the input frequency

36. - E7F04

What is a common method of generating an SSB signal using digital signal processing?

Select	Answer
A	Signals are combined in quadrature phase relationship
B	Mixing products are converted to voltages and subtracted by adder circuits
C	A frequency synthesizer removes the unwanted sidebands
D	Varying quartz crystal characteristics emulated in digital form

37. - E7G07

What magnitude of voltage gain can be expected from the circuit in Figure E73 when R1 is 10 ohms and RF is 470 ohms?

Select	Answer
A	0.21
B	24
C	94
D	47

38. - E7H13

Which of the following is a technique for providing highly accurate and stable oscillators needed for microwave transmission and reception?

Select	Answer
A	Use a temperature-controlled high Q dielectric resonator
B	All these choices are correct
C	Use a GPS signal reference
D	Use a rubidium stabilized reference oscillator

39. - E8A05

What of the following instruments would be the most accurate for measuring the RMS voltage of a complex waveform?

Select	Answer
A	An absorption wave meter
B	A grid dip meter
C	A true-RMS calculating meter
D	A D'Arsonval meter

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	1000
B	3000
C	0.3
D	3

41. - E8C05

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

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

42. - E8D05

What is the most common method of reducing key clicks?

Select	Answer
A	Reduce keying waveform rise and fall times
B	Low-pass filters at the transmitter output
C	Increase keying waveform rise and fall times
D	High-pass filters at the transmitter output

43. - E9A04

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

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

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. - E9C05

Which of the following is a type of OCFD antenna?

Select	Answer
A	A dipole fed approximately 1/3 the way from one end with a 4:1 balun to provide multiband operation
B	A multiband dipole antenna using one-way circular polarization for frequency diversity
C	A remotely tunable dipole antenna using orthogonally controlled frequency diversity
D	A folded dipole center-fed with 300-ohm transmission line

46. - E9D03

Where should a high Q loading coil be placed to minimize losses in a shortened vertical antenna?

Select	Answer
A	As low as possible on the vertical radiator
B	At a voltage node
C	Near the center of the vertical radiator
D	As close to the transmitter as possible

47. - E9E08

What is a use for a Wilkinson divider?

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

48. - E9F07

How does ladder line compare to small-diameter coaxial cable such as RG-58 at 50 MHz?

Select	Answer
A	Lower loss
B	Lower velocity factor
C	Higher SWR
D	Smaller reflection coefficient

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 loss/100 feet of a transmission line, given the velocity factor and conductor materials
D	Determine the length and position of an impedance matching stub

50. - E9H07

Why is RF attenuation used when direction-finding?

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