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

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1. - E0A03

Over what range of frequencies are the FCC human body RF exposure limits most restrictive?

Select	Answer
A	3 to 30 MHz
B	30 to 300 MHz
C	300 kHz to 3 MHz
D	300 to 3000 MHz

2. - E1A14

Except in some parts of Alaska, what is the maximum power permitted on the 630 meter band?

Select	Answer
A	5 watts EIRP
B	1 watt EIRP
C	100 watts PEP
D	50 watts PEP

3. - E1B04

What must be done before placing an amateur station within an officially designated wilderness area or wildlife preserve, or an area listed in the National Register of Historic Places?

Select	Answer
A	A letter of intent must be filed with the Environmental Protection Agency
B	An Environmental Assessment must be submitted to the FCC
C	A form FSD-15 must be submitted to the Department of the Interior
D	A proposal must be submitted to the National Park Service

4. - E1C03

How do the control operator responsibilities of a station under automatic control differ from one under local control?

Select	Answer
A	Under local control a control operator is not required to be present at a control point
B	Under automatic control the control operator is not required to be present at the control point
C	Under automatic control there is no control operator
D	Under local control there is no control operator

5. - E1D12

Which of the following amateur stations may transmit one-way communications?

Select	Answer
A	A message forwarding station or automatically controlled digital station
B	All these choices are correct
C	A local repeater or linked repeater station
D	A space station, beacon station, or telecommand station

6. - E1E02

Who does Part 97 task with maintaining the pools of questions for all U.S. amateur license examinations?

Select	Answer
A	The VECs
B	The VEs
C	The FCC
D	The ARRL

7. - E1F05

Amateur stations may not transmit in which of the following frequency segments if they are located in the contiguous 48 states and north of Line A?

Select	Answer
A	420 MHz - 430 MHz
B	440 MHz - 450 MHz
C	222 MHz - 223 MHz
D	53 MHz - 54 MHz

8. - E2A12

What is the purpose of digital store-and-forward functions on an amateur radio satellite?

Select	Answer
A	To upload operational software for the transponder
B	To relay messages between satellites
C	To store digital messages in the satellite for later download by other stations
D	To delay download of telemetry between satellites

9. - E2B06

What is vestigial sideband modulation?

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

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

11. - E2D10

How can an APRS station be used to help support a public service communications activity?

Select	Answer
A	All these choices are correct
B	An APRS station with a Global Positioning System unit can automatically transmit information to show a mobile station's position during the event
C	An APRS station with an emergency medical technician can automatically transmit medical data to the nearest hospital
D	APRS stations with General Personnel Scanners can automatically relay the participant numbers and time as they pass the check points

12. - E2E09

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

Select	Answer
A	RTTY
B	PACTOR
C	MT63
D	PSK31

13. - E3A05

Tropospheric propagation of microwave signals often occurs in association with what phenomenon?

Select	Answer
A	Grayline
B	Lightning discharges
C	Warm and cold fronts
D	Sprites and jets

14. - E3B06

Which of the following amateur bands most frequently provides long-path propagation?

Select	Answer
A	6 meters
B	80 meters
C	10 meters
D	20 meters

15. - E3C11

What does VOACAP software model?

Select	Answer
A	AC voltage and impedance
B	AC current and impedance
C	HF propagation
D	VHF radio propagation

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

17. - E4B05

What three test loads are used to calibrate an RF vector network analyzer?

Select	Answer
A	Short circuit, open circuit, and resonant circuit
B	Short circuit, open circuit, and 50 ohms
C	50 ohms through 1/8 wavelength, 1/4 wavelength, and 1/2 wavelength of coaxial cable
D	50 ohms, 75 ohms, and 90 ohms

18. - E4C04

What is the noise figure of a receiver?

Select	Answer
A	The ratio of the noise bandwidth in hertz to the theoretical bandwidth of a resistive network
B	The ratio of thermal noise to atmospheric noise
C	The ratio in dB of the noise generated by the receiver to the theoretical minimum noise
D	The ratio of atmospheric noise to phase noise

19. - E4D01

What is meant by the blocking dynamic range of a receiver?

Select	Answer
A	The difference in dB between the noise floor and the level of an incoming signal that will cause 1 dB of gain compression
B	The difference in dB between the noise floor and the third-order intercept point
C	The minimum difference in dB between two signals which produce third-order intermodulation products greater than the noise floor
D	The minimum difference in dB between the levels of two FM signals that will cause one signal to block the other

20. - E4E10

What might be the cause of a loud roaring or buzzing AC line interference that comes and goes at intervals?

Select	Answer
A	All these choices are correct
B	A defective doorbell or doorbell transformer inside a nearby residence
C	Arcing contacts in a thermostatically controlled device
D	A malfunctioning illuminated advertising display

21. - E5A03

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

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

22. - E5B03

How is impedance in polar form converted to an equivalent admittance?

Select	Answer
A	Take the square root of the magnitude and add 180 degrees to the angle
B	Take the reciprocal of the angle and change the sign of the magnitude
C	Square the magnitude and subtract 90 degrees from the angle
D	Take the reciprocal of the magnitude and change the sign of the angle

23. - E5C05

What is the name of the diagram used to show the phase relationship between impedances at a given frequency?

Select	Answer
A	Near field diagram
B	Venn diagram
C	Phasor diagram
D	Far field diagram

24. - E5D10

How can the true power be determined in an AC circuit where the voltage and current are out of phase?

Select	Answer
A	By multiplying the reactive power by the power factor
B	By dividing the apparent power by the power factor
C	By multiplying the apparent power by the power factor
D	By dividing the reactive power by the power factor

25. - E6A11

In Figure E6-1, what is the schematic symbol for a P-channel junction FET?

Select	Answer
A	3
B	2
C	6
D	1

26. - E6B04

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

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

27. - E6C02

What happens when the level of a comparator's input signal crosses the threshold?

Select	Answer
A	The comparator changes its output state
B	The IC input can be damaged
C	The feedback loop becomes unstable
D	The comparator enters latch-up

28. - E6D12

What is inductor saturation?

Select	Answer
A	The ability of the inductor's core to store magnetic energy has been exceeded
B	The inductor windings are over-coupled
C	The inductor's voltage rating is exceeded causing a flashover
D	Adjacent inductors become over-coupled

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	Components have less parasitic inductance and capacitance
C	Shorter circuit-board traces
D	Smaller circuit area

30. - E6F01

What absorbs the energy from light falling on a photovoltaic cell?

Select	Answer
A	Holes
B	Electrons
C	Photons
D	Protons

31. - E7A02

What is the function of a decade counter?

Select	Answer
A	It decodes a binary number for display on a seven-segment LED display
B	It produces 10 output pulses for every input pulse
C	It decodes a decimal number for display on a seven-segment LED display
D	It produces one output pulse for every 10 input pulses

32. - E7B13

Which of the following describes an emitter follower (or common collector) amplifier?

Select	Answer
A	An OR circuit with only one emitter used for output
B	A two-transistor amplifier with the emitters sharing a common bias resistor
C	A differential amplifier with both inputs fed to the emitter of the input transistor
D	An amplifier with a low impedance output that follows the base input voltage

33. - E7C06

What are the distinguishing features of an elliptical filter?

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

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 shunt regulator
C	A series regulator
D	A constant current source

35. - E7E04

What is one way a single-sideband phone signal can be generated?

Select	Answer
A	By driving a product detector with a DSB signal
B	By using a loop modulator followed by a mixer
C	By using a reactance modulator followed by a mixer
D	By using a balanced modulator followed by a filter

36. - E7F06

What is the minimum number of bits required for an analog-to-digital converter to sample a signal with a range of 1 volt at a resolution of 1 millivolt?

Select	Answer
A	8 bits
B	6 bits
C	10 bits
D	4 bits

37. - E7G09

What will be the output voltage of the circuit shown in Figure E7-3 if R1 is 1000 ohms, RF is 10,000 ohms, and 0.23 volts DC is applied to the input?

Select	Answer
A	-2.3 volts
B	2.3 volts
C	-0.23 volts
D	0.23 volts

38. - E7H11

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

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

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 square wave
C	A cosine wave
D	A sine wave

40. - E8B04

What is the modulation index of an FM-phone signal having a maximum carrier deviation of plus or minus 6 kHz when modulated with a 2 kHz modulating frequency?

Select	Answer
A	2000
B	1/3
C	6000
D	3

41. - E8C11

What is the relationship between symbol rate and baud?

Select	Answer
A	They are the same
B	Baud is twice the symbol rate
C	Symbol rate is only used for packet-based modes
D	Baud is only used for RTTY

42. - E8D04

What is the primary effect of extremely short rise or fall time on a CW signal?

Select	Answer
A	The generation of key clicks
B	Limits data speed
C	More difficult to copy
D	The generation of RF harmonics

43. - E9A11

Which of the following factors determines ground losses for a ground-mounted vertical antenna operating in the 3 MHz to 30 MHz range?

Select	Answer
A	Distance from the transmitter
B	The standing wave ratio
C	Soil conductivity
D	Take-off angle

44. - E9B11

What is a disadvantage of decreasing the number of wire segments in an antenna model below 10 segments per half-wavelength?

Select	Answer
A	The resulting design will favor radiation of harmonic energy
B	Ground conductivity will not be accurately modeled
C	The computed feed point impedance may be incorrect
D	The antenna will become mechanically unstable

45. - E9C07

What is the approximate feed point impedance at the center of a two-wire folded dipole antenna?

Select	Answer
A	300 ohms
B	50 ohms
C	450 ohms
D	72 ohms

46. - E9D04

Why should an HF mobile antenna loading coil have a high ratio of reactance to resistance?

Select	Answer
A	To lower the radiation angle
B	To minimize the Q
C	To minimize losses
D	To swamp out harmonics

47. - E9E05

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

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

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

49. - E9G04

What are the two families of circles and arcs that make up a Smith chart?

Select	Answer
A	Resistance and reactance
B	Voltage and impedance
C	Resistance and voltage
D	Reactance and voltage

50. - E9H03

What is Receiving Directivity Factor (RDF)?

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

Figure E6-1

Figure E7-3