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

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1. - E0A07

How may dangerous levels of carbon monoxide from an emergency generator be detected?

Select	Answer
A	Any ordinary smoke detector can be used
B	By the odor
C	By the yellowish appearance of the gas
D	Only with a carbon monoxide detector

2. - E1A07

What is the maximum power permitted on the 2200 meter band?

Select	Answer
A	5 watts EIRP (Equivalent isotropic radiated power)
B	100 watts PEP
C	1 watt EIRP (Equivalent isotropic radiated power)
D	50 watts PEP

3. - E1B10

What frequencies are authorized to an amateur station operating under RACES rules?

Select	Answer
A	Specific local government channels
B	All amateur service frequencies authorized to the control operator
C	Specific segments in the amateur service MF, HF, VHF and UHF bands
D	Military Auxiliary Radio System (MARS) channels

4. - E1C12

On what portion of the 630 meter band are phone emissions permitted?

Select	Answer
A	Only the top 3 kHz
B	None
C	The entire band
D	Only the bottom 3 kHz

5. - E1D03

What is a space telecommand station?

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

6. - E1E03

What is a Volunteer Examiner Coordinator?

Select	Answer
A	A person who has volunteered to prepare amateur operator license examinations
B	A person who has volunteered to administer amateur operator license examinations
C	The person who has entered into an agreement with the FCC to be the VE session manager
D	An organization that has entered into an agreement with the FCC to coordinate, prepare, and administer amateur operator license examinations

7. - E1F08

Which of the following types of amateur station communications are prohibited?

Select	Answer
A	Communications in a language other than English
B	Communications that have political content, except as allowed by the Fairness Doctrine
C	Communications transmitted for hire or material compensation, except as otherwise provided in the rules
D	Communications that have religious content

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 delay download of telemetry between satellites
D	To store digital messages in the satellite for later download by other stations

9. - E2B09

What hardware, other than a receiver with SSB capability and a suitable computer, is needed to decode SSTV using Digital Radio Mondiale (DRM)?

Select	Answer
A	A special IF converter
B	No other hardware is needed
C	A special front end limiter
D	A special notch filter to remove synchronization pulses

10. - E2C01

What indicator is required to be used by U.S.-licensed operators when operating a station via remote control and the remote transmitter is located in the U.S.?

Select	Answer
A	/R# where # is the district of the remote station
B	/ followed by the ARRL Section of the remote station
C	/ followed by the USPS two-letter abbreviation for the state in which the remote station is located
D	No additional indicator is required

11. - E2D07

What digital protocol is used by APRS?

Select	Answer
A	AX.25
B	802.11
C	PACTOR
D	AMTOR

12. - E2E11

What is the difference between direct FSK and audio FSK?

Select	Answer
A	Direct FSK occupies less bandwidth
B	Direct FSK can transmit faster baud rates
C	Only direct FSK can be decoded by computer
D	Direct FSK applies the data signal to the transmitter VFO, while AFSK transmits tones via phone

13. - E3A13

Which of these emission modes is best for auroral propagation?

Select	Answer
A	RTTY
B	CW
C	SSB
D	FM

14. - E3B12

What is the primary characteristic of chordal hop propagation?

Select	Answer
A	Propagation away from the great circle bearing between stations
B	Propagation across the geomagnetic equator
C	Successive ionospheric refractions without an intermediate reflection from the ground
D	Signals reflected back toward the transmitting station

15. - E3C02

What is indicated by a rising A or K index?

Select	Answer
A	An increase in the critical frequency
B	Decreasing disruption of the geomagnetic field
C	Increasing disruption of the geomagnetic field
D	Higher levels of solar UV radiation

16. - E4A09

Which of the following is good practice when using an oscilloscope probe?

Select	Answer
A	Never use a DC-coupled probe to measure an AC circuit
B	Keep the signal ground connection of the probe as short as possible
C	All these choices are correct
D	Never use a high-impedance probe to measure a low-impedance circuit

17. - E4B04

Which S parameter represents input port return loss or reflection coefficient (equivalent to VSWR)?

Select	Answer
A	S21
B	S12
C	S22
D	S11

18. - E4C04

What is the noise figure of a receiver?

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

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

20. - E4E03

Which of the following signals might a receiver noise blanker be able to remove from desired signals?

Select	Answer
A	Signals that appear at one IF but not another
B	Signals that have a sharply peaked frequency distribution
C	Signals that are constant at all IF levels
D	Signals that appear across a wide bandwidth

21. - E5A15

Which of the following increases Q for inductors and capacitors?

Select	Answer
A	Higher self-resonant frequency
B	Lower losses
C	Lower self-resonant frequency
D	Lower reactance

22. - E5B05

What happens to the magnitude of a pure reactance when it is converted to a susceptance?

Select	Answer
A	It becomes the reciprocal
B	It is unchanged
C	The sign is reversed
D	It is shifted by 90 degrees

23. - E5C01

Which of the following represents capacitive reactance in rectangular notation?

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

24. - E5D03

What is microstrip?

Select	Answer
A	Precision printed circuit conductors above a ground plane that provide constant impedance interconnects at microwave frequencies
B	Miniature coax used for low power applications
C	Lightweight transmission line made of common zip cord
D	Short lengths of coax mounted on printed circuit boards to minimize time delay between microwave circuits

25. - E6A01

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

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

26. - E6B06

Which of the following is a common use of a Schottky diode?

Select	Answer
A	As a VHF/UHF mixer or detector
B	As a constant voltage reference in a power supply
C	As a rectifier in high current power supplies
D	As a variable capacitance in an automatic frequency control circuit

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

28. - E6D13

What is the primary cause of inductor self-resonance?

Select	Answer
A	Non-linear core hysteresis
B	Inductive kickback
C	The skin effect
D	Inter-turn capacitance

29. - E6E06

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

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

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. - E7A05

Which of the following is a circuit that continuously alternates between two states without an external clock?

Select	Answer
A	Astable multivibrator
B	J-K flip-flop
C	Monostable multivibrator
D	T flip-flop

32. - E7B13

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

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

33. - E7C07

Which describes a Pi-L-network used for matching a vacuum tube final amplifier to a 50-ohm unbalanced output?

Select	Answer
A	A Pi-network with an additional series inductor on the output
B	A network with only three discrete parts
C	A Phase Inverter Load network
D	A matching network in which all components are isolated from ground

34. - E7D09

What is the main reason to use a charge controller with a solar power system?

Select	Answer
A	Matching of day and night charge rates
B	Control of electrolyte levels during battery discharge
C	Prevention of battery undercharge
D	Prevention of battery damage due to overcharge

35. - E7E02

What is the function of a reactance modulator?

Select	Answer
A	To produce PM or FM signals by using an electrically variable inductance or capacitance
B	To produce AM signals by using an electrically variable resistance
C	To produce AM signals by using an electrically variable inductance or capacitance
D	To produce PM signals by using an electrically variable resistance

36. - E7F14

Which of the following would allow a digital signal processing filter to create a sharper filter response?

Select	Answer
A	Complex phasor representations
B	Higher data rate
C	Double-precision math routines
D	More taps

37. - E7G03

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

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

38. - E7H12

Which of the following must be done to ensure that a crystal oscillator provides the frequency specified by the crystal manufacturer?

Select	Answer
A	Bias the crystal at a specified voltage
B	Provide the crystal with a specified parallel inductance
C	Bias the crystal at a specified current
D	Provide the crystal with a specified parallel capacitance

39. - E8A01

What is the name of the process that shows that a square wave is made up of a sine wave plus all its odd harmonics?

Select	Answer
A	Fourier analysis
B	Differential analysis
C	Numerical analysis
D	Vector analysis

40. - E8B06

What is the deviation ratio of an FM-phone signal having a maximum frequency swing of plus or minus 7.5 kHz when the maximum modulation frequency is 3.5 kHz?

Select	Answer
A	0.214
B	47
C	2.14
D	0.47

41. - E8C04

What technique minimizes the bandwidth of a PSK31 signal?

Select	Answer
A	Use of sinusoidal data pulses
B	Zero-sum character encoding
C	Use of trapezoidal data pulses
D	Reed-Solomon character encoding

42. - E8D04

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

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

43. - E9A12

How much gain does an antenna have compared to a 1/2-wavelength dipole when it has 6 dB gain over an isotropic antenna?

Select	Answer
A	3.85 dB
B	2.79 dB
C	6.0 dB
D	8.15 dB

44. - E9B02

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

Select	Answer
A	24 dB
B	36 dB
C	14 dB
D	18 dB

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	72 ohms
C	450 ohms
D	50 ohms

46. - E9D06

What happens to the SWR bandwidth when one or more loading coils are used to resonate an electrically short antenna?

Select	Answer
A	It is unchanged if the loading coil is located at the feed point
B	It is increased
C	It is unchanged if the loading coil is located at a voltage maximum point
D	It is decreased

47. - E9E07

What parameter describes the interactions at the load end of a mismatched transmission line?

Select	Answer
A	Characteristic impedance
B	Dielectric constant
C	Velocity factor
D	Reflection coefficient

48. - E9F12

What impedance does a 1/4-wavelength transmission line present to a generator when the line is open at the far end?

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

49. - E9G03

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

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

50. - E9H01

When constructing a Beverage antenna, which of the following factors should be included in the design to achieve good performance at the desired frequency?

Select	Answer
A	Its overall length must not exceed 1/4 wavelength
B	It must be mounted more than 1 wavelength above ground
C	It should be configured as a four-sided loop
D	It should be one or more wavelengths long

Figure E9-1