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

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1. - E0A09

Which insulating material commonly used as a thermal conductor for some types of electronic devices is extremely toxic if broken or crushed and the particles are accidentally inhaled?

Select	Answer
A	Mica
B	Beryllium Oxide
C	Uranium Hexafluoride
D	Zinc oxide

2. - E1A07

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

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

3. - E1B02

Which of the following is an acceptable bandwidth for Digital Radio Mondiale (DRM) based voice or SSTV digital transmissions made on the HF amateur bands?

Select	Answer
A	10 kHz
B	15 kHz
C	3 kHz
D	20 kHz

4. - E1C05

When may an automatically controlled station originate third party communications?

Select	Answer
A	When approved by the National Telecommunication and Information Administration
B	When agreed upon by the sending or receiving station
C	Only when transmitting RTTY or data emissions
D	Never

5. - E1D07

Which HF amateur bands have frequencies authorized for space stations?

Select	Answer
A	Only the 40, 30, 20, 15, 12, and 10 meter bands
B	All HF bands
C	Only the 40, 20, 17, 15, 12, and 10 meter bands
D	Only the 40, 20, 17, 15, and 10 meter bands

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 FCC
C	The ARRL
D	The VEs

7. - E1F08

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

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

8. - E2A04

What is meant by the term mode? as applied to an amateur radio satellite?

Select	Answer
A	The satellite's uplink and downlink frequency bands
B	Whether the satellite is in a low earth or geostationary orbit
C	Whether the satellite is in a polar or equatorial orbit
D	The satellite's orientation with respect to the Earth

9. - E2B03

How is an interlaced scanning pattern generated in a fast-scan (NTSC) television system?

Select	Answer
A	By scanning two fields simultaneously
B	By scanning each field from bottom to top
C	By scanning lines from left to right in one field and right to left in the next
D	By scanning odd numbered lines in one field and even numbered lines in the next

10. - E2C07

What is the Cabrillo format?

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

11. - E2D02

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

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

12. - E2E06

What is the most common data rate used for HF packet?

Select	Answer
A	300 baud
B	110 baud
C	48 baud
D	1200 baud

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

14. - E3B04

What is meant by the terms "extraordinary" and "ordinary" waves?

Select	Answer
A	Independent waves created in the ionosphere that are elliptically polarized
B	Extraordinary waves describe rare long-skip propagation compared to ordinary waves, which travel shorter distances
C	Refracted rays and reflected waves
D	Long-path and short-path waves

15. - E3C03

Which of the following signal paths is most likely to experience high levels of absorption when the A index or K index is elevated?

Select	Answer
A	NVIS
B	Polar
C	Sporadic E
D	Transequatorial

16. - E4A08

Which of the following measures SWR?

Select	Answer
A	A Q meter
B	An antenna analyzer
C	An ohmmeter
D	A spectrum analyzer

17. - E4B04

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

Select	Answer
A	S21
B	S11
C	S22
D	S12

18. - E4C13

How does a narrow-band roofing filter affect receiver performance?

Select	Answer
A	It improves intelligibility by using low Q circuitry to reduce ringing
B	It improves sensitivity by reducing front end noise
C	It improves dynamic range by attenuating strong signals near the receive frequency
D	All these choices are correct

19. - E4D06

What is the term for spurious signals generated by the combination of two or more signals in a non-linear device or circuit?

Select	Answer
A	Amplifier desensitization
B	Neutralization
C	Adjacent channel interference
D	Intermodulation

20. - E4E03

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

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

21. - E5A12

What is the half-power bandwidth of a resonant circuit that has a resonant frequency of 3.7 MHz and a Q of 118?

Select	Answer
A	436.6 kHz
B	218.3 kHz
C	31.4 kHz
D	15.7 kHz

22. - E5B02

What letter is commonly used to represent susceptance?

Select	Answer
A	G
B	X
C	Y
D	B

23. - E5C02

How are impedances described in polar coordinates?

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

24. - E5D07

How many watts are consumed in a circuit having a power factor of 0.71 if the apparent power is 500VA?

Select	Answer
A	252 W
B	1.42 mW
C	704 W
D	355 W

25. - E6A04

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

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

26. - E6B03

What type of bias is required for an LED to emit light?

Select	Answer
A	Reverse bias
B	Forward bias
C	Zero bias
D	Inductive bias

27. - E6C02

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

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

28. - E6D04

Which materials are commonly used as a core in an inductor?

Select	Answer
A	Ferrite and brass
B	Cobalt and aluminum
C	Teflon and Delrin
D	Polystyrene and polyethylene

29. - E6E08

How is power supplied to the most common type of MMIC?

Select	Answer
A	Directly to the bias voltage (VCC IN) lead
B	MMICs require no operating bias
C	Through a capacitor and RF choke connected to the amplifier input lead
D	Through a resistor and/or RF choke connected to the amplifier output lead

30. - E6F10

What is the most common type of photovoltaic cell used for electrical power generation?

Select	Answer
A	Cadmium Sulfide
B	Silicon
C	Selenium
D	Copper oxide

31. - E7A03

Which of the following can divide the frequency of a pulse train by 2?

Select	Answer
A	A multiplexer
B	An XOR gate
C	A flip-flop
D	An OR gate

32. - E7B12

What type of amplifier circuit is shown in Figure E7-1?

Select	Answer
A	Common emitter
B	Emitter follower
C	Common collector
D	Common base

33. - E7C06

What are the distinguishing features of an elliptical filter?

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

34. - E7D14

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

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

35. - E7E07

What is meant by the term "baseband" in radio communications?

Select	Answer
A	The basic oscillator frequency in an FM transmitter that is multiplied to increase the deviation and carrier frequency
B	The unmodulated bandwidth of the transmitted signal
C	The frequency range occupied by a message signal prior to modulation
D	The lowest frequency band that the transmitter or receiver covers

36. - E7F12

Which of the following is an advantage of a Finite Impulse Response (FIR) filter vs an Infinite Impulse Response (IIR) digital filter?

Select	Answer
A	FIR filters can respond faster to impulses
B	FIR filters are easier to implement for a given set of passband rolloff requirements
C	FIR filters can delay all frequency components of the signal by the same amount
D	All these choices are correct

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. - E7H10

What information is contained in the lookup table of a direct digital synthesizer (DDS)?

Select	Answer
A	Frequently used receiver and transmitter frequencies
B	The phase relationship between a reference oscillator and the output waveform
C	The phase relationship between a voltage-controlled oscillator and the output waveform
D	Amplitude values that represent the desired waveform

39. - E8A09

How many different input levels can be encoded by an analog-to-digital converter with 8-bit resolution?

Select	Answer
A	256
B	256 divided by the gain of the input amplifier
C	8 multiplied by the gain of the input amplifier
D	8

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	3
B	6000
C	1/3
D	2000

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	Excess 3 code
D	Gray code

42. - E8D10

What are some of the differences between the Baudot digital code and ASCII?

Select	Answer
A	Baudot uses 7 data bits per character, ASCII uses 8; Baudot has no letters/figures shift code, ASCII uses 2 letters/figures shift codes
B	Baudot uses 4 data bits per character, ASCII uses 7 or 8; Baudot uses 1 character as a letters/figures shift code, ASCII has no letters/figures code
C	Baudot uses 6 data bits per character, ASCII uses 7 or 8; Baudot has no letters/figures shift code, ASCII uses 2 letters/figures shift codes
D	Baudot uses 5 data bits per character, ASCII uses 7 or 8; Baudot uses 2 characters as letters/figures shift codes, ASCII has no letters/figures shift code

43. - E9A01

What is an isotropic antenna?

Select	Answer
A	A grounded antenna used to measure Earth conductivity
B	A theoretical, omnidirectional antenna used as a reference for antenna gain
C	A spacecraft antenna used to direct signals toward Earth
D	A horizontally polarized antenna used to compare Yagi antennas

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	The total amount of radiation from the directional antenna is increased by the gain of the antenna
B	They are the same
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 stronger by its front-to-back ratio

45. - E9C01

What is the radiation pattern of two 1/4-wavelength vertical antennas spaced 1/2-wavelength apart and fed 180 degrees out of phase?

Select	Answer
A	A figure-8 oriented along the axis of the array
B	Cardioid
C	Omni-directional
D	A figure-8 broadside to the axis of the array

46. - E9D09

What is the function of a loading coil used as part of an HF mobile antenna?

Select	Answer
A	To lower the losses
B	To cancel capacitive reactance
C	To lower the Q
D	To increase the SWR bandwidth

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

49. - E9G09

What third family of circles is often added to a Smith chart during the process of solving problems?

Select	Answer
A	Antenna-length circles
B	Coaxial-length circles
C	Standing wave ratio circles
D	Radiation-pattern circles

50. - E9H03

What is Receiving Directivity Factor (RDF)?

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

Figure E7-1

Figure E7-3