🔍 Key Concepts

• Overexcited (overdriven) amplifier stages in a transmitter audio chain • Difference between waveform shape (sawtooth, square) and distortion as a general effect • What happens when audio is driven too hard before the modulation stage, but the final modulation percentage is still within limits

💭 Think About

• Think about what happens to an audio amplifier if you turn the input level up too high without changing the maximum capability of the following stage—what happens to the shape of the audio signal? • Which answer choices describe a specific waveform shape, and which describe a more general effect on the signal? • If the modulation capabilities are not exceeded, would you necessarily get undermodulation, cross-modulation, or a change in the basic waveform type— or something broader?

✅ Before You Answer

• Identify which options claim a specific waveform shape (like sawtooth or square) and ask if that is directly implied by overexciting an early speech amplifier. • Consider whether overdriving an amplifier stage is usually associated with a particular modulation percentage problem (over/under-modulation) or with general waveform deformation. • Before picking an answer, be sure you can explain in your own words what overexcitation of an audio amplifier does to the audio signal feeding the modulator.