a cheap and dirty way of doing it is have a extra radio no antenna hooked to it
about 2-3 feet away and monitor your audio. if it squeals either move the monitor
radio futher away or just turn down the volume knob as it will be very quiet
with no antenna but will pickup your signal if close enough.yea this is cheap
and dirty but it does work .an oscope is really the right way
Hotrod..thats a great idea..never thought of that one..i remember a long time ago i read somwhere to put a constant tone to the radio whilst turning up the mic gain and when the needle stops going up thats where you leave it..not sure on the particulars though,thats why i posted the question....
Put your radio in SSB mode with the mic gain turned all the way down. Key up and talk normal into the mic as you slowly increase the mic gain. Keep an eye on your meter, and once you get to where you no longer see an increase in power, stop, then back the mic gain off a hair.
the question was how to test mod without a meter..naturaly a meter is the way to go.but if you dont have one these methods should get you in the ballpark..
Best bet is to get a decent rf power meter, in avg mode your peak output would be roughly 1 and 1/2 times the resting carrier @100% modulation and in pep mode you should see a 4 to 1 ratio and the same modulation.
a cheap and dirty way of doing it is have a extra radio no antenna hooked to it
about 2-3 feet away and monitor your audio. if it squeals either move the monitor
radio futher away or just turn down the volume knob as it will be very quiet
with no antenna but will pickup your signal if close enough.yea this is cheap
and dirty but it does work .an oscope is really the right way
Even then you could be off by as much as 10% or more depending on the accuracy of the power meter. You would also be hard pressed to make a good measurement using regular voice and not a steady tone.