Bill Turner wrote:

Isn't the S-meter in a typical receiver voltage driven? They do kick
upwards with modulation.

--
Bill W6WRT


S-meters are driven by the AGC voltage, which is usually derived from
the peak voltage of the signal. The peak value of an AM signal does
increase with modulation, so it wouldn't surprise me to see one kick up
a little once in a while on voice peaks when listening to AM.

Of course, they always kick upwards when listening to SSB -- just about
none of what I've written applies to that mode.

Roy Lewallen, W7EL