Talk:Amplitude modulation

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Revision as of 23:02, 15 May 2011 by imported>Howard C. Berkowitz
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 Definition:  Changing the height of the peaks of a periodic waveform, such as a radio wave, to carry information. [d] [e]
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Re lede sentence

Pat, re "In electronics and radio engineering, amplitude modulation (AM) is a method of injecting information onto an oscillating analog signal, such as a radio wave, by changing the height (amplitude) of the peaks of the periodic waveform.":

I'm trying to learn: Is the signal an 'analog' signal before the data is injected onto it, as the sentence seems to imply, or does it 'become' an 'analog' signal because the signal is carrying the data (in the way it does)?

I may not know what I'm talking about, as I'm way out of my subject area. I'm prepared to be embarrassed. Anthony.Sebastian 22:55, 15 May 2011 (CDT)

It is analog both before and after mixing the signals. When a carrier frequency C is mixed with an injected information frequency D, four new frequencies are produced: C, D, C+D, and C-D.
Admittedly, this gets more confusing when the periodic waveform is either a square wave, or bursts of square waves, sometimes called pulse amplitude modulation--a technique used in radar. Howard C. Berkowitz 23:02, 15 May 2011 (CDT)
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