Basic Qualification · B-003 Station assembly, practice and safety · B-003-013-010
Several stations report that your FM transmission is loud and distorted, but on frequency. Which of the following is the most probable cause of the distortion?
- A Excessive transmit power
- B Cross-polarized antenna
- C Speaking too loudly into the microphone
- D Setting the wrong CTCSS tone
Correct answer: C — Speaking too loudly into the microphone. From the official ISED question bank, verified word for word.
Why
Speaking too loudly into the microphone pushes the audio signal beyond what the radio can handle, causing the sound waves to clip and create a harsh, distorted noise even though the radio stays on the correct frequency. The full explanation — and one for every question — is in Pro.
Practise this section
Building a station safely: power supplies, grounding, RF exposure, lightning, feedline routing, and what a transmitter, receiver and transceiver actually do.