On my average reading Wattmeter, why does the IC-7100 not indicate 100 Watts of power on my SSB speech transmission?

The reason for the lower reading on the moving coil meter is due to a number of factors including the inability of this type of meter to follow a rapidly changing speech waveform. Only a true PEP meter or oscilloscope will give a true indication of PEP. It is very common for operators to drive a transmitter hard into ALC which will increase the apparent output power indicated on a moving coil wattmeter by increasing the average value of the waveform. This often results in the transmitted waveform flat topping on peaks and can introduce distortion and 'splatter' on the transmission. The ALC on the IC-7100 will not allow it to be driven past the point where distortion is introduced resulting in a much cleaner signal.

15/02/2021