Heathkit IG-102: signal generator OR cleverly disguised AM transmitter ?

While continuing to mess with the varactor crystal set a thought occurred:  one way to see if the distortion problem is real would be to use an AM transmitter with a sine wave input.  Regular AM voice/music is just too jangly to see distortion in the time domain.  So I thought about building an AM transmitter.  I do have some FM band transmitters but nothing for AM.  Then I remembered the IG-102 sitting there, bagged up - it can (sorta) function as an AM transmitter with either internal modulation or external audio from a function generator (or for that matter, a microphone or audio player).  

And the IG-102 does work - the internal modulation is NOT a clean sine wave but it does work OK for this test.  Here is that IG-102 modulation audio:

not super low distortion but usable

Here is the modulated carrier in the time domain:

looking at this again: overdriven ?

 

Here is the demodulated signal from the varactor crystal set:

Probably need to re-do this with lower drive and maybe an external audio oscillator.

 

Also, I did hook up a longer antenna to the varactor crystal set: a several hundred foot long "snake in the grass" - there were more stations and less distortion but selectivity is a problem.  I will try to get an antenna up in the air - maybe have it double as a scare wire on the "barn".

Best Regards,
Chuck, WB9KZY
http://wb9kzy.com/ham.htm