Tony:
I think the output cap voltage will 'pump' up to the input to some degree because there is a rectifier so it is not 'just' about the voltage divider ratio of cap values, however some calibration would be required because there will still be loss in the diode(s). How much loss would have to be compared to the scope measurements and may or may not affect the overall measurement if the input signal is large. The ratio of caps does seem pretty large however, that seems a little too extreme.
Yes with no load it would pump up to twice the input peak level.
Then down to the cap ratio of 2* 1/1000 for an RC decay time that follows the wave frequency
But variable levels in between depending on f and load impedance with a ratio of ~R/(Xc(f)+R)
So the bandwidth of the envelope bandwidth response determines the DC/AC voltage ratio in practical terms for this "peak detector"
This also assumes AC peak >> diode drop.
However, this cct. is unsuitable for accurate burst or pulse signal detection.
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