Abstract

This chapter provides an overview of the decibel scale. The range of powers, voltages, and currents encountered in radio engineering is too wide to be expressed on linear scale. Consequently, a logarithmic scale based on the decibel is used. The decibel does not specify a magnitude of a power, voltage or current but a ratio between two values of them. Gains and losses in circuits or radio paths are expressed in decibels. While the decibel scale expresses ratios only, if a reference value is added to the statement as a suffix it can be used to refer to absolute values. A loss of 10 dB means a reduction in power to a level equal to one tenth of the original and if the statement is −10 dBm the level referred to is 1/10 of a milliwatt.

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