A denser offline guide to dB, dBm, watts, power ratios, and the conversion habits that make RF budgeting less error-prone.
Power-unit conversion is not a side topic. It is the first step in making a clean budget. Once the absolute transmit power is in a useful unit, gains and losses can be added and subtracted in dB without confusion.
Keep this sheet with the link-budget pack whenever the main friction is not propagation itself, but the unit conversions around it.
Use the Watts to dBm Calculator for quick watts to dbm estimates in RF, radar, and communications work.
Use the dBm to Watts Calculator for quick dbm to watts estimates in RF, radar, and communications work.
Use the Power Ratio to dB Calculator for quick power ratio to db estimates in RF, radar, and communications work.
Use the dB to Power Ratio Calculator for quick db to power ratio estimates in RF, radar, and communications work.
A practical guide to watts, dBm, power ratios, and decibels, focused on building intuition for logarithmic RF units before you try to read a link budget or a bench measurement.
A practical guide to RF link budgets and received power that treats every gain and loss term as an accounting decision, making it easier to see whether a link is viable and where the margin is being won or lost.