Decibel to Watts Converter (and back)

Decibel (dBm) to Watts Converter (and back)

The decibel to Watts converter lets you convert from dBm to Watts or the reverse; from Watts to dBm. It also supports dbW, megawatts and kilowatts.

dBm dBW		MW KW W
PdBm = 10 * log10(PW) + 30 PdBW = 10 * log10(PW)		PW = 10((PdBm-30)/10) 1 MW = 1000 KW = 1,000,000 W

In the world of RF energy, power levels can vary enormously. Instead of babysitting all of those decimal places in calculations and tables, the power is converted to decibels. The lesser significant digits are often dropped. Decibels handle large numbers in a much tidier way. These units are abbreviated to dBW (or sometimes just dB where the W is assumed). Sometimes the Watts are converted to milliwatts before they are converted to decibels. In this case, the units are referred to as dBm.

Decibels convey magnitude in a compact way, for example:

	dBW	Watts	dBm	milliwatts
These are all the same	10	10	40	10,000
These are all the same	30	1,000	60	1,000,000
These are all the same	70	10,000,000	100	10,000,000,000