# RF Unit Converter

Created by Álvaro Díez
Reviewed by Steven Wooding
Last updated: Feb 02, 2023

The RF unit converter is the ideal tool for those electronics projects that use radio frequency. We have combined all the useful RF units into one single converter-calculator so that you can simply focus on designing and building that sweet project you always wanted to finish.

## Basics Ohm's Law and electrical power

Let's start from the beginning: Ohm's Law. Ohm's law is the most basic relationship you will find in electronics. It relates the Voltage ($\small V$) in a circuit with the current ($\small I$) flowing through it and its electrical resistance ($\small R$). The formula, fortunately, is straightforward:

$V = I\times R$

We will not go over Ohm's law in detail, since we already have our Ohm's law calculator just for that. But there are two essential things to know about it:

• It applies to both direct and alternate current circuits
• It holds true for most components and situations.

It is truly remarkable how such a simple relationship can be so useful, but there's one more thing. It also helps us calculate the power consumed by a circuit ($\small P$) since we only need two of those three variables to obtain it. The equation is as follows:

$P = I\times V$

Just as simple as Ohm's law itself. By combining these two previous equations, we can compute the power by just knowing the resistance and the voltage or any two of the three main electrical variables (V, I, R).

To understand how this all feeds into the RF unit converter, we have to first talk about AC and DC. No, not the rock band! The two main types of electrical circuits: Alternate Current and Direct Current.

## Alternate Current vs. Direct Current; AC/DC

We have mentioned before that Ohm's law holds true for both AC and DC, but there are some differences we need to be aware of. In a DC system, the electricity flows only in one direction, while in AC systems, it alternates directions; makes sense, right? This difference makes it so that voltage, current, and resistance cannot really be measured in the same way in an AC circuit as they are in a DC circuit.

For example, the concept of resistance is not a valid one here. Instead, we need to talk about impedance (Z), which is analogous to magnitude in AC. Similarly, talking about voltage or current gets tricky because they are always smoothly changing values.

Because of that, RF circuits and projects (which require the use of AC systems) measure values like peak voltage (maximum and minimum voltage values over a whole alternating cycle) or voltage RMS (root mean square), which is half of the RMS of the peak voltage. So you can see how it can get messy to convert from one to another without an RF unit converter.

🔎 You can check out our RMS voltage calculator if that suddenly sparks your interest. 🙂

## How to use the Omni RF unit converter; explained

There are many more units used in RF systems, all with their own unique conversions. That brings us to the Omni RF unit converter, a tool that will let you convert from and between any of the standard RF units.

To use it, you simply need to input your circuit's impedance and the voltage you will be setting. It will automatically calculate your circuit's power draw and the Current (available in advanced mode). This is all well and good, but the previous Omni Calculator we mentioned (Ohm's Law) could also do that.

The special sauce that makes this calculator unique is that we have included all the common RF units as the conversion units for Voltage and Power. So you simply select the one you want, input your values, and then select the desired unit. The Omni converter will do the rest for you and show you the result automatically, with no effort required.

The units available are:

### Voltage

• V: Volts (peak and RMS)
• μV: microVolts (RMS, EMF, PD)
• dBμV: deciBels (of microVolts RMS, EMF and PD)

### Power

• W: Watts (from V RMS)
• mW: milliwatts (from V RMS)
• μW: microWatts (from V RMS)
• dBmW: decibels (of miliWats RMS, EMF, and PD)
• dBμW: decibels (of microwatts RMS, EMF, and PD)

## More tools for your project!

If you're looking for more tools for your electronics project, you might want to check out some of the Omni Calculators we have prepared for you.

Álvaro Díez
Impedance
Impedance
Ω
Voltage
Voltage (V)
V (peak)
Power
Power (P)
W
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