Department of Energy Argonne National Laboratory Office of Science NEWTON's Homepage NEWTON's Homepage
NEWTON, Ask A Scientist!
NEWTON Home Page NEWTON Teachers Visit Our Archives Ask A Question How To Ask A Question Question of the Week Our Expert Scientists Volunteer at NEWTON! Frequently Asked Questions Referencing NEWTON About NEWTON About Ask A Scientist Education At Argonne dB Designation 
Name: Richard
Status: other
Age: 60s
Location: N/A
Country: N/A
Date: 1999
Question:
I know that dB stands for decibel. Someone has used the abbreviation similarly for the gain of an antenna as "dBic". Would you know the definition of this abbreviation?

Replies:
I know that dbi means db (isotropic), the ratio of the gain you would get from this antenna versus an isotropic radiator (no direction, just goes in all spherical directions). dbc usually means db of the ratio of the signal to the carrier strength, so if there is little information content, the ratio would be low.

so maybe somebody put all these together?

Dr. Ross


Click here to return to the Physics Archives

NEWTON is an electronic community for Science, Math, and Computer Science K-12 Educators, sponsored and operated by Argonne National Laboratory's Educational Programs, Andrew Skipor, Ph.D., Head of Educational Programs.

For assistance with NEWTON contact a System Operator (help@newton.dep.anl.gov), or at Argonne's Educational Programs

NEWTON AND ASK A SCIENTIST
Educational Programs
Building 360
9700 S. Cass Ave.
Argonne, Illinois
60439-4845, USA
Update: June 2012
Weclome To Newton

Argonne National Laboratory