#136 

Probably the best dB explanation video I've seen

literally the best video I have seen on this topic. going to a top engineering institution is not for learning, it's just for connections and opportunity. RU-vid is for learning.

8 years after you made this video, it's still helping people like me understand dB's. I followed the reasoning easily but may have to watch a few times more to get the maths to sink in. Thanks for making the video.

Excellent video! All lecturers should teach like you, the students would love it.

Going over the calculations was incredibly helpful. It's like most content creators don't think someone searching for explanations of dB is nerdy.

I will write without hesitation - the Internet was invented for such amazing leśons and teachers. 👍 Best regards from Warsaw!

When I saw the handheld camera going from the scope to the paper I thought “oh boy, here we go another junky video” but after I watched the whole presentation I was so pleasantly surprised: There was the math … and up here you can see the real world. Awesome explanation, very clearly done! Hats off to you sir, best dB explanation I have ever seen anywhere.

I am an electrical engineer but I have NEVER heard the topic explained as well as this. THANK YOU for the refresher as well as many new things you taught me! I need to watch this again!

Very great video ever 8 years later! Thanks a lot!

This was epic. You are a wonderful teacher. God bless.

:-) I like how how he said goodbye -- "Thanks for watching and oscillator" -- classic! Thanks for a great explanation of dB!

Excellent work, and a refreshingly clear, intuitive teaching style! Kudos, mon ami … 41 years later, and I STILL enjoyed those fundamental concepts of “WHY dB?!?” In the FIRST PLACE!! 😇😇😇

How I explain it: a decibel is a tenth of a Bel, and 1 Bel stands for "an order of magnitude". So when you make the signal 70 dB weaker, that's 7 Bel, or 7 orders of magnitude, or 10 million times as you say.

Allan: As I have remarked previously several times, your speech level never varies, your articulation & grammar are as close to perfect as anyone can reasonably expect, & your descriptions & explanations are without peer. The number of people who subscribe to your videos speaks for the quality of same. I have steered many of my colleagues to your "channel" ' & they are all impressed. It is a rare occasion that I don't learn something from each video ( imagine Allan....I am 80 years of age & I don't know everything !) You will move from pencil & paper to oscilloscope to spectrum analyser ( yes, I know Americans spell the word analyser with a "Z", but at 80 years of age I don't plan on changing Her Majesty's English spelling) & concepts that may not have been completely clear suddenly become so. BRAVO! I have never encountered any other person who displays your level of competence for conveying technical information to a host of followers of doubtless widely varying levels of education with such ease & aplomb. We are privileged to have access to your videos Allan. With admiration & respect Sir, Brian Hind

why cant they explain like this in engineering courses, its mind boggling. All EE college professors need to watch this and learn. i want to go back in engineering college all over again,

It's been many many moons ago since I've reviewed this. You did and outstanding job as always. Clear, precise and to the point along with the examples you provided. Kudos to you for your teaching skills. I must say you laid this out much better than any textbook I've ever studied. I look so forward to every video you post. I either find a new way at looking at electronics or just down right learn something new.

Thank you so very much. I've struggled with this for so long. I get the theory. However, I couldn't apply it, I'd end up tying myself in knots. This has truly lifted the scales from my eyes. This video is going to be my reference until I can explain it to someone else (or point them here).

How to teach is one thing and you do it well. I think that the real brilliance here is in the "What to teach domain".

Excellent! I have always struggled as it wasn't explained properly for my brain to understand. Thank you! :)

Easily the best explanation of the various DB's I've ever seen or read. Seriously, the explanation and math on your graph paper complemented with examples on the scope are simply brilliant!

You have a gift. Found your channel a week ago and have become addicted! Thank you for your time and effort, and please keep them coming.

Alan One of the best explanations I have heard on the subject. You have a magic way of cutting through the nonsense with the most practical explanations. Many Thanks.

Very long time I Search teaching with real time example finally I got one of the best teacher. Thanks a lot sir..

This is an excellent explanation of dBs and their uses. It's at last helped me get my head better around this subject. I'm particularly grateful for the derivation of the voltage equation from the power equation. You're the only one on YT I've found showing and explaining this. Many thanks for another great tutorial Alan

🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯 Absolutely the most cogent explanation of dB ever attempted. Thank you.

So good to finally be able to differentiate whats what with the various slang's of Dbm's that have been past erroneously around the horn for years and every engineer seems to have a nuance of their own!! Thank you for sharing your insights on this matter!! 73's , Gary Grove Minneapolis, MN

Excellent refresher , thanks W2aew ....keep up the great work in 2016. Always look forward to your new postings.

I finally have a good understanding of db measurements. This is a great, and underrated channel for those of us coming into ham radio without formal education in electronics and RF theory.

Your explanations are great. You make me even more interested in RF than I already am.

You're a better teacher than most of my engineering professors. Your videos are great!

After so many years this is still the best video on this subject. Very helpful!

This video really sums up everything I wasn't taught correctly at my degree. Wish I could have stumbled this earlier! thanks a lot!

Man, these videos of yours are pure gold. Seriously. GOLD.

man, your channel is a masterpiece...i consider myself a quialified systems engineer, but it appears that sometimes I'm missing in depth understanding of some basic concepts...and you've got a talant of explaining things in a simple and structured way...wrap your videos in a book format and launch a crowdfounding compaing...I'll be the first to support it...

I'm so glad it's relatively easy to record a presentation these days, because I will be watching this about 4 more times before I have it fully in hand. But it's clear and complete, so I won't be wasting your time or mine. Thank you.

I learn something new every time you post a new video. So well explained and demonstrated. Keep up the fantastic work and look forward to many more.

I have never seen or experienced - as long as i can think of - better explaination. Thanks and big admire of you.

You have best and most relevant videos about electronics. You pick great topics to talk about.

An absolute incredible example for students and rf beginners. Thank You

Thank you for such a clear & well explained video that got straight to the topic without any fluff & waffle, excellent! God bless, Bill.

You are the best teacher in the whole world for RF engg

Excellent video as usual. You have the knack of making difficult concepts seem easy. I have learnt a lot from you over the past year. Many thanks.

Your explanation is very clear and you have clarified now why we are using DB on SA. As always thanks Alan!

Thanks, great video. I first learned the decibel in 1977 during satcom school in the Army and continue to use them daily as an engineer. Have taught a lot of folks how to work with dB of various flavors over the years and this is going in my bookmark file for a nice link to point people to. Well done.

All I can say is I wish I came across this video years ago.. thank you for making me feel confident about this topic💪

Excellent video, which explains these concepts in an easy to understand way with nice examples. I wish all teachers were that good!

Another superb instructional video, Alan! Not only do you cover the material as clearly as, I think, is humanly possible but your voice quality and intonation are spot on. Even your use of graph paper and a scope lead as a pointer contribute to the clarity of your presentation. BTW, Tektronix makes some super scopes, don't they! :-)

Great explanation! Thank you for taking the time to make this tutorial.

Very nice tutorial. Excelent and clear explanation. Recomended for all. I will share this video in my facebook.

Absolutely the best explanation. The demo makes it fantastic.

Cant imagine a better explanation of dB than this. Excellent, love it!

Excellent channel! Sir, I have my parents and my grandfather's slider rulers. My grandfather worked at the radio-telegraph station, in Rio de Janeiro, and during the 1940s he did the first SSB transmission from Brazil to France. My father says slider rulers gave engineers a magnitude perception that is much better than calculators.

Very informative. Clear concise explanations, and easy to follow even with the math. Thank you for taking the time to make this video!

Even though it has been 6 years since this post, it helped me, I'm very happy to find this post. Thx Sr.

Amazing explanation ,AND with clear examples. Beautiful thing. Thank you.

You just wouldn't believe how many things you've cleared up in my mind through the explanations of the subject matter! I mean, outside of the video topic, I've now been able to make sense and/or have a better understanding of what had seemed confusing to me in electronics and radio frequencies when it came to the oscilloscope and the spectrum analyzer. I'm strictly an entry-level hobbyist and couldn't even begin to speak intelligently on the 'real-world' applications of most of these points but I'm determined to grasp the basics through videos like this and through various test/hobby kits. I own several scopes, (my most recent is digital), though nothing as advanced as the Techtronic scope/SA you have here. Of course I have a signal frequency generator and recently purchased a small Spectrum Analyzer, (the "Tiny SA"). I wanted to understand how the SA works and how to apply its functions to an oscilloscope and vice/versa. Once I'm sure that I understand the use of a Spectrum analyzer, I'll buy one that is considerably more versatile and accurate. Thanks again for the great video and this is one that I'll be referring back to in the weeks & months ahead. Rich

Best summary of this topic I've ever seen. Thanks!

A very clear explanation of each unit. I really appreciate that people like you, take the time, to teach and help others. Warm greetings and my respects from Puerto Rico and God bless you.

The best explanation ever on dB with practice illustrating theory and vice versa. Brillant !

thanks a lot for producing such „easy to understand“ videos of quite complex subjects. Like your channel a lot

Came back to watch this again. Thank you- for your useful and careful explanation of why we want dBs.

The best tutorial on the subject that I've seen.

Great Video! Learned a lot! As a hardware EE your videos are invaluable. I am grateful for the time you spend on producing such quality material.

This video is fantastic. Clear, concise and informative. Thank you

I don't know how to thank you.... I have been gone watching your videos once after the other... The concepts are becoming clear to me after a long long time... I wish you could do more such videos. Perhaps on concepts of electromagnetic field theory and antennas. Great work! Thank you!

The best explanation I have seen. Your examples were great!

Another wonderful video! Thank you so much for your clear, concise, and to-the-point explanation.

Brilliant can clear explanation that does not shy away from maths or practical demonstration. Many thanks for this.

The best explanation of db. Thank you!

Great explanation Alan. You made it much easier to understand the concepts. Thank you.

This is an exceptionally well done video. I found it to be clear and very informative, especially the algebra for the conversion of volt to power. I will recommend this to fellow RF engineers and techs.

You are a very good teacher. Excellent presentation, simple to understand and concise. Thank you.

Thanks very much sir. Your videos are helping me with my job! May God bless you! Amazing quality info in a short time.

Absolutely brilliant explanation with great examples! So nice to get a refresher on this knowledge that I didn't quite understand fully before. (I have that "now I get it!!!" moment)

You are officially the king of the explanation!!!

Thank you for explaining in detail the purpose of db used in analyzing signals. I now understand it to be for a purpose of showing mathematically and graphically large variations in signals on the same graph. Hence logarithm graph paper.

Clear precise explanation with excellent examples! Thanks! Best explanation I've heard. A question - What type of lead do you use in your pencil to give such good contrast? It looks like it's a black ink marker, but I occasionally see places where you've erased.

Thank you! Seems now after around 20 years I have a more clear understanding))

The wise adage says that to learn is never too late. Your movies are for me the proof that this phrase tells the truth. Every time I learn a lot from your movies. Thanks a lot.

A super fine tutorial.. so simply explained.. thank you

this just cleared up 40 years of confusion, thanks!

Lovely explanation and great video....thanks for sharing.

The best explanation out there. Thank you!

Hey, great video, you inspired me. I am about to be pedantic, my old RF lecturer who was Marine Radio Officer is standing looking over my shoulder. He never forgot the caveat, "In a matched condition". Please everyone, remember to specify the source and load impedance and the system must be matched.

My respects to you sir. Finally, great and clear explanations!

BEST dB explanation!!!

Amazing video, in every 20 minutes video I learn the same amount of information that I can learn in one month at school. PS: It will be great if you can produce in 1080p, sometimes is not so easy to read some small texts at current resolution.

@w2aew, hi Alan, yes I understand the issue regarding the two PEP measurements but it does cause confusion. People wrongly comparing test data recorded in the two different ways. Great videos.

Awesome, so much better than reading a book, your scope examples make it easy to visualize and understand.

Very interesting. Boy how much I have forgotten over the years. Thanks

Very nice post. I especially appreciate your math demos in relation to the scope functions.

The explanations were great! Thank you.

I'm going for my Extra class test on Nov 10. This video sure cleared up allot of confusion for me about where some of these equations came from in the ARRL manuals. I suppose part of the problem is that, in my career, I did not have to work with decibels. So remembering when to use 20*Log vs 10*Log didn't make much sense to me ... UNTIL NOW! Thanks very much. Don, KC3MBK

Very valuable video, thank you so much.

Thank you for educating me on this dark sorcery. Now I comprehend it. You are an excellent instructor. I subscribe!

Thanks for this video. It clearly explains what can sometimes be a difficult subject to understand.

Thanks for sharing your knowledge and how to understand the results of mathematical calculations by the use of lab equipment.

Excellent video!! Hope to see some more !!!

I keep coming back to this video, and I think I'm getting it ;) Thanks so much for these videos!

Great! You clearly outline this stuff & make this really fun.