Converting Power (dBm) To Milliwatts

A decibel is a measurement that expresses a power ratio, rather than an absolute number. One advantage of using decibels to express power instead of milliwatts is that decibels allow attenuation to be expressed as whole numbers. Milliwatts, on the other hand, would typically be expressed as fractions, which are more cumbersome. For example, 13 dBm = 19.953 milliwatts. This advantage is clearly shown on the chart below.


Power to Miliwatts Conversion Table
dBm MilliWatts dBm MilliWatts dBm MilliWatts
-40 .00010 -13 .0501 15 31.623
-37 .00019 -10 .10 17 50.119
-35 .00032 -7 .1995 20 100.0
-33 .00050 -5 .3162 23 199.53
-30 .001 -3 .5012 25 316.23
-27 .002 0 1.0 27 501.19
-25 .00316 3 1.9953 30 1.00w
-23 .00601 5 3.1623 33 1.99w
-20 .01 7 5.0119 35 3.16w
-17 .01995 10 10.0 37 5.01w
-15 .03162 13 19.953 40 10.00w
Shop Fiber Products
Subscribe to Free Catalog and Monthly Newsletter 
 
 

Join Our Mailing list

U.S. General Services AdministrationInternational Organization for Standardization
View our Interactive Catalog