Decibels and Voltage

This calculation will give you the voltage ratio, in decibels, between two signal voltages. When you want to figure out the gain needed (in decibels) to raise the output level from 0.5 volts to 1.5 volts, you can use this calculator. You can also use this to calculate how much attenuation you need, if for instance you have a 2.0 volt input level, and you have to attenuate it to 0.2 volts to prevent input overload. (You can then pop over to the H and T pad calculator to find the resistor values necessary. For the record, the formula to calculate this ratio is: Voltage Ratio in Decibels=20xlog(voltage 2/voltage 1), and you can calculate it on any scientific calculator.