1.1 Nomenclature

In this book, we work with quantities commonly expressed in both linear and logarithmic (or dB) formats. Any time a quantity is expressed in dB, it will have a dB subscript. For example, noise figure expressed in decibels will be written F _db. When noise figure is expressed as a linear number, it will not have a subscript ( F). However, occasionally a linear quantity may be written as F _lin. One of the major sources of mistakes in receiver design results from using a quantity expressed in decibels when the equation requires the linear number.