I know kilo is 1,000 and Mega is 1,000,000 but I need help on how you Read Radio Displays?

If a Display says 101.5 MHz do you not Ad 6. Zeros to make it 101,500,000 0 Hz?

Or what am I not understanding?

 

Hello,

There would be 6 digits after the dot of the display.
The display is simplfied to 100 kHz resolution.

Bertus

 

I know kilo is 1,000 and Mega is 1,000,000 but I need help on how you Read Radio Displays?

If a Display says 101.5 MHz do you not Ad 6. Zeros to make it 101,500,000 0 Hz?

Or what am I not understanding?

How are we supposed to interpret the space in your number?

No, you multiply the number of 10^6, yielding 101,500,000 Hz.

1,234.5678 Hz = 1.2345678 kHz = 0.0012345678 MHz = 1,234,567.8 mHz = 1,234,567,890 μHz

In essence, all the prefixes do is tell you how far to move the decimal point and in what direction. Zeroes are merely added in order to facilitate the necessary move.

 

Hello,

As @WBahn said, the prefix shows the multiplying factor:

Bertus

 

Hello,

As @WBahn said, the prefix shows the multiplying factor:
View attachment 283746
Bertus

There are four more:

Bigger than yotta

quetta​	Q​	10^{30}​	nonillion​
ronna​	R​	10^{27}​	octillion​

Smaller than yocto

ronto​	r​	10^{-27}​	octillionth​
quecto​	q​	10^(-30}​	nonillionth​

 

In radio frequencies, such as broadcast radio, the lesser significant figures are generally zeros and so can be replaced by the suitable letter designation. The radio dial would be hard to read if all of the significant figures were shown.

 

If a Display says 101.5 MHz...

Yes, you move the decimals 6 places to the right make it 101,500,000 Hz

 

Don't you think that the original set of prefixes from atto to Tera were about right? Beyond that, everyone uses standard form.

 

One additional thing is that the accuracy of the dial markings on entertainment class radios is no better than their resolution. "101" on the FM dial indicates the neighborhood, not the address and apartment number.
On non-entertainment receivers there is usually much better resolution and much more effort towards accuracy because often the setting is by frequency rather than "tune for best sound." And the meaning of the abbreviations is well understood by the users.

 

Don't you think that the original set of prefixes from atto to Tera were about right? Beyond that, everyone uses standard form.

Certainly not. They become especially useful when teaching so one how to convert MHz to Hz.

 

Certainly not. They become especially useful when teaching so one how to convert MHz to Hz.

I've only seen them used in sensationalistic journalism, but it's more common in the press to see things expressed in double-decker buses/elephants/size of Wales/energy to boil a kettle.

 

I've only seen them used in sensationalistic journalism, but it's more common in the press to see things expressed in double-decker buses/elephants/size of Wales/energy to boil a kettle.

The same could once be said for atto and tera, too. But advancing technology brought those into common use (e.g., aF in IC design, TB in hard-drive sizes). It wasn't that long ago that GB and GHz came into the public conversation. It won't be that long before PB drives are available and total global Internet traffic is already over 200 EB/month and will likely exceed the 1 ZB/mo level sometime this decade.