Radio frequency level indicator

A method of using a radio frequency (RF) receiver circuit, the RF receiver circuit comprising a variable gain amplifier, wherein a gain of the variable gain amplifier is variable, and an RF level indicator circuit, the method comprising:

• with the variable gain amplifier, receiving an input RF signal;
• with the variable gain amplifier, generating an amplified RF signal based on the input RF signal;
• with the RF level indicator circuit, sampling the amplified RF signal at non-periodic sampling intervals to generate a plurality of sampled RF signals;
• and
• with the RF level indicator circuit, comparing the sampled RF signals with one or more thresholds to generate a plurality of comparison result signals,
• wherein the gain of the variable gain amplifier is determined based at least in part on the comparison result signals.