A wireless communication device is disclosed that includes an automatic gain controller capable of accurately adjusting gain of a received signal. The received signal includes a plurality of symbols, including pilot symbols that each includes at least one pilot tone, and data symbols that do not include any pilot tones. A power of a pilot symbol is determined, and a power of a data symbol is determined. The determined data symbol power is then scaled by a scaling factor (that depends on various system parameters) and is subtracted from the determined pilot symbol power to provide an estimate of a power of the pilot tones within the signal. From the estimated pilot tone power, the automatic gain controller can accurately determine a preferred gain for amplifying future frames of the received signal.