The present disclosure sets forth a method for tracking path loss in which a monitoring device issues a series of power step commands and transmit power requests to a reporting device, receives transmit power data in response to the transmit power requests, and creates a data structure (e.g., a table) that maps the number of steps (e.g., number of steps increased or decreased) of the power step commands with the reported transmit powers. This process is performed during the initial connection between the monitoring device and the reporting device.