# 'Counts' in WX Scope Plot **URL:** \ **Category:** GNU Radio\ **Created:** [July 9, 2014, 11:10am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/counts-in-wx-scope-plot/230867 "2014-07-09T11:10:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![addis\_a](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/a/c4cdca/32.png) [@addis\_a](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/addis_a)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2014, 11:10am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/counts-in-wx-scope-plot/230867/1 "2014-07-09T11:10:48Z")
The vertical axis in Scope Plot is labelled as Counts. What does it mean? How is it related to the physical parameters of the signal like amplitude/power? – View this message in context: [http://gnuradio.4.n7.nabble.com/Counts-in-WX-Scope-Plot-tp49248.html](http://gnuradio.4.n7.nabble.com/Counts-in-WX-Scope-Plot-tp49248.html) Sent from the GnuRadio mailing list archive at [Nabble.com](http://Nabble.com). ---
**Author:** ![jsam45](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/j/9de0a6/32.png) [@jsam45](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/jsam45)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2014, 12:05pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/counts-in-wx-scope-plot/230867/2 "2014-07-09T12:05:38Z")
Hi Joseph (hope that’s the right name, if not, please correct me 😉 ), well, GNU Radio is software defined radio; the data it processes are simply numbers, so its unit is 1. If your signal comes from an ADC, then it _might be_ proportional to Volts at the receiver; however, you usually do a lot of processing after receiving, so using Volts as a unit is kind of wrong, because none of the components consider these numbers to represent a voltage. If you happen to square your signal, the display would be proportional to power, instead, so there’s no way to tell you "the scope sink displays physical entity "; it all depends on what you let it display. I hope that helped a little, Greetings, Marcus M. ---
**Author:** ![jsam45](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/j/9de0a6/32.png) [@jsam45](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/jsam45)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2014, 4:48am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/counts-in-wx-scope-plot/230867/3 "2014-07-10T04:48:07Z")
On Wed, Jul 9, 2014 at 11:09 AM, jsam45 [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > The vertical axis in Scope Plot is labelled as Counts. What does it mean? How > is it related to the physical parameters of the signal like amplitude/power? It’s dependent on your hardware. Basically ‘count’ is just the raw value and what that value means is whatever the source block returned. It can be normalized between -1.0 and 1.0 or represent the raw adc value, and then what voltage the represents depends on the ADC reference used in your hw. What power it represent at the input depends on the total gain in the rx chain from input to ADC … All of that is out-of-scope for GR, you have to calibrate it out if you want absolute/known units. Cheers, Sylvain ---
**Author:** ![jsam45](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/j/9de0a6/32.png) [@jsam45](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/jsam45)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2014, 5:35am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/counts-in-wx-scope-plot/230867/4 "2014-07-10T05:35:14Z")
I think ‘Magnitude’ is better than counts, which is just confusing. ---
**Author:** ![jsam45](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/j/9de0a6/32.png) [@jsam45](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/jsam45)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2014, 11:24am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/counts-in-wx-scope-plot/230867/5 "2014-07-10T11:24:47Z")
On 07/10/2014 05:33 AM, Vanush V. wrote: > I think ‘Magnitude’ is better than counts, which is just confusing. There’s a difference: ‘Counts’ implies the digital nature of the signal, and ‘Magnitude’ cannot be negative. ‘Amplitude’ would work, but again, that doesn’t imply amplitude-discrete steps. M ---
**Author:** ![jsam45](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/j/9de0a6/32.png) [@jsam45](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/jsam45)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2014, 3:27pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/counts-in-wx-scope-plot/230867/6 "2014-07-10T15:27:57Z")
On Thu, Jul 10, 2014 at 5:23 AM, Martin B. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > On 07/10/2014 05:33 AM, Vanush V. wrote: > > > I think ‘Magnitude’ is better than counts, which is just confusing. > > There’s a difference: ‘Counts’ implies the digital nature of the signal, > and ‘Magnitude’ cannot be negative. ‘Amplitude’ would work, but again, > that doesn’t imply amplitude-discrete steps. > > M I generally agree with Martin, though I’m also generally not pedantic about this sort of thing. One issue to point out here, though, is that you /can/ change this. If you open up the options of the scope sink, the last parameter is “Y Axis Label” and you can set it to whatever unit you like. “Monkeys”, for example. Tom