Transmit Power on TL-WR1043ND

[enigma2k]

Hi,

I am using a TL-WR1043ND with Gargoyle 1.4.7. The transmit power ist set to 27dBm but the signal has still the same "weak" strength as with the original firmware which uses 20dBm.

What could be wrong?

[Hanselan-DE]

The atheros 7x chipset is an active part. It measures the quality while sending and reduce power when signal is ugly. If you plug high gain antenna and set full power, the chip itself responds with lowering output. Hardwired in silicone to prevent manipulation.

Somewhere in dd-wrt forums you can find threads about this 'feature'

Hanselan-DE

[raz]

Somewhere in dd-wrt forums you can find threads about this 'feature'

Would you have a link at hand? Couldn't find it.

Thanky

[raz]

I have Tx-Power set to 27 dBm (max) in Gargoyle GUI.

Let's check for current power in SSH by typing: iwlist txpower

wlan0 unknown transmit-power information.
Current Tx-Power=22 dBm (158 mW)

I then tried maxing the power to 27 dBm: iwconfig wlan0 txpower 27.

And verifying:

wlan0 unknown transmit-power information.
Current Tx-Power=24 dBm (251 mW)

So it looks like the GUI, even when set to 27 dBm, sets the router to 22 dBm -- and the max it can reach when manually set is 24 dBm.

Test it on your side and post back!

EDIT: In terms of effectiveness, the signal received by the clients did not change, for any setting set over 20 dBm.

[enigma2k]

I have read on a german blog an instruction how to get 27dB with the TL-WR1043ND.
As a result you get this when typing iwconfig into the console:

wlan0 IEEE 802.11bgn Mode:Master Frequency:2.427 GHz Tx-Power=27 dBm
RTS thr:off Fragment thr:off
Power Management:on

The guy uses OpenWRT 10.03. Unfortunately I can't do it myself as I don't know any Linux commands and I can't even turn on WLAN with OpenWRT.

When I try to edit the file /etc/config/wireless as it is said in the instruction, my file is empty so I just copy and paste the text from the internet into the file but it does not work.

config wifi-device radio0
option type mac80211
option channel 4
option macaddr 74:ea:3a:00:00:00
option hwmode 11ng
option htmode HT20
option country US
option txpower 27
list ht_capab SHORT-GI-40
list ht_capab DSSS_CCK-40

config wifi-iface
option device radio0
option network lan
option mode ap
option ssid 'NAME_DES_WLAN_AP'
option encryption 'psk'
option key 'WLAN_PRESHARED_KEY'

Here is the instruction:
http://www.kammerath.net/openwrt-tp-lin ... ieren.html

and this the introduction:
http://www.kammerath.net/wlan-sendeleis ... oehen.html

[franklin]

FYI I was able to get access to the file with program called "WINSCP" and using a scp connection. Make sure your logging in as "root" and the password you set when configuring gui access. example:

If you set "admin" and "password123" for gui access when your using WINSCP you use "root" and "password123".

Hope that helps.

WINSCP Link: http://winscp.net/eng/index.php

[enigma2k]

thanks for your tip with WINSCP - only problem is that I am using OSX and none of the apps worked for me to get access.

[raz]

Try a virtual machine?

https://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Downloads

[enigma2k]

I've already tried it with a Virtual Machine but it didn't work.