Optimum Transmit Power on WRT54GL

[vask]

Is Gargoyle/OpenWRT's default of 31DBm for transmit power really optimum for the WRT54GL?

Was this value specifically tested to be the optimum value for the WRT54GL?

My concern is that such a high power setting degrades transmitted signal AND uses more power than necessary. Also, the defaults are much lower on the linksys firmware:
1. WRT54G v2 18dBm
2. WRT54G v1.1 15dBm
Source:
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/9132- ... put-adjust

I didn't like how OpenWRT/Gargoyle was reporting my power output on my WRT54GL:

default
root@OpenWrt:~# iwlist txpower
wl0 2 available transmit-powers :
0 dBm (1 mW)
25 dBm (255 mW)
Current Tx-Power:32 dBm (1496 mW)

So I fixed it in the webif and bumped it just above "Typical wireless router transmission power " from:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DBm
root@OpenWrt:~# iwlist txpower
wl0 2 available transmit-powers :
0 dBm (1 mW)
25 dBm (255 mW)
Current Tx-Power:22 dBm (126 mW)

NOTE: For some reason the command line adds 1 dBm to the setting I chose from the webif

Anyway, 126mW is right where I want to be according to:
http://users.on.net/~deadsimple/images/wrt54gl.png
From:
http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/archive/982038

MORE INFO:
http://www.dslreports.com/forum/r115696 ... Bi-antenna

[pbix]

This might be a good topic to take up at openwrt.org.

Not sure anyone here knows much about it.