oh, i mean the USB AWLL5025 card and the PCI AWLH5025 too, wireshark
won't return the TX-power value for the AWLH4030 PCI, the program also
notes that the accuracy of the returned values solely depend on the
card's drivers

so the broadcom miniPCI driver says it's got 1300mW... but why 1300mW
and not 3100mW? well, i have another theory beside thinking garbage
values being returned..

1300mW is about 31dBm!!! and i dont see why wifi cards cannot have
exactly that much of TX power. the FCC part 15 states that the limit
for 2.4GHz non-channel-hopping radios is 1000mW (or 30dBm) provided it
is attached to an antenna of 6dBi gain or less.... and for every 3dBi
increase in antenna gain, the TX power has to be reduced by 1dBm.
nothing further about the variations of radios+antennas
configuration...

but here comes the creative thinking.. from there, one may deductively
conclude that if the radio is permanently attached to a 3dbi antenna or
less, then its maximum TX power can be legally increased to 31dBi!!!

i suspect that notebooks manufactures been doing this with their OEM
wifi cards, especially with those miniPCIs, to keep their customers
happy.... of course, those cards are not intended for desktop use,
obviously, never to be sold as a part of a "highpower wardriving kit",
or to be sold seperately at all, even if they are hard coded to a
specific channel within the 2.4GHz spectrum

the wireless networking section at Frys, compared to other sections,
has the most returned items from pissed off customer who bought
brand-name wifi devices that put out 30mW... lol

cheers


Jeff Liebermann wrote:

> >oh and by the way, wireshark. formely ethereal, says the TX-power of
> >this card is 100mW!!!
>
> Which one? The spec sheet says that the AWLL5025 belches +13dBm
> (20mw) for 802.11g and +17dBm (50mw) for 802.11b.
> <http://www.airlink101.com/products/awll5025.html>
>
> The AWLH4030 PCI is about the same at 10-14dBm (10-25mw) for 802.11g
> and +18dBm (63mw) for 802.11b.
> <http://www.airlink101.com/products/awlh4030.html>
>
> So it is written, so it must be.
>
> Wireshark and Wi-Fi Hopper both claim my HP laptops Broadcom something
> MiniPCI card puts out 1300mw. What's happening is the NDIS5 function
> call that returns the tx power from the driver is returning garbage.
>
>
>
>
> --
> Jeff Liebermann jeffl@comix.santa-cruz.ca.us
> 150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
> Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
> Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558