[MLB-WIRELESS] [Fwd: WAP11 - software 100mw output power hack]

[Jay Fajardo]

I've been following this thread on the ptp list and actually did it
already. No real way for me to test the signal output though.

On thing I did see was that the same CR31 regsister is actually present
on my Dlink DWL650 card. But right now I have no way of changing it. I
spotted it using the PRISM test utilities but you can't config the
registers from there.

I heard that the Wireless Lan Expert app can modify the power output but
I have yet to have it work on XP.

 

|-----Original Message-----
|From: Drew [mailto:drew at no6.com] 
|Sent: Monday, December 17, 2001 4:30 PM
|To: melbwireless
|Subject: [MLB-WIRELESS] [Fwd: WAP11 - software 100mw output power hack]
|
|
|
|Forwarding from the seattle list... for those with linksys wap11's, 
|maybe this will make up for their pathetic range
|
|-d
|
|Ok, since this seems to be a new topic, I thought I'd start a 
|new thread.
|
|Step 1)
|Download this:
|http://www.gigafast.com/drivers/SNMPV1743.exe
|
|(I also have it on my ftp at 
|ftp://www.andrewhakman.dhs.org/wap11/, but the 
|university's main router/firewall where my server is went down 
|about 2 hours 
|ago, and I'm not sure when it will be back up)
|
|Step 2)
|If you have ver 1.1 hardware, you can use 1.4h3, but if you 
|only have ver 1 
|hardware, you must have firmware 1.4gx to use that 
|configuration utility 
|mentioned above (the ver 1 hardware doesn't support SNMP in 1.4h3 for 
|whatever reason). Make sure you use the linksys or SMC config 
|util to setup 
|SNMP (in the SMC util, there's even a program that can scan 
|the network at 
|layer 2 (MAC) to allow you to change the IP if it's on the 
|wrong subnet 
|without using the USB config util - more on the SMC util at the bottom)
|
|Step 3)
|Install above ap configurator. Once installed, go to 
|c:\windows or c:\winnt 
|(if you run nt4/2k) and find snmpmanager.ini. Edit so it looks 
|like this:
|
|[SNMPmanager]
|AppMode=2
|AppView=2
|
|Step 4) Run the Atmel AP configurator, log into your AP using 
|the password 
|you previously set, and "Administrator" as the authority setting.
|
|Step 5)
|HAVE FUN - you have ALL the options, even the ones that the 
|linksys software 
|doesn't give you. This also gives any compatable AP (like the 
|SMC MC2655W 
|and the Netgear ME102) all the extra operating modes like 
|briding and AP 
|clinet and whatnot.
|
|For the output power part, go to the Radio -> configuration 
|option. All the 
|textboxes that come up are the power output for each channel. 
|The highest 
|output power (100mw supposedly) is at hex value 80, and as you 
|change the 
|value (in either direction) from 80, the power output drops 
|linearly (so 7A 
|and 86 are the same power output). These settings might also 
|explain why out 
|of the box, performance isn't the same on all channels (with ver 1.1 
|hardware, certain channels have lower output power by default, 
|with ver 1 
|hardware, they're all the same)!
|
|Step 6)
|Use File -> download changes to send your new settings to the AP
|
|Step 7) (optional, but FUN FUN FUN!)
|Using your Orinoco signal meter, actually see an increase in 
|power output 
|from the WAP-11 (if you have an Orinoco card that is) - you 
|should be able 
|to see signal of -30dB easily if you are close to the WAP-11, 
|instead of the 
|-50 you normally see from 30mW devices.
|
|
|Other interesting things
|
|1) There must be something else that can be changed in the 
|.ini file to 
|allow you to actually change, _and make stick_, the operational region 
|setting, thus you can put it in japan region, and get all 14 
|channels (and 
|pump them all up to 100mw) which could allow you to run 
|bridges in channels 
|that don't interfer with regular access points in a really 
|dense network, 
|etc. With this current hack, you can change the setting, but 
|it never sticks 
|in the AP - once you disconnect and reconnect to it, it's back 
|to it's usual 
|FCC domain.
|
|After exams, and when I'm not doing the 10 million other 
|things I want to do 
|_after exams_, I'm going to see if I can reverse engineer this 
|software and 
|see if there is some other mode or line it's looking for in 
|the .ini file. I 
|also think that there may be another option besides 
|administrator and user 
|when you initally log in like OEM or something like that, and 
|that that 
|option is just hidden until you feed it the right value in the 
|.ini file. I 
|have used eXescope to take an inital look, but couldn't see 
|the options of 
|the dropdown.
|
|2) Using the SMC config program for their MC2655W (which 
|hardware wise is 
|identical), you can (as I mentioned before) change the IP even 
|if it's not 
|on the same subnet, and do everything (including FIRMWARE 
|UPDATES) ACROSS 
|THE NETWORK via SNMP. This means that you don't need to think 
|about USB over 
|Ethernet (I've tried it by the way - works to ~60 feet - you 
|must use all 4 
|pins in USB - even though the WAP-11 is externally powered, 
|USB uses it's 
|power pins to decide if a device is connected or not) or 
|having physical 
|access to the unit's USB port to do firmware updates (like if 
|you mount it 
|in a weather proof box on your roof!).
|
|I also have the SMC config util on my ftp, when they fix the 
|router and it 
|comes back up - ftp://www.andrewhakman.dhs.org/wap11
|
|Have fun playing with your WAP11/SMC MC2655W/or Netgear ME102 
|(and others 
|too) in all operating modes at 100mw on all channels now!
|
|Andrew Hakman
|
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|
|
|
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