[HELP] Transmit power restriction for RT-N66U

[Chrysalis]

service restart_wireless seems to undo all nvram commit changes on region forcing to EU.

 

[DrTeeth]

Yes - much better for me in the UK - 5GHz is way improved....I didn't even know there was a GB setting.

If we can't have the ability to control location in the GUI, then perhaps it could at least display the current settings?

I cannot understand Asus' or Merlin's reticence in allowing end users to set their correct locale easily. If anybody is going to abuse power limits and channel allocations the lack of an 'easy way' is not going to stop them just as it does not stop me or others from setting the correct values (GB too).

 

[L&LD]

I cannot understand Asus' or Merlin's reticence in allowing end users to set their correct locale easily. If anybody is going to abuse power limits and channel allocations the lack of an 'easy way' is not going to stop them just as it does not stop me or others from setting the correct values (GB too).

You are entitled to your opinion. I won't argue that even though the rules are there for very good reasons.

But you also have the option to not buy or use what doesn't work for you too.

It has been stated many times why this won't change. The situation will only become worse in the future as more and more wireless networks are in play too. Different countries have different laws for different reasons.

Some safety (think hospitals), some military (national security) and some for business purposes I'm sure. But either way you can't ask someone to break the law for you.

If you operate on your own in this regards, well...

 

[DrTeeth]

You are entitled to your opinion. I won't argue that even though the rules are there for very good reasons.
But either way you can't ask someone to break the law for you.
If you operate on your own in this regards, well...

Hold your horses there mate. WHERE did I say that I was asking anybody to break the law or help me to do so? You should read what is posted more carefully before jumping to conclusions on what you think you have read.

I have been a licensed amateur radio operator (radio ham) for nearly 40 years and I know considerably more than most people that post here about matters radio; both on a technical and regulatory level. I do not claim to be an expert by any means and many of the hams here are way above my level technically.

My point was [read it well, you got it wrong last time] is that NOT having the adjustment available in the GUI does not stop anybody from altering their regulatory locale. First, they can find any information about different channels and power outputs from many sources and second, if they can do that they can find the info to change it via the command line. Does GUI=illegal and command line=legal as in some weird Linux beardy alternative universe ?

If Merlin and Asus were serious about this, Merlin would have deleted any hints or tips about changing it that has been posted here and Asus would have found a more robust method of locking the router. One could argue that leaving ways to illegally change ones router locale published goes against his ethos of not encouraging illegal activity.

I am in the UK and just want to operate ACCORDING TO THE LAW of my locale and NOT another one. It is not right (we agree on something )and I do not want to risk my ham licence.

There, I feel much better now.

 

[L&LD]

DrTeeth,

I stand corrected. We are on the same page it seems.

 

[DrTeeth]

DrTeeth,

I stand corrected. We are on the same page it seems.

Definitely. Take care and have a good weekend.

 

[ycodryn]

Hello. I just bought a N66U router from US and installed Merlin`s firmware. I want to know how can I see what TxPower I have because using nvram get wl_TxPower, nvram get wl0_TxPower, nvram get wl1_TxPower it gives me nothing. I bought 3x9dbi antennas but I`m having 3 walls and I can`t see any improvements. How can I set TxPower to 300,400 or 500 at router start-up if this is not already set? Thank you.
edit: using nvram show I see that TxPower is set to 100. Why is that because using get wl0_country_code and get wl1_country_code I have US and Q2 codes.

 

[jim769]

Hello. I just bought a N66U router from US and installed Merlin`s firmware. I want to know how can I see what TxPower I have because using nvram get wl_TxPower, nvram get wl0_TxPower, nvram get wl1_TxPower it gives me nothing. I bought 3x9dbi antennas but I`m having 3 walls and I can`t see any improvements. How can I set TxPower to 300,400 or 500 at router start-up if this is not already set? Thank you.
edit: using nvram show I see that TxPower is set to 100. Why is that because using get wl0_country_code and get wl1_country_code I have US and Q2 codes.

With all the new Merlin and Asus releases from now on you can only adjust the power to 100% that means there is no way to make the router do more then 80 mw.

 

[ycodryn]

Hmm sad so now does not matter if you are from europe, uk or us where there are 100, 200, 500 mw variations but you are limited to 80 anyway. So set wl_TxPower=$TX, set wl0_TxPower=$TX, set wl1_TxPower=$TX are useless now? Thats why when I`m doing the get command I don`t see nothing?

 

[john9527]

service restart_wireless seems to undo all nvram commit changes on region forcing to EU.

This has been my experience as well, and sometimes you can get stuck in a state where channel 36 at 20MHz is set regardless of your settings. So far I've been unable to track down where in the code this is happening.

The only things that will 'stick' are the test mode regions, #a, #e and #r (maybe #americas, #eu and #russia????). I wasn't able to see the difference between #a and #r....#e sets a lower max power.

 

[jthomas]

... Thats why when I`m doing the get command I don`t see nothing?

I was just playing with the get commands, for some reason now I only get a response when I use all lower case like this: nvram get wl0_txpower. It's all over my head, but I guess they changed it when they went to the 0-100% thing. It seems to report the % now instead of mW.

Also, it would let me do set commands over 100 but it looks like it just makes the slider in the GUI longer (looks funny) and doesn't seem to affect the actual values, they stay capped at whatever the new max is. The slider and set value reset to 100 on router reboot. I don't really care though, I never ran over 100mW anyways and the new max (80mW I think?) works fine for me, just thought I'd share what I saw.

 

[ycodryn]

For me sucks. I`m disappointed of asus. Until now I had only asus routers, next month I`m going to USA and I wanted to upgrade my N66U to RT-AC87U but for what...now I have 3 big 9dbi antennas and this stupid router can`t cover a 70mp apartment. I have tried tomato and is better on wifi range but it miss dual wan and openssl s_client for email ip wan change so I`m thinking FRITZ!Box or Netgear for next router.

 

[SunTzu]

What is the last working software where I can set Power Limit

 

[Deleted member 22229]

What is the last working software where I can set Power Limit

374.43_2 Merlin Fork.

http://forums.smallnetbuilder.com/showthread.php?t=18914

 

[Marctraider]

Ive had great experience with increasing the mW from stock to 500mW even to the point whereas i now have decently stable signal in places i used to have no connectivity at all.

And in places where i did have decent but not optimal connection the connection has stabilized A lot.

DBi increased by ~20 here.


Its hard to explain why, especially since its only in a one way direction. Perhaps the upload on my ipad is more stable than my download hence why upping the transmit power helped out greatly? Remote desktoping is a whole lot more fluent now, kind of logical i suppose as that is mostly based on downloading the data. But also webpages react alot faster with loading and that does also require uploading data.

Im happy either way

 

[lrcollin]

Just curious if anyone understands why I am getting the "Q2" response (and not the expected "US" response) to three of these commands below. I have not attempted to modify these settings, just trying to understand what they are currently set to and what my options might be to test higher transmit power settings.

Router: RT-N66U
Firmware: 3.0.0.4.374.43_2-05j9527

### To CHECK your current region, each line entered will result in the answer.
nvram get pci/1/1/ccode Response is "US"
nvram get pci/2/1/ccode Response is "Q2"
nvram get wl0_country_code Response is "US"
nvram get wl1_country_code Response is "Q2"
nvram get regulation_domain Response is "US"
nvram get regulation_domain_5G Response is "Q2"

### To CHECK your current transmit power, each line entered will result in answer.
nvram get wl_TxPower Response is "200"
nvram get wl0_TxPower Response is "200"
nvram get wl1_TxPower Response is "200"

 

[john9527]

It's because you are running the fork code based on 374.43. For the N66U, it carried forward an 'Engineering Mode' setting that changed the defaults from the CFE (there are also changes to the regulation revision, 'regrev' values). We are a bit limited on the N66U in being able to determine the exact effects, but based on some investigations on the AC68U, I believe these make the TxPower settings effective up to the 200mw gui max, as opposed to the 80mW cap imposed by default.

 

[RypeDub]

Did anyone find compatible antennas that would allow higher transmission?

For whatever reason, 200 mW or even 500 mW don't work for my router. I'm currently running the latest latest version of MerlinWRT and my Tx rate is at 160 mW.

I DEFINITELY absolutely 100% got a boost. My wifie and I have iPhone 6+'s but were constantly on LTE so I did some googling and found this firmware. Now I'm not on LTE and saved hella money on my bill lol

 

[shooter40sw]

Hi , how did you raise the power using merlins fw? thanks

Did anyone find compatible antennas that would allow higher transmission?

For whatever reason, 200 mW or even 500 mW don't work for my router. I'm currently running the latest latest version of MerlinWRT and my Tx rate is at 160 mW.

I DEFINITELT absolutely 100% got a boost. My wifie and I have iPhone 6+'s but were constantly on LTE so I did some googling and found this firmware. Now I'm not on LTE and saved hella money on my bill lol

 

[L&LD]

Hi , how did you raise the power using merlins fw? thanks

You can't. Try john9527's or hggomes' forks instead.