[kismac] Re: Signal strength
- From: Brad Knowles <brad@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: kismac@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Wed, 1 Mar 2006 01:48:08 +0100
At 6:46 AM +0800 2006-03-01, Robin L Darroch wrote:
I agree that it should be optional, but the problem you're describing
shouldn't be an issue unless you've *never* picked up any network other
than your weak target network since installing that adapter in KisMAC.
Otherwise, the weak network will still give you very low scaled
numbers compared with the strong network that you picked up
once-upon-a-time.
If you're trying to help someone debug their wireless network
problems and you're using their computer as part of that process,
then this situation is actually quite likely.
You need to be able to use absolute mode (whatever is returned by
the hardware & driver), although it might be nice to also have an
auto-scaled mode.
Of course, even with auto-scaling, it may be completely
inappropriate to use that for comparison between cards -- I know that
on my TiBook, an Apple Airport card does quite badly, because of how
and where Apple situated the antenna, and the fact that the case is
now all metal.
My PowerBook G3 Pismo does much better in these cases, usually at
least 30-50% better, with the exact same card, same transmitter, and
same location of the computer doing the testing. When I use Senao CD
250mW Prism2.5 cards, I get much, much better signal strength in both
types of computers, even though I am not yet convinced that those
numbers are 100% comparable, either.
I won't get into what kinds of signal strength differences I see
with all the other types of cards I have -- I've got way, way, way
too many different types of cards for that.
--
Brad Knowles, <brad@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
"Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little
temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety."
-- Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790), reply of the Pennsylvania
Assembly to the Governor, November 11, 1755
LOPSA member since December 2005. See <http://www.lopsa.org/>.
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