when i set the card power to card defaults it shows 17db. whats the max safe power i can set on it at all rates ??? i Want max without damaging the card.

Thanks

the default is the max.

the mikrotik website states the card as 25dbm. The card setting is 17dbm 8 db is a lot of differance I would have set it to 25 but i have been told that some cards have power offset and transmit at higher powers then they show so i wanted to know where to set the card or should i just live with 17dbm

look under the tx powers tatus tab and find the actual to see what its using.

this cards doesn't have any offset. Check the country setting or frequency-mode setting.

In your case take a look under Country selection, try to set it on No_Country_set) and take a look on Current Tx power tab.

But i have another weird problem. Recently bought R52Hn (Manual says "Output Power of up to 25dBm @ a/g/n Band") but mine runs Max 22dBm under 6Mbps. Country mode No_country_set, Tx power default, frequency 5180.

most likely you have only one wireless chain enabled. Connect second antenna to second connector and enable chain1.

Yes i use only one ANT57/PAR 5Ghz antenna. So 25dBm possible only with both chains enabled?