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jmerlin
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R11e-5HnD ath9k

Tue Nov 26, 2013 7:04 pm

I have purchased several of the R11e-5HnD cards to use in our product running a version of embedded linux to take advantage of their excellent output power. In the RB912UAG-5HPnD I get great output power ~20dBm, but in our linux box with the ath9k driver I get a 30dBm decline in the output power. Is there something special I need to make the ath9k driver work for this card?
 
N1N1
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Re: R11e-5HnD ath9k

Fri Feb 21, 2014 5:05 pm

Hi,

I have the same problem with a R11e-2HPnD (same product @2.4GHz).
Did you find a solution?

Thanks in advance for your answer.

Christophe
 
N1N1
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Re: R11e-5HnD ath9k

Sat Feb 22, 2014 2:30 pm

Hello,

I have the same problem as you.
Did you get an answer or a driver (even binary) from Mikrotik?

Christophe
 
jmerlin
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Re: R11e-5HnD ath9k

Tue Mar 04, 2014 1:53 am

I have not found a solution and would welcome any information anyone has. In the short term, I have resorted to using a WLE350nx from Compex, but would really like to be able to use the R11e-5HnD.
 
kornaz
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Re: R11e-5HnD ath9k

Mon Mar 10, 2014 3:32 pm

By default all Mikrotik wifi cards in Linux (with ath9k driver) will run at max 27 dBm @ 2.4 Ghz and max 17 dBm @ 5 Ghz (channels 36, 40, 44, 48), because 0x0 regulatory domain is programmed in EEPROM which is mapped to US by ath9k in Linux. If you need to increase TX power in 5 Ghz lower channels, you will have to modify regulatory limits for country US and build your own /lib/crda/regulatory.bin file (wireless-regdb package), sign it with your private key and add the public key to the crda package. My R11e-5HnD is currently running at 23 dBm on Debian Linux (wheezy) with no issues (although I had to install the latest 3.12.x kernel from the backports, because for some reason hostapd does not work correctly with AR9580 cards with the distribution kernel 3.2.x).
# iwconfig wlan1
wlan1     IEEE 802.11an  Mode:Master  Tx-Power=23 dBm
          Retry  long limit:7   RTS thr=2347 B   Fragment thr=2346 B
          Power Management:off

kornaz
 
N1N1
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Re: R11e-5HnD ath9k

Tue Mar 18, 2014 4:59 pm

Hi Kornaz,

Thank you for your answer.
Actually, I had already solve the RegDB issue. I'm under OpenWRT and it is easy to rebuild the database.
So I get no error when asking for 27dBm and I think everything is correct from that side.

My problem is that, when I ask for high power (27dBm), the system acknowledge it, but when I measure the actual output power with a spectrum analyser I only see 20dBm (or even less, don't remember exactly and I don't have the spectrum analyser here any more).
This is not a HW problem because when I install the same board on a RouterOS powered mother board (RB912), I have the correct 27dBm on each channel.
That's why I was thinking about a driver issue. My idea was, that there may be something like an additional power amplifier aside AR9580 that needs to be driven by a dedicated driver.

But this is probably not the case, since you tell it's working for you. I'll have to investigate more from my side...

By the way, would you be able to check the actual output power of your device (with spectrum analyser or other device, like WifiAnalyser software on you mobile...)? Also, did you compared with other devices or with same device under RouterOS to be sure that you really have the 27dBm?

Christophe
 
pyf
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Re: R11e-5HnD ath9k

Wed Dec 17, 2014 6:56 pm

Hi,

I'm seeing the same thing as jmerlin : I'm measuring the output of my r11e-HPnD board with a spectrum analyzer (with a 20 dB coupler on my cabled RF link set-up) and I'm only seeing around +16 dBm (in channel power mode with carrier loaded at max throughput).

Has anyone figured out if this was a limitation of output power of the R11e board or if there is a trick with the ath9k driver ?

When I change the tx power using the command "iw dev wlan0 set txpower fixed 2700" (for +27 dBm) and try different power value I do see the changes but cannot reach the expected 27 dBm.

With the same setup I've measure a bullet M2HP and I get around +23 dBm (which is 5 dB less than expected 28 dBm - true - but way closer to the expected value).

Thanks !
PY
 
FZA
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Re: R11e-5HnD ath9k

Thu Oct 22, 2015 4:57 pm

Hi all,
I have the same problem.
I compared R11e-5HnD (power setted to 27 dBm, with my own regulatory.bin) with a Compex wireless card with max power 23 dBm: I measured the power with a SA in the same enviroment, same antenna, same driver (ath9k, backports 4.2) and with Mikrotik I receive about 15 dBm less then Compex.
I would like to use the more powerful Mikrotik but it doesn't work as I want.
Probably, as you said, it could be a driver issue... has anyone solved it?
Thanks,

Francesco
 
uldis
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Re: R11e-5HnD ath9k

Fri Oct 23, 2015 1:13 pm

what mini-pcie adapter/slot you are using for the mini-pcie wireless card?
 
FZA
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Re: R11e-5HnD ath9k

Mon Oct 26, 2015 11:11 am

Hi,
thank you for the response.
We are using this mini-pcie adapter:
Lotes APCI0033-P*** (http://www.lotes.cc/shop/webpage!produc ... APCI0033-P***)
We manage the wireless card with the iMX6's pcie interface directly (not USB).
We supply the card with 3.3 V and up to 3A.
Do you mean that could be an HW issue?
Thanks,

Francesco
 
kristaps
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Re: R11e-5HnD ath9k

Mon Oct 26, 2015 5:59 pm

Coul you share screen off spectrum analyzer, and your setup picture.
and how you are generating WiFi traffic ?
 
FZA
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Re: R11e-5HnD ath9k

Thu Oct 29, 2015 6:50 pm

Hi all,
thanks to Mikrotik support we found the solution!
The problem was that on mini-pcie adapter on our own motherboard we didn't connect pins 39 and 41 to 3.3V (they supply the radio power amplifier).
Unluckily we followed a mini-pcie pinout that marks that pins as "reserved"... some other pinouts correctly mark those as 3.3V.
Thank you all, bye.

Francesco
 
corsair64
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Re: R11e-5HnD ath9k

Tue Nov 29, 2022 11:53 pm

Hi all,

We've got a 5HnD, and we are seeing just 'monitor' under iw info (openwrt). No other capabilities are shown at the command line.

The ath9k is there, but the card doesn't associate with the openwrt router, an x86 64-bit single board computer. The other radios (qty 6) are shown as Qualcomm Atheros QCA9880 802.11bgnac.

Just looking to add a more powerful radio.

Thanks!
--Joe.


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