how to test Alfa AWUS036H is 500mW or 1W?

[tremo1984]

[/B]

So it doesnt apepar to be true.

i think you need the 1w 13" antena to get a better signal

[easycheese13]

Everyone i have talked to states that you see very little improvement from the 500mW to the 1000mW. Even with the 15" 9dbi gain antenna i saw very little improvement over the stock antenna. Any AP's i was able to pickup with the 15" antenna i was able to see with the stock, with maybe a few higher dbi signal.

[EgWel]

But you shouldn't expect that much difference between a tx power of 500 or 1000mw imho... That translates to only 3dBm difference, 500mw being 27dBm and 1000mw 30dBm?

I've received mine today together with the 5 and 9 dBi antennas. Did a little test by keeping my laptop at a fixed spot and let kismet run for 5 minutes with both the 5 and the 9 antenna at a place where I know there are a lot of signals.
With the 5dBi antenna it picked up 47 AP's. With the 9dBi it picked up 54. All depends on the place you are in I guess, but there is a difference...

You have to remember, a lot of stuff in the RF world is presented on a logarithmic scale. You cant always use a lineair scale and e.g. assume that twice the watts in txpower means twice the range/signal strength. It does not work that way.

[EgWel]

Oh and btw, when you try to set tx-power using iw-priv you cannot set it above 27dBm which is 500mw. If you want the full 30dBm you have to:

iw reg set BO

Don't ask me why Bolivia, but you'll see a tx-power of 30dBm in iwconfig after this

[shady]

I was watching the antenna that the alfa have by default, use other antenna like the one that came with the Gsky, I order an alfa 1watt so I will do a home made test, reading the “Network Stumbler” program, if the numbers stay the same then I will have a backup usb antenna lol.

Were you ever able to get Network Stumbler working with either? I read of people getting it to work, but I have not been able to.

[Snayler]

Were you ever able to get Network Stumbler working with either? I read of people getting it to work, but I have not been able to.

Netstumbler is a windows tool, though not supported here. But since i'm in a good mood, i'll tell you this: I've red reports that Netstumbler only works ok in XP, not in vista nor 7. Hope you find the info useful.