Wifi Mod complete

[NYG]

Hmmm. Nyg, did you get yours from roc-noc? My invoice says ar9580, but indeed what I received I can read on the chipset is AR9582-AR1A . Was just about to put them in, but maybe I should wait.

Eagle1, censored? Uncensored? Could you point me in the direction of the
AR9582-AR1A Being not as good?

I bought mine from Baltic Networks. When I purchased I wasn't aware of different versions of the cards, or performance differences between them. I never looked at the chipset on mine either after buying them. I was just looking for cards that had good output power and were supported by the ath9k driver.

I'm curious what your card would read executing lspci. So if you decide to install it, or someone that has one installed maybe that can be done.

 

[Timmytimetravel]

Just checked my controller with that command. Later chipset but detected as exactly the same device Id and AR9580 rev01 despite being a AR9582-AR1A on the actual chip.

Now for flight test

 

[NYG]

Just checked my controller with that command. Later chipset but detected as exactly the same device Id and AR9580 rev01 despite being a AR9582-AR1A on the actual chip.

Now for flight test

Ok. So that doesn't indicate any difference. I would think the card rev would at least be different.

Report back with your results.

 

[Timmytimetravel]

Prelim results. This is with the newer chipset replaced in receiver only so far. Solo next.
Software wifi mod done as well
Can't find my stock omnis

This is in wifi metro area with 25mph winds

8db omnis
820ft without 984ft with

Dual Alpha panels
1640ft without 1968ft with

Fpvlr without amps
Without card forgot to measure
With 3280ft

An interesting comparison. Using amps.

2624ft with 3 bars left using the alphas or fpvlr amped

The big surprise for me here is the alpha and fpvlr going similar distance amped (with heaps of range left to measure) however unamped the fpvlr really kicked alphas butt.

I can no longer measure the amped performance without taking the card out of the controller or getting attenuators?

Next measurement will be with wifi card in solo. If it gets up there I may join the unamped crowd.

Not over water and 25mph winds maybe for the further tests

 

[Timmytimetravel]

Ah. Bit of work then. As I pull the solo apart. The following might be a silly question...

Any reason the original solo chipset in the controller would not pair with the new one in the solo?
If I got similar extra performance by installing the solo end. I could back out the controller end leving it stock, and continue to use amps without attenuators. Given the range I was getting amped with fpvlr. Surely the greatest range might be one high mw card in solo, and amped in the controller at stock power. The id of the original one in solo is :

Device 16c3:abcd (rev 01)

01:00.0 Network controller: Atheros Communications Inc. AR9300 Wireless LAN adaptor (rev 01)

 

[Eagle1]

Hmmm. Nyg, did you get yours from roc-noc? My invoice says ar9580, but indeed what I received I can read on the chipset is AR9582-AR1A . Was just about to put them in, but maybe I should wait.

Eagle1, censored? Uncensored? Could you point me in the direction of the
AR9582-AR1A Being not as good?

Tim...That was based on my research, comparison from various websites, user reports and the info I got from Mikrotik tech support
I realized the AR9582-AR1A have a FCC ID while the AR9580 did not have one or I couldn't find one for it, thats the reason I say the AR9580 is UNCENSORED and AR9582 is CENSORED.

Atheros - WikiDevi

Now if your seller state they are selling the AR9580 chip set and they sent you AR9582-AR1A
that means they sent you something different from what was advertised, I would ask for an exchanged.

 

[Timmytimetravel]

Very interesting! Do you see the original ar9300 solo are using on that list? I can't. I wonder what it's Mimo config is?

I've been contimplapting maybe using higher mw in the solo and stock amped in the controller (if it works) for possibly max range. In this case assuming the stock is less Mimo than the older chipset it may not matter as surely the stock unit is the same or less Mimo than the newer chipset?

Why would they go less Mimo in a newer chipset ?

Where did you find someone saying the newest chipset was not as good in solo?

My solo is in bits as i upgrade see how well it works will dual new chipsets tomorrow I hope

 

[Eagle1]

Very interesting! Do you see the original ar9300 solo are using on that list? I can't. I wonder what it's Mimo config is?

I've been contimplapting maybe using higher mw in the solo and stock amped in the controller (if it works) for possibly max range. In this case assuming the stock is less Mimo than the older chipset it may not matter as surely the stock unit is the same or less Mimo than the newer chipset?

Why would they go less Mimo in a newer chipset ?

Where did you find someone saying the newest chipset was not as good in solo?

My solo is in bits as i upgrade see how well it works will dual new chipsets tomorrow I hope

That's the reason I used the term CENCORED and UNCENSORED, the new chipset has a FCC ID that means it's regulated for this region, so I'm assuming if there is no no FCC ID for the AR9580 that explains a lot.

A couple of people on the Facebook forum were complaining of not see much difference from the stock, I think like 200 to 400ft differences
Not sure of the environment as you might already
Know that Solo will perform a lot better in remote or deserted areas lol...

 

[NYG]

It might be worth while patching the regulatory domain in the drivers if the output power is being restricted. Maybe it'll open up the power as it does the channels.

If you execute 'iw list | more' from the command line, a few pages in should list channels available and max power allowed.

You should see something like this:

* 2412 MHz [1] (30.0 dBm)
* 2417 MHz [2] (30.0 dBm)
* 2422 MHz [3] (30.0 dBm)
* 2427 MHz [4] (30.0 dBm)
* 2432 MHz [5] (30.0 dBm)
* 2437 MHz [6] (30.0 dBm)
* 2442 MHz [7] (30.0 dBm)
* 2447 MHz [8] (30.0 dBm)
* 2452 MHz [9] (30.0 dBm)
* 2457 MHz [10] (30.0 dBm)
* 2462 MHz [11] (30.0 dBm)
* 2467 MHz [12] (30.0 dBm)
* 2472 MHz [13] (30.0 dBm)
* 2484 MHz [14] (disabled)

 

[Timmytimetravel]

Interesting ! New results with 2 upgraded cards (solo upgraded as well)

Still windy and over a lake, pushed it anyway...


8db omnis
820ft without 984ft with
- 1968ft two cards. Very useable omni in metro. Interesting it seemed to need both cards for big gains in omni.

Dual Alpha panels
1640ft without 1968ft with

- 4921ft two cards. Holy moley! Cheap cards, cheap antennas. That's your bang for your buck right there. So long as you are willing to pull apart your solo. And that's metro. Burned 50pc of battery at full speed in wind just to get there and back! Non metro really unless you like burning batteries to get somewhere it would be hard to want to fly much further.

Fpvlr without amps
Without card forgot to measure
With 3280ft
-3608ft two cards. Surprise here. Expected more than the alphas. There was a reboot I between to change batts. Maybe it picked another channel. Or. That's how it plays out with dual cards and antenna design...

I'd still like to redo my amped fpvlr to see after 2624ft 3 bars left how far I could really go. I get the feeling it's going to be further than the two card upgrade and panels.
I'd have to pull them both out to do it
"
An interesting comparison. Using amps.

2624ft with 3 bars left using the alphas or fpvlr amped"

Maybe next test will be receiver amped, solo high mw card. Lot easier to pull out of receiver. Wonder if the mismatch will work?

 

[Timmytimetravel]

It might be worth while patching the regulatory domain in the drivers if the output power is being restricted. Maybe it'll open up the power as it does the channels.

If you execute 'iw list | more' from the command line, a few pages in should list channels available and max power allowed.

You should see something like this:

* 2412 MHz [1] (30.0 dBm)
* 2417 MHz [2] (30.0 dBm)
* 2422 MHz [3] (30.0 dBm)
* 2427 MHz [4] (30.0 dBm)
* 2432 MHz [5] (30.0 dBm)
* 2437 MHz [6] (30.0 dBm)
* 2442 MHz [7] (30.0 dBm)
* 2447 MHz [8] (30.0 dBm)
* 2452 MHz [9] (30.0 dBm)
* 2457 MHz [10] (30.0 dBm)
* 2462 MHz [11] (30.0 dBm)
* 2467 MHz [12] (30.0 dBm)
* 2472 MHz [13] (30.0 dBm)
* 2484 MHz [14] (disabled)

I'll look. Do you mean fix 14, or change them all to higher than 30?

 

[NYG]

Very interesting! Do you see the original ar9300 solo are using on that list? I can't. I wonder what it's Mimo config is?

I've been contimplapting maybe using higher mw in the solo and stock amped in the controller (if it works) for possibly max range. In this case assuming the stock is less Mimo than the older chipset it may not matter as surely the stock unit is the same or less Mimo than the newer chipset?

Why would they go less Mimo in a newer chipset ?

Where did you find someone saying the newest chipset was not as good in solo?

My solo is in bits as i upgrade see how well it works will dual new chipsets tomorrow I hope

I'll look. Do you mean fix 14, or change them all to higher than 30?

My drivers are patched. It always listed 30dBm as max power with my cards but channels 12 and 13 were disabled before patching. I'm looking for differences we might be able to find between the cards.

 

[Timmytimetravel]

Cool. I'll check. Who knows, if you didn't physically eyeball the chipset on the card, we may even have the same ones. Certainly the results with dual replacements seem to indicate you really do get decent range increase so long as you do both card changes in the case of omnis with the higher/newer chipset.

So I don't think anyone should be worried about getting this chipset unless you or others saw rave results using omnis whilst only having to do the controller . That might be useful to know. Some peeps may want to do controller only, and with stock/omnis from my chipset it is not huge gains until you do 2nd card

 

[Timmytimetravel]

Ok. So I connected to the controler, not the solo, probably the same. Interesting mine listed as 20db not 30db, and as you've said channels 12 & 13 disabled. I'll test again once stock card goes back in controller.

I saw something else further up which said :

Coverage class: 4 (up to 1800m)

Interesting.

Frequencies:
* 2412 MHz [1] (20.0 dBm)
* 2417 MHz [2] (20.0 dBm)
* 2422 MHz [3] (20.0 dBm)
* 2427 MHz [4] (20.0 dBm)
* 2432 MHz [5] (20.0 dBm)
* 2437 MHz [6] (20.0 dBm)
* 2442 MHz [7] (20.0 dBm)
* 2447 MHz [8] (20.0 dBm)
* 2452 MHz [9] (20.0 dBm)
* 2457 MHz [10] (20.0 dBm)
* 2462 MHz [11] (20.0 dBm)
* 2467 MHz [12] (disabled)
* 2472 MHz [13] (disabled)
* 2484 MHz [14] (disabled)

 

[Eagle1]

Interesting ! New results with 2 upgraded cards (solo upgraded as well)

Still windy and over a lake, pushed it anyway...


8db omnis
820ft without 984ft with
- 1968ft two cards. Very useable omni in metro. Interesting it seemed to need both cards for big gains in omni.

Dual Alpha panels
1640ft without 1968ft with

- 4921ft two cards. Holy moley! Cheap cards, cheap antennas. That's your bang for your buck right there. So long as you are willing to pull apart your solo. And that's metro. Burned 50pc of battery at full speed in wind just to get there and back! Non metro really unless you like burning batteries to get somewhere it would be hard to want to fly much further.

Fpvlr without amps
Without card forgot to measure
With 3280ft
-3608ft two cards. Surprise here. Expected more than the alphas. There was a reboot I between to change batts. Maybe it picked another channel. Or. That's how it plays out with dual cards and antenna design...

I'd still like to redo my amped fpvlr to see after 2624ft 3 bars left how far I could really go. I get the feeling it's going to be further than the two card upgrade and panels.
I'd have to pull them both out to do it
"
An interesting comparison. Using amps.

2624ft with 3 bars left using the alphas or fpvlr amped"

Maybe next test will be receiver amped, solo high mw card. Lot easier to pull out of receiver. Wonder if the mismatch will work?

Great Job almost a mile, did you take any screen shots of your RSSI, distance etc. at 4921ft?

 

[Timmytimetravel]

I'm an andoid noob. Power and volume down, just looked it up for next time. May have triggered some video on gopro. I did at some point as there are some nesting birds between me and the lake who don't take too kindly to the solo bird, thought I'd catch a bird attack (australian birds are quite forward and will swoop you and peck your eye out certains times of year in their territory). Flying higher now, but didn't want to skew the comparions (60m vert vs 30m at 1.5km won't make much difference.

I've just swapped back to stock in controller, going to go half high mw half amped tomorrow, expecting mega distance. Will try to remember to screenshot as my eye is on that battery level.

NYG,

I get the same results with iw list on the stock card in controller, verified by also checking the stock chipset is detected.

 

[Timmytimetravel]

The most shocking thing about the mile was not even that it was achieveable for $100. Plenty of people have gone further rural. But this was metro. I didn't even have a clear band where the controller was, flew over big power lines before the lake, so they are in my los after 400m. I was lucky to get 300m stock in metro areas. So 5 times that? Nice

 

[NYG]

Ok. So I connected to the controler, not the solo, probably the same. Interesting mine listed as 20db not 30db, and as you've said channels 12 & 13 disabled. I'll test again once stock card goes back in controller.

I saw something else further up which said :

Coverage class: 4 (up to 1800m)

Interesting.

Frequencies:
* 2412 MHz [1] (20.0 dBm)
* 2417 MHz [2] (20.0 dBm)
* 2422 MHz [3] (20.0 dBm)
* 2427 MHz [4] (20.0 dBm)
* 2432 MHz [5] (20.0 dBm)
* 2437 MHz [6] (20.0 dBm)
* 2442 MHz [7] (20.0 dBm)
* 2447 MHz [8] (20.0 dBm)
* 2452 MHz [9] (20.0 dBm)
* 2457 MHz [10] (20.0 dBm)
* 2462 MHz [11] (20.0 dBm)
* 2467 MHz [12] (disabled)
* 2472 MHz [13] (disabled)
* 2484 MHz [14] (disabled)

It's good that you connected to the controller since that is the access point. Are you based in the US? Do you know what the country code is set at in hostapd.conf? Your cards definitely look like they're being throttled by the drivers

 

[Timmytimetravel]

I'm in Australia but I bought and used the solo in the USA in the last month. I forget any particular region settings. I can check. I noticed in a recent version of the android app an eu power restriction setting in the gui.

Before I changed cards I had done the set eu wifi software mod. It gave a region option I saw no doco on, think I picked Australia there. Should I pick Usa there?

 

[NYG]

I'm in Australia but I bought and used the solo in the USA in the last month. I forget any particular region settings. I can check. I noticed in a recent version of the android app an eu power restriction setting in the gui.

Before I changed cards I had done the set eu wifi software mod. It gave a region option I saw no doco on, think I picked Australia there. Should I pick Usa there?

If it were me I'd change the country code to something that allows for more power.

sololink_config --set-wifi-country US (this would change country code to the US without manually changing hostapd.conf)