[HamWAN PSDR] WiFi channels

[Steve Stroh]

I’ll confirm what Kenny said about locking Wi-Fi gear sold in the US to
Wi-Fi frequencies allowed in the US.

For a long time you could easily change Wi-Fi countries easily to allow
more choices, which was, of course, easily abused. The FCC cracked down on
that ease of changing countries. It’s still doable (for example, flash
firmware in some APs to OpenWRT or AREDN), just not easy for non technical
consumers.

On Sun, Feb 21, 2021 at 11:23 Kenny Richards <richark at gmail.com> wrote:

> Rob,
>
> I don't know this for sure, but I suspect that Windows queries the wifi
> card to find out what it supports for channels, I have seen some powershell
> queries for getting at this list. Most wifi hardware is limited at the
> firmware level for channel support (required by law) and I'm guessing since
> your laptop was sold for the US market, the wifi card is similarly
> restricted to the US channels. You'll have to research whether there is an
> aftermarket way of changing it. This is why when purchasing client access
> equipment for HamWAN, you need to purchase the worldwide version, which
> doesn't have the US restrictions enforced. (and why you need to provide you
> amateur radio license when doing it)
>
> Also as a general reminder, Amateur radio operators are allowed to use
> additional channels in the US, but the allowed uses are more restricted.
>
> Thanks
> Kenny
>
> On Sat, Feb 20, 2021 at 7:33 PM Rob Martin via PSDR <psdr at hamwan.org>
> wrote:
>
>>
>> This might be considered slightly off-topic, at least until you have read
>> it.
>>
>> My computer is an older Lenovo Thinkpad X201 laptop, and is running
>> Windows 10 Pro. I suspect my issue applies to any OS.
>>
>> With an Amateur Radio licence we can use WiFi channels outside the range
>> available to Part 15 users.
>>
>> Q1. Where in the pc is the range of available 5GHz WiFi channels set?
>> The highest channel that works in my machine is number 165, centred at
>> 5825MHz, 20MHz wide. It will NOT work on the next channel up (number 169,
>> 5845MHz centre, 20MHz wide)
>>
>> Q2. How do applications read this information?  A program I use called
>> InSSIDer that displays WiFi activity shows channel 165 as the highest
>> available. How does it know?
>>
>> Q3. Is there a tool with which I can read this information?
>>
>> Q4. Is there a way I can edit this information to extend the range to
>> higher channels?
>>
>> Thanks.
>>
>> Rob
>> K7QJ
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>>
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-- 
Steve Stroh (personal / general): stevestroh at gmail.com
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