Tag: ifconfig

The current value of the wireless card’s TX-Power can be verified using the below command

user@pc:~ $ iwconfig
wlan0 IEEE 802.11 ESSID:off/any
Mode:Managed Access Point: Not-Associated Tx-Power=22 dBm
Retry short limit:7 RTS thr:off Fragment thr:off
Power Management:on

user@pc:~ $ iw reg get
country GB: DFS-ETSI
(2402 - 2482 @ 40), (N/A, 20), (N/A)
(5170 - 5250 @ 80), (N/A, 20), (N/A)
(5250 - 5330 @ 80), (N/A, 20), (0 ms), DFS
(5490 - 5710 @ 160), (N/A, 27), (0 ms), DFS
(57000 - 66000 @ 2160), (N/A, 40), (N/A)

The Tx-Power value is in dBm “Decibel (referenced to milliwatts)” This value can be converted to milliwatts using this function

P_(mW) = 1mW ⋅ 10^(P(dBm)^{/ 10)}

Before changing the value of the Tx-Power, You need to make sure that you comply with the legal limits within your country and you’ll not end up frying the wireless card

The below commands can be used to change the current value of the transmission power

The max value cannot be set over the limit specified by the assigned country’s regulations

So, for education Purpose only the country may be set to a country allowing higher Transmission power “ex: Bolivia <BO>”

ifconfig wlan0 down
iw reg set BO
ifconfig wlan0 up
iwconfig wlan0 txpower 30


So,  By verifying the results of the last commands, we see that the values have been set successfully

user@pc:~ $ iwconfig wlan0
wlan0 IEEE 802.11 ESSID:off/any
Mode:Managed Access Point: Not-Associated Tx-Power=30 dBm
Retry short limit:7 RTS thr:off Fragment thr:off
Power Management:on

user@pc:~ $ iw reg get
country BO: DFS-JP
(2402 - 2482 @ 40), (N/A, 20), (N/A)
(5250 - 5330 @ 80), (N/A, 30), (0 ms), DFS
(5735 - 5835 @ 80), (N/A, 30), (N/A)