Okay, so I've been needing to increase my wireless adapter's txpower.
I have an internal RTL8188EE, and a TP-Link USB adapter.
I bought the TP-Link after reading how well it worked with linux, and turns out it doesn't run nearly as well as the RTL8188EE I already had. Anyway, I don't think the TP adapter can increase txpower at all, but I know for a fact the internal adapter can. I'm somewhat new to Linux, I first installed Ubuntu (I think 16.04?) alongside Windows back in like 2016 but didn't get real into it until the past year or so, and I've been distro hopping to find the best one for me, so right now I have an internal 256GB Crucial SSD with 6 different root partitions, each one having a corresponding 100GB home partition on my external Hard Drive. I have Manjaro Deepin, Solus Budgie, Ubuntu 18.04, Fedora 30, Zorin 15, and MX Linux, along with KDE Neon on another External HDD.
So, when I began trying to increase my txpower, I tried all the solutions listed on here, itsFOSS, the Arch/Manjaro forums, and anywhere else I could find.
I've tried txpower-unlocker, I've tried wireless-regdb-pentest, I've tried everything. I've hit a ridiculous number of walls with all the attempts, except for with Manjaro. I somehow not only got it to work, but actually have it permanently set to 30 dBm, every boot. But the same (or equivalent) steps given for the other distros I have do not work at all. With Ubuntu, I tried the Ubuntu-specific txpower-unlocker git script. It gives me no errors, it'll reg set to BO, but when I give the commands:
ifconfig wlp2s0 down iw reg set BO iwconfig wlp2s0 txpower 30 ifconfig wlp2s0 up and then
iwconfig wlp2s0 It still shows
[matt@localhost ~]$ sudo iwconfig wlp2s0 txpower 30.00 [matt@localhost ~]$ sudo ifconfig wlp2s0 up [matt@localhost ~]$ iwconfig virbr0-nic no wireless extensions. wlp2s0 IEEE 802.11 ESSID:"NETGEAR35" Mode:Managed Frequency:2.412 GHz Access Point: 28:80:88:C4:BF:DB Bit Rate=72.2 Mb/s Tx-Power=20 dBm Retry short limit:7 RTS thr=2347 B Fragment thr:off Power Management:off Link Quality=70/70 Signal level=-36 dBm Rx invalid nwid:0 Rx invalid crypt:0 Rx invalid frag:0 Tx excessive retries:0 Invalid misc:2 Missed beacon:0 I have tried it with automated scripts, I've tried doing it manually. I've tried everything. Like I said, I know it's got nothing to do with the card, because it works on Manjaro, but even then after I updated to the newest Linux kernel on Manjaro it refuses to change, just like all the rest. I've had to stay at 4.19.14 to keep it at 30. And sure enough, my 10Mb broadband connection stays at 10mbps on every speed test there is when I'm on Manjaro, and I consistently download at 1-1.3 Mbps, whereas it'll wildly fluctuate with most of the other distros. MX Linux and Zorin seem to be pretty consistent, so I haven't had to bother trying to change it since they get between 9.5 and 10Mb without it. But what I don't understand, and would love it if someone could explain it to me, is how I can have 3 different distributions, running on the same computer, using the same Linux kernel (5.0.8), on MX, Zorin, and Ubuntu 18.04.3, and MX and Ubuntu are based on Debian, and Zorin is based on Ubuntu, yet the wireless quality varies so greatly?
I absolutely love Linux so far, to the point where I've realized that I'll never find one perfect distro and I'll probably always have 3 to 4 permanent ones, but that's precisely why this drives me crazy. I've put Linux distros on my Aunt and girlfriend's computers (to their approval, they couldn't believe how much faster their machines run now), but issues like the txpower thing that make NO sense to me cause me to obsess and spend hours and hours glued to the computer getting frustrated as hell, to the point where the other day my girlfriend rolled over and said, "sudo make me a cup of coffee." cause she figured that would work. ...it did. But anyway, sorry for the diatribe, this is my first Linux forum post, I've been insistent on figuring all this out without asking for any help myself.
1 Answer
What you want to achieve is not that easy, but it can be done.
First of all, increasing the txpower might violate the law. Thats one reason why you cannot increase that power beyond a certain value, without manipulating / circumventing these built in restrictions.
The following instructions worked like charm using my Raspberry Pi 3b+ with debian buster and debian stretch. It should work with minor modifications on other distributions also.
If you open a terminal and type iw reg get you should see the limitations for your country:
iw reg get global country 98: DFS-UNSET (2402 - 2472 @ 40), (N/A, 20), (N/A) (2457 - 2482 @ 25), (N/A, 20), (N/A), NO-IR (2474 - 2482 @ 8), (N/A, 20), (N/A), NO-OFDM, NO-IR (5170 - 5250 @ 80), (N/A, 20), (N/A), AUTO-BW, NO-IR (5250 - 5330 @ 80), (N/A, 20), (0 ms), DFS, AUTO-BW, NO-IR (5490 - 5710 @ 160), (N/A, 20), (0 ms), DFS, NO-IR (57240 - 63720 @ 2160), (N/A, 0), (N/A) phy#1 country GB: DFS-ETSI (2402 - 2482 @ 40), (N/A, 20), (N/A) (5170 - 5250 @ 80), (N/A, 20), (N/A), AUTO-BW (5250 - 5330 @ 80), (N/A, 20), (0 ms), DFS, AUTO-BW (5490 - 5710 @ 160), (N/A, 27), (0 ms), DFS (57000 - 66000 @ 2160), (N/A, 40), (N/A) phy#0 country GB: DFS-ETSI (2402 - 2482 @ 40), (N/A, 20), (N/A) (5170 - 5250 @ 80), (N/A, 20), (N/A), AUTO-BW (5250 - 5330 @ 80), (N/A, 20), (0 ms), DFS, AUTO-BW (5490 - 5710 @ 160), (N/A, 27), (0 ms), DFS (57000 - 66000 @ 2160), (N/A, 40), (N/A)
If it is unset you get the generic "world" country code. To set your country you could type iw reg set <country-code>
This post here describes pretty good, what you have to do, to circumvent the restriction.
Step 1 - Install Packages
apt install python-future python-m2crypto libgcrypt20 libgcrypt20-dev libnl-dev Step 2 - Download CRDA and the regulatory database files
wget wget Step 3 - Unpack the files
tar xfv crda-4.14.tar.gz tar xfv wireless-regdb-master-2019-06-03.tar.gz Step 4 - Manipulate the restrictions
Open the db.txt file in terminal nano wireless-regdb-master-2019-06-03/db.txt Scroll down to your countrycode. Mine is DE for Deutschland / Germany:
country DE: DFS-ETSI (2400 - 2483.5 @ 40), (100 mW) (5150 - 5250 @ 80), (200 mW), NO-OUTDOOR, AUTO-BW, wmmrule=ETSI (5250 - 5350 @ 80), (100 mW), NO-OUTDOOR, DFS, AUTO-BW, wmmrule=ETSI (5470 - 5725 @ 160), (500 mW), DFS, wmmrule=ETSI # short range devices (ETSI EN 300 440-1) (5725 - 5875 @ 80), (25 mW) # 60 GHz band channels 1-4 (ETSI EN 302 567) (57000 - 66000 @ 2160), (40)
I modify the first line, that corresponds to the 2.4 GHZ frequency band to my needs and leave the rest as it was because i am not interested in the 5 or 60 GHZ bands:
country DE: DFS-ETSI (2400 - 2483.5 @ 40), (2000 mW) (5150 - 5250 @ 80), (200 mW), NO-OUTDOOR, AUTO-BW, wmmrule=ETSI (5250 - 5350 @ 80), (100 mW), NO-OUTDOOR, DFS, AUTO-BW, wmmrule=ETSI (5470 - 5725 @ 160), (500 mW), DFS, wmmrule=ETSI # short range devices (ETSI EN 300 440-1) (5725 - 5875 @ 80), (25 mW) # 60 GHz band channels 1-4 (ETSI EN 302 567) (57000 - 66000 @ 2160), (40)
Apart from that it seems that my wireless cards AWUS036NHA seem to be stuck in a country set by the manufacturer. In my particular case it is GB. So i have to change that one:
So i modify
country GB: DFS-ETSI (2402 - 2482 @ 40), (20) (5170 - 5250 @ 80), (20), AUTO-BW, wmmrule=ETSI (5250 - 5330 @ 80), (20), DFS, AUTO-BW, wmmrule=ETSI (5490 - 5710 @ 160), (27), DFS, wmmrule=ETSI # 60 GHz band channels 1-4, ref: Etsi En 302 567 (57000 - 66000 @ 2160), (40)
to
country GB: DFS-ETSI (2402 - 2482 @ 40), (30) (5170 - 5250 @ 80), (20), AUTO-BW, wmmrule=ETSI (5250 - 5330 @ 80), (20), DFS, AUTO-BW, wmmrule=ETSI (5490 - 5710 @ 160), (27), DFS, wmmrule=ETSI # 60 GHz band channels 1-4, ref: Etsi En 302 567 (57000 - 66000 @ 2160), (40)
Step 5 - Make regulatory.bin
cd into your wireless-regdb-master-2019-06-03 folder and type make
cd wireless-regdb-master-2019-06-03/ make This will create a few new files.
wireless-regdb-master-2019-06-03# ls CONTRIBUTING dbparse.pyc LICENSE regulatory.bin.5 root.key.pub.pem sha1sum.txt db2bin.py db.txt Makefile regulatory.db root.x509.pem web db2fw.py debian-example README regulatory.db.5 sforshee.key.pub.pem wireless-regdb.spec dbparse.py gen-pubcert.sh regulatory.bin regulatory.db.p7s sforshee.x509.pem
Step 6 - Backup your files
Before overwriting our original regulatory files i suggest you do a backup.
Do a backup of
cp /lib/firmware/regulatory.db /lib/firmware/regulatory.db-backup cp /lib/firmware/regulatory.db.p7s /lib/firmware/regulatory.db.p7s-backup cp /lib/crda/regulatory.bin /lib/crda/regulatory.bin-backup Step 7 - Apply modifications
From inside your wireless-regdb-master-2019-06-03 folder do copy the new created files from Step 5 to their appropriate locations:
cp regulatory.db regulatory.db.p7s /lib/firmware/ cp regulatory.bin /lib/crda/ Step 8 - Sign / Validate
From inside your wireless-regdb-master-2019-06-03 folder do copy the *.pub.pem files to the unpacked crda folder:
cp *.pub.pem ../crda-4.14/pubkeys Do also copy the *@*.pub.pem file from inside your /lib/crda/pubkey to your unpacked crda/pubkeys folder
cp /lib/crda/pubkeys/*@*pub.pem ../crda-4.14/pubkeys/ Then cd into that folder.
cd ../crda-4.14/ and type make && make install
Step 8.1 - The Error-Case
In case you receive the following error:
ERROR: The file: /usr/lib/crda/regulatory.bin is missing. You need this in place in order to verify CRDA. You can get it from: git:// Once cloned (no need to build) cp regulatory.bin to /usr/lib/crda/regulatory.bin Use "make noverify" to disable verification Makefile:100: recipe for target '/usr/lib/crda/regulatory.bin' failed make: *** [/usr/lib/crda/regulatory.bin] Error 1
open the Makefile nano Makefile and change line
REG_BIN?=/usr/lib/crda/regulatory.bin to
REG_BIN?=/lib/crda/regulatory.bin and type make clean && make && make install
Step 9 - Check if your hack was applied
Reboot your system and type iw reg get The numbers now should have been modified to your needs:
iw reg get global country 98: DFS-UNSET (2402 - 2472 @ 40), (N/A, 20), (N/A) (2457 - 2482 @ 25), (N/A, 20), (N/A), NO-IR (2474 - 2482 @ 8), (N/A, 20), (N/A), NO-OFDM, NO-IR (5170 - 5250 @ 80), (N/A, 20), (N/A), AUTO-BW, NO-IR (5250 - 5330 @ 80), (N/A, 20), (0 ms), DFS, AUTO-BW, NO-IR (5490 - 5710 @ 160), (N/A, 20), (0 ms), DFS, NO-IR (57240 - 63720 @ 2160), (N/A, 0), (N/A) phy#1 country GB: DFS-ETSI (2402 - 2482 @ 40), (N/A, 30), (N/A) (5170 - 5250 @ 80), (N/A, 20), (N/A), AUTO-BW (5250 - 5330 @ 80), (N/A, 20), (0 ms), DFS, AUTO-BW (5490 - 5710 @ 160), (N/A, 27), (0 ms), DFS (57000 - 66000 @ 2160), (N/A, 40), (N/A) phy#0 country GB: DFS-ETSI (2402 - 2482 @ 40), (N/A, 30), (N/A) (5170 - 5250 @ 80), (N/A, 20), (N/A), AUTO-BW (5250 - 5330 @ 80), (N/A, 20), (0 ms), DFS, AUTO-BW (5490 - 5710 @ 160), (N/A, 27), (0 ms), DFS (57000 - 66000 @ 2160), (N/A, 40), (N/A)
Step 10 - Adjust the txpower
Now you should be able to adjust the txpower.
Therefor turn of your wifiadapter. Adjust its txpower and turn is back on.
ifconfig wlan1 down iw dev wlan1 set txpower fixed 2500 ifconfig wlan1 up With iwconfig you can check if changes took effect. For some reason i only see changes when i am connected to an AP:
root@raspberrypi:~# iwconfig wlan2 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 Encryption key:off Power Management:off wlan0 IEEE 802.11 ESSID:off/any Mode:Managed Access Point: Not-Associated Tx-Power=31 dBm Retry short limit:7 RTS thr:off Fragment thr:off Encryption key:off Power Management:on lo no wireless extensions. wlan1 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 Encryption key:off Power Management:off eth0 no wireless extensions. wpa_supplicant -c StationE03.conf -i wlan1 & [1] 792 root@raspberrypi:~# Successfully initialized wpa_supplicant wlan1: SME: Trying to authenticate with e8:df:70:38:db:5a (SSID='StationE03' freq=2427 MHz) wlan1: Trying to associate with e8:df:70:38:db:5a (SSID='StationE03' freq=2427 MHz) wlan1: Associated with e8:df:70:38:db:5a wlan1: CTRL-EVENT-SUBNET-STATUS-UPDATE status=0 wlan1: WPA: Key negotiation completed with e8:df:70:38:db:5a [PTK=CCMP GTK=CCMP] wlan1: CTRL-EVENT-CONNECTED - Connection to e8:df:70:38:db:5a completed [id=0 id_str=] wlan1: CTRL-EVENT-REGDOM-CHANGE init=COUNTRY_IE type=COUNTRY alpha2=DE root@raspberrypi:~# iwconfig wlan2 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 Encryption key:off Power Management:off wlan0 IEEE 802.11 ESSID:off/any Mode:Managed Access Point: Not-Associated Retry short limit:7 RTS thr:off Fragment thr:off Encryption key:off Power Management:on lo no wireless extensions. wlan1 IEEE 802.11 ESSID:"StationE03" Mode:Managed Frequency:2.427 GHz Access Point: E8:DF:70:38:DB:5A Bit Rate=52 Mb/s Tx-Power=25 dBm Retry short limit:7 RTS thr:off Fragment thr:off Encryption key:off Power Management:off Link Quality=70/70 Signal level=-27 dBm Rx invalid nwid:0 Rx invalid crypt:0 Rx invalid frag:0 Tx excessive retries:0 Invalid misc:47 Missed beacon:0 eth0 no wireless extensions. root@raspberrypi:~# iw reg get global country DE: DFS-ETSI (2400 - 2483 @ 40), (N/A, 33), (N/A) (5150 - 5250 @ 80), (N/A, 23), (N/A), NO-OUTDOOR, AUTO-BW (5250 - 5350 @ 80), (N/A, 20), (0 ms), NO-OUTDOOR, DFS, AUTO-BW (5470 - 5725 @ 160), (N/A, 26), (0 ms), DFS (5725 - 5875 @ 80), (N/A, 13), (N/A) (57000 - 66000 @ 2160), (N/A, 40), (N/A) phy#1 country GB: DFS-ETSI (2402 - 2482 @ 40), (N/A, 30), (N/A) (5170 - 5250 @ 80), (N/A, 20), (N/A), AUTO-BW (5250 - 5330 @ 80), (N/A, 20), (0 ms), DFS, AUTO-BW (5490 - 5710 @ 160), (N/A, 27), (0 ms), DFS (57000 - 66000 @ 2160), (N/A, 40), (N/A) phy#0 country GB: DFS-ETSI (2402 - 2482 @ 40), (N/A, 30), (N/A) (5170 - 5250 @ 80), (N/A, 20), (N/A), AUTO-BW (5250 - 5330 @ 80), (N/A, 20), (0 ms), DFS, AUTO-BW (5490 - 5710 @ 160), (N/A, 27), (0 ms), DFS (57000 - 66000 @ 2160), (N/A, 40), (N/A)
Higher dBm values do not automatically mean better connection. You have to follow your adapter specifications and setup these values accordingly. For Example my AWUS036NHA supports up to 28 dBm while my AWUS036NH supports up to 33 dBm which is 2000mw.
Also do not forget that you migh violate the law of the country that you are. You might disturb radars (especially on the 5ghz band).
Using to high values is, as far as i know, not healthy.
Better solutions are: Directional Antennas, or Parabolic Antennas or Wireless Repeater.
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