I'm playing with ath9k driver to bypass the ART without editing the art partition.
I modified the driver to read the dump from a file inside /etc/config.
I know it's not a good idea read a file from kernel mode, but this is mainly a POC for people interested about this topic.
Here my mods and a short guide to try it https://gist.github.com/BigNerd95/f06f14d46fa76ccaf519940592428c53
With my mod the driver reads the /etc/config/my_eeprom instead reading the art partition.
So you can edit the file my_eeprom with your favorite values.
If the driver doesn't find my_eeprom file, it will read the default values from the art partition.
I'm testing other ways to modify the driver values without hardcoding them inside it
(like passing values to the driver when it is loaded by insmod)
Just measured the volt/meter with an instrument (thanks to a my friend)
At ~50 cm of distance from the antennas:
18 dBm: 8 volt/meter
25 dBm: 17 volt/meter
31 dBm: >30 volt/meter
I have test on wzr-hp-ag300h & wbmr but not work, dmesg output not have "reading eeprom". I have 841nv8, will test soon.
root@AG300H:~# dmesg |grep ath
[ 12.751372] ath: phy0: Ignoring endianness difference in EEPROM magic bytes.
[ 12.759959] ath: EEPROM regdomain: 0x0
[ 12.759969] ath: EEPROM indicates default country code should be used
[ 12.759977] ath: doing EEPROM country->regdmn map search
[ 12.759992] ath: country maps to regdmn code: 0x3a
[ 12.760001] ath: Country alpha2 being used: US
[ 12.760009] ath: Regpair used: 0x3a
Please do not bypass max TX power limits. They are there for a reason.
I have checked on various TP-Link routers, and their ART contains various limits for the max TX power from 17dBm to 27dBm, changing from model to model and even between devices. The exact value you find on your given router represents the absolute maximum power it can output on its antenna without distortion, overheating and throwing interference all over the band.
They are calibrated on each channel and modulation one by one at the factory. Higher order modulations also command a lower TX power compared to the global maximum you set.
If what you get does not suit your needs, you must purchase a different router or wireless card. And of course always obey the regulations that apply to the country of operation.
I think a lot of limits are there only for commercial reasons...
Companies make one hw and then sell it at different price only changing some sw limits
Thanks for sharing your thoughts on the issue. As this question has been coming up every year for decades now, I decided to create a detailed FAQ entry for it:
I have query. I have used this to get ART bypass and get the 5GHz band enabled. The 5GHz band is enabled now after executing your steps. Trying to configure AR934x device in client mode, and trying to connect to a 5GHz router. But even though the 5GHz router is listed in "iwinfo" scan, not able to successfully connect to it. Is there any other things to be done other than these steps.
It is not the chip, but the board. If it doesn't have the proper amplifiers and filters for 5 GHz, at best you'll not be able to connect. At worst, you could fry the RF output of the chip.
Note that the 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz RF connections aren't even on the same pins: