I’m setting up a Banana Pi BPI-R4 with the BPI-R4-NIC-BE14 WiFi 7 module on OpenWrt 24.10.4 (currently), and I’d like to ask for your recommendions as a stable wireless configuration for this hardware (at the moment).
I’ve been cleaning and rebuilding my wireless config manually (2.4 / 5 / 6 GHz, SAE, EHT modes, fixed channels, etc.), but on 24.10.4 I don’t see my 6 GHz SSID appear. Before I keep experimenting, I wanted to check with people who already have this board running reliably.
Questions:
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What radio + SSID settings are known to work well for the R4 + BE14?
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Is 6 GHz expected to work reliably on 24.10.4, or is snapshot/master recommended? Or it is still under development?
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Any tips on how to test new WiFi 7 features as they get added?
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I’m in the EU (Poland), where the 6 GHz band I believe is now opened. What should I expect in terms of available channels and transmit power compared to the US region? Will the BE14 card give me the same radio options, or are there still differences in allowed ranges/modes?
Also, when it comes to regulatory domain selection, does the AP’s country setting take precedence, or can a WiFi client influence/change the region used by the AP?
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I’m also seeing weak 5 GHz signal — the AP is only one room away, but the signal is noticeably lower than expected. Could this be related to the built-in power amplifier issue mentioned on the wiki?
Additionally, my devices are slow to discover the 5 GHz network. Is this a known behavior with the current drivers/firmware, or could it be part of the same issue?
If anyone has a sample /etc/config/wireless or a “known good” baseline, that would be super helpful. Thanks a lot! Below I share mine:
uci delete wireless.@wifi-iface[5]
uci delete wireless.@wifi-iface[4]
uci delete wireless.@wifi-iface[3]
uci delete wireless.@wifi-iface[2]
uci delete wireless.@wifi-iface[1]
uci delete wireless.@wifi-iface[0]
uci commit wireless
wifi reload
uci set wireless.radio0.disabled='0'
uci set wireless.radio0.background_radar='1'
uci set wireless.radio0.band='2g'
uci set wireless.radio0.channel='1'
uci set wireless.radio0.htmode='EHT20'
uci set wireless.radio0.country='US'
uci set wireless.radio0_ssid0='wifi-iface'
uci set wireless.radio0_ssid0.disabled='0'
uci set wireless.radio0_ssid0.device='radio0'
uci set wireless.radio0_ssid0.mode='ap'
uci set wireless.radio0_ssid0.network='lan'
uci set wireless.radio0_ssid0.ssid='Moria'
uci set wireless.radio0_ssid0.encryption='sae-mixed'
uci set wireless.radio0_ssid0.key='FooBar123'
uci set wireless.radio0_ssid0.ocv='0'
uci set wireless.radio0_ssid0.isolate='1'
uci set wireless.radio1.disabled='0'
uci set wireless.radio1.background_radar='1'
uci set wireless.radio1.band='5g'
uci set wireless.radio1.channel='44' # 36/40/44/48
uci set wireless.radio1.htmode='EHT160' # EHT20 ok, 80, 160
uci set wireless.radio1.country='US'
uci set wireless.radio1_ssid0='wifi-iface'
uci set wireless.radio1_ssid0.disabled='0'
uci set wireless.radio1_ssid0.device='radio1'
uci set wireless.radio1_ssid0.mode='ap'
uci set wireless.radio1_ssid0.network='lan'
uci set wireless.radio1_ssid0.ssid='Shire'
uci set wireless.radio1_ssid0.encryption='sae'
uci set wireless.radio1_ssid0.key='FooBar123'
uci set wireless.radio1_ssid0.ocv='0'
uci set wireless.radio1_ssid1='wifi-iface'
uci set wireless.radio1_ssid1.disabled='0'
uci set wireless.radio1_ssid1.device='radio1'
uci set wireless.radio1_ssid1.mode='ap'
uci set wireless.radio1_ssid1.network='lan'
uci set wireless.radio1_ssid1.ssid='Isengard'
uci set wireless.radio1_ssid1.encryption='sae'
uci set wireless.radio1_ssid1.key='FooBar123'
uci set wireless.radio1_ssid1.ocv='0'
uci set wireless.radio1_ssid1.isolate='1'
uci set wireless.radio1_ssid2='wifi-iface'
uci set wireless.radio1_ssid2.disabled='0'
uci set wireless.radio1_ssid2.device='radio1'
uci set wireless.radio1_ssid2.mode='ap'
uci set wireless.radio1_ssid2.network='lan'
uci set wireless.radio1_ssid2.ssid='Rivendell'
uci set wireless.radio1_ssid2.encryption='sae'
uci set wireless.radio1_ssid2.key='FooBar123'
uci set wireless.radio1_ssid2.ocv='0'
uci set wireless.radio1_ssid2.isolate='1'
uci set wireless.radio2.disabled='0'
uci set wireless.radio2.background_radar='1'
uci set wireless.radio2.band='6g'
uci set wireless.radio2.channel='45'
uci set wireless.radio2.htmode='EHT320' # ETH160
uci set wireless.radio2.country='US'
uci set wireless.radio2_ssid0='wifi-iface'
uci set wireless.radio2_ssid0.disabled='0'
uci set wireless.radio2_ssid0.device='radio2'
uci set wireless.radio2_ssid0.mode='ap'
uci set wireless.radio2_ssid0.network='lan'
uci set wireless.radio2_ssid0.ssid='Valinor'
uci set wireless.radio2_ssid0.encryption='sae'
uci set wireless.radio2_ssid0.key='FooBar123'
uci set wireless.radio2_ssid0.ocv='0'
uci commit wireless
wifi reload