Why is radio0 disabled?

Installing and Using OpenWrt
1

Archer C7 v5.

I remember it worked already, then I made fine tuning and it stopped working. So I flashed again using "sysupgrade -n". I flashed a custom image, but this shouldn't matter, or?

root@C7v5-G:~# cat /etc/config/wireless 

config wifi-device 'radio0'
	option type 'mac80211'
	option path 'pci0000:00/0000:00:00.0'
	option channel '165'
	option band '5g'
	option htmode 'VHT40'
	option country 'US'
	option cell_density '0'

config wifi-iface 'default_radio0'
	option device 'radio0'
	option network 'lan'
	option mode 'ap'
	option ssid 'Wifi5-SSID'
	option encryption 'sae'
	option key 'password'

config wifi-device 'radio1'
	option type 'mac80211'
	option path 'platform/ahb/18100000.wmac'
	option channel '6'
	option band '2g'
	option htmode 'HT40'
	option country 'US'
	option cell_density '0'

config wifi-iface 'default_radio1'
	option device 'radio1'
	option network 'lan'
	option mode 'ap'
	option ssid 'Wifi4-SSID'
	option encryption 'sae-mixed'
	option key 'password'

The router is 50cm beside the phone. 2.4GHz works fine, strength is very high. 5 GHz is not visible. I tried auto-channel too with 5GHz, didn't help to see a strong signal.

Below "Wireless Overview", there is a colon on the left side.

I see radio 0

Below it says disabled, but in the row with SSID it offers "disable", so it should be enabled.

2

It could matter. What is custom about it? Is it an official OpenWrt build simply with a custom image via the image builder?

1 Like
3

It is from https://firmware-selector.openwrt.org/

Packages are:

ath10k-firmware-qca988x base-files busybox ca-bundle dnsmasq dropbear firewall4 fstools kmod-ath10k-ct kmod-ath9k kmod-gpio-button-hotplug kmod-nft-offload kmod-usb-ledtrig-usbport kmod-usb2 libc libgcc logd luci mtd netifd nftables odhcp6c odhcpd-ipv6only opkg ppp ppp-mod-pppoe procd procd-seccomp procd-ujail swconfig uboot-envtools uci uclient-fetch urandom-seed urngd arp-scan arp-scan-database iputils-arping iperf iperf3 libustream-openssl mesh11sd static-neighbor-reports wpad-openssl

It looks like the problem is the country setting.

Short overview of the ETSI standard:
– 2.4 GHz: 100 mW (20 dBm)
– 5 GHz channel 36 to 64: 200 mW (23 dBm)
– 5 GHz channel 100 to 140: 1000 mW (30 dBm)
– 5 GHz channel 155 to 171: 4000 mW (36 dBm)

option channel '165'

So tx-power 4000 should be allowed.

The Openwert-Interface says:

13dbM which is 19mW.

So I am far away beyond what is allowed. Changing to another country with same settings looks fine. I see with my phone now a very strong signal, of course, the router is 50cm beside of me. With US-setting the signal was 0.

My phone says there are no neighbors in the whole 5GHz band, even none which are very weak. No idea, why openwrt is blocking.

4

What about if you set the encryption to WPA2 instea of WPA3?

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5

Played with this already. It doesn't matter what I have set. I am back to mixed.

This is an own router for guests, not a guest network.

6

Maybe try a standard release build (23.05.2) and see if the problem persists.

7

Could be, but I have prepared all my routers for mesh, so I don't want to setup again.

I do not want to do something illegal, but when changing the country helps, it is a solution for me. I am so far away what I use compared to what is allowed.

It is very strange, different router allow different tx-power at the same location. It is between 20 and 30dBm.

8

Maybe I try this with another Archer C7 in the next days.

There are really strange things and there are a lot of discussions about tx-power in the forum

Short overview of the ETSI standard:
– 2.4 GHz: 100 mW (20 dBm)
– 5 GHz channel 36 to 64: 200 mW (23 dBm)
– 5 GHz channel 100 to 140: 1000 mW (30 dBm)
– 5 GHz channel 155 to 171: 4000 mW (36 dBm)

Obviously the 5GHz band allows more power than the 2.4GHz band.

This Archer C7 allows 20dbm with 2.4GHz, but 13dBm with 5 GHz only. According to the rules it should allow more tx-power with 5GHz and not less!

A Netgear allows now with 23.05.02 50 mW / 17 dBm, earlier 30dBm were possitble. There is no difference which channel is used with the Netgear, but see below for the C7. Changing to a lower channel is the solution.

Trying other countries blocks often the reception totally, but different router allow different tx-power in the same country.

13dBm is the limit here, which is acceptable for guests in the neighbor room of the router.

I had so many problems to install the correct packages for mesh. The easiest way was to build a custom image.

Is there a terminal command with uci, to check the signal strength, channel and channel width?

9

4 watts is allowed in some countries for point to point outdoor use with specific antennas.

I do not remember the US being one
You are likely going to burn out your radio.

1 Like
10

Why do you think so? The only way is to use an European country and I am limited to 13dBm with 5GHz.

11

There is something not correctly coded.

I changed the channel to 60 and now tx power is possible until 23dBm. US is not blocked anymore.

There are differences between European and US law, but obviously not with this strength. I am now at 23dBm which is the maximum allowed as written above.

The restriction to 13dBm is not correct.

12

I think this is wrong. See https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/sforshee/wireless-regdb.git/tree/db.txt

AT as part of EU/CEPT accepted decisions 2005/513/EC (5GHz RLAN, EN 301 893)

and 2006/771/EC (amended by 2008/432/EC, Short-Range Devices, EN 300 440)

EU decision 2005/513/EC: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:02005D0513-20070213

EU decision 2006/771/EC: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:02008D0432-20080611

EU decision 2021/1067/EC: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:32021D1067&from=EN

Harmonized CEPT countries (July 2019): https://www.ecodocdb.dk/download/25c41779-cd6e/Rec7003e.pdf

AT: https://www.rtr.at/en/tk/Spektrum5GHz/1997_bmvit-info-052010en.pdf

AT: acceptance https://www.ris.bka.gv.at/Dokumente/BgblAuth/BGBLA_2014_II_63/BGBLA_2014_II_63.pdfsig

country AT: 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)

6 GHz band

(5945 - 6425 @ 160), (23), NO-OUTDOOR, wmmrule=ETSI

60 GHz band channels 1-4 (ETSI EN 302 567)

(57000 - 66000 @ 2160), (40)

Chnmael 165 5825 5815–5835

Channel 165 is allowed in US and EU according to wikipedia, but in EU it is limited to 25mW, which is 14dBm and I could define 13dBm maximum.

Not clear, why 165 is blocked in US and a lot of other countries.

13

I'd tell you what countries allow 4 watts but it is illegal and your radio it not designed to push that much Tx power.

Not to mention useless: even if you do push 4 watts and improve your range your clients lack the power to reply.

1 Like
14

How does this match together "allow" and "illegal".

If you have read my posting before, I think the quoted website is simply wrong with "4000".

The open question is, why channel 165 is blocked in US by openwrt. I am now on channel 60 and everything is fine.

15

Ask the FCC.

:spiral_notepad: 165 is not blocked on my router.

How many times have you switched countries trying to get what you want?

16

Don't know, something between 5-10 times within 24 hours.

Which channel width? I use 40.

I can select it, but then it says disabled as described above. It works immediately after I change to an European country.

17

You cannot use 40 on channel 165, it would push it outside the FCC allocated frequency range. You are limited to 20.

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18

Ok, thanks! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_WLAN_channels#5_GHz_(802.11a/h/n/ac/ax) says it is allowed until channel 177.

19

From what I gleaned from that proposal from the FCC(I'm not reading that whole thing) is that it is a proposal and is not approved yet.

1 Like
20

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