Station readings in zcomax prism 2.5 cards

[bobbyc]

Tony/Lonnie,
I was wondering if you thought it would be a good idea and possible to adjust the way starOS reports the readings coming from the zcomax based 200mw prism 2.5 cards? Test partner (AP) signal readings are way out of whack. I've tested this with a demarctech 200mw card and a SMC 200mw card. Both are identical in looks.
Check it out:
http://www.sonnet.com/bob/buckhorn/orinoco.JPG
http://www.sonnet.com/bob/buckhorn/staros.JPG

[bobbyc]

bump...
Is there anyway we could adjust this for just zcomax prism 2.5 radios on the starOS end? Or would you have to write a whole new custom firmware that is loaded onto the zcomax prism card?
Even when you use these zcomax cards in infrastructure mode in starOS, the hermes AP shows an exagerated incoming signal...
[PHILLSphp** ] 64:61:e1 - 3.9 21/66 -69/ -32 -90/ -98 11 1s▒
Bob C

[tony]

To have your Prism cards report as accurately as possble, make sure they are using firmware version 1.5.6 or newer. Previous revisions do not report properly, and show either very strong signal (ie. v1.1.1-v1.5.4) , or very weak. (ie. <v1.1.1)

[bobbyc]

Hi Tony,
I am aware of the updates. These zcomax cards I am using in infrastructure/AP mode have 1.1.1/1.5.6 loaded onto them. Take a look at my screenshot of the orinoco test results. If I had a Senao 200mw prism 2.5 card in there, or bromax 2.5 card, or hermes card, the signal levels for this station/test partner would be so much more closer.
It is hard to beleive that these zcomax cards hear this well! :)

Here is another example. I just put a senao prism 2.5 card in my starOS infrastructure slot and here is the reading from the AP it is coming from: 21/36 -69/ -71 -90/-102 11
and here's the same link but with a zcomax prism 2.5 card
18/66 -70/ -31 -88/ -97 11
So you see, the zcomax reports the outgoing signal just fine, but it does not report the incoming signal correctly.
I saw this behavior months ago, and figured that somehow demarctech tweaked their 200mw cards to report inaccurate readings; but now that I have tested the SMC 200mw card I am convinced that the card is reporting inaccurately.
Just for kicks I turned on 1.7.4 volatile update and no change.
Bob C

[bobbyc]

I can mail you my SMC card w/ N-male pigtail for you to test in the lab at your convenience if you want, if you don't have any 200mw zcomax 2.5 cards.
Bob C

[tony]

18/66 -70/ -31 -88/ -97 11
So you see, the zcomax reports the outgoing signal just fine, but it does not report the incoming signal correctly. ...

What is the MAC address of your zcomax 200mW card? (This will help in determining the dBm algorithm used for remote-side reporting).

[bobbyc]

00:04:E2:64:61:E1
00:60:B3:75:AE:2F

[bobbyc]

If I throw the zcomax card in a WET11, it shows the same behavior when I log into the AP and look at the association list.
It is obviously inherent to the zcomax implementation of the prism 2.5 chipset, I was just wondering if it would be possible for starOS to easily psuedo correct the reading :)
Bob C

edit: all the APs I've associated the zcomax to have been hermes. Should I associate it to a prism AP and see if it displays correctly? I don't think it will, because if you look at my 2nd screenshot, I am using the zcomax in AP mode and a bromax WET11 is associated and still exhibiting the same mismatch of signal readings for this station/test partner.
Bob C

[bobbyc]

I thought I would revisit this and see if anyone came to the conclusion that if the problem lied in how starOS reports the signal, how hermes interprets the signal, or if it is a misreport by the zcomax card and there is nothing that can be done.
Would it help if I associated the zcomax to another zcomax (prism to prism)? So far I have used the zcomax as AP and client, but it was always a hermes to prism association.
Bob C

[bobbyc]

I'd be more than happy to send my zcomax prism 2.5 200mw card to you guys to test out. It has a detatchable antenna, and a N-male pigtail. Firmware 1.1.1/1.7.4
Bob C