Ok i just flashed my Netgear WNDR3300 Dual band router with DD-WRT so i could get some extra features. I was looking arount and i noticed that i get Ch 12-14 now. also i can adjust the power out-put of the router. one of my friends told me if i turned the power up to high or used Ch-12-14 i can be fined and arested. He told me that they have people in trucks looking for people useing chanles that are not supposed to be used in the U.S. Now is this true will i get arrested if u use channel 14?

My router has these channels.
But I have never heard about this here in Brazil. Why it isn't allowed? And if it isn't allowed, why is it avaliable for use? -_-'

I flashed my router with DD-WRT. With stock firmware i only get 1-11

The channels are used in different countries, such as Japan for example. Here in the US they may interfere with other signals and are therefore illegal. I also have those options however I use channel 11 as it's not interfering with anyone else around since they are mostly using the stock 7.

As for power output, I've never seen that but I have seen over clock features, my router is overclocked and has been modified with a heatsink to remove that excess heat.

It's unlikely you'll be arrested for using it. More likely have your equipment confiscated at best. At the end of the day, the signal doesn't travel more than 100ft in most cases, so it's not going to interfere with anything. I use a non-UK channel to escape interference from "standard" routers people use.

Bumping the power up will likely make little difference, it certainly didn't for me since the device at the other end has to be able to transmit further as well. Changing the antenna for a higher gain will do a lot more. All you'll do by turning the power up is heat up the chip set and reduce it's lifespan.

Turning the power up can ruin the router unless its properly cooled. I doubt you would get in trouble for using channel 14, but you'll have a hard time getting everything to connect to it. If there are a lot of routers near you use something like inSSIDer to get a good visualization of what the spectrum looks like. I find many people never switch the channel on their router so 1, 6 and 11 are usually full and you may have luck with 3, 4 or 8, 9.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_WLAN_channels
This gives a list of what channels are legal for use in each country.

Here is what i was talking about. Stock 71mW. and it can go up to 251mW. Also the router has 8 internal antenna's so says netgear it broadcasts both 5Ghz and 2.4Ghz. Also with the DD-WRT I can set up two Wireless networks but one on 2.4Ghz and the other 5Ghz. Also if the stock is 71mW and i turn it up to 190mW or so will the router burn up?

@Andy All of the antenna's are internal and embedded on the board. I will take some pics of the router. If i were to buy some antenna's for the router i would need to know where to solder them in to.


EDIT: Here are the pics. Sorry about the Glare my desk is glass.

Rear of the board.



Front of the board.

You should keep the power at the default. I've futzed with it before with my routers and they don't like it very much. They tend to become unstable and glitchy.

I'm running mine at 140mW to get the signal to my very weak receiving phone (my new one is much better actually). I wouldn't go much higher than that though.

DD-WRT limits you to what is legal for your selected country. The 251mw power setting is a safe limit for your router. it is possible to push it much higher, but you need radio licensing to be able to operate at the high end of them. My coworker has pushed a directional wi-fi shot to 20 watts (not milliwatts) but he has a full HAM and amateur radio license set, so that's normal for him to do. Running those powers is sketchy because it'll do weird things to nature. (he burned a hole through 3 miles worth of trees between the two points)
Even if you try to run your router on channels 12-14, your computers and devices won't see them because they'll be restricted to the country you have them set on too.
Just stick with the 1-11 and you'll be safe.

I actually want to try this now. As long as you use only channels 1 or 2 on 40MHz n or 1-6 on 20 MHz n you should be all set (as long as you have a ham license). I'm just not sure how you would identify your station. Use the callsign as the SSID? You could also do this with the top few 5GHz channels.


That surprises me a little since hams regularly churn out 100-1500W (but that's on the lower bands... 1.8MHz-29.7MHz)

Lower bands aren't as focused as 2.4GHz. Your microwave operates around 2.4GHz so I'd imagine it's entirely possible to do it on such a focused beam with low power.

By the way I have a HAM license Two of them in fact, I can run power up to 50W on various bands. However, the 2.4GHz band is unlicensed. You can't get a license as far as I'm aware, so you can never legally run more power than the band rules state.

Me too! I'm K1MAZ. The maximum I can put out for the majority of bands is 1500W, although I run about 100W since I don't have an amplifier. The US does allow operation in part of the 2.4 GHz band.
http://www.arrl.org/frequency-allocations

2E0EZW here (And M3EZW as I still hold my previous foundation license).

Our allocations in the UK are here: http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/binari ... at2010.pdf

Power allocations here: http://www.ofcom.org.uk/static/archive/ ... 1/br68.htm

Apparently we can use up to 400W (50W for me since that's the maximum allowed by my license, I'd need to get the final license level to go that high).

I'm surprised they allow you to hold two licenses concurrently. When we upgrade our license in the states, they just apply the new class to the existing callsign/license. When you take a vanity call or new sequential call, your previous call becomes cancelled and reenters the pool in two years.

We have licenses that last 10 years, and I renewed both of mine. I don't NEED both, it's nice to have.

Ours last ten years at a time as well, but we can only hold one license. If you're technician and you upgrade to general, you keep the same call, but your privileges change. Anyways, I'll have to work you somewhere down the line.
73's.