I'm looking at the WinBox window Wireless-> Interfaces -> Tx Power which is currently configured for "Tx Power Mode: default". Under that display is a table of "Current TX Powers" which shows what power the radio will use at different transmit data rates.

The power level starts at 18 dBm for 1 Mbit/sec and then drops as expected past 11 Mbits/second.

The problem I have is that the mPCI radio card is an Engenius 8602+S and is supposed to go up to 28 dBm (600 mw).

I'm viewing this on a RB133 running ROS 3.10, BIOS 2.16. It would appear that the RB software is confused, or should I blame the radio?

I wonder if it's running at it's full power of 28 dBm or the indicated power of 18 dBm.


I've looked at the documentation and I can't find anything that gives me insight into why the 3.10 display shows only the lower value.

This would make a little sense if I was using frequency-mode=regulatory domain and I had a high-gain antenna. However, this is not the case.

Does anyone have any insight into this? Is RouterOS confused about the transmit power? Is my Engenius card confused? Is this all fine and I am the only piece of the picture that's confused?

I also have ROS 3.10 running on a RB411, and it also shows the lower values, starting at 18 dBm when I expected to see 28 dBm.

I don't have a power meter, so I can't tell what my signal strength really is.

If nobody has an idea about this, I'll submit it to support with a supout.rif, but I wanted to see if I'm missing something obvious.

Here's the config:

Can you post a screenshot?

Here is the screenshot showing maximum power of 18 dBm. The Engenius 8602+S is spec'd as 28 dBm, 600 mWatts.

you should contact engenius about this problem, most likely they have this value (-10db) written in the cards eeeprom.

Or just try with Band only b and then see what is your TX power.

Thanks

With band b-only, WinBox still displays 18 dBm as maximum power.
With band g-only, WinBox still displays 18 dBm as maximum power.

I just spoke to a tier 2 tech support person at Engenius, Sam, who appeared to be knowledgeable in this area.

He told me that generic linux device drivers will not be able to interpret the high power operation of the 8602+S card. Engenius does not supply linux device drivers. They do have drivers for windows and mac, which he says work properly. He maintains that the device is working properly and properly reporting the available power levels to drivers that know how to interact properly with the device and its special high power amplifier.

He was not personally familiar with MikroTik, but suggested that I seek out a 3rd party device driver from someone who has designed one that works with the 8602+S card.

Uldis, do you have a comment on this? I know that you want people to purchase your R52H cards, but at 600 mw and a street price of US $48, these Engenius cards are a good match in some applications.

If there is a compatibility problem with them, perhaps this could be noted on the MikroTik website.

Mikrotik show a 28 dbm cards as 18 dbm as cards TX power value. They have -10 dbm difference for those high power cards like XR2, Engenious etc. When you login into MT winbox,
you will see 28 (18) dbm TX power for XR2 cards that means your card is running at full power and mikrotik count it as 18 dbm ! If you set card TX power as 26 dbm, it will show you 26 (16)
or just 16 dbm. Don't get nervous !

So its not a matter to get worried as all settings are working perfectly. I had a same question too a few months ago and came to know this trick !!

regards
Litu
Sylhet
Bangladesh

you will see 28 (18)

If you had looked at the screenshot above you would realize that the OP's concern is this card Isn't showing up that way.

As litu points out, MikroTik has dealt with the Ubiquiti driver issue by applying the known 10 dB error between what the driver reports and the actual power and using parenthesis to indicate both the value reported by the driver and the correct value.

However, as jwcn points out, I am not using Ubiquiti cards, I am using Engenius cards. No offset is applied and no values in parenthesis show up.

I just finished some testing of actual power levels, and found that the levels reported by MT when using an Engenius 8602+S card are 10 dB lower than the actual power level.

When I use the default setting, WinBox shows 18 dBm, but I measure 28 dBm.
Using "Card Rates" and entering 17 dBm in the box, results in a measured transmit power of 28 dBm.
Using "Card Rates" and entering 13 dBm in the box, results in a measured transmit power of 23 dBm.
Using "Card Rates" and entering 7 dBm in the box, results in a measured transmit power of 17 dBm.

In conclusion, when using Engenius/Senao 8602+S cards, the actual transmit power will be 10 dBm higher than what MikroTik displays and what the user sets.

If you want to limit your transmit power to 17 dBm, you must set "Card Rates" to 7 dBm.

MikroTik points the finger at Engenius (see earlier post in this thread). Engenius points back at MikroTik for not having a compatible device driver.

Either way, I suggest MIkroTik investigate this and confirm my findings and use the same or similar format to report the power as they do with Ubiquiti cards.

There are lot of wireless cards that doesn't have correct tx-power value written in the cards eeprom.
Thats why the they have this offset 10db or some different number.
Currently we don't have any plans to add this offset in our driver for other wireless cards.

There are lot of wireless cards that doesn't have correct tx-power value written in the cards eeprom.
Thats why the they have this offset 10db or some different number.
Currently we don't have any plans to add this offset in our driver for other wireless cards.

in other words you're being biased!
ubiquiti or Bust (get the hell out)


i myself have an 8602 plus card and i put the values in manually. whether they will work or screw things up or not i am not sure. i did it cause at least i can rest assured i tried.

i feel mikrotik is becoming careless with their customers.

thats what happens when a company becomes rich and just doesnt care about the little guy anymore. sad world!

in other words you're being biased!
ubiquiti or Bust (get the hell out)


i myself have an 8602 plus card and i put the values in manually. whether they will work or screw things up or not i am not sure. i did it cause at least i can rest assured i tried.

i feel mikrotik is becoming careless with their customers.

thats what happens when a company becomes rich and just doesnt care about the little guy anymore. sad world!

that what happens when ...

Engenius does not supply linux device drivers

[/quote]

fine.

so now...

if i get a xr2 would i notice better performance with my wireless clients vs the engenius card i have now?

Considering the well known fact that the engenius card is a POS, I would say yes.

Well, slightly off topic, but since I started the topic...

I had 10 Engenius 8602+S cards that failed in the field with -20 dB loss in sensitivity. Since we use very careful grounding and lightning arrestors, I blame the cards.

I sent them back to Engenius since they were under warranty and got them back with no info at all about what, if anything, was done.

Well, one of them was replaced with a new card, which is a different version, although still labeled 8602+S. It works just fine.

The other 9 are just as dead as they were went I sent them back.

I won't be using Engenius/senao any longer.

ive said for a whlie that i get a huge performance boost from running any of my Eugenius cards at 30db, all rates fixed on the MT side.

i have about 40 of them in service..about 35 on 2.4 and 5 on 5ghz no problems on any, for about 2 years..running about 70% on all rates fixed at 30db

you can hear, with your ear, a difference in sound emitting from the cards when set at 30db vs default.



yes i know 30db is 1Watt..but i dont think the card is putting out that..i think its doing what its rated for.

i wish mt would test this and formally respond to it, here or on their website.

ive said for a whlie that i get a huge performance boost from running any of my Eugenius cards at 30db, all rates fixed on the MT side.

i have about 40 of them in service..about 35 on 2.4 and 5 on 5ghz no problems on any, for about 2 years..running about 70% on all rates fixed at 30db

you can hear, with your ear, a difference in sound emitting from the cards when set at 30db vs default.



yes i know 30db is 1Watt..but i dont think the card is putting out that..i think its doing what its rated for.

i wish mt would test this and formally respond to it, here or on their website.

if you use all-rates-fixed and and 30db, then you could burn the card - and the warranty will not cover it as you are overdriving it. Always use default mode or card-rates with lower tx-power. This tx-power setting was made for lowering the power and not for raising it.
The card it trying to put out what you tell, but how good it does that depends on the card itself.