My view on various ALFA adapters.

Discussion in 'Wireless Networking Cards' started by kevsamiga, 15 Jan 2014.

  1. dooogle

    dooogle Well-Known Member

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    Would like to hear the latest news if any on Alfa products
    that can handle penetration testing.
    I am particularly interested in the 036NHV and 036AC.
     
  2. kevsamiga

    kevsamiga Well-Known Member
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    My lack of USB 3 ports, coupled with a lack of suitable linux drivers, no networks around here even using 11ac, and ALFA specifying everything about the 036AC except it's power output figures, is why I decided to stop buying anymore ALFA's at the 036NHV.
     
  3. c.lee

    c.lee Active Member

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  4. AlleyViper

    AlleyViper Active Member

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    Btw, how is the awus051nh vs. the awus036nha regarding bandwidth when performing under a home network?
    My nha seems to be operating near the limit of it's 1Rx, topping at a constant 40-42Mbps throughput under a 65Mbps 2.4Ghz/20Mhz connection (this router can't be set to 40Mhz). Changing the default 5dbi antenna to the 7dbi Alfa panel gave a -5-8 dbi boost (stays at ~-43dbi now), and a decent stability increase under the same sustained downloads (before it would float between 36-41) but almost no further top bandwidth increase.
    With my notebook and it's 2Rx atheros I can get ~68Mbps right under the router, but where the nha is currently placed with two thick walls in between, it'll struggle to go beyond 30Mbps.

    Given that the awus051nh is a 2Rx card, does it fare much better with it's 130Mbps connection, or is it almost the same as other 1Rx Alfa adapters, given it's small onboard secondary antenna?

    Thanks.
     
  5. kevsamiga

    kevsamiga Well-Known Member
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    Sorry for the delay in reply...

    I can only speak for the 051NH v1 (2770F based) the newer V2 of the 051NH has a RaLink/MediaTek 3572 chip instead which I don't own so can't comment on. The only difference I see between 2770/2750 combo and 3572 is the latter is 2T2R as opposed to 1T2R.

    I can't find any more data 051NH v2 like power output etc.

    The transmit bandwidth of this 051NH is 150mbps, the receive bandwidth being MISO is 300mbps.

    The 051NH is great for 5Ghz operation or 802.11N if the AP has dual antenna's to maximise the bandwidth. And yesterday for the first time I captured my first 5Ghz signal and the range for it was very satisfactory with a link quality of 100% on Channel 44. I was very surprised for just 5dbi and a patch antenna inside the 051NH v1.

    However, 5Ghz is more picky about placement I found.

    The 051NH operates as a basic G mode adapter, and I wouldn't recommend it at all for connecting to G mode networks. Adequate, but not the best for using in G mode. There's much better for this 036H, 036NHR, 036NHV.

    It seems is a more powerful adapter than the 036NHA as it has 4 amplifiers built in, and operates satisfactory under Linux.

    The signal is very stable and robust despite low signal conditions just like the NHA. And I would suggest that should you have an AP to take advantage of either MIMO or 5Ghz operation (even better) then it would potentially have the extra grunt to outpace the NHA in a class of it's own depending on distance and router used.

    It would be a question of what range/frequency you wanted it to work at because 5Ghz drops off quicker than 2.4Ghz.

    In any case 051NH seems more powerful in my own experience than the 036NHA despite the 500mw tag which as we all know is meaningless in real world use outside of laboratory conditions.

    For 802.11N or 802.11a/n use it's the best ALFA however with a possible exception of 036AC (which I don't have)

    It seems a reliable unit despite it's discontinuation for the new 3572 chipped V2 model, and It's slowly becoming my favourite ALFA (2770F chip) as it seems to have the lot and has all bases covered, but that's probably because I don't own an 036AC. Yet....

    If you decide to go the 2770 chipped 051NH route I would recommend no drivers higher than 3.1.3.0 on Windows 7 x64 at least. The newer ones have speed drops and problems maintaining a connection at range.
     
    #65 kevsamiga, 24 Jan 2015
    Last edited: 24 Jan 2015
  6. AlleyViper

    AlleyViper Active Member

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    Np, I've only seen it now. Thanks for your insight, I'd only intend to use it under 2.4GHz, hence the throughput question.
     
  7. Felipe Muniz

    Felipe Muniz New Member

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    I have a WN722N that I bought in a local store here (Brazil) and it seems to be made in CN. I read this topic and don't was clear to me if its possible or not increase power on this "non-GB" WN722N.

    I found this other day but I don't know how compile this on Xiaopan .. This guy dont just increase power but also channels on this adapter:

    http://yo3iiu.ro/blog/?p=1301
     
  8. kevsamiga

    kevsamiga Well-Known Member
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    You can hack the CRDA, there are plenty of guides out there on the internet to do that.

    You can make it display whatever power you want it to say. Doesn't mean you'll get it.

    Because the settings *may* still be overridden by Atheros eeprom which hasn't or can't be tampered with as no tools exist to edit the eeprom directly.

    As for CN domain (of which most 722N's are), it doesn't really matter as for all intents and purposes it behaves exactly the same as GB with the same channel assignments and power levels.
     
  9. Felipe Muniz

    Felipe Muniz New Member

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    Hm.. On the link I metioned before, the guy shows a spectrum from the channels and also changes on dB levels, that's why I got curious...

    Well, I opened my 722N here:

    http://i.imgur.com/zHSz0dO.jpg

    The EEPROM is a 24c08, very easy to dump and record data. Someone ever tried to hack this?
     
  10. kevsamiga

    kevsamiga Well-Known Member
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    It says in the relevant documentation for the TP-Link WN722N, that the output power for the device is a maximum of 100mw EIRP regardless of what antenna is attached.

    Increasing/doctoring the output power doesn't mean a whole lot unless you can amplify the recieve side at the same time (by increasing the output at the other end too) or it's just pointless to increase the power on one side alone because it's a 2 way communication.

    You just shout louder, but not hear is all.
     
  11. abel18

    abel18 Active Member

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    I'm sorry to relive this thread, could you recommend an alfa in this 2020 and if so, what specific model recently I purchase an NHA [new release, hard to find old one 2011] + antenna 7 dbi panel for euroDK
     
  12. Pazs

    Pazs Well-Known Member

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    I love the 036NHA since 2, 3 years, works very good.
    Thank you for the Informations!
     
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