Video - Software mod to increase radio range - hostapd.conf

mcneely19 · Aug 24, 2015

Went to a park near my house thats a Wi-Fi nightmare. I easily doubled my range in this location with this mod. I will try this out at my range testing location this weekend. Last weekend I got just under 1.4 miles with stock cards and FPVLR.

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Rich · Aug 24, 2015

I may be wrong (I usually am), but I thought the reason for only using channels 1, 6 and 11 is that these channels won't overlap with each other. Also if other channels are used, and they will overlap, then you now are creating co-channel interference, which tends to look like noise, rather than being able to be rejected.

Am I wrong with these assumptions? Since you said most of this mod came from the Solo Mod Club, can you post a link to the specific thread where this is discussed?

How much testing has been done in a very crowded environment where there are strong signals nearby?

I'd just like to fully understand this. Thanks for sharing it.

SteveReno · Aug 24, 2015

I live in a area that is TOTAL WIFI congested.
My Max range was about 1000 Before RTH would kick in, Now, RTH didn't kick in till about 1700. Lot's of trees & power lines.
Video was perfect.
At lease, I now can reach the "Line of sight's end."

All stock Solo & Controller.

So there's your proof. it works

Thanks

Ian [P13] · Aug 25, 2015

Rich said:
Am I wrong with these assumptions? Since you said most of this mod came from the Solo Mod Club, can you post a link to the specific thread where this is discussed?

I don't know how to link to a specific thread, this is the group:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/3DRSOLOModClub/?fref=ts

All I can say is, whether it should or shouldn't work well, it just seems to do so in practice, I'd say try it, if it doesn't work it's trivial to undo.

This was posted which may interest you:

Sololink chose to use channel 1 which has other signals detected on it. Looks like channels 3 or 4 would be better choices. When I first did the mod, the selected channel was 11 and I also saw signals there via WiFi Analyzer and Solo did not react any better than before. But I restarted the Solo and Controller and this time WiFi analyzer showed that Solo link was on a clearer channel (not 11) and the difference in RSSI was significant for me and the Solo did much better. There is another parameter perhaps to tweak -- shows what I have set it to: acs_chan_bias=1:1.2 6:1.5 11:1.5 This setting is supposed to make channels 1, 6 and 11 less likely to be picked (numbers greater than 1 after the colon increase the detected signal by the indicated numbers and so the channel appears noisier). This setting has worked for me -- in practice Solo had not selected channels 1 or 6 or 11 for me during any recent flights. Hope this helps.

Iconic Images · Aug 25, 2015

Ian [P13] said:
I don't know how to link to a specific thread, this is the group:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/3DRSOLOModClub/?fref=ts

All I can say is, whether it should or shouldn't work well, it just seems to do so in practice, I'd say try it, if it doesn't work it's trivial to undo.

This was posted which may interest you:

I will certainly try it. Thank you so much for taking the time to post this

Rich · Aug 25, 2015

I wonder if someone in a very congested area could test the other tuning parameters but turn on and off the use of only channels 6 and 11 to see if it's the parameters being changed or the additional channels?

SkyDoctor · Aug 25, 2015

So what happens when you do this mod and use an antenna such as the DBS. Does it increase the extended range you were getting with the DBS alone?

Rich · Aug 25, 2015

For those interested I think this is the thread https://m.facebook.com/groups/79159...1866969911806&fwcl=1&fwcc=1&fwl&p=30&refid=18

Ian [P13] · Aug 25, 2015

SkyDoctor said:
So what happens when you do this mod and use an antenna such as the DBS. Does it increase the extended range you were getting with the DBS alone?

You should see an improvement regardless of antenna.

SkyDoctor · Aug 25, 2015

Ian [P13] said:
I've just finished this video today, it's relevant to the latest firmware as well. Amongst other things this allows the Solo to use any pair of channels from 1 to 12, whereas before the mod it is limited to using only channels 6 and 11.

This has increased my range in both congested and non-congested Wi-Fi areas. Attached is a screenshot without even using the ALFA antenna. The cost of doing this mod is exactly $0.00.

View attachment 859

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The software to download to perform this mod is:
https://atom.io
https://www.bitvise.com/ssh-client-download

The IP address of the Solo controller is: 10.1.1.1
The IP address of the Solo is: 10.1.1.10

The username is: root
The password is: TjSDBkAu

The changes to make to the hostapd.conf file are:
acs_num_scans=8
#chanlist=6 11
beacon_int=999
wmm_ac_vi_cwmin=2
wmm_ac_vi_txop_limit=136
wmm_ac_vo_txop_limit=1
disassoc_low_ack=0

The command to run to update the MD5 is:
md5sum /etc/hostapd.conf > /etc/hostapd.conf.md5

If that file you change is the same on all controllers and Solos, Could someone just upload the altered file to this forum and save a lot of unnecessary duplication of effort.

Ian [P13] · Aug 25, 2015

SkyDoctor said:
If that file you change is the same on all controllers and Solos, Could someone just upload the altered file to this forum and save a lot of unnecessary duplication of effort.

No, the file contains your SSID and password too, that's why I decided to go through the process as an edit.

There's no harm in people understanding what they're doing too.

Lamda · Aug 25, 2015

Ian [P13] said:
No, the file contains your SSID and password too, that's why I decided to go through the process as an edit.

There's no harm in people understanding what they're doing too.

If something went wrong doing the editing - rogue keystroke etc., I'd know I only have myself to blame

I also prefer to know what's going on and how to fix it myself.

SkyDoctor · Aug 25, 2015

Ian [P13] said:
No, the file contains your SSID and password too, that's why I decided to go through the process as an edit.

There's no harm in people understanding what they're doing too.

Well, that answers that question. Thank you Sir.