2.4Ghz Spec Analyzer Software???

If a Wi-fi card can see the entire spectrum that it communicates
on(2.4-2.483Ghz), why can't I find any spectrum analyzer software out
there that will scan this spectrum and show me in real time? Is there
something in the IEEE 802.11b standard that makes this
difficult(meaning the method in which these devices are forced
operate) to program such a thing? Or is this software out there
somewhere and I'm not looking in the right spot

Pls advise...Thanks!

In article <(E-Mail Removed)> ,
Rob O. <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
:If a Wi-fi card can see the entire spectrum that it communicates
n(2.4-2.483Ghz), why can't I find any spectrum analyzer software out
:there that will scan this spectrum and show me in real time? Is there
:something in the IEEE 802.11b standard that makes this
:difficult(meaning the method in which these devices are forced
perate) to program such a thing? Or is this software out there
:somewhere and I'm not looking in the right spot

My guess would be that cards simply are designed in such a way
that it would not be efficient to allow this data to be peeled off,
so there simply isn't any path provided. The signal data probably
gets sampled, and the samples pushed directly into an fft sub-unit and
that right on that same chip further manipulations are done. Pathways
of the fft'd data out to the bus probably just don't exist.
--
I was very young in those days, but I was also rather dim.
-- Christopher Priest

WLANexpert :
http://www.allaboutjake.com/network/...lanexpert.html

mode Air Scan


(E-Mail Removed) (Rob O.) wrote in message news:<(E-Mail Removed) om>...
> If a Wi-fi card can see the entire spectrum that it communicates
> on(2.4-2.483Ghz), why can't I find any spectrum analyzer software out
> there that will scan this spectrum and show me in real time? Is there
> something in the IEEE 802.11b standard that makes this
> difficult(meaning the method in which these devices are forced
> operate) to program such a thing? Or is this software out there
> somewhere and I'm not looking in the right spot
>
> Pls advise...Thanks!

> WLANexpert :
> http://www.allaboutjake.com/network/...lanexpert.html

Just don't forget to mention that this requires:-

1. A Prism chipset card

2. Windows 9x

and still won't produce an output that is equal to what you'd get from a
spectrum analyser.

David.

(E-Mail Removed) (IVAN KORSHUN) wrote in
news:(E-Mail Removed) m:

> WLANexpert :
> http://www.allaboutjake.com/network/...lanexpert.html
>
> mode Air Scan

yep, not quite top of the line but works (Prism only)

--
Pent-up passive-aggressive dork alert! Whoop! Whoop!
Whoop! Whoop! Boy, you're really lighting up this alarm here!

This looks like what I need but....drum roll.....It doesn't work with
my card. I do have a PRISM chipset like the page talks about. Well
anyway, anyone else got anything?


(E-Mail Removed) (IVAN KORSHUN) wrote in message news:<(E-Mail Removed) om>...
> WLANexpert :
> http://www.allaboutjake.com/network/...lanexpert.html
>
> mode Air Scan
>
>
> (E-Mail Removed) (Rob O.) wrote in message news:<(E-Mail Removed) om>...
> > If a Wi-fi card can see the entire spectrum that it communicates
> > on(2.4-2.483Ghz), why can't I find any spectrum analyzer software out
> > there that will scan this spectrum and show me in real time? Is there
> > something in the IEEE 802.11b standard that makes this
> > difficult(meaning the method in which these devices are forced
> > operate) to program such a thing? Or is this software out there
> > somewhere and I'm not looking in the right spot
> >
> > Pls advise...Thanks!

"Rob O." <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed) m...
> If a Wi-fi card can see the entire spectrum that it communicates
> on(2.4-2.483Ghz), why can't I find any spectrum analyzer software out
> there that will scan this spectrum and show me in real time? Is there
> something in the IEEE 802.11b standard that makes this
> difficult(meaning the method in which these devices are forced
> operate) to program such a thing? Or is this software out there
> somewhere and I'm not looking in the right spot

Well for starters software alone will not show you anything.
Now if you know anything about radio receivers you can probably find on
your card where the signal has been demodulated, and you can look at it with
an oscope. Or even better if you have a network analyzer, or modulation
analyzer, well you can then look at the eye diagram, or the constellation
depending on the modulation you are using. But just getting back to a
spectrum analyzer, well you would need a spectrum analyzer to look at the
signal in real time. Not that you as a user can do much with that in and by
itself.
Now there is also test software out there that will use the receiver of the
device to collect statistics on the rf environment it is in. Most of your
cell phone companies use this for their drive testing. For wi-fi and 802
networks there are stand alone receivers that will do the same thing that
you can then hook to a pc. But then again these are stand alone devices and
are not normally the device you would plug into your laptop to use on a
wi-fi networks.
>
> Pls advise...Thanks!

"Rob O." <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed) m...
> If a Wi-fi card can see the entire spectrum that it communicates
> on(2.4-2.483Ghz), why can't I find any spectrum analyzer software out
> there that will scan this spectrum and show me in real time? Is there
> something in the IEEE 802.11b standard that makes this

Software exists to do this, and other "sniffing" tools like airsnort. But
get a Prizm based card and don't trust Linksys and others as some have
changed chipsets but not the outside labeling. Broadcom for example has yet
to release non-Microsoft code or specs to write it. Don't want to start
rumors, but it is almost like Microsoft paid Broadcom to cloase out
non-Windows systems.

"Rob O." <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed) m...
> If a Wi-fi card can see the entire spectrum that it communicates
> on(2.4-2.483Ghz), why can't I find any spectrum analyzer software out
> there that will scan this spectrum and show me in real time? Is there
> something in the IEEE 802.11b standard that makes this
> difficult(meaning the method in which these devices are forced
> operate) to program such a thing? Or is this software out there
> somewhere and I'm not looking in the right spot
>
> Pls advise...Thanks!

Oooops, too late:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...ory=25397&rd=1

Don W.

In article <zeWdnd4rhKfCasCiXTWc-(E-Mail Removed)>,
Don R. <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
(snip)
>http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...ory=25397&rd=1

There seem to be other ones too from the same seller, so not too late yet!

-- Mark