DWL-G520 low signal, low speed

[soralx at cydem.org]

> >>> I have a problem with my wifi DWL G520 atheros chip based card...
> >>> I have low signal only 20-30% and also a low speed 5-11
> >>> Mbit/s..router is only 1-2 m away from me and with gentoo I have
> >>> 90% signal strength..I'm using FreeBSD 6.2 PRERELEASE

Same thing here, folks. When using the 'if_ath' module (or compiling the
driver into kernel -- doesn't matter), the reported signal strength
(via `ifconfig ath0 up && ifconfig ath0 scan`) is about 20:0 to 30:0
(whatever the units are?), depending on spatial orientation, and being
positioned ~10m away from the base station. The 'media:' quickly
degrades to 'DS/1Mbps'. Measurement of the signal strength with notebook
relocated right near the transceiver yield values of 50-60 units (noise
has the value of '0' all the time).

Perhaps the ndisulator is being overly optimistic, but it reports S:N
of ~140:0 when away from the transiever, and ~160:0 when near. ifconfig
says that media is OFDM/54Mbps. I says that probably the units are
totally arbitrary, or the ndis driver is just being piss-proud [i.e.,
exaggerating a little, and his signal is not really that big] ;)

Now, I didn't do any real performance comparison yet (ath vs ndis), but
I can say this: ath performance seems to me rather disappointing -- the
carrier gets lost from time to time, range is not impressive (or am i
just expecting too much?), there's absolutely no reception without
antenna connected (I believe this isn't right), etc...

I don't have much time to look into the issue now, but if someone will
suggest how to do some advanced testing (at almost a step-by-step
level), I would do that.

OS: 6.2-BETA2

[SorAlx]  ridin' VN1500-B2