What's the best diagnostic utility for wireless signal?

[Tim Daneliuk]

Andrew Liles wrote:
> I use wireless on a FreeBSD 6.1 box in an area of low signal to my
> Access Point.
> I want to be able to inspect the signal strength/quality so that I may
> adjust the antenna to get best results.  What is the best diagnostic to
> use?
> 
> For instance:
>    wicontrol wi0
> produces:
> ...
> Comms quality/signal/noise:             [ 28 47 1 ]
> dBm Coms Quality:                       [ 14 -85 -99 ]
> ...
> 
> but what is "good" or which numbers should I be seeking maximise or
> minimise?

Here's a less analytical way that may work if you have marginal signal strength:

1) Connect wirelessly
2) Start pinging a site near you (to mimimize delay effects over the larger internet)
3) Move the antenna around to see where ping delays minimize across

Similarly, you can do the same thing with traceroute which is even better because it
shows delay at each step of the route.

This is a quick-and-dirty scheme that may not always provide best results, but it's easy
and a good way to get started....