[SOLVED] Network analyzer Android APPs recommendation needed

[Fredvon4]

I have a complicated working network on 2.5 rural acres managing internet access to main house and 2 100foot+ away all metal buildings/shops. I am getting a new ISP soon and have bought a lot of newer 3 band routers, extenders, and out door AP.

I have used a few of the free Apps like WiFi Analyzer and KAIBITS they do OK but I wand something free or cheap that is closer to a true 5Ghz and 2 Ghz spectrum analyzer/detector. Desired information is the current hash of all 50 of my devices and the distant neighbors RF my network can see as locked or hidden.

This would help me prioritize channels and bands for my devices ( multiple 4K Smart TVs, 5 computers, 3 tablets, 2 cell phones, and a bunch of 2.4 only or dual band smart home devices) Ideally I could walk the building and acreage with a cell phone and note frequency and Db in a survey to see what IS and what channels to avoid as well as being a good neighbor to those surrounding me ( many of my new devices can adjust the radio signal strength)

I actually am not adverse to buying a true spectrum type analyzer if it could provide home network WiFi channel information and not just signal strength by frequency. My $$$ squeal point is anything above $150

Background: 68 years old 35 as KD5NCO HAM, 30 years Army aircraft electrical professional, car nut, and not at all intimidated by electronics and tech jargon. Just have not used any lab grade equipment in the last 20 years so Google searches yield way too many devices or software's. I can and will continue slogging through my research but seems to me there are folks here who may have "been there--done that" experience

 

[kanewolf]

I have a complicated working network on 2.5 rural acres managing internet access to main house and 2 100foot+ away all metal buildings/shops. I am getting a new ISP soon and have bought a lot of newer 3 band routers, extenders, and out door AP.

I have used a few of the free Apps like WiFi Analyzer and KAIBITS they do OK but I wand something free or cheap that is closer to a true 5Ghz and 2 Ghz spectrum analyzer/detector. Desired information is the current hash of all 50 of my devices and the distant neighbors RF my network can see as locked or hidden.

This would help me prioritize channels and bands for my devices ( multiple 4K Smart TVs, 5 computers, 3 tablets, 2 cell phones, and a bunch of 2.4 only or dual band smart home devices) Ideally I could walk the building and acreage with a cell phone and note frequency and Db in a survey to see what IS and what channels to avoid as well as being a good neighbor to those surrounding me ( many of my new devices can adjust the radio signal strength)

I actually am not adverse to buying a true spectrum type analyzer if it could provide home network WiFi channel information and not just signal strength by frequency. My $$$ squeal point is anything above $150

Background: 68 years old 35 as KD5NCO HAM, 30 years Army aircraft electrical professional, car nut, and not at all intimidated by electronics and tech jargon. Just have not used any lab grade equipment in the last 20 years so Google searches yield way too many devices or software's. I can and will continue slogging through my research but seems to me there are folks here who may have "been there--done that" experience

There is no "cheap" option that I know of. The Ubiquiti AirMax APs have analyzer tools -- https://help.ui.com/hc/en-us/articles/204950584-airMAX-Using-airView-to-Find-the-Best-Channel
The loco M2 and loco M5 (they are single band) could be used in conjunction. They are about $60 each. You could use them with battery, and a 12V to 24V passive POE adapter.
That would be about $150, and would provide directional analysis tools.

 

[bill001g]

I agree the ubiquiti airview stuff is going to be your cheapest option. I have a extremely old unit so I don't know if the newer ones have more features.

The ubiquti does unlike the silly scanners that run on a cell phone show you stuff that is not wifi. Things like baby monitors and security cameras and even microwave ovens if you are close enough. I was surprised to find that the radios that run on the new fancy power meters are running on 2.4g.
The other thing it kinda shows is how much usage there is. The problem with the scanners on cell phones is they only show the announce messages from the router. They do not actually show how many devices are connected and how much usage they have. They just show that a router exists. A spectrum analyzer like ubiquiti show the amount of engery which is a indicator that it is actually being used.

The big problem is it does not really identify random transmissions that happen at random times very well. You would need something that had a long term log/graph of some kind. The largest problem with wifi is the random interference that comes and goes with someone else's random usage.

I suspect in the end you are going to be somewhat disappointed. You will likely find every channel is being used fairly heavily. Things like wifi6 are using 160mhz radio bands which is 8 of the so called bands you see in a 5g wifi setting.

 

[Fredvon4]

Thanks guys, will look into This...usually on a search, adds for similar or such will pop up

 

[nigelivey]

Ubiquiti Android ap "Wifi Man" is surprisingly good and free.

 

[bill001g]

Ubiquiti Android ap "Wifi Man" is surprisingly good and free.

Pretty much garbage compared to any form of true spectrum analyzer.

This is even more restrictive on a android platform where everything is locked down.

Any software solution you find is just repackaging the same data you see on the built in network availability tools. All these tools really do is give you lists of route beacon messages it sees. It does not see anything else. It does not see routers that are configured to not send beacon messages for example.
Now on some PC software, ie linux based, you can set the wifi chipset into promiscuous mode. Only a small number of chipset support this. This will allow you to see the traffic from end devices. BUT even this does not give you a full picture.

There are massive numbers of device than run on the same radio frequencies that will block wifi but because they do not use wifi protocols. Very common ones used to be things like cordless phones but you see baby monitor and even drones using them. You also have extremely strong signals like weather radar on some areas of the 5g band. A wifi radio chipset does not have the ability to detect these. I suspect it actually can and does detect these signals but the manufacture have locked these chipsets down that you can not get that information.

The ubiquiti airview you see on their hardware is very different. Somehow they can get the equipment to actually display signals from stuff that is not wifi. It shows even stuff like microwave ovens if you are very close to it since microave oven are very shielded. I suspect they worked with the chipset manufactures so they could get acecess to the information or maybe the chips have a different hardware feature. If this was simple you would see this feature on other wifi equipment but you don't

Now I suspect someone who owns a real spectrum analyzer would tell me why even this solution is junk but for $50 compared to many hundreds if not thousands it work very well.

 

[nigelivey]

Pretty much garbage compared to any form of true spectrum analyzer.

This is even more restrictive on a android platform where everything is locked down.

Any software solution you find is just repackaging the same data you see on the built in network availability tools. All these tools really do is give you lists of route beacon messages it sees. It does not see anything else. It does not see routers that are configured to not send beacon messages for example.
Now on some PC software, ie linux based, you can set the wifi chipset into promiscuous mode. Only a small number of chipset support this. This will allow you to see the traffic from end devices. BUT even this does not give you a full picture.

There are massive numbers of device than run on the same radio frequencies that will block wifi but because they do not use wifi protocols. Very common ones used to be things like cordless phones but you see baby monitor and even drones using them. You also have extremely strong signals like weather radar on some areas of the 5g band. A wifi radio chipset does not have the ability to detect these. I suspect it actually can and does detect these signals but the manufacture have locked these chipsets down that you can not get that information.

The ubiquiti airview you see on their hardware is very different. Somehow they can get the equipment to actually display signals from stuff that is not wifi. It shows even stuff like microwave ovens if you are very close to it since microave oven are very shielded. I suspect they worked with the chipset manufactures so they could get acecess to the information or maybe the chips have a different hardware feature. If this was simple you would see this feature on other wifi equipment but you don't

Now I suspect someone who owns a real spectrum analyzer would tell me why even this solution is junk but for $50 compared to many hundreds if not thousands it work very well.

Obviously!! Was guessing that spending 3000 bucks on an Aircheck was out the question.

 

[Fredvon4]

I appreciate both points of view and being a frugal old guy I did get the recommended APP,

Surprisingly it does do a lot better then my other free apps.

Still some research on the HAM forums for specific bands spectrum analyzers . There are actually a lot of low cost, but band limited devices, I may buy used on e-bay to fill out my property and adjacent property surveys

One hint was to survey my property with a AM/FM radio on the AM Band and determine how much power line noise...( my 2.5 acres has main 3 Phase high Kv line west side of our micro ranch, and a 90 degree leg parallels my north property between me and neighbor, with a secondary feed to trailer park behind me, then another leg 90 degrees south along my east property line.)

Found several faulty insulators that the rural power company came out and fixed. While this 60Hz NOISE and ARCing should not seriously impact typical 2,4Ghz/5.2Ghz/6Ghz network bands....

It does add Line noise present on my mains in the house. This network investigation helped me find that noise and significantly clean up both my power line hash and help me with 80 and 160 meter Amatuer HAM coms.

Along the way I learned how UPS and Power strip surge protection works and how many active components (MOVs etc) are life time event limited. Almost all my critical electronics in the house are on a surge protector or UPS.

I am just adding this info as relevant for some others who may read.

Here in central Texas on Rural Co-OP power provider, my in house line voltage (110VAC/220VAC) can and does fluctuate during every day by 28VAC spread. I have my main breaker box monitored by a logging clamp on multimeter my Master electrician son loaned me.) Most USP protectors " kick in" if line V sags below or over volts above xxx value. Of course simple surge protectors do not care about below V sag and do nothing. They do activate every time a SPIKE of VAC above xxx volts. UPS does activate and bring expected line voltage UP to 108~120 via the inverter and this constituted and EVENT. Each EVENT causes a degradation of the active electronic components that have a finite LIFE.

Any way why is this important...Learning this I suspect many of my 15 year old APC/Triplte Back UPSs may not do be doing their thing... so my son loaned me another logging Clamp on multimeter...as the house line voltage dropped and raised below and above 110Vac 4 of11 UPS did activate on sags, and shunt on overages. 7 did nothing despite having relatively new batteries.

Both Triplite and APC said.. Yep that is normal, BUY new UPSs from us

Thanks to both of your suggestions