User's Manual

ad-hoc mode, wireless stations communicate directly with each other. Only networking
devices from the same product family as your adapter can operate in high-speed ad-hoc mode.
Ch. (Channel) column: A channel is one of 14 groups of adjacent frequencies in the band used
for wireless networking. Not all channels are available in all countries. A station operating in
infrastructure mode automatically finds the channel used by any access point it is within
range of. An ad-hoc WLAN must use a single, fixed channel agreed upon by the members.
Signal Level column: This is the strength of the radio signal as measured at the adapter’s
antenna input. It is shown in dBm, that is, decibels referenced to 1 milliwatt (mW). Decibels
are a logarithmic unit, so -10 dBm equals 0.1 mW, -20 dBm equals 0.01 mW, -30 dBm
equals 0.001 mW, and so on. The closer the figure is to zero, the stronger the signal is (for
example, “-13dbm” represents a stronger signal than “-78dbm”).
The actions you can take in the
Site Survey panel are described below.
• To change the order in which site survey results are displayed, click a column heading.
For example, you can click the
WEP column heading to have all WLANs where WEP is
disabled listed above all WLANs where WEP is enabled. Click again to reverse the order.
• To see all of an item (for example, an SSID) that exceeds the width of its column, let the
pointer rest on it for at least half a second.
The full name will usually appear in a pop-up description box. In some columns, more
text must be cut off than in others for the full name to pop up. You can also widen a
column by dragging the right edge of the column header to the right.
• To search again for WLANs in your vicinity, choose the Search button.
The utility will “listen” for about five seconds and then display the results.
• To join a listed WLAN (or just to create or edit a profile for it) double-click anywhere on
the line showing information about it.
The utility requires that a profile exist for a WLAN before you can join. A dialog box for
creating or editing a profile will appear.
By default, the utility uses the WLAN’s SSID as the profile name. If no profile with that
name exists, the
New Profile dialog box will appear. If you already have a profile with
that name, the
Profile dialog box will appear. These dialog boxes both contain a
Configuration panel and a Security panel.
In either case, settings that are required for joining the WLAN and were auto-detected
during the Site Survey search will automatically be filled in for you. You might wish to
change the
Power Saving Mode setting, and you might need to input or edit security
settings. See section 7.2, “The Configuration Panel,” and section 7.3, “The Security
Panel,” for details.
When finished checking or editing the profile, click the dialog box’s
OK button. The
profile will be saved, and you will be asked if you wish to join the WLAN.
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