Frequently Asked Questions

No.  The Wi-Spy captures radio activity of all kinds above and beyond 802.11.  It will show radio activity from microwaves, cordless phones, bluetooth, zigbee, and more.  Because it is a spectrum analyzer it will show all radio activity.

For our customers looking for a great packet capture utility, the AirPcap suite is the perfect solution!  You can buy a packet analysis tool from MetaGeek.  The AirPcap compliments the Wi-Spy very well.

The AirPcap adapter is a great complimentary tool to Wi-Spy.

Chanalyzer turns data collected from a Wi-Spy and a wireless network interface into highly interactive charts and graphs which allows users to visualize their wireless landscape.

Chanalyzer uses both a Wi-Spy and a wireless network card. With the wireless network card, Chanalyzer can display available access points as they appear in the spectrum. This helps users to interpret the data from the Wi-Spy whether it is Wi-Fi related or non-Wi-Fi related. Wi-Spy data can be found in the Density, Waterfall and Channels Table views while network data from the wireless network card can be found in the Networks Table and Networks Graph. If you are running Chanalyzer in a virtual machine, like VMWare, you will need an additional USB Wi-Fi adapter to use the networks.

Three of MetaGeek’s Wi-Spy devices scan the 2.4GHz band. Most Wi-Fi traffic occurs in the 2.4GHz band, including interference from other devices.

Wi-Spy DBx- This is the device of choice for wireless professionals. It is also used by many companies making the move to 2.4 GHz or 5 GHz 802.11n. This device is the best MetaGeek has to offer. It offers the best bang for your dollars by troubleshooting 802.11a/b/g/n (both the 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands) with the highest resolution of any of our devices. It has an external RP-SMA connection for an external antenna.Product Page

Wi-Spy 2.4x- This device scans the 2.4GHz band.  It belongs in the toolbox of every wireless tech dealing with the 2.4 GHz band.  The antenna is external and swaps out easily for a directional.  Record live data similar to a tivo, and play it back later.

Wi-Spy 2.4i- MetaGeek designed this device for basic site surveying and entry-level wireless troubleshooting.  For those looking for a little more information than inSSIDer has to offer, definitely look into the Wi-Spy 2.4i.  It will show every thing that may bring the network down.  If you’ve ever wondered why the network randomly drops out, this device is for you.

The Wi-Spy scans the physical layer, and can’t read packets. It is only a spectrum analyzer and is not capable of functioning like a wireless network card, therefore inSSIDer and Chanalyzer can not use it to pull access point information. Chanalyzer will function without a wireless card, but the additional information can be very valuable in site surveys.

The Wi-Spy is a spectrum analyzer and is not capable of reading at the protocol layer. However it will see noise generated by ZigBee as well as any other type of transmitting device. The identification will not distinguish between ZigBee nodes, but it will attempt to identify by the shapes and center frequencies ZigBee transmitters create in the spectrum. Chanalyzer has built-in ZigBee labels to aid in troubleshooting interference.

Keep in mind, if you are looking to troubleshoot wireless interference, you will need a non-zigbee tool, which will show all types of wireless activity. The Wi-Spy is capable of doing this.

• Microsoft .NET Framework 4 Client Profile (installer will direct you to download)
• Microsoft .NET Framework 4 Extended (installer will direct you to download)
• WinPcap (installer will direct you to download)

In 802.11 clients or stations can broadcast management frames called Probe Requests. Probe requests are generally used when stations are looking for access points within range. These do not occur in a SSID but Eye P.A. groups them into a Broadcast group.

There are currently two types of .pcap files that Eye P.A. can open. The pcap must contain 802.11 frames with Radiotap or 802.11-common PPI headers. Typically these captures are created using:

• Wireshark with Airpcap adapter
• Mac OS X with Wi-Fi Diagnostics or WireShark in Monitor Mode
• Linux with WireShark or Kismet
• Export a .cap or .pcap from a wireless access point

Sometimes the capturing device receives packets that are malformed or corrupt. Eye P.A. drops any packets that do not have a proper Frame Check Sequence (FCS) in the packet even though Wireshark will display those packets.

Some wireless networks may hide their SSID which means they do not broadcast the name. Typically only users who know the name of the wireless network can connect to a hidden SSID.

Chanalyzer 4 and Chanalyzer Pro require:

• Wi-Spy 2.4x or Wi-Spy DBx hardware
• Wi-Fi card (for Wi-Fi features)
• Windows XP SP3, Vista or Windows 7
• .Net 3.5 framework
• USB

Both of the spectrum analysis programs are very similar. There are several additional features Chanalyzer Pro offers:

• Report Builder
• Navigation by waterfall.
• Utilization (Duty Cycle)
• Device Finder
• Automatic Device Pattern Matching.

The Wi-Spy scans the physical layer, and can’t read packets. It is only a spectrum analyzer and is not capable of functioning like a wireless network card, therefore inSSIDer and Chanalyzer can not use it to pull access point information. Chanalyzer will function without a wireless card, but the additional information can be very valuable in site surveys.

You can download Chanalyzer 4 or Pro for free. The use of the software requires a Wi-Spy and a Wireless NIC.

Chanalyzer 4 Download

Chanalyzer Pro Download

Chanalyzer Pro will install as a trial edition but can be unlocked by purchasing a license key.

With two Wi-Spy devices, you can simultaneously log the 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz. You can also alternate between them without creating additional files.

Once a Wi-Spy is plugged in Chanalyzer will automatically start logging the data from both Wi-Spys.

To toggle between each Wi-Spy use the session manager in Chanalyzer Pro:

In Chanalyzer 4 a drop-down selection tool will appear in the bottom left corner of the application.

The Density View displays how often a signal is detected at a specific amplitude. The graph shows signal amplitude over frequency. After a short time of gathering data, patterns begin to emerge in the Density View. The flat top pattern in the image represents a 40 MHz wide 802.11n file transfer. A density map view enables the user to quickly identify packet-based and analog patterns that may be interfering with your network. To see more specific information about a point on the graph, use the Inspector tool.

The display options currently available in Chanalyzer Pro are:

Current – This represents the received values at the most recent reading in the time span.
Average – This is the average of the received spectrum activity in the selected time span.
Max – This is the maximum points received across the band in the selected time span.
Color by Amplitude – Display option to show highly populated frequency amplitude points using opacity with colors representing amplitudes.
Color by Density – Display option to show highly populated frequency amplitude points using colors.
Color by Utilization – Display option to show how constant transmissions are within a selected time range.
Networks – By selecting Networks Chanalyzer will draw overlays of the SSIDs selected in the Networks Table.
Transmitters (Pro only) – Chanalyzer Pro will attempt to automatically identify transmitters. This display option will toggle on the drawing of detected transmitters within the threshold settings.
Outline – This represents the line Chanalyzer Pro attempts to match patterns too. This is most often used in creating a classifier.
Inspector – This creates a hovering box above the cursor that displays specific numbers regarding a particular frequency amplitude point.

The Utilization (Duty Cycle) is a relative score that helps determine how usable a channel is. It measures the percentage of time at or above the Utilization Threshold. This threshold can be adjusted in the top left corner of the Utilization tab. The selected time span in the waterfall navigation is used in the Utilization calculation.
[caption id="attachment_1726" align="alignright" width="300" caption="802.11g Utilization View at -75 dBm"][/caption]

Current – This represents a single sweep from the Wi-Spy. The accumulation of these sweeps are used for the rest of the calculations below.
Grade – This calculation uses the entire 20 Mhz width of a a Wi-Fi channel. Higher power levels near the center of the channel will affect the grade more negatively. A high grade of 90 or above can be interpreted as an “A” while 80 or above is a “B.” Anything below 70 is not recommended for Wi-Fi deployment.
Average - For each channel range (for example, Wi-Fi Channel 1, 2401-2423MHz), Chanalyzer calculates the average power within that channel frequency range.
Max - This value is the highest amplitude point within the Wi-Fi channel frequency range.
Utilization – The percentage of all noise above a defined amplitude threshold. The default amplitude is -85dBm.
Networks – Once network scanning is initialized Chanalyzer will count list the amount of networks detected