Here are some of my notes from when I did this several months ago on a Raspberry Pi 3 for an Alfa AWUS036NH. Hope this helps: To USE A USB WIFI ADAPTER: To change to a usb wifi adapter, you MUST change the /boot/wifi_card.conf file to read "wlan1" instead of "wlan0". Otherwise, changing the hostapd.conf and piratebox.conf files in /opt/piratebox/conf/ won't mby BillB - Raspberry Pi(rate)Box
If you have a working PirateBox on a flash card, you can use another linux computer and the "dd" command to make an exact copy of the working flash card onto a new flash card using the "dd" command. For example: dd if=/dev/sdX of=/dev/sdY bs=1M conv=notrunc,noerror Now, you have an exact duplicate of your original PirateBox flash card (sdX) on your new flash card (sdY).by BillB - PirateBox OpenWrt
So, I'll just have to live with the slow upload speeds. Thanks for the information.by BillB - Raspberry Pi(rate)Box
I noticed slow upload speeds to the PirateBox for 50 MB to 90 MB files. So, I tried sshing onto the PirateBox and scping files to the PirateBox, which produced upload speeds that gradually taper off until they are less than 0.6 Mbits/s when my laptop is seeing a constant signal strength of 60%. From only a few feet away and a signal strength of 75%, uploads start at about 13 Mbits/s and gradualby BillB - Raspberry Pi(rate)Box
Other people are also reporting that the Alfa AWUS036NH wifi adapter seems to be limited to a power output of around 50mW (17dBm), not the 2000mW that the manufacturer claims: So, even though iwconfig can report a power output of 30dBm, the actual maximum power output is only around 17dBm. Wouldn't it be nice if we lived in a world where manufacturers didn't lie about their prby BillB - Raspberry Pi(rate)Box
By the way, the python-m2crypto/CRDA/wireless regulatory database approach doesn't seem to be an option--at least with my level of experience with Linux. The version of the code I downloaded wouldn't even compile on the PirateBox.by BillB - Raspberry Pi(rate)Box
I am aware of the problem of the other person not having enough power to transmit back to the PiratreBox. But I figure that if they at least know that the PirateBox is there (because it is putting out a lot of power), then they may be motivated to take steps to communicated back (by moving closer or generating more power themselves--assuming they are smart enough to realize why they can't cby BillB - Raspberry Pi(rate)Box
Looking at this more carefully, I noticed that although iwconfig reports an increased txpower, the PirateBox wifi signal strength at my laptop does not actually appear to have increased. I'm using an AWUS036NH wifi adapter. Is the value of txpower reported by iwconfig the transmitted power REPORTED by the wifi adapter, or is it the transmitted power COMMANDED to the wifi adapter? If the lby BillB - Raspberry Pi(rate)Box
The first approach worked. Thank you for the easy solution!by BillB - Raspberry Pi(rate)Box
Apparently, all Linux distributions limit the amount of wifi power that you can transmit ("Tx-Power" from the iwconfig command), regardless of the capability of your wifi adapter. This is apparently legally required. Unfortuanately, for some reason that I can't fathom, although the Raspberry Pi PirateBox knows that I am in the United States, it limits my wifi power to 20 dB, evenby BillB - Raspberry Pi(rate)Box