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Antenna Diversity on Intel Dual Band Wireless AC-3160

AGyge
Novice
3,234 Views

Greetings to all who are hashing it out in tech support today! I've tried a few Google searches and Intel support searches with different verbiage, yet I still have not found a conclusive answer. Anyone with knowledge on this please chime in.

I'm about to deploy 20 machines that use an ITX motherboard containing an Intel Dual-Band Wireless AC-3160 (Model 3160HMW) mini-PCIe card.

Everything is fine on the MAIN channel (full strength ~150Mbps) unfortunately (at least to me at the moment) the AUX channel is lifeless if you disconnect the antenna from the MAIN channel.

My original understanding is that they worked in tandem, using antenna diversity. According to the Technical Documentation of the AC-3160, Diversity is supported. However, I must be wrong somewhere. I'm met with a red X and no networks available when I only have an antenna plugged into AUX.

If it matters, I am using Windows Embedded Standard 7 x64 with the latest drivers available from Intel for the AC-3160. AsRock IMB-150 ITX Motherboard and a Crucial 128gb MSATA drive.

On most WiFi Adapters, Diversity is an option that can be enabled or disabled in Windows' Advanced Device Properties pane. This is not the case in my situation, again, with the latest drivers installed.

TL;DR: What is the purpose of the AUX channel on the AC-3160?

Thanks for your insight in advance.

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1 Solution
Jose_H_Intel1
Employee
1,855 Views

Hi akgyger, I can see the product brief document indicates that Diversity is supported; however, I just verified that in this 1x1 adapter, the MAIN antenna is used for WiFi and AUX is for Bluetooth* only. So, the information presented in the document will need to be corrected.

I am sorry for any inconvenience this may have caused

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3 Replies
AGyge
Novice
1,855 Views

Wow, great audience here!

It should be mentioned, even though nobody has replied, that I searched through registry to find a setting for diversity. For the AC-3160 there are no available options.

However, If I install an Intel 6250 wifi card, I am greeted with three DWORD Values in registry editor for diversity:

Diversity 11a (0)

Diversity 11b (0)

Diversity 11g (0)

Changing these values to (1) and performing a restart does not resolve my issue. Removing the wire for Aux has no change for signal strength, however removing the MAIN antenna results in complete loss of signal.

What is the point of the AUX channels on these wifi cards? Anybody?

Help me Obi-wan-Intel-Community, you're my only hope

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Jose_H_Intel1
Employee
1,856 Views

Hi akgyger, I can see the product brief document indicates that Diversity is supported; however, I just verified that in this 1x1 adapter, the MAIN antenna is used for WiFi and AUX is for Bluetooth* only. So, the information presented in the document will need to be corrected.

I am sorry for any inconvenience this may have caused

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AGyge
Novice
1,855 Views

Joe, you are a gentleman and a scholar. This is the information i so desperately needed. Thank you for getting back with me.

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