Posted: Thu May 04, 2023 20:27 Post subject: Setting up a repeater (station) mode
I have an R9000 router that I want to use as a repeater. None of the instructions or wiki's haven't been much help and are outdated. Are there current instructions available?
On current releases, you use Station mode with a VAP. WDS may or may not be problematic. _________________ "The woods are lovely, dark and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep." - Robert Frost
"I am one of the noticeable ones - notice me" - Dale Frances McKenzie Bozzio
On current releases, you use Station mode with a VAP. WDS may or may not be problematic.
Without getting too detailed, I was going to connect this router (R9000) as a "normal" Station router (not WDS Station) to a WDS router (R7800 WDS Station) that had a VAP "standard" AP (not WDS AP). I couldn't get it to work to this VAP even though my phone and laptop connects to it fine. Setting up the R9000 as a WDS Station as part of the WDS network works but connecting to the WDS AP has SNR at 29, signal quality 45%, channel quality shows 81%. Straight distance between this WDS Station and the WDS AP is less than 50 meters. Using 5 GHz radio for WDS. Routers are set to 30 dBm. VHT80, bit rates 585/780 Mb. All other WDS stations are over 1 Gb tx/rx. Oh well.
For an r9000 (primary) to an R7800 secondary station the setup for wds is quite simple as both are QCA and use a similar radio.
All you have to do - set the primary (this is the one internet facing) on the radio you want to link over as type WDS AP. On the WDS AP side there is no need for any VAP, Clients will still be able to connect. Make note of all your radio, ssid and Wireless Security settings for this interface as you need to apply the same ones (for the most part) in the next step. reccomend latest build
On the secondary - r7800 - Set the corresponding radio to WDS STA and apply the same settings from the r9000. If you would like to share this radio with clients and not just a router to router dedicated link, then you create a VAP - in AP mode (not wds AP). If you are setting a VAP on the 7800 MY reccommened build for the 7800 is 51589. The VAP does not function correctly in this specific scenario on later builds see https://svn.dd-wrt.com/ticket/7669
Note: in this config any 160Mhz or 80+80 radio config will have issues with VAPs on the sta, even using 51589
The wiki contains additional information on how to disable certain Firewall features on the STA router i would reccomend reviewing, but to get the links up this should be it. The wiki mentions putting the MACs in the wds tabs - but that isnt actually required for your QCA setup
With all this info, you should revisit your radio settings in general and review the QCA best practice sticky post at top of forum, While i might not agree with every setting, it will be a much better baseline than your config.