I would include a screenshot or two, but fortunately for their customers, NutsAboutNets (literally the dumbest company name I've ever heard) posts screenshots of everything they make on their excellent website. They are very responsive and good to work with, which is a welcomed change from most small newcomers that we encounter. Whether you're testing antennas (yeah, right), jamming your neighbor's network, or any of a long list of cool things you could think up to do with this unit (both useful and fun), AirHORN is one of the coolest units I've seen in the Wi-Fi market in a long time. Somebody over there is using their head for more than a hatrack.
I personally think it's a superior training aid for teaching spectrum analysis, but that's because I'm an education freak. I recommend that all CWNT instructors get one immediately. Kudos to, uh, NutsAboutNets, for a great little product!
If you haven't checked out their free product NetStress, do yourself a favor and do. It's WAY cool.
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Now this is some funny stuff right here.
I emailed an AirMagnet spectrum analyzer recording of AirHORN’s Fast-Traverse feature to my main man Chris – arguably the best Wi-Fi troubleshooter on the planet. This dude could hunt down a problematic bit in an 802.11n beacon (over 200 bytes) in 30 seconds flat.
He emails me back with:
DUDE!!!!!! What is this device???
I laughed for 10 minutes straight. You gotta love stuff like that. Thanks to Steve over at NutsAboutNets for the slickest new gear I’ve seen in a long time. Dudes, AirHORN is the bomb. Get the dual-band unit today…or maybe yesterday.
Drifting 100% Duty Cycle!!!!
-Chris
I’ve been using one of these for years – I think this latest incarnation with 2.4GHz and 5GHz is my 4th one I’ve played with.
It does make a great tool to teach spectrum analysis!
I actually had a client send me a trace from his office with this as the signature – a disgruntled ex-employee placed one on a receptionists desktop – running in pulse mode (on for 5 seconds off for 60 seconds)
It was an insidious DoS attack – back then the device was only $80. I think the employee easily caused thousands of dollars of down time plus troubleshooting time to try and track it down.
Remember – “with great power comes great responsibility…” Use this knowledge for good and not for evil!
That disgruntled employee story gave me an idea. Today, one of the biggest topics at Wi-Fi infrastructure manufacturers is using the infrastructure to troubleshoot the infrastructure (diagnostic tools). AirHORN could be used to test/QA these diagnostic tools (as well as those found in protocol analyzers, spectrum analyzers, and more). I think using it at public vendor demos would be fun.