Need a quick tutorial on how to use Chanalyzer 4? This overview will help you:
- Set up the best visualizations in Chanalyzer 4
- Understand the vizualizations
- Tell what is interference, and what doesn't matter
- Identify devices that are causing interference
- Measure WiFi channel congestion
- Perform WiFi and ZigBee frequency planning
WiFi Scanning and Spectrum Analysis Data
Chanalyzer pulls data from two sources: the WiFi scanning data comes from your onboard WiFi adapter, and the spectrum analysis data comes from the Wi-Spy. Those two sources compliment each other to give you the most complete look at your wireless environment.
Setting up Chanalyzer
If you're troubleshooting WiFi, here's the best way to set Chanalyzer 4 up.
1. Switch to WiFi Channel labels by clicking View > Wi-Fi Channels
2. Switch from Color by Density to Color by Utilization by clicking on the % button
Reading the Density View
The height of the graph tells how loud things are talking (a measurement of amplitude).
The color of the graph tells how often things are talking (a measurement of utilization, or how often the frequency is being utilized).
For more details, check out How to use the Density View.
WiFi Network Scanning
Chanalyzer 4 pulls network data from your WiFi adapter, so you can see where wireless networks are in your environment. It's possible to disable Display Current Trace and Color by Utilization, just leaving all of the wireless are.
In the Networks Table tab, you can select which networks you want to show, either by removing checkboxes manually, or by applying filters.
Once you can see where your network is in the spectrum, you can look to see whether there is a non-WiFi device interfering with it or not.
Chanalyzer 4 End-of-Life
Keep in mind that Chanalyzer 4 reached it's end-of-life in November, 2013. We'll still by to be helpful, but it isn't officially supported or maintained by MetaGeek. If you're interested, you can find out more about upgrading to Chanalyzer 5 here.