Ever wondered what the Signal Strength range value that first shows up when you place the mouse cursor over any area is? We always look at the APs with strongest RSSI values first. In this post I will explain where the range of values in dBm comes from.

The range of RSSI value displayed when retrieving Signal Strength is related to the Legend Bar in this way: the range in this example [-60dBm – -50dBm] means that the Spacing between Contour lines is 10 and what it means is that the AP with the strongest signal where the mouse pointer is, falls between this range. Look that the two strongest APs are at -58dBm, with a Spacing of 10 under the legend, this value shows that the highest APs here fall between -50dBm and -60dBm.

Notice in the example below: the strongest AP in this area is at -42dBm, with a spacing of 5, this AP falls in the range between -40dBm and -45dBm.

In this last example with a Spacing of 3, the strongest AP at -56dBm falls under the range between -54dBm and -57dBm.

Let’s now look at the “Adjust color range upper range” slider-button under Legend Settings:

If the strongest AP in the area has RSSI below [weaker than] this slider-button’s value, then the Signal Strength range will be shown based on the Spacing as in the examples shown above. If the strongest AP in the area has RSSI above [stronger than] this slider-button’s value, then the Signal Strength range will be this “slider-button’s value in dBm or greater” regardless of the Spacing as shown in the two examples below for an AP with RSSI of -32dBm:

This range value simply shows where the highest AP’s RSSI value falls based on the Spacing set under Legend Settings. This value does not seem to have any relevance other than displaying the bin or step where the AP or APs with highest RSSI values fall within the values set under the Legend Settings.