Support for active monitor mode on AR9271

[thomasst]

Hi,

Is there any reason that active monitor mode (via NL80211_MNTR_FLAG_ACTIVE flag) seemingly isn't supported by this firmware?

$ dmesg | grep ath
[    3.852118] usb 1-11: ath9k_htc: Firmware ath9k_htc/htc_9271-1.dev.0.fw requested
[    3.852153] usbcore: registered new interface driver ath9k_htc
[    4.148695] usb 1-11: ath9k_htc: Transferred FW: ath9k_htc/htc_9271-1.dev.0.fw, size: 51008
[    4.393014] ath9k_htc 1-11:1.0: ath9k_htc: HTC initialized with 33 credits
[    4.657878] ath9k_htc 1-11:1.0: ath9k_htc: FW Version: 1.4
[    4.657879] ath9k_htc 1-11:1.0: FW RMW support: On
[    4.657880] ath: EEPROM regdomain: 0x833a
[    4.657880] ath: EEPROM indicates we should expect a country code
[    4.657881] ath: doing EEPROM country->regdmn map search
[    4.657881] ath: country maps to regdmn code: 0x37
[    4.657882] ath: Country alpha2 being used: GB
[    4.657882] ath: Regpair used: 0x37
[    4.664250] ath9k_htc 1-11:1.0 wlx00c0ca981942: renamed from wlan0

$ iw dev wlx00c0ca981942 info
Interface wlx00c0ca981942
	ifindex 5
	wdev 0x100000001
	addr 00:c0:ca:98:19:42
	type monitor
	wiphy 1
	channel 2 (2417 MHz), width: 20 MHz (no HT), center1: 2417 MHz
	txpower 20.00 dBm

$ iw phy phy1 info | grep supports
	Device supports RSN-IBSS.
	Device supports T-DLS.
	Device supports TX status socket option.
	Device supports HT-IBSS.
	Device supports SAE with AUTHENTICATE command
	Device supports low priority scan.
	Device supports scan flush.
	Device supports AP scan.
	Device supports per-vif TX power setting
	Driver supports full state transitions for AP/GO clients
	Driver supports a userspace MPM
	Device supports configuring vdev MAC-addr on create.

I was hoping to see Device supports active monitor (which will ACK incoming frames) in the info list, but it isn't showing.

Feel free to close this / point me to the right direction if the chipset simply doesn't support it or it isn't a firmware issue.

Thanks!