On Monday 19 April 2010 20:24:18 you wrote:
> On Monday 19 April 2010 18:26:14 Stroller wrote:
> > On 18 Apr 2010, at 23:35, Mick wrote:
> > > ...
> > > OK, I found what the problem was ... the AP is currently transmitting
> > > on channel 13, which it seems is outside the capabilities of the b43
> > > driver.  I am blaming the driver here because the Windows 7 OS has no
> > > problem using channel 13, while iwlist wlan0 in Gentoo shows only up
> > > to channel 11.  :-(
> >
> > There might be an option to change the region of your wifi NIC.
> > Channels 12 & 13 are legal in Europe, IIRC, but not in the USA.
> >
> > You should be able to change the channel of the AP - typically they
> > have a drop-down which will choose either "auto" or a specific
> > channel. Likewise I have seen some APs ask what region you're in when
> > they're first setup.
> 
> I've set it up for UK so it has 13 channels.  On the other hand your hint
> pointed me to wpa_supplicant.conf on my laptop, in which I had the country
> parameter commented out.  I set that up to UK, but it still seems to show
>  11 channels.  :-(
> 
> I'll reboot later to see if it makes any odds.

No change :-(

# iwlist wlan0 channel                    
wlan0     11 channels in total; available frequencies :
          Channel 01 : 2.412 GHz
          Channel 02 : 2.417 GHz
          Channel 03 : 2.422 GHz
          Channel 04 : 2.427 GHz
          Channel 05 : 2.432 GHz
          Channel 06 : 2.437 GHz
          Channel 07 : 2.442 GHz
          Channel 08 : 2.447 GHz
          Channel 09 : 2.452 GHz
          Channel 10 : 2.457 GHz
          Channel 11 : 2.462 GHz
          Current Frequency:2.412 GHz (Channel 1)

Short of hacking the firmware (which even if I knew how to, I am not allowed) 
or waiting for the linux driver to mature, I am not sure if there's anything I 
can do.
-- 
Regards,
Mick