wi-spy¶
MetaGeek Wi-Spy family — USB spectrum analyzers for 2.4 GHz, dual-band and 900 MHz
Vendor: MetaGeek
Status: supported — the identifiers and setup recipe are believed correct.
Not maintainer-verified: nobody on this project has run this hardware yet. The two facts are recorded separately on purpose (D-027) — a correct recipe and a tested device are different claims.
What it is¶
A family of USB spectrum analyzers from MetaGeek: purpose-built sweep receivers that report raw RF energy per frequency bin rather than decoded traffic. Models cover 2.4 GHz only (original, 2.4x, 24i), 2.4 plus 5 GHz (DBx), and 900 MHz (900x, 950x). Discontinued hardware, common secondhand, and fully supported by open tooling that was reverse-engineered before the vendor tools existed for Linux.
What you can do with it¶
See the band as energy: identify interference sources a packet capture cannot distinguish — microwave ovens, analogue video senders, frequency hoppers — and verify channel occupancy before committing a link to it. The kernel claims the units as HID devices; spectools detaches the kernel driver and drives them over libusb, so everything rides on the udev permission grant.
Setup¶
Install spectools and join plugdev, then replug the device. Debian's shipped rule grants group access by identifier for every model except the 950x, which needs a one-line rule copied from the pattern in 99-wispy.rules with idProduct 0950.
Known problems¶
The 950x gap above is the sharp edge: supported by the code, omitted from the shipped rule, and the failure is a generic permissions error. The first-generation dongle appears under either of two identifiers depending on firmware; both are the same product and both are in the rule. Upstream has been static since 2016 — expect no fixes, but also no breakage, since the protocol is fixed hardware.
How it identifies itself¶
| USB id | What | Confirmed | Node |
|---|---|---|---|
04b4:0bad |
Wi-Spy first generation, original firmware (Cypress-programmed identifier) | yes | hid |
1781:083e |
Wi-Spy first generation, later firmware | yes | hid |
1781:083f |
Wi-Spy 2.4x | yes | hid |
1dd5:5000 |
Wi-Spy DBx (dual-band, first hardware revision) | yes | hid |
1dd5:5001 |
Wi-Spy DBx revision 2 | yes | hid |
1dd5:5002 |
Wi-Spy DBx revision 3 | yes | hid |
1dd5:2400 |
Wi-Spy 24i | yes | hid |
1dd5:2410 |
Wi-Spy 2.4x revision 2 | yes | hid |
1dd5:0900 |
Wi-Spy 900x (900 MHz band; v2 shares the pair, distinguished by bcdDevice) | yes | hid |
1dd5:0950 |
Wi-Spy 950x — supported by the code, missing from the shipped udev rule | yes | hid |
Access and permissions¶
Group membership required: plugdev — added at install, applies at next login.