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spectools

Spectrum display for MetaGeek Wi-Spy dongles and the Ubertooth One

What it does

Draws a live spectrum display — GTK GUI, ncurses, or raw output — from MetaGeek Wi-Spy USB spectrum analyzers, covering every model from the original 2.4 GHz dongle through the DBx and 900/950 MHz units, and from an Ubertooth One used as a 2.4 GHz sweep source. Written by the Kismet author; this is the tool the hardware was reverse-engineered for.

Why you would want it

A Wi-Spy shows the 2.4 GHz band as energy rather than as decoded frames, which is what answers "is this interference or traffic" — a microwave oven, a leaky video sender and a busy access point are indistinguishable in a packet capture and obvious on a waterfall. For an operator with an Ubertooth already in hand it is a free second use of the same hardware.

Before it will work

A supported Wi-Spy or an Ubertooth One, and membership of plugdev — Debian's shipped rule grants the Wi-Spy models to that group, and the ubertooth package's own rule does the same for its hardware.

How it installs

  • apt: spectools

Known problems

Debian's 99-wispy.rules names nine identifier pairs but not the Wi-Spy 950x (1dd5:0950), which the code itself supports — a 950x owner gets permission-denied until they add the rule themselves. Upstream has been static since 2016; the hardware is discontinued, though secondhand units are common and the protocol does not change. The oldest generation enumerates under two different identifiers (04b4:0bad or 1781:083e) depending on firmware, which is the device being renumbered, not two devices.

Keeping it current

  • probe: apt policy
  • strategy: apt_upgrade

Source: catalog/packages/spectools.yaml