What could be a reason for this WiFi signal pattern?

Question

Not sure if that's the right forum, but hope someone can help:

This happens on any channel. Usually there are many more networks visible as well.

Answer 1

I presume you mean the dropout? I'm not an expert, but you might be getting a "picket fence" effect. Are you near the transmitter when you get these readings? If you don't get a decent answer here, you may want to check on something like a ham radio forum for signal analysis.

Multipath Interference Multipath Interference (sometimes called picket fencing or flutter) happens when wireless signals bounce around between obstructions that lie between the transmitter and receiver. There may be a direct path between the transmitter and receiver and a secondary path. This secondary path will be a longer path and therefore a percentage of the power of the original signal will arrive later than the signal that travelled via the direct path.

It is possible that there will be a few microseconds of delay between the signal arriving by direct path and the signal that has taken a longer path. This can limit data rate and also limits the area of coverage of any transmitter.