WaveScout

Free portable Windows WiFi analyser — by VaultSoft.

WaveScout scans the WiFi networks around you and shows signal strength, channel congestion, security and a live signal graph in a clean, dark, minimal UI. No installer, no admin rights for basic scanning, single portable .exe.

Features

• Network table — every detected access point with SSID, estimated signal (dBm), a colour-coded signal-% bar, channel, band (2.4 / 5 / 6 GHz), security (Open / WEP / WPA / WPA2 / WPA3 / Enterprise) and BSSID. Click a row for an expanded details panel. Auto-rescans every 5 seconds.
• Channel congestion view — bar charts of how many networks sit on each 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz channel, with the least-congested channel highlighted in teal and a "Best channel for you" recommendation.
• Live signal graph — rolling 60-second history for the selected network (or your current connection), teal line on dark.
• Your connection panel — current SSID, signal, channel, band, security, IP address, gateway, DNS and the AP's BSSID, pinned at the top.
• System tray — icon shows live signal bars, tooltip shows SSID + signal %, right-click to Open / Exit. Closing the window minimises to the tray.

Running from source

pip install -r requirements.txt
python wavescout.py

Requirements: Windows 10/11 64-bit, Python 3.10+, PyQt6.

Building the portable EXE

build_installer.bat

This regenerates the icon, runs PyInstaller against WaveScout.spec, and produces WaveScout_v1.0.0_Portable.zip (containing WaveScout.exe, _internal\ and README.txt). No UPX is used, to avoid antivirus false positives.

How it scans

WaveScout uses the built-in Windows netsh wlan commands (via subprocess) — no third-party drivers and no extra runtime dependencies. Signal is reported by Windows as a 0–100% quality value; the dBm figure is estimated with Microsoft's standard mapping (0% ≈ −100 dBm, 100% ≈ −50 dBm).

⚠ Location services requirement

Windows 10/11 require Location services to be turned on for any application (including netsh and WiFi-analyser tools) to read WLAN scan results. If it's off, WaveScout shows a clear banner explaining this. Enable it under Settings → Privacy & security → Location, and the network list and channel views populate automatically. Your current-connection details still work regardless.

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© VaultSoft · WaveScout v1.0.0