Channel 165 (5GHz) in USA WiFi : wide open?

Product Discussion Pepwave AP & Surf
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Playing around with channel selection on my AP One Mini, I accidentally selected channel 165, and ended up with a 20MHz channel in the 5GHz spectrum.

I then scanned my neighborhood using an app (WiFi Explorer Lite).

Although there are plenty of 5GHz stations around with consumer routers, it seems like nobody is on channel 165.

Although it’s only 20MHz wide, in some cases a smaller width channel that is totally clear will outperform a more congested channel.

Am I just lucky? Or is channel 165 kind of a “secret” channel here in the USA?

Edit to add: I think the reason channel 165 may be lightly used is that most people want 40 or 80MHz wide channels in the 5GHz specturm, but when you do that, channel 165 is not used: see this picture which shows how 165 is not covered when using 40 or 80MHz channels in 5GHz:

image
image1261×526 172 KB

(sourced from https://www.ekahau.com/blog/2019/04/18/channel-planning-best-practices-for-better-wi-fi/ )

2 Likes
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Channel 165 can be pretty useful, especially when in an area where there are many other devices broadcasting on the 5GHz spectrum. UNII-3 is generally supported by most devices now, but there are some older devices that don’t support the band. Additionally, 165 when it first came available seemed to be lacking in support vs the other UNII-3 channels but more recently it seems to have pretty much joined the others in terms of availability.
Basically, as long as your devices support it and you’re still getting the coverage you need then go for it! There are some power/EIRP limitations with UNII-3 but I’m not sure if these are an actual limitation (vs what the AP can do) in the USA.

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curious on this as well!