[Channel Locked] fixed channel wlan1: xx

[r00t-byte]

After enabling monitor mode with airmon-ng, the interface becomes locked to the channel of the previously connected Access Point. Even though the interface reports Monitor mode, it still retains the previous AP information (ESSID/BSSID) and cannot switch or hop to other channels. As a result, airodump-ng remains fixed on a single channel, making it impossible to scan or capture traffic on other channels

airodump-ng wlan1 -c 11
output:

CH 11 ][ Elapsed: 0 s ][ 2026-07-08 10:38 ][ fixed channel wlan1: 1

iwconfig
output:

wlan1     IEEE 802.11bgn  ESSID:"XXXX"  Nickname:"<WIFI@REALTEK>"
          Mode:Monitor  Frequency:2.412 GHz  Access Point: XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX   
          Sensitivity:0/0  
          Retry:off   RTS thr:off   Fragment thr:off
          Encryption key:off
          Power Management:off
          Link Quality=98/100  Signal level=35/100  Noise level=0/100
          Rx invalid nwid:0  Rx invalid crypt:0  Rx invalid frag:0
          Tx excessive retries:0  Invalid misc:0   Missed beacon:0

Environment:

• Kernel: Linux 6.6.15
• Adapter: TP-Link Archer T3U Plus
• Chipset: Realtek RTL8822BU
• OS: Kali Linux Rolling