Modification of power

I am using a Linksys WCF12 Wireless CompactFlash Card on the PCMCIA slot 
using the wlan-ng driver.

Using the
wlanctl-ng wlan0 dot11req_mibget mibattribute-dot11CurrentTxPowerLevel
I can get the current level which is set to a default of 18 (and reflected 
as 18 dBm, if I do iwconfig)

Now, the 802.11 mib states that:

dot11CurrentTxPowerLevel OBJECT-TYPE
         SYNTAX INTEGER (1..8)
         MAX-ACCESS read-write
         STATUS current
         DESCRIPTION
             "The TxPowerLevel N currently being used to transmit data.
             Some PHYs also use this value to determine the receiver
             sensitivity requirements for CCA."
     ::= { dot11PhyTxPowerEntry 10 }


which points to the 8 levels, where I am providing the 2nd one for 
reference:

dot11TxPowerLevel1 OBJECT-TYPE
         SYNTAX INTEGER (0..10000)
         MAX-ACCESS read-only
         STATUS current
         DESCRIPTION
             "The transmit output power for LEVEL1 in mW.
             This is also the default power level."
     ::= { dot11PhyTxPowerEntry 2 }


Now, these levels are not readable. If one attempts to do so, the result 
code is "not_supported"

My questions are:

1. Why is it that the default value of the dot11CurrentTxPowerLevel is not
    within the range (1-8)

2. Why can I set it to an non-negative integer, and this gets reflected
    when I run 'iwconfig wlan0' to check whether the setting has held. I
    can use absurd values like 3000 in

wlanctl-ng wkan0 dot11req_mibset mibattribute=dot11CurrentTxPowerLevel=3000

    and it reflects that in iwconfig. Why is this being allowed at all ?
    What does it mean ?

3. Why is it that this variable, when configured between 1 and 8 (the
    correct range), produces no change in the 'real' transmitted power
    as measured by another laptop using iwspy ? Have the levels been set
    to the same value ?

4. In summary, can wlan-ng be used to control the transmit power of the
    card at all ? Has anyone accomplished it at all ?

Thanks in advance