alfa awus036nh and ubuntu 16.04 poor performance?

[odeon]

Bought an alfa awus036nh and loaded up ubuntu 16.04 lts on a thinkpad 420. BUT the thinkpad wireless gets me a better signal than the alfa??? I noted the power readings from fluxion using both wireless adapters in the same location.

ALSO I can't seem to up the TX on the alfa at all. is there a problem with Ubuntu drivers and this usb wireless adapter? I thought it was supposed to be pretty well respected for hacking? I found a few discussions on this topic that lead me to believe that the current standard drivers in ubuntu 16.04 weren't the correct ones BUT they all seem to disagree on which to install.

thanks for any pointers.