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TLDR

Using a Alfa AC1900 WiFi Adapter - 1900 Mbps 802.11ac Long-Range Dual Band USB 3.0 Wi-Fi Network Adapter w/4x 5dBi External Dual-Band Antennas

starting script: onstart.sh

#!/bin/bash
/sbin/iw dev wlan0 set power_save off
/sbin/iw wlan0 set txpower fixed 4500
echo '1' > /sys/module/8814au/parameters/rtw_switch_usb_mode
/usr/bin/create_ap --daemon --logfile /home/support/create_ap.log --no-dnsmasq  --dhcp-dns 192.168.12.1 --country US --ieee80211n --ieee80211ac --freq-band 5 --ht_capab '[LDPC][HT40+][SHORT-GI-20][SHORT-GI-40][MAX-AMSDU-7935]'  --vht_capab '[MAX-MPDU-11454][RXLDPC][SHORT-GI-80][TX-STBC-2BY1][RX-STBC-1][SU-BEAMFORMEE][MAX-A-MPDU-LEN-EXP3][HTC-VHT][SOUNDING-DIMENSION-3]' wlan0 eth0 TestNetwork testing123

Disable IPv6

sudo nano /etc/sysctl.conf

net.ipv6.conf.all.disable_ipv6=1
net.ipv6.conf.default.disable_ipv6=1
net.ipv6.conf.lo.disable_ipv6=1

Install and Configure Pihole

curl -sSL https://install.pi-hole.net | PIHOLE_SKIP_OS_CHECK=true sudo -E bash

setup the dhcp server to use 192.168.12.1 range.

Resources

https://github.com/lakinduakash/linux-wifi-hotspot/blob/master/src/scripts/README.md