Hello!
After upgrading to 7.16.1 from 7.16 on the MikroTik hAP ac2 device, strange behavior of the wifi network began to be observed. After rebooting the device, the wifi network appears exactly after 10 minutes 45 seconds and then works normally, and before this time it is impossible to connect, it is not in the list of wifi networks.
I have already reset the default configuration!
Has anyone encountered this? Or is this already the beginning of the end!
Could be quite normal result from channel selection.
You may see this in log entries.
If a channel is chosen which falls into Radar detection area, the device needs to wait up to 10 minutes before it can transmit.
CAC= Channel Availability Check
My advice: scan your area and set your frequency manually so you know where it will be.
Unless you have dozens of other APs around you, in that case it’s a game of “Whack-a-Mole” and you’re better of leaving it to auto.
More info:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dynamic_frequency_selection
I have been using the device for more than 5 years and this problem has arisen for the first time. The frequency was always set to automatic. But still, thank you very much, I will try as you said!
Just been lucky for 5 years, or your surrounding installations (not yours) changed frequency , or some more AP’s where added, or somebody started using wider channels.
(Or the algoritm for channel selection changed in ROS. Happens with some upgrades! )
Check about the “wheather radar” channels, that require a full 10 minute check before they are allowed for be used.
One can skip those long-scan-before-use channels by selecting
Skip DFS channels = “10minCAC”.
Skipping all DFS channels? Then there might be not much channels left to chose from. [region dependent]
So all this different behaviour is possible with just identical configurations in identical devices. (If channel selection is not well restricted)
It is region dependent (different rules) , location and time dependent, as the wifi-channel-radiation environment changes rapidly.
Lucky, yeah right, its a built-in MT stress tester. The best case scenario is one totally loses it, destroys their MT product, then feels stupid and goes and buys an MT replacement unit. The worst case scenario is that two things happen.
a. they come here and read this thread and realize that no other vendor has such complaints registered. Its special to the mT wifi experience.
b. they buy another vendors product being quick learners…
The moral of the story is that this is NOT normal behaviour. Can you imagine all the pubs downtown losing their internet for 10 minutes straight…no IPTV showing on the screens and patrons losing their shit… Perhaps I have been living a sheltered life, but no such shenanigans have occurred on my capac, or any consumer wifi router.
And yes, I guess I was really lucky! Yesterday evening I launched a wifi scanner and found two new networks at 5GHz (I forgot to say earlier that I only use a 5GHz network). Before that, the scanner only gave out one. And now, when manually selecting a frequency, for some frequencies, the inscription “detecting radar” appears in the status line in the wifi settings window and the device goes into a 10-minute search and there is no wifi signal. And when choosing another frequency, the inscription “running ap” appears and the network immediately becomes available. For now, I have selected the frequency manually, we will see!
I experienced the same issue a couple of days ago. Fortunately, I have the second wireless network on 2.4 GHz, which I connected to troubleshoot my 5G network. Yes, it was the channel availability check for the 5G wireless network. Since I have many networks in my area, especially in the 5G frequency, I left it in auto selection mode. However, I’m not satisfied with this option because of the long downtime for my network after a reboot, which also affects its performance. 
Gents, could you please advise me on how to manually find the best 5G frequency in my area? I’d really appreciate it. Thanks in advance!
Leave it to auto and accept the downtime.
Or restrict the used frequencies to avoid CAC channels.
Or manually scan frequencies each day/week and adjust as needed.
If it's always the same wifi-radio you need to adjust for, you may have a talk with its owner to leave it fixed ?
And ... or ... lots of things which can be done.
Recent ROS versions added an option to redo autoscan. You might want to check into that to run it every night or somewhere in the weekend or so ?
But what it boils down to, there is no magic pill ...
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Thank you for your quick response. As I mentioned, I have many networks around, and I assume I’m not alone in experiencing this issue with my neighbours’ wireless networks. I’m currently using the factory firmware, version 7.16.2. This could be a reason to update my MicroTic device to the latest software.