Field Notice: Failure of early SyncBoxes during GLONASS Rollover events

Certain SyncBoxes manufactured from December 2017 to June 2020 and are marked with "Revision J" contain a software bug which causes them to become unstable each time the GLONASS system time rolls over. Earlier SyncBoxes (Revision H or earlier) and all SyncPipes are not affected by this bug. In addition, SyncBoxes marked with "Revision K" or or later do not contain this bug.

This rollover occurs every four years at Midnight in Moscow, Russia. As of this writing, the next time this will occur is on the afternoon or evening of December 31, 2027, or on the morning of January 1, 2028 (depending on your timezone).

This documentation should help users of PacketFlux SyncBoxes to determine what impacts this event will have on their networks. In addition, it will provide some information on how to mitigate and/or recover from this event.

Some of the information will be applicable to gear other than PacketFlux receivers. For guaranteed relevant information for non-PacketFlux users, we recommend you visit your manufacturer's website and determine if they have provided additional information relevant to your specific gear.

Currently the only other vendor we are aware of that is providing specific information about this event is Cambium. They have provided additional information on this forum post.

Please note that this event will reoccur every 4 years, so in the event that this website has not been updated, this also applies to the transitions in 2031/2032, 2035/2036, 2039/2040, and so on.