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Troubleshooting Tips

RadioLion Connection Problems​

If RadioLion does not connect to the host computer, reload the radiolion kernel module in the GUI. This operation is available under Help → Hardware Management → Reload RadioLion Kernel Module.

If the GUI is unavailable, the same check can be performed from the CLI:

  1. Stop any running GUI session, service, or CLI process that may still be using the device.
  2. Check whether the device nodes are present:
ls /dev/rad*
  1. Reload the kernel module:
cd <locus-lock-folder>
cd src/front-end/radiolion-r2/scripts
./reload_femodule.bash
  1. After reload_femodule.bash runs successfully, verify that the device nodes reappear:
ls /dev/rad*

If the device still does not appear, reconnect the hardware and inspect recent kernel messages with dmesg.

RadioLion Clock Drift​

If left unpowered for significant periods of time (>6 months), the RadioLion clock may drift slightly from its intended frequency, degrading performance. The clock does not drift while the unit is powered, whether or not PpRx is actively running. The clock frequency offset can be gauged by running PpRx and looking at the δtRdot field in the PpRx Display. The typical desired range should be between approximately -100 and 100. In extreme cases, a clock offset may prevent a stable position solution and finding a δtRdot value may not be possible.

In many cases, the drift can be reduced by powering the RadioLion for several hours, even when PpRx is not running, allowing the clock to converge back toward its intended frequency.

PpRx Real-Time Performance​

During live operation, diagnostics.log may contain:

BL.ERROR.REALTIME: Operating slower than real-time.
BL.ERROR.REALTIME: Resumed real-time operation.

This indicates the host computer briefly fell behind the incoming RF data rate, causing potential data loss. If this occurs repeatedly, the host is under too much CPU load for the current configuration. The GUI Configuration Generator's Processing Power setting (see Configure PpRx in the GUI) is the fastest way to regenerate a lower-load .opt/.config pair; for manual tuning, see the PpRx Options and PpRx Configuration reference.