Common Symptoms

Find the closest match. Each entry says which log to read first (see Logs) and what’s usually behind it. It’s a starting point: read the actual log line, since different errors that look alike have different fixes.

No audio, broken audio, or high BER

Read: MMDVM-Host

  • The modem isn’t set right: check Radio > Modem & Radio (or run Guided Setup again).

  • The WPSD device isn’t calibrated for your radio: see Modem Calibration.

  • Your radio’s channel doesn’t match the WPSD device: frequency, Color Code, timeslot (timeslot 2 on a simplex hotspot), talkgroup. That’s radio programming, not the WPSD device: see Zero to Hero for your radio.

The WPSD device doesn’t hear my radio, or won’t transmit

Read: MMDVM-Host

  • The same causes as above, first.

  • The mode is paused: resume it in Manage.

  • On DMR with Private Node on, only your own DMR ID can use the WPSD device: check the ID set in your radio matches the one in Station.

  • On a duplex hotspot, your radio must transmit on the WPSD device’s RX frequency and receive on its TX frequency.

Radio Status shows Failed or Offline

Read: MMDVM-Host

This is between the WPSD device and its modem, before any network is involved.

  • The modem isn’t chosen, or the wrong one is: check Radio > Modem & Radio.

  • A loose board or cable: shut down (see Restart and Shut Down), reseat the modem, and start again.

A mode shows Failed or Partial

Read: that mode’s gateway, such as DMR Gateway. The reason is almost always in the log.

  • The clock is wrong. Most networks turn away a WPSD device whose clock is far off. Check Time Synchronization in System Information: once the WPSD device is online, it synchronizes within a minute or two.

  • Wrong password or ID for that network: the log shows the network refusing the login, not a timeout. Check the network’s settings on its page in Radio, such as the BrandMeister Hotspot Security PIN.

  • Partial (DMR): some of your DMR networks are linked and some have failed. Read DMR Gateway’s log for the one that failed.

  • The network can’t be reached from where you are: some guest, hotel and mobile networks block what digital voice networks need. Try another connection, such as your phone’s hotspot.

  • The server you chose is down: choose another in the mode’s settings.

The watchdog restarts a gateway whose link stays down, so a link that drops often comes back by itself.

Parrot or private calls work only sometimes

Read: DMR Gateway

You’re probably connected to the same network twice with the same DMR ID, such as from your WPSD device and a DMR app on your phone at the same time. The network can’t tell them apart, so calls meant for one reach the other. Give your WPSD device its own ESSID: see DMR ID collisions and the ESSID.

The same call is heard twice

Read: that mode’s gateway.

You’re linked to the same talkgroup or reflector two ways at once, such as a static talkgroup and a dynamic link to the same one, or a reflector reached both directly and through a cross-mode bridge. Remove one in Manage.

I can’t reach the dashboard

There’s no log to read from the dashboard when you can’t reach it: this is almost always the network, not the WPSD device.

  • Its .local name doesn’t open. Some routers, guest networks and many phones don’t support .local names. Open find.wpsd.direct on a phone or computer on the same network instead (see First Boot), or use the address your router’s list of connected devices shows. Reserving that address for the WPSD device in your router keeps it the same.

  • find.wpsd.direct finds nothing. Use a phone or computer on the same Wi-Fi (not mobile data), with no VPN or iCloud Private Relay; give a WPSD device you just started two or three minutes. Its owner may have turned the listing off (Security).

  • The WPSD device isn’t on your Wi-Fi. If it can’t join any saved network, it starts its setup network (WPSD-Setup-…) or its recovery network (WPSD-Recovery-…): join it from your phone and fix the Wi-Fi. See Wi-Fi and Device Name.

  • It dropped off the network and came back a minute or two later, or restarted by itself. On a weak signal, the Wi-Fi chip in some Raspberry Pi models (the Zero 2 W in particular) can crash while joining an access point, and its Wi-Fi disappears. WPSD notices and brings the Wi-Fi back by reloading it. If that fails for five minutes, the WPSD device restarts, waiting for any call on the air to end first, and never while it is online over Ethernet. Both can be changed under If WiFi is lost in Wi-Fi and Device Name. If this happens often, move the WPSD device closer to your router or access point.

  • You renamed it: the dashboard is at the new name followed by .local.

  • The dashboard asks you to log in just to watch: Private dashboard is on (see Security).

Callers’ names or talkgroup names are missing

  • Callers’ names come from the WPSD device’s own lists of radio IDs, kept current by Host Files: check that the lists have updated recently. For US callers missing from them, turn on Look up US callsigns online in Preferences.

  • Talkgroup names need Show talkgroup names in Preferences. To name a talkgroup yourself, add it under My talkgroup names.

Updates won’t install

Read: the page itself first: Updates says why an install failed.

  • Not enough space: choose Free up space to clear downloaded update files.

  • The check failed: usually no internet connection at that moment. Check now tries again.

  • A WPSD Palisade release didn’t stay: the WPSD device went back to the release it had; Details says why, and the release is skipped from then on. See If a release doesn’t stay.

  • A download keeps stopping: it carries on from where it stopped, by itself, each time it tries again; a weak WiFi link makes it slow, not wrong (every download is checked before it’s used).

Something’s wrong after a restore

  • Read the restore’s report (the page shows it after a restore, or See what changed after one from the SD card). It lists what was carried over, adjusted, kept for later or not carried over, and any program that didn’t start.

  • A program that didn’t start: read its log, and see Services.

  • A backup from WPSD (legacy) or Pi-Star: check the settings in the Adjusted for Palisade and Not carried over lists by hand.

A program keeps restarting, or won’t start

Read: that program’s log, at the lines just before it stopped.

  • If the watchdog has backed off from restarting it, the Watchdog page says so: find the cause in the log, fix it, then choose Reset there.

  • If you’ve added Custom Settings for that program, a wrong one can stop it starting: turn them off and see whether it starts.

  • MMDVM-Host: see Radio Status shows Failed or Offline.

Still stuck? See Getting Help, and bring the logs with you.