Troubleshooting Guide

Use the guide below to help diagnose and solve issues related to receivers and tags. If you can’t find your answer in this guide, please feel free to contact us.
Pick a category: Receiver Hardware Receivers Tag Hardware Tags Data Data
What does the problem involve? Tag Hardware Tag Activation Motus Processing Server Tag Registration Unknown Tag Metadata Unknown Other / Unknown
What type of tag are you using? Lotek NanoTag Lotek NanoTag Lotek NanoTag Solar Lotek NanoTag Solar CTT LifeTag CTT LifeTag CTT PowerTag CTT PowerTag Unknown Unknown
Lotek NanoTags require activation prior to deployment. This is typically done in the field immediately before release, but can also be done hours or even days ahead. They require a specific infrared activation pulse emitted by a Lotek activator. To confirm the tag has been activated, it is important to have a radio receiver tuned to the correct frequency (166.380 MHz in the Americas). A Lotek SRX series receiver is preffered since this will allow you to identify the tag ID at the same time.

To order an activation kit, please contact us.

Don’t forget that tags must also be registered with Motus prior to deployment!
CTT LifeTags do not require activation. They are active as long as they are in direct sunlight. Just make sure your tags are registered prior to deployment!
What type of tag are you using? Lotek Lotek CTT CTT Unknown Unknown
All Lotek tags must be registered prior to deployment. Registering tags involves activating, recording, and uploading metadata to the Motus data server.

Click here for instructions on how to register Lotek Tags.
All CTT tags are automatically registered to Motus at time of purchase.

You can find a list of your registered tags by navigating to Manage Data > Tags.

If you do not see your tags, please Contact Us.
Please specify: Missing metadata Wrong Metadata What to do with Metadata
Where is the problem is occuring? Motus Processing Server Motus Processing Server Unknown Unknown
Where is the problem is occuring? Receiver Equipment Equipment Motus Processing Server Motus Processing Server Unknown Unknown
What device is having issues? SensorGnome SensorGnome CTT CTT SensorStation Lotek Lotek SRX- Series Lotek FUNcube Dongle
Visit the SensorGnome guide for more information:
SensorGnome Guide
Refer to your receiver user manual or contact CTT for more information:
CTT
CellTrackTech.com
Refer to your receiver user manual or contact Lotek for more information:
Lotek
Lotek.com
Pick one of the following: Frequency reads 0 MHz
Your FUNcube dongle firmware needs to be updated.
Instructions on how to update the firmware can be found here: http://www.funcubedongle.com/MyImages/FCD2Firmware.pdf The firmware image needed is here: http://www.funcubedongle.com/MyImages/FCD2.20.03.48.pro.bin
Where are you seeing this issue? When trying to upload data After successfully uploading data When downloading data through R
When exactly? Verification failed File corrupted on upload Other
This likely occurred because the contents of your upload already exists on our server.
Please contact us if you can’t find your answer above.
There are multiple causes for files to be corrupted during upload.
  1. Files are often corrupted on upload because too many different stations are grouped together. Try zipping and uploading files for each station separately.
  2. Files can also be corrupted when they are being compressed into a zipped folder. Re-zip the file in the same or different format and try uploading again.
  3. Sometimes issues occur just because of fragmentation when uploading large files. The only fix for this type of issue is to wait and try again.

Please contact us if you can’t find your answer above.
Choose one: Upload not processed Missing data Other

Please contact us with the following information:

  • Time of upload
  • Filename
  • Job ID
  • Project ID
There are several reasons why data may be missing.

  1. You can find information about each receiver by navigating to Explore Data > Projects and clicking on the receiver column for the project of your choice. This will show you a list of all active receiver deployments for that project. By selecting one of the receivers you can see all the information about that deployment, including a table of daily detections.
  2. It takes some time after uploading before data appears in data available through the Motus website and SQLite databases. Processing can take time during certain periods of high usage. Check the Motus Wildlife Tracking System Google Group for notices in case maintenance has been scheduled. Please allow for up to 24 hours after uploading before contacting us.
  3. Data available throught he Motus public interface has been filtered to reduce the number of false positives. Since these are broad filters that aren’t tuned for specific receivers, occasionally there will be some true detections filtered out from public display. For this reason, it is important to thoroughly check your project or receiver SQLite database to confirm data are missing.

If you have followed the above steps and still are missing data, please contact us with specific details about what data you believe is missing.
Click here to contact us with your question.
Click here to contact us with your question.
Click here to contact us with your question.
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