diff --git a/python/obitools3/commands/cat.pyx b/python/obitools3/commands/cat.pyx
index bfb63b2..c620dfc 100755
--- a/python/obitools3/commands/cat.pyx
+++ b/python/obitools3/commands/cat.pyx
@@ -134,7 +134,11 @@ def run(config):
                 rep = repr(entry)
                 output_0.write(str2bytes(rep)+b"\n")
             else:
-                o_view[i] = entry
+                try:
+                    o_view[i] = entry
+                except:
+                    print("\nError with entry:", repr(entry))
+                    print(repr(o_view))
             i+=1
         v.close()