JSON error while using Pandas output format - alpha-vantage

Question

I am using alpha_vantage Timeseries API like below:
-----------------------------------------code------------------------------------
import pandas as pd
from alpha_vantage.timeseries import TimeSeries
from alpha_vantage.techindicators import TechIndicators
from matplotlib.pyplot import figure
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
from pprint import pprint
#my key
key = 'mykey'
ts = TimeSeries(key, output_format='pandas')
def processMyBatch(batch, FD):
for i in batch:
df, meta_data = ts.get_quote_endpoint(i)
FD=FD.append(df)
return(FD)
main code...
for i in batches:
DF2=processMyBatch(i, DF)
DF=DF2
While the API worked for few symbols (see error log below), somewhere in between going through the list of symbols, I suddenly got the following JSONDecoder error ... but I am using output_format as pandas. Could you please throw some light on why this error occurred?
thank you
================error===============
/opt/scripts
starting now. fileName is: /mnt/NAS/Documents/../../../dailyquote2020-03-03.xlsx
completed the batch: ['AAPL', 'ABBV', 'AMZN', 'BAC', 'BNDX']
Waiting to honor API requirement: for 1 min
Waited: 65 sec
completed the batch: ['C', 'CNQ', 'CTSH', 'EEMV', 'FBGRX']
Waiting to honor API requirement: for 1 min
Waited: 65 sec
completed the batch: ['FDVV', 'FFNOX', 'FSMEX', 'FXAIX', 'GE']
Waiting to honor API requirement: for 1 min
Waited: 65 sec
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "getQuotes.py", line 55, in <module>
DF2=processMyBatch(i, DF)
File "getQuotes.py", line 29, in processMyBatch
df, meta_data = ts.get_quote_endpoint(i)
File "/home/username/.local/lib/python3.6/site-packages/alpha_vantage/alphavantage.py", line 174, in _format_wrapper
self, *args, **kwargs)
File "/home/username/.local/lib/python3.6/site-packages/alpha_vantage/alphavantage.py", line 159, in _call_wrapper
return self._handle_api_call(url), data_key, meta_data_key
File "/home/username/.local/lib/python3.6/site-packages/alpha_vantage/alphavantage.py", line 287, in _handle_api_call
json_response = response.json()
File "/home/username/.local/lib/python3.6/site-packages/requests/models.py", line 898, in json
return complexjson.loads(self.text, **kwargs)
File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/simplejson/__init__.py", line 518, in loads
return _default_decoder.decode(s)
File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/simplejson/decoder.py", line 370, in decode
obj, end = self.raw_decode(s)
File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/simplejson/decoder.py", line 400, in raw_decode
return self.scan_once(s, idx=_w(s, idx).end())
simplejson.errors.JSONDecodeError: Expecting value: line 1 column 1 (char 0)
Added on 3/4/2020
..
..
completed the batch: ['FDVV', 'FFNOX', 'FSMEX', 'FXAIX', 'GE']
Waiting to honor API requirement: for 1 min
Waited: 65 sec
completed the batch: ['GOOGL', 'IGEB', 'IJH', 'IJR', 'IMTB']
Waiting to honor API requirement: for 1 min
Waited: 65 sec
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "getQuotes.py", line 55, in <module>
DF2=processMyBatch(i, DF)
..
..

Answer 1

Well I was getting an error like that today and it turns out the Alpha Vantage site is down!