diff --git a/bpkg/subproc.py b/bpkg/subproc.py
index da7e688..4367a8d 100644
--- a/bpkg/subproc.py
+++ b/bpkg/subproc.py
@@ -82,10 +82,6 @@ class InstallException(Exception):
 class DownloadException(Exception):
     """Raised when there is an error downloading something"""
 
-    def __init__(self, status_code: int, message: str):
-        self.status_code = status_code
-        self.message = message
-
 class BadRepository(Exception):
     """Raised when reading a repository results in an error"""
 
@@ -207,7 +203,10 @@ class Repository:
         except KeyError:
             pass
 
-        resp = requests.get(self.url, headers=req_headers)
+        try:
+            resp = requests.get(self.url, headers=req_headers, timeout=60)
+        except requests.exceptions.RequestException as err:
+            raise DownloadException(err) from err
 
         try:
             resp.raise_for_status()
@@ -232,7 +231,11 @@ class Repository:
         self.log.debug("Found headers: %s", resp_headers)
 
         
-        repodict = resp.json()
+        try:
+            repodict = resp.json()
+        except json.decoder.JSONDecodeError:
+            self.log.exception("Failed to parse downloaded repository")
+            raise DownloadException("Could not parse repository downloaded from '%s'. Are you sure this is the correct URL?" % self.url)
         repodict['_headers'] = resp_headers
 
         self.set_from_dict(repodict)
@@ -482,7 +485,8 @@ def refresh(pipe_to_blender, storage_path: pathlib.Path, repository_url: str):
     try:
         repo.refresh()
     except DownloadException as err:
-        pipe_to_blender.send(DownloadError(err.status_code, err.message))
+        pipe_to_blender.send(SubprocError(err))
+        return
 
     repo.to_file(repo_path) # TODO: this always writes even if repo wasn't changed
     pipe_to_blender.send(Result(repo.to_dict(sort=True)))