diff --git a/selfdrive/logcatd/tests/test_logcatd_android.py b/selfdrive/logcatd/tests/test_logcatd_android.py
index a1ca0e2da1..7d0846f43b 100755
--- a/selfdrive/logcatd/tests/test_logcatd_android.py
+++ b/selfdrive/logcatd/tests/test_logcatd_android.py
@@ -22,9 +22,11 @@ class TestLogcatdAndroid(unittest.TestCase):
       # write some log messages
       sent_msgs = {}
       for __ in range(random.randint(5, 50)):
-        msg = ''.join([random.choice(string.ascii_letters) for _ in range(random.randrange(2, 200))])
+        msg = ''.join([random.choice(string.ascii_letters) for _ in range(random.randrange(2, 50))])
+        if msg in sent_msgs:
+          continue
         sent_msgs[msg] = ''.join([random.choice(string.ascii_letters) for _ in range(random.randrange(2, 20))])
-        os.system(f"log -t {sent_msgs[msg]} {msg}")
+        os.system(f"log -t '{sent_msgs[msg]}' '{msg}'")
 
       time.sleep(1)
       msgs = messaging.drain_sock(sock)
@@ -36,12 +38,13 @@ class TestLogcatdAndroid(unittest.TestCase):
         if recv_msg not in sent_msgs:
           continue
 
-        self.assertEqual(m.androidLog.tag, sent_msgs[recv_msg])
-        del sent_msgs[recv_msg]
+        # see https://android.googlesource.com/platform/system/core/+/android-2.1_r1/liblog/logd_write.c#144
+        radio_msg = m.androidLog.id == 1 and m.androidLog.tag.startswith("use-Rlog/RLOG-")
+        if m.androidLog.tag == sent_msgs[recv_msg] or radio_msg:
+          del sent_msgs[recv_msg]
 
       # ensure we received all the logs we sent
       self.assertEqual(len(sent_msgs), 0)
-    time.sleep(1)
 
 
 if __name__ == "__main__":