RADEv2 (FreeDV v2) on FLEX-6000/8000/Aurora with RPI

This is a draft of a 'how to' to get the RADE image running the Applmage on a RPI and then have the new mode show up in SmartSDR.

I 'think' this all works, but I welcome input to the document.

This assumes you know how to have some basic knowledge of a RPI.

From:

Mike va3mw

✅ Running the FreeDV-FlexRadio AppImage on a Raspberry Pi

Version 2.1.0 or newer

This guide walks through:

1. Downloading the FreeDV-FlexRadio AppImage to a Raspberry Pi
2. Making it executable
3. Running the AppImage
4. Selecting a specific FlexRadio radio (optional)
5. Important limitations

This process works on:

• Raspberry Pi 4
• Raspberry Pi 400
• Raspberry Pi Compute Module 4 (CM4)

The AppImage requires a 64-bit Raspberry Pi OS.

An AppImage is a way to distribute Linux applications as one single, portable file that runs on almost any Linux system without installation.

Think of it like a Windows .EXE or macOS .APP, but for Linux.

What an AppImage Is

An AppImage is:

• A self-contained application
• Bundled with all libraries it needs
• Delivered as one executable file
• That you can run with no installation
• And no root/sudo required

1. Download the FreeDV-FlexRadio AppImage onto the Raspberry Pi

Open a terminal on your Raspberry Pi and download the AppImage using wget:

wget https://github.com/drowe67/freedv-gui/releases/download/v2.1.0/FreeDV-FlexRadio-2.1.0-aarch64.AppImage

If the wget fails, the file name might have changed. You'll have to manually edit it to match the file on the FREEDV website.

Verify that the file was downloaded:

ls -l FreeDV-FlexRadio-2.1.0-aarch64.AppImage

You should see the file listed.

Make the AppImage Executable

AppImages must be marked as executable before running.

chmod +x FreeDV-FlexRadio-2.1.0-aarch64.AppImage

3. Run the AppImage

You can now run FreeDV-FlexRadio directly from the terminal:

./FreeDV-FlexRadio-2.1.0-aarch64.AppImage

✔ Tips:

• If you are connected via SSH, consider running in a screen or tmux session so the program doesn’t close if your SSH session disconnects.
  

Example:

screen ./FreeDV-FlexRadio-2.1.0-aarch64.AppImage

4. Selecting Which FlexRadio to Connect To (Optional)

If you have multiple radios on the network, you can tell FreeDV exactly which one to use by setting the environment variable SSDR_RADIO_ADDRESS before launching.

Example (radio at 10.0.1.11):

SSDR_RADIO_ADDRESS=10.0.1.11 ./FreeDV-FlexRadio-2.1.0-aarch64.AppImage

This forces the AppImage to connect to that specific radio instead of auto-discovering all FlexRadios on the LAN.

5. Using FreeDV in SmartSDR

Once the AppImage is running and connected to your radio, FreeDV modes will appear in SmartSDR just like any other mode:

• FDVU
• FDVL
  

You can select them from the mode dropdown on a slice. Set up your Mic levels as you would on SSB.

⚠️ Important Limitations

1. DAX must be turned OFF

If DAX is enabled, no audio will transmit in FreeDV mode.

2. Only one FreeDV slice can be active per radio

You cannot run multiple simultaneous FreeDV slices on the same FlexRadio unit.