πŸΆπŸ“»πŸ“
Kelly Page on a Raspberry Pi
Your easy step-by-step guide!

G'day!

This gets Kelly Page running on a little Raspberry Pi that sits next to your Tait radio. Once it's set up, you never touch the Pi again. You just open Kelly on your home PC like a website. πŸŽ‰

Take it one step at a time. Each step is short. If anything looks different from what's written here, stop and give me a call. No harm done.

Cheers,
Alec VK4AZ

πŸ›’ What you need
βœ… A Raspberry Pi (a Pi 4 or Pi 5 is best) and its power supply
βœ… A micro SD card, 8 GB or bigger
βœ… An SD card reader for your PC (if your PC doesn't have a slot)
βœ… An Ethernet cable from the Pi to your internet router
βœ… Your radio's USB data lead (the one that plugs into the radio's data port)
βœ… Your home PC with Google Chrome or Microsoft Edge
1️⃣  Download the Kelly file

Click this link and save the file to your Downloads folder:

⬇️ Download Kelly for the Pi

The file is called kellypage-0.4.38-arm64-lite.img.xz. It's big (about 280 MB), so give it a few minutes. Don't open it. Just leave it in Downloads.

2️⃣  Put Kelly on the SD card
  1. Get Raspberry Pi Imager from raspberrypi.com/software, then install it and open it.
  2. Put the SD card in your PC.
  3. Device: pick your Pi model (for example Raspberry Pi 5).
  4. Operating System: scroll right down to the bottom of the list and click Use custom. A window opens to choose a file:
    • On the left side of that window, click πŸ“ Downloads.
    • Click once on the file kellypage-0.4.38-arm64-lite.img.xz. Windows might hide the ending and show just kellypage-0.4.38-arm64-lite.img. That's the same file.
    • Click Open.
    • Can't see the file? It may still be downloading, so wait for it to finish. Or type kellypage in the search box at the top right of the window.
    Imager now shows kellypage-0.4.38-arm64-lite as the chosen operating system. βœ…
  5. Storage: pick your SD card. ⚠️ Double-check it's the SD card, because everything on it gets wiped.
  6. Click Next. If it asks about "OS customisation" or "settings", choose No. You're using a cable, so nothing needs setting.
  7. Say Yes to the warning and wait for it to write and check the card (about 5 minutes β˜•).
  8. When it says it's finished, take the card out.
3️⃣  Plug it all in
  1. Put the SD card in the Pi. It goes in underneath, label side facing down.
  2. Plug the Ethernet cable from the Pi into your router.
  3. Plug the radio's USB data lead into any USB socket on the Pi, and switch the radio on.
  4. Plug in the Pi's power last.
  5. Wait 3 minutes. ⏳ On its very first start it sets itself up, and there's nothing to watch.
4️⃣  Say hello to the Pi (one time only)

On your PC, click the Start button, type PowerShell and open it. A blue or black window appears. Type this exactly, then press Enter:

ssh kelly@kellypage.local

  • If it asks "Are you sure you want to continue connecting?", type yes and press Enter.
  • At password, type kellypage and press Enter. πŸ‘€ Nothing shows on screen while you type a password. That's normal, just keep typing.
  • The Pi now asks you to make up your own password. First type kellypage again (the old one), then your new password twice. ✍️ Write it down!
  • It then closes the connection. That's normal too. Type the same ssh line again and log in with your new password.
5️⃣  Answer three quick questions

The Pi asks for your password once more (your new one), then:

πŸ“› Your callsign β†’ type it (for example VK4ABC) and press Enter
πŸ“‘ LoRa mesh node β†’ just press Enter
πŸ”΅ Scan Bluetooth? β†’ type n and press Enter

It finishes with "Kelly Page is running." πŸŽ‰ Below that is your own Kelly address, something like:

http://kellypage.local:8025/?connect=ip&token=abcd2345ef

Highlight that whole line with your mouse, then right-click to copy it. The jumble of letters at the end is your private key, which stops anyone else on your network using your radio. Keep it to yourself. πŸ”’

You can close the PowerShell window now. You're done with the Pi!

6️⃣  Open Kelly and bookmark it ⭐
  1. Open Chrome or Edge, click in the address bar at the top, paste the address (Ctrl+V) and press Enter.
  2. Press Ctrl+D to bookmark it, so from now on Kelly is one click away.
  3. Kelly asks how you use your radio. Pick πŸŽ™οΈ Shack (you still talk on the radio's own microphone, and Kelly is your big screen).
7️⃣  Check your radio is talking to Kelly πŸ“»

Kelly connects to your radio by itself. A blue "Waking up the radio dog…" bar πŸ• counts for about 10 seconds. Then Kelly shows your radio's model and serial number, and the P25X gateway answers with your radio ID.

That's it, your radio's connected! βœ…

πŸ”§ If the radio doesn't wake up
Your radio needs the P25X code plug in it for Kelly to talk to it. If I've already programmed your radio, you're fine. If not, give me a ring and I'll sort it. For whoever programs it, the settings are in the Kelly manual under "Setting up the radio":
CCDI on Β· 19200 baud, no flow control Β· power up in Transparent Mode Β· Output Progress Messages on Β· Ignore Escape Sequence off Β· P25 data Unconfirmed, SAP 00, destination 5059999, lead-in 30 Β· GPS radios: location format Tait SDM.
Also try unplugging the radio's USB lead from the Pi and plugging it back in. Kelly notices on its own.
8️⃣  Your callsign and radio ID πŸ“›
  1. In Kelly's menu, open Admin and find My station.
  2. Callsign: type your callsign, for example VK4ABC.
  3. Radio ID: put in your radio's 7-digit ID (the number the gateway answered with in step 7). Not sure? Ask me.
  4. Group relay ID: leave it as 5059999. Don't change it.

Kelly saves it straight away. πŸ‘

9️⃣  Put yourself on the map πŸ—ΊοΈ

Your shack radio doesn't have GPS, so we give Kelly your station's position once. It then shows you on aprs.fi and the P25X network map.

  1. Open the GPS page and find Fixed position Β· APRS.
  2. Press Pick on map, zoom in to your place and click on it. πŸ“ (Or type your latitude and longitude, if you know them.)
  3. Callsign: type your callsign with -15 on the end, for example VK4ABC-15. The "-15" just marks it as your Kelly station.
  4. 🏠 Rather not show your exact house? Choose a lower precision and you'll show up as "near" your place instead.
  5. Press Beacon now. πŸš€
  6. Tick the timer box so it repeats on its own.

Give it a minute, then look yourself up on aprs.fi (search for your callsign-15, for example VK4ABC-15). There you are! πŸ₯³

πŸŽ‰πŸΆπŸŽ‰
All done, you're on P25X with Kelly!
From now on, just switch on the Pi and radio, then click your Kelly bookmark.
πŸ†˜ If something goes wrong
"kellypage.local" can't be found: your router's web page lists the devices on your network. Find the one called kellypage and use its number instead (something like 192.168.1.23). For example: ssh kelly@192.168.1.23

Kelly's page won't open: check the Pi's lights are on and the Ethernet cable is in. Pull the Pi's power out, wait 10 seconds, plug it back in, then wait 2 minutes.

Forgot your Pi password: no drama. Just do steps 2 to 5 again with the same file.

Anything else: give me a ring. πŸ“ž
πŸ“… This Kelly version works until 28 November 2026. A newer version comes out before then, so watch for the PBBS notice.
Kelly Page is free software for hams. 73 de Alec VK4AZ