This article describes the Instituto de Telecomunicações’ (IT) satellite earth station and general concepts on bidirectional satellite communications between earth stations. Antenna, controller, tracking receiver, modem and other secondary equipment are examined thoroughly with integration purposes. Communication between equipment and a central computer is achieved by software development for implementing low level communication protocols. This allows users to set parameters, enabling data transfer via a satellite. The next step is to establish remote operations through the Internet, offering access to services previously developed. Universal access using a common web browser requires a web server and a server side scripting language to be included and configured. Configurations and data transfer can be made in transparent way by authorized users. The resulting platform is a starting point for research and development in the wireless communications field, particularly with geostationary satellites.