Blockstream Satellite

User Guide (v2.5.1)

May 07, 2025

Blockstream Satellite May 07, 2025

Contents

1 Overview 6
1.1 Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

2 Hardware Guide 7
2.1 Satellite Kits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
2.2 Choosing the Right Kit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
2.3 Purchasing the Kit Components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

3 Basic Kit 10

4 Pro Kit 11

5 Satellite Base Station Kit 12

6 SDR Setup 12

7 Hardware Components 14
7.1 DVB‑S2 Receiver . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
7.1.1 Software‑defined Radio (SDR) Receiver . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
7.1.2 Linux USB Receiver . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
7.1.3 Standalone Receiver . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
7.1.4 Sat‑IP Receiver . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
7.2 Antenna . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
7.2.1 Dish Antenna . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
7.2.2 Flat Panel Antenna . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
7.2.3 Sat‑IP Antenna . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
7.3 Low‑noise Block Downconverter (LNB) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
7.4 LNB Mounting Bracket . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
7.5 Cables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
7.6 Specific Parts for the SDR Setup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
7.7 Further Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
7.7.1 Universal LNB . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
7.7.2 LNB vs. LNBF . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

8 Software Requirements 25
8.1 Software Installation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
8.2 Receiver Configuration and Software Dependencies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
8.3 Further Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
8.3.1 Python3 Package Installation from PyPI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

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8.3.2 Receiver Configuration using the CLI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

9 Novra S400 Receiver 29

9.1 Connections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
9.2 Network Connection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
9.3 Software Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
9.4 Receiver and Host Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
9.5 Monitoring . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
9.6 Next Steps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
9.7 Further Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
9.7.1 Dual‑satellite Setup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
9.7.2 S400 Configuration via the Web UI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

10 TBS Linux USB Receiver 33

10.1 Hardware Connections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
10.2 TBS Drivers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
10.3 Software Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
10.4 Configure the Host . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
10.5 Launch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
10.6 Next Steps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
10.7 Further Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
10.7.1 Docker . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
10.7.2 Useful Resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
10.7.3 Install Binary Packages Manually . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
10.7.4 Building dvb‑apps from Source . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38

11 Selfsat>IP22 Sat‑IP Receiver 38

11.1 Connections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
11.2 Software Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
11.3 Running . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
11.4 Next Steps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
11.5 Further Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
11.5.1 Troubleshooting the Server Discovery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
11.5.2 Direct Connection to the Base Station . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
11.5.3 Running on Docker . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
11.5.4 Compilation from Source . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42

12 SDR Receiver 43
12.1 Connections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
12.2 Software Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43

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12.3 Running . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
12.4 Next Steps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
12.5 Further Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
12.5.1 Docker . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
12.5.2 gr‑dvbs2rx Receiver . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
12.5.3 Gqrx Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
12.5.4 Manual Installation of SDR Software . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
12.5.5 Manual Compilation of SDR Software . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47

13 Antenna Pointing 48
13.1 Mount the Antenna . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
13.2 Find the Satellite and Lock the Signal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
13.3 Optimize the SNR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
13.4 Next Steps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
13.5 Further Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
13.5.1 Novra S400’s User Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
13.5.2 Pointing with an SDR‑based Receiver . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
13.5.3 Pointing with a Satellite Finder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62

14 Bitcoin Satellite 64
14.1 Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
14.2 Installation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
14.3 Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
14.4 Running . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
14.5 Further Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
14.5.1 UDP Multicast Reception Option . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
14.5.2 Installation from Binary Packages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
14.5.3 Compilation from Source . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68

15 Dual‑Satellite Connection 68
15.1 Required Hardware . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
15.2 Host Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
15.2.1 Novra S400 Standalone Receiver . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
15.2.2 TBS USB Receiver . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
15.2.3 Blockstream Base Station Sat‑IP Receiver . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
15.2.4 SDR Receiver . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
15.3 Bitcoin Satellite Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73

16 Satellite API 74
16.1 Encryption Keys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75

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16.2 Satellite API Transmission . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76

16.2.1 Choosing the Recipient . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
16.2.2 Signing the Messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
16.3 Satellite API Reception . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
16.3.1 Choosing the Sender . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
16.4 Demo Receiver . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
16.5 Further Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
16.5.1 Lightning Wallets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
16.5.2 Plaintext Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
16.5.3 Receiving Messages Sent from the Browser . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
16.5.4 Reliable Transmissions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
16.5.5 Transmission over Selected Regions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
16.5.6 Running on Testnet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
16.5.7 Bump and Delete API orders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
16.5.8 Password‑protected GPG keyring . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
16.5.9 Automating Lightning Payments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
16.5.10 Executing Commands with Received Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
16.5.11 Satellite API Channels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
16.5.12 Lightning Gossip Snapshots . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
16.5.13 Bitcoin Source Code Messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83

17 Running on Docker 84
17.1 Standalone Receiver . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
17.2 USB Receiver . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
17.3 SDR Receiver . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
17.4 Sat‑IP Receiver . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
17.5 Bitcoin Satellite . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
17.6 Build the Docker Image Locally . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86

18 Frequency Guide 86
18.1 Signal Bands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
18.2 Signal Frequencies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
18.3 L‑band Frequencies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87

19 Monitoring Server 88
19.1 Authentication over Satellite . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
19.2 Authenticated Reports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89

20 Quick Reference Guide 90

20.1 Installation and Upgrade . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90

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20.2 Installation and Upgrade as a Python Package . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91

20.3 Common Steps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
20.4 Receiver‑specific Configuration Steps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
20.4.1 Novra S400 standalone receiver . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
20.4.2 TBS USB receiver . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
20.4.3 Sat‑IP receiver . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
20.4.4 SDR receiver . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
20.5 Receiver‑specific Antenna Alignment Steps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
20.5.1 Novra S400 standalone receiver . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
20.5.2 TBS USB receiver . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
20.5.3 Sat‑IP receiver . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
20.5.4 SDR receiver . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
20.6 Bitcoin‑satellite Setup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
20.7 Satellite API . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94

1 Overview

The Blockstream Satellite network broadcasts the Bitcoin blockchain worldwide 24/7 for free, protect‑
ing against network interruptions and providing areas without reliable internet connection with the
opportunity to use Bitcoin. You can join this network by running your own Blockstream Satellite re‑
ceiver node. This document guides you through all the hardware options, software components, and
assembly instructions.
In summary, the process requires the five steps below:

1. Check your coverage at our Coverage Map.

2. Get the required hardware, such as a ready‑to‑use Satellite Kit.
3. Use the Blockstream Satellite graphical user interface (GUI) or command‑line interface (CLI) to
handle the required software installations and configurations.
4. Align your satellite dish appropriately to receive the Blockstream Satellite signal.
5. Run the Bitcoin Satellite and Satellite API applications.

When checking the coverage, ensure your view of the satellite has no obstacles, such as trees or build‑
ings. You can find the target area in the sky using the antenna pointing angles provided by our cov‑
erage map or a mobile app such as the Satellite Finder (Pro) for iOS and the Satellite Pointer for An‑
droid.
Once you get your receiver node up and running, there is a lot that you can do with it. You can use
it as a satellite‑connected Bitcoin node, offering redundancy and protection from internet failures to
connected peers. Alternatively, you can run it as your primary Bitcoin full node, with hybrid connectiv‑
ity (internet and satellite) or only satellite connectivity. The satellite network broadcasts new blocks,

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transactions, and the complete block history. Hence, you can synchronize the entire blockchain from
scratch using the satellite connection.

You can also send encrypted messages worldwide through the satellite network using our Satellite
API while paying for each transmission through the Lightning Network. Moreover, if you run a Light‑
ning node, you can sync it faster through Lightning gossip snapshots sent over satellite. You can even
download the Bitcoin source code over satellite and bootstrap the node without touching the inter‑
net.

The remainder of this guide covers all the above steps in detail, but a quick reference guide is available
if you are already familiar with the process.

If you have purchased a satellite kit, you can follow the kit‑specific instructions available on Block‑
stream’s Help Center. Otherwise, we recommend continuing on this guide and proceeding to the next
section, which covers the hardware options.

1.1 Support

For additional help, you can join the #blockstream‑satellite IRC channel on freenode or contact
Blockstream Support.

2 Hardware Guide

This section introduces the hardware required to set up a Blockstream Satellite receiver.

There are three alternatives to collecting the required hardware. The first and quickest option is to
purchase a ready‑to‑use Satellite Kit. For that, please check the kits available on the Blockstream
Store. The second alternative is to buy the Satellite Kit Components on your own. Lastly, the third
alternative is to pick a combination of compatible parts, not necessarily following any kit recipe. To
do so, you will need to understand the hardware components in detail.

In the sequel, we briefly discuss the differences between the kits so that you can make an informed
decision.

2.1 Satellite Kits

There are four broad categories of receiver setups and kits:

1. Satellite Base Station Setup.

2. Standalone Receiver Setup (Pro Kit).
3. Linux USB Receiver Setup (Basic Kit).

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4. Software‑defined Radio (SDR) Receiver Setup.

Only two of those are currently available on Blockstream Store:

1. Satellite Base Station.

2. Pro Kit.

The following table summarizes the key differences between them:

SDR Basic Kit Pro Kit Base Station

Blockstream Kit Available Yes Yes

USB Interface Yes Yes
Ethernet Interface Yes Yes
Requires External LNB Power Supply Yes
Support for Universal LNB1 Yes Yes Yes
Dual‑Satellite Capable2 Yes
CPU Utilization3 High Low None None
Multiple Host Connections4 Yes Yes
Optional Rack Mountable Yes
C‑band Compatibility5 Yes Yes Yes
Performance6 Limited Excellent Excellent Excellent
Budget Low (< $150) Medium High (> $900) Medium ($500)

1
A Universal LNB needs a 22 kHz signal to switch between Ku low and Ku high bands. This feature is required when using
Universal LNBs and receiving from the Galaxy 18 satellite. The SDR receiver cannot generate such a tone to the LNB, so it
is not natively compatible with Universal LNBs. All other receivers can generate the 22 kHz tone.
2
A dual‑satellite receiver is one capable of receiving from two satellites simultaneously in areas with overlapping coverage.
This feature enables greater redundancy, higher bitrate, and faster blockchain sync times. Only the Pro Kit receiver can
receive from two satellites simultaneously.
3
The SDR receiver is implemented in software and runs on the host computer, using significant CPU resources. The Basic
Kit receiver uses a dedicated receiver chip and only minimal resources from the host CPU. The Pro Kit and Base Station
receivers are entirely standalone.
4
A multi‑host receiver is one capable of feeding the received data to multiple hosts simultaneously on the local network.
Only the Pro Kit and Base Station receivers can do so. In contrast, the SDR and Basic Kit receivers connect over USB to a
single host and feed received data to this host only.
5
C band support is required to receive the Telstar 18V C band beam in the Asia‑Pacific region. The Base Station receiver is

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2.2 Choosing the Right Kit

As mentioned, only two kits are currently available on the Blockstream Store: the Base Station and
the Pro Kit.

For most users, we recommend the Base Station receiver. Its minimalist design, simplified setup, and
high performance will fit most Bitcoin users’ needs.

The main reason to consider an alternative to the Base Station is if you are in a location with C band
coverage only (i.e., without Ku band coverage). In that case, you will need an alternative option, like
the Pro kit. The Base Station does not work with the Telstar 18V C band beam covering the Asia‑Pacific
region.

We recommend considering the Pro Kit if one of the following conditions apply to you:

• You are covered only by the Telstar 18V C band beam and not covered by the Telstar 18V Ku band
beam.
• You would like to use a dish antenna instead of the Base Station antenna.
• The Link Analyzer tool indicates the base station will not work well in your location.
• Two satellite beams cover your location, and you would like to receive from both simultaneously
using two independent antennas.

If you conclude you need the Pro Kit, but the price is out of your budget, you can consider the Basic Kit
or the SDR receiver as alternatives. However, please note the Basic Kit and SDR setups do not support
dual‑satellite reception.

The Basic Kit offers similar performance and convenience as the Pro Kit but with more affordable
components. Please refer to the list of Basic Kit components.

Meanwhile, the SDR setup is the most affordable option. Generally, an SDR setup will cost between
$100 and $150 (USD). However, note the SDR setup needs a host computer to run the CPU‑intensive
receiver software. So please take the CPU into account when considering this option.

Also, we recommend the SDR setup for tech‑savvy individuals or anyone interested in understanding
more about satellite communications or experimenting with SDR technology. The SDR setup has the
most flexibility and room for experimentation. Also, it offers the broadest range of inspection tools
and graphical user interfaces (GUIs) to monitor the received signal and many low‑level parameters.
For instance, such visualizations can be very handy when pointing the antenna for the first time. If
that appeals to you, please refer to the SDR setup parts list.

not compatible with the C band because it is an all‑in‑one integrated receiver and antenna designed for Ku band only.
6
The SDR receiver is an excellent option for a budget‑limited setup. However, it is expected to have inferior performance
due to software limitations.

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Blockstream Satellite May 07, 2025

2.3 Purchasing the Kit Components

After reading the above description, you may be inclined to purchase the kit components on your own
instead of ordering a kit from Blockstream Store. If that is your case, please refer to the parts list for
your selected setup:

• Basic USB Kit.

• Standalone Pro Kit.
• Satellite Base Station.
• SDR Setup.

Lastly, if you would like to mix and match various supported parts, please proceed to the in‑depth
coverage of the hardware components.

3 Basic Kit

The Basic Kit includes the parts required for a receiver setup based on a Linux USB receiver. This
kit is no longer available on the Blockstream Store after being replaced by the Satellite Base Station.
However, you can assemble it by purchasing the items described below.

If you are covered by a Ku‑band beam (G18, T11N, or T18V Ku), please purchase the following items:

1. TBS 5927 or TBS 5520SE DVB‑S2 receiver. See the notes below.
2. Ku‑band satellite dish.
3. GEOSATpro UL1PLL Universal Ku band PLL LNB.
4. Ku band LNB mounting bracket.
5. RG6 coaxial cable.

Alternatively, if you would like to use a flat‑panel antenna in the Ku band, you can purchase the fol‑
lowing items:

1. TBS 5927 or TBS 5520SE DVB‑S2 receiver. See the notes below.
2. Selfsat H50D flat panel antenna.
3. RG6 coaxial cable.

Note: The flat panel antenna only works in the Ku band. Please make sure you are covered by a
Ku‑band beam before purchasing it.

Lastly, if you are covered by a C‑band beam (T18V C), please consider the following items:

1. TBS 5927 or TBS 5520SE DVB‑S2 receiver. See the notes below.
2. C‑band satellite dish.

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Blockstream Satellite May 07, 2025

3. Titanium C1‑PLL C Band PLL LNB.

4. Titanium CS1 Conical Scalar Kit for using an offset dish.
5. C Band LNB mounting bracket.
6. RG6 coaxial cable.

When choosing between the TBS 5927 and the TBS 5520SE, the general advice is to go for the TBS
5520SE due to its lower price point. Both offer similar performance. The TBS 5927 uses a dedicated
power supply that comes with the product and a single USB connection to the host. In contrast, the
TBS 5520SE uses two USB connections, one for data and the other for power, so please make sure your
computer has two available USB ports if you choose the TBS 5520SE.

4 Pro Kit

The Basic Kit includes the parts required for a receiver setup based on a Standalone DVB‑S2 receiver.
The kit is available on Blockstream Store, but please follow the information below if you prefer to
purchase the parts independently.

If you are covered by a Ku‑band beam (G18, T11N, or T18V Ku), please purchase the following items:

1. Novra S400 Professional DVB‑S2 Receiver.

2. Ku‑band satellite dish.
3. GEOSATpro UL1PLL Universal Ku band PLL LNB.
4. Ku band LNB mounting bracket.
5. RG6 coaxial cable.
6. Ethernet cable.

Alternatively, if you would like to use a flat‑panel antenna in the Ku band, you can purchase the fol‑
lowing items:

1. Novra S400 Professional DVB‑S2 Receiver.

2. Selfsat H50D flat panel antenna.
3. RG6 coaxial cable.
4. Ethernet cable.

Note: The flat panel antenna only works in the Ku band. Please make sure you are covered by a
Ku‑band beam before purchasing it.

Next, if you are covered by a C‑band beam (T18V C), please consider the following items:

1. Novra S400 Professional DVB‑S2 Receiver.

2. C‑band satellite dish.
3. Titanium C1‑PLL C Band PLL LNB.

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Blockstream Satellite May 07, 2025

4. Titanium CS1 Conical Scalar Kit for using an offset dish.

5. C Band LNB mounting bracket.
6. RG6 coaxial cable.
7. Ethernet cable.

Finally, if your location has dual coverage and you would like to receive from the two satellites simulta‑
neously, please replicate the parts accordingly. For more information, see the dual satellite guide.

5 Satellite Base Station Kit

The Satellite Base Station Kit includes the parts required for a receiver setup based on a Sat‑IP all‑in‑
one antenna. The kit is available on Blockstream Store.

Note that the Base Station only works in the Ku band. Hence, please make sure you are covered by a Ku‑
band beam before purchasing it. That is, the Base Station is appropriate for receiving from the Galaxy
18, Telstar 11N (Africa and Europe), and the Telstar 18V Ku‑band beams. In contrast, it is incompatible
with the C‑band beam from Telstar 18V.

If you would like to purchase the parts on your own, you can acquire the following items:

1. Selfsat>IP22 all‑in‑one Sat‑IP flat‑panel antenna.

2. Ethernet Cat5e cable.
3. Power over Ethernet (PoE) injector.

The PoE injector is only necessary if the Ethernet port you plan to connect to the Base Station does
not support Power over Ethernet (PoE) natively.

6 SDR Setup

This section summarizes the items you need to purchase for a software‑defined radio (SDR) setup.
Note you will need to source these independently, as no kits are available for the SDR setup on
Blockstream Store. To avoid misunderstandings, we recommend checking out the hardware com‑
ponents page with further details about the parts, especially the section about the SDR‑specific
components.

In the shopping lists below, we distinguish between the Ku and C bands and between the Ku low and
high bands. The low and high parts of the Ku band have different frequency ranges (see the frequency
guide) that require different components.

If you are covered by a Ku high band beam (G18), consider purchasing the following items:

1. RTL‑SDR model RTL2832U with the R820T2 tuner.

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Blockstream Satellite May 07, 2025

2. MK1‑PLL LNB.
3. DIRECTV 21 Volt SWM Power Inserter.
4. Male‑to‑male SMA cable.
5. SMA to F adapter (SMA Female, F male).
6. Ku‑band satellite dish.
7. Ku band LNB mounting bracket.
8. RG6 coaxial cable.

Alternatively, if you are covered by a Ku low band beam (T11N or T18V Ku), please consider the follow‑
ing items:

1. RTL‑SDR model RTL2832U with the E4000 tuner.

2. GEOSATpro UL1PLL Universal Ku band PLL LNB.
3. DIRECTV 21 Volt SWM Power Inserter.
4. Male‑to‑male SMA cable.
5. SMA to F adapter (SMA Female, F male).
6. Ku‑band satellite dish.
7. Ku band LNB mounting bracket.
8. RG6 coaxial cable.

Note: The items that differ between the Ku low and high‑band lists are the RTL‑SDR model
(R820T2 vs. E4000 tuner) and the LNB model (MK1‑PLL vs. GEOSATpro UL1PLL).

Next, if you would like to use a flat‑panel antenna instead of a conventional dish, please consider doing
so only if you are covered by a Ku low‑band beam (T11N or T18V Ku). In that case, you can purchase
the following items:

1. RTL‑SDR model RTL2832U wit the E4000 tuner.

2. DIRECTV 21 Volt SWM Power Inserter.
3. Male‑to‑male SMA cable.
4. SMA to F adapter (SMA Female, F male).
5. Selfsat H50D flat panel antenna.
6. RG6 coaxial cable.

Note: The flat panel antenna only works in the Ku band. Also, specifically with SDR receivers,
the flat panel only works in the low part of the Ku band. Thus, please make sure you are covered
by a Ku low‑band beam before purchasing it.

Lastly, if you are covered by a C‑band beam (T18V C), please consider the following items:

1. RTL‑SDR model RTL2832U with the R820T2 tuner.

2. Titanium C1‑PLL C Band PLL LNB.

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Blockstream Satellite May 07, 2025

3. Titanium CS1 Conical Scalar Kit for using an offset dish.

4. DIRECTV 21 Volt SWM Power Inserter.
5. Male‑to‑male SMA cable.
6. SMA to F adapter (SMA Female, F male).
7. C‑band satellite dish.
8. C Band LNB mounting bracket.
9. RG6 coaxial cable.

Again, please refer to the hardware components page to understand these requirements.

7 Hardware Components

This guide covers each hardware component in detail so you can assemble your receiver setup from
scratch. It is an essential reading if you plan on assembling your setup by mixing and matching sup‑
ported parts instead of purchasing a pre‑assembled Satellite Kit. If that is not you, please feel free to
skip this section.

The components that you need to understand are the following:

• DVB‑S2 Receiver

– Software‑defined Radio (SDR) Receiver

– Linux USB Receiver
– Standalone Receiver
– Sat‑IP Receiver

• Antenna

– Dish Antenna
– Flat Panel Antenna
– Sat‑IP Antenna

• Low‑noise Block Downconverter (LNB)

• LNB Mounting Bracket
• Cables
• Specific Parts for the SDR Setup
• Further Notes

– Universal LNB
– LNB vs. LNBF

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7.1 DVB‑S2 Receiver

The receiver is the device or software application that processes the incoming satellite signal and de‑
codes the data stream from it. There are four supported types of receivers. For each of them, specific
hardware components are required.

The receiver options are summarized below. For further insights, please refer to the satellite receiver
comparison table presented previously.

7.1.1 Software‑defined Radio (SDR) Receiver

This receiver is entirely implemented in software. You will need an SDR interface connected to your PC
(typically via USB). The SDR interface collects and feeds signal samples to the receiver application/‑
software running on your PC. The application, in turn, decodes and outputs the data stream to be fed
into Bitcoin Satellite. This is the most affordable receiver option, as it works with inexpensive RTL‑SDR
USB dongles. However, it is also the option with the most limited performance and reliability due to
software limitations. Moreover, this option is CPU‑intensive since the receiver application will run on
the CPU.

The connections with the SDR receiver are as follows:

Figure 1: SDR receiver connections

The supported SDR interface is an RTL‑SDR of model RTL2832U with either the R820T2 or the E4000
tuner, depending on your region. Also, you will need an independent LNB power supply when using
an SDR receiver. More details on the specific parts required with this receiver option are available in
the SDR receiver parts section.

7.1.2 Linux USB Receiver

The USB‑based DVB‑S2 receiver with Linux driver support is a receiver that carries out the demodu‑
lation entirely in hardware in the external device connected to your host via USB. Hence, unlike the

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SDR receiver, the Linux USB receiver is not CPU‑intensive. With this option, you will need to install
specific drivers and Linux DVB‑S2 apps on the host to configure the external receiver and get the data
from it. Overall, this option is expected to perform well and with negligible CPU usage. On the other
hand, it can require a time‑consuming initial setup due to the driver installation. You can try the driver
installation on your intended host before committing to this receiver option.

The supported Linux USB receivers are the TBS 5927 and the TBS 5520SE models, which connect to the
Linux PC via USB 2.0. These models are powered up either directly by the host via USB (TBS 5520SE)
or with an included dedicated power supply (TBS 5927). Also, they can power up the LNB directly via
the coaxial cable with no need for an external LNB supply.

The connections with the TBS 5927 and 5520SE receivers are illustrated below:

Figure 2: Linux USB receiver connections

Note: Although the TBS 5927 and 5520SE receivers offer Windows support, we currently do not
support Windows as an operating system for a Blockstream Satellite setup.

7.1.3 Standalone Receiver

The standalone receiver is also a hardware‑based receiver, with the difference that it is entirely inde‑
pendent of the host PC. It connects to the PC through the network with an Ethernet cable and can feed
multiple hosts concurrently. It is also expected to be a great option in terms of performance. Also, it
provides native support for dual‑satellite reception with a single receiver device.

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Blockstream Satellite May 07, 2025

The standalone receiver that is currently supported is the Novra S400 PRO DVB satellite Receiver.
Other than the receiver and the power supply that comes with it, you only need an Ethernet Cable.
The connections are as follows:

Figure 3: Standalone receiver connections

7.1.4 Sat‑IP Receiver

The Sat‑IP Receiver is another hardware‑based and standalone receiver option. The difference is that
it is based on an all‑in‑one antenna with a built‑in DVB‑S2 receiver and integrated LNB (see the Satellite
Base Station). It is referred to as a Sat‑IP receiver because it runs a Sat‑IP server, to which your host
will connect as a client. Overall, this option offers the easiest configuration and the most minimalist
setup, given that it requires a single all‑in‑one component. However, note it does not work with the
Telstar 18V C band satellite covering the Asia‑Pacific region.

The Sat‑IP receiver that is currently supported is the Selfsat>IP22 Sat‑IP flat‑panel antenna. It requires
an Ethernet cable (Cat5e or superior) to connect to a switch, router, or directly to your host. Further‑
more, it is powered using Power over Ethernet (PoE). Hence, you will need a PoE injector if the network
adapter connecting to the Sat‑IP antenna does not support PoE natively.

The connections with the Sat‑IP receiver are as follows:

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Figure 4: Sat‑IP receiver connections

7.2 Antenna

In addition to the DVB‑S2 receiver, you will always need an antenna to receive the satellite signal. The
most widely available antenna option is the regular satellite TV dish with a conventional parabolic
reflector. However, you can also use a flat panel antenna if you are looking for a more compact and
stylish option. Also, you can use a Sat‑IP antenna like the Satellite Base Station with a built‑in DVB‑S2
receiver and integrated LNB. With a Sat‑IP antenna, you don’t need a separate DVB‑S2 receiver since
the receiver and antenna are all in one unit.

7.2.1 Dish Antenna

Blockstream Satellite is designed to work with small dishes, with diameters as low as 45 cm in Ku band
and 60 cm in C band. However, we recommend checking our Link Analyzer tool for more specific
antenna recommendations. After inputting your coordinates, you will obtain the list of supported
antennas for your location. You can feel free to pick the smallest supported option but, for better
performance, a larger antenna is always preferable.

Other than size, the only additional requirement is that the antenna works with the frequency band
that suits your coverage region. You can always use dish antennas designed for higher frequencies.
For example, a dish antenna designed for the Ka band will work for the Ku and C bands, as it is designed
for higher frequencies than those used by Blockstream Satellite. However, a C‑band dish antenna will
not work in the Ku band, as it is designed for lower frequencies. For further information regarding
frequency bands, please refer to the frequency guide.

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7.2.2 Flat Panel Antenna

A flat panel antenna is generally more compact and stylish than a conventional dish. However, they
are typically only available for the Ku band.

A recommended flat panel model is the Selfsat H50D, which was previously available on Blockstream
Store before being replaced by the all‑in‑one Satellite Base Station. The Selfsat H50D includes the
LNB internally, so there is no need to purchase an LNB (nor an LNB bracket) when using it. However,
note that this model has limited compatibility. It is an excellent option for:

1. Linux USB and Standalone Receivers in any Ku band region.

2. SDR receivers in Ku low band regions (Telstar 11N Africa, Telstar 11N Europe, and Telstar 18V
Ku).

In contrast, the Selfsat H50D flat panel is not compatible with receivers (of any type) in the Telstar 18V
C (C Band) region. It only works in Ku band.

The flat panel requires an extra 22 kHz generator to work with SDR receivers in the Ku high band
(Galaxy 18) since it includes a built‑in Universal LNB. Refer to further information and a solution for 22
kHz generation in the Universal LNB section.

7.2.3 Sat‑IP Antenna

As mentioned earlier, a Sat‑IP antenna has a built‑in receiver and integrated LNB. Hence, if you choose
this option, you do not need to purchase a separate DVB‑S2 receiver and LNB. With the Satellite Base
Station, the only additional component you would need is an Ethernet cable to connect the antenna
to your host and a PoE‑capable host. More details on this option are available on the Satellite Base
Station page.

7.3 Low‑noise Block Downconverter (LNB)

Next, you will always need an LNB if you are using a regular satellite dish instead of a flat‑panel antenna
with an integrated LNB.

When choosing an LNB, the most relevant parameters are the following:

• Frequency range.
• Polarization.
• LO stability.

In summary, we recommend using a PLL LNB with linear polarization and LO stability within +- 250
kHz or less. Also, the LNB should be suitable for the frequency of the signal covering your location.
We elaborate on each of these parameters below.

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Regarding frequency range, you must verify that the input frequency range of the LNB encompasses
the frequency of the Blockstream Satellite signal in your coverage area. For example, if you are located
in North America and covered by the Galaxy 18 satellite, the downlink frequency of interest is 11913.4
MHz. In this case, an LNB that operates from 11.7 GHz to 12.2 GHz would work. In contrast, an LNB
that operates from 10.7 GHz to 11.7 GHz would not work. You can check the signal frequencies of each
region in the frequency guide.

Regarding polarization, an LNB with Linear Polarization is required. While most Ku band LNBs are
linearly polarized, some popular satellite TV services use circular polarization. A circularly polarized
LNB will not work with Blockstream Satellite.

If an LNB is described to feature horizontal or vertical polarization, then it is linear. In contrast, if an

LNB is described as Right‑Hand or Left‑Hand Circular Polarized (RHCP or LHCP), it is circular and will
not work with Blockstream Satellite.

Regarding LO Stability, a stability specification of <= +/- 250 kHz is preferable for better perfor‑
mance. Most LNBs will have a local oscillator (LO) stability parameter referred to as “LO stability” or
metrics such as “LO accuracy” and “LO drift.” These are usually specified in +/‑ XX Hz, kHz, or MHz. An
LNB that relies on a phase‑locked loop (PLL) frequency reference is typically more accurate and stable.
Hence, we advise looking for a PLL LNB instead of a traditional dielectric oscillator (DRO) LNB.

If you would like (or you need) to use a less stable LNB, it can also be used. The disadvantage is that
it will likely degrade your setup’s reliability and performance.

A widely available LNB option is the so‑called Universal Ku band LNB. However, please note that if
you are using an SDR‑based setup, a Universal LNB may pose extra difficulties. Please refer to the
explanation regarding Universal LNBs. This limitation does not apply when using the Linux USB or
Standalone receiver options.

Besides, another parameter of interest is the so‑called F/D ratio. This parameter refers to the ratio be‑
tween the parabolic reflector’s focal length and its diameter. As such, it is a parameter of the dish, not
the LNB. Nevertheless, the LNB should be designed for an F/D ratio compatible with the reflector.

For example, an offset dish (the most common dish type for Ku band) typically has an F/D ratio from 0.5
to 0.7. In contrast, a regular front‑fed parabolic dish typically has an F/D in the 0.3 to 0.4 range. In any
case, check the F/D specifications of your dish and make sure to use a compatible LNB. If necessary,
attach a flat or conical scalar ring to change the F/D characteristics of the LNB.

Lastly, to avoid confusion, please note that LNBF and LNB often refer to the same thing. You can find
further information later in this guide.

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7.4 LNB Mounting Bracket

The antenna dish likely comes with a mounting bracket, but you will need one designed to accept a
generic LNB. Also, it is good to have a flexible bracket to facilitate the LNB rotation and control of its
polarization angle. Although mounting brackets typically support rotation, some can be limited in the
rotation range.

Such mounting brackets attach to the antenna’s feed arm and have a circular ring that will accept a
generic LNB.

7.5 Cables

You will need a coaxial cable when using a satellite dish with an external LNB or a flat panel antenna
with an integrated LNB. The coaxial cable will connect the receiver to the LNB. Alternatively, in the
case of the SDR‑based setup, the cable will connect the LNB to the power supply, and then another
cable will connect the power supply to the SDR interface.

The most popular and recommended type of coaxial cable is the RG6 cable. Please choose one with
the right length, considering how far the antenna will be from the receiver. Also, please note that the
cable length will affect the signal strength. Hence, avoid unnecessarily long cables if possible.

In some cases, you may need to pass the cable through a window or door frame. For that, you can use a
short, bendable, flat coaxial TV extension cable. Such an extension cable is typically a few centimeters
long, just enough to pass through the window or door frame. Then, you connect the longer RG6 cables
on both ends of it.

You will also need an Ethernet cable when using a standalone receiver or a Sat‑IP receiver. The Ether‑
net cable will connect the receiver to the host PC or the network.

Also, with an SDR receiver, you will typically need SMA cable(s), as detailed in the next section.

7.6 Specific Parts for the SDR Setup

The SDR setup is the most affordable option but also the one requiring the most parts. This section
elaborates on parts used specifically with the SDR setup.

The main specific components are the following:

Component Requirement

SDR interface RTL‑SDR dongle model RTL2832U w/ TCXO

LNB Power Supply SWM Power Supply

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Blockstream Satellite May 07, 2025

Component Requirement

SMA Cable Male to Male

SMA to F adapter SMA Female, F Male

The supported SDR interface is the RTL‑SDR, which is a low‑cost USB dongle. More specifically, the
RTL‑SDR model RTL2832U.

There are two specifications to observe when purchasing an RTL‑SDR:

1. Oscillator.
2. Tuner.

We recommend using an RTL‑SDR with a temperature‑controlled crystal oscillator (TCXO), as the TCXO
has better frequency stability than a conventional crystal oscillator (XO). A few models in the market
feature a TCXO with frequency accuracy within 0.5 ppm to 1.0 ppm, which are good choices.

Regarding the tuner, the choice depends on the satellite covering your location. The two recom‑
mended tuners are the R820T2 and the E4000. The table below summarizes which tuner to pick for
each satellite:

Satellite RTL‑SDR Tuner

Galaxy 18 R820T2
Telstar 11N Africa E4000
Telstar 11N Europe E4000
Telstar 18V Ku E4000
Telstar 18V C R820T2

This tuner recommendation has to do with the L‑band frequencies expected in each region, as sum‑
marized in the frequency guide. The E4000 tuner is recommended for the areas where the L‑band
frequency is close to the maximum tuning range of the R820T2 tuner (1766 MHz).

Note: The RTL‑SDR models featuring the E4000 tuner are marketed as extended tuning range
RTL‑SDR or XTR RTL‑SDR.

The next component of the SDR receiver setup is the LNB Power Supply (or Power Inserter). This
component supplies a DC voltage to the LNB via the coaxial cable, typically of 13 VDC or 18 VDC. On
a non‑SDR setup, the receiver itself can provide power to the LNB, so there is no need for an external

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Blockstream Satellite May 07, 2025

power supply. In contrast, this is not possible with an SDR‑based setup using the SDR interface alone.
Hence, an external supply is required.

The type of power supply that is easy to find in the market is called Single Wire Multiswitch (SWM)
power supply. You can look for an SWM power inserter and use it, as illustrated below. The non‑
powered port of an SWM power supply is labeled “Signal to IRD,” which means signal to integrated
receiver/decoder. This is the port that should be connected to the RTL‑SDR interface. The powered
port, in turn, is labeled “Signal to SWM.” This is the port that should be connected to the LNB.

Figure 5: SDR receiver connections

IMPORTANT: Do NOT connect the powered port of the LNB power supply to the SDR interface. Per‑
manent damage may occur to your SDR and/or your computer.

Also, please check the power/voltage requirement of your LNB and ensure that your power supply
matches. Some LNBs, known as dual‑polarization LNBs, accept two DC voltage levels and use the
supplied voltage to switch between the vertical and horizontal polarizations. A supplied DC voltage of
+18 VDC sets the LNB to horizontal polarization, whereas +13 VDC sets the LNB to vertical polarization.
Please keep this in mind when rotating the LNB for a specific polarization angle during the antenna
pointing stage.

Further notes:

• Alternative SDR interfaces: the RTL‑SDR is the supported SDR interface and the most popular
among Blockstream Satellite users. Nevertheless, other SDR boards/interfaces can be used with
minor tweaks, such as USRPs. The SDR interface must support L‑band frequencies within the 1
GHz to 2 GHz range and sampling rates of 2 Msps (mega samples per second) or higher.

• Connectors: not every RTL‑SDR has the same interface connector. Some use the SMA connector,
while others use MCX. Be sure to order the correct cable and adapters to make the necessary
connections. In the above table, we assume the RTL‑SDR has an SMA female connector and
the power supply has two F female connectors. In this case, you need an SMA male‑to‑male
cable and an SMA female‑to‑F male adapter to connect the RTL‑SDR to the non‑powered port
(“Signal to IRD”) of the SWM power supply.

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7.7 Further Notes

7.7.1 Universal LNB

A Universal LNB, also known as Universal Ku band LNB, is an LNB that supports both the Ku low and
high bands. With such an LNB, the receiver becomes responsible for switching the Ku sub‑band as
needed. More specifically, the receiver sends a 22 kHz tone to the LNB when tuning to a Ku high‑band
carrier. Otherwise, when tuning to a Ku low‑band carrier, the receiver simply does not send any tone.
The absence of a 22 kHz tone configures the LNB to its default sub‑band, the Ku low sub‑band.

An important limitation applies to the SDR setup when using a Universal LNB. Note the SDR setup
described in this guide is receiver‑only. Hence, it cannot generate a 22 kHz tone to configure the Uni‑
versal LNB. Consequently, a Universal LNB connected to an SDR receiver operates in Ku low band
only. Thus, we recommend using this type of LNB only within Ku low band regions, i.e., within the
areas covered by Telstar 11N Africa, Telstar 11N Europe, or Telstar 18V Ku.

Meanwhile, in contrast to an SDR setup, both Linux USB and Standalone receiver options support the
generation of 22 kHz. Hence, it is perfectly acceptable to use a Universal LNB in any Ku band region
when using one of these receivers.

Besides, there are workarounds to switch the sub‑band of a Universal LNB, even with an SDR setup.
For instance, you can place a 22 kHz tone generator inline between the LNB and the power inserter. In
this case, the tone generator will use power from the inserter while delivering the tone directly to the
LNB. Such tone generators can be found in the market as pure generators. Alternatively, you can get
a satellite finder device containing the 22 kHz generation functionality.

If choosing a satellite finder, it is essential to note that the finder must be one that can be used inline
between the power supply and the LNB. In other words, it must be one with two connectors, one
for signal input (from the LNB) and the other for output (towards the power inserter). Some finders
contain a single connector, as they are not intended to be used inline. Furthermore, be aware that
most finders do not include a 22 kHz generator. You must pick a satellite finder that supports the
generation of a 22 kHz tone.

7.7.2 LNB vs. LNBF

The feedhorn is the horn antenna that attaches to the LNB. It collects the signals reflected by the
satellite dish and feeds them into the LNB towards the receiver. The acronym LNBF stands for “LNB
with feedhorn” and refers to the LNB that already contains an integrated feedhorn. This is the most
typical type of LNB nowadays. Hence, almost always, the term LNB already refers to an LNBF.

To be clear, the part that you need to purchase is an LNBF, but feel free to search for it using the term
LNB, as the terms are almost always used interchangeably.

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8 Software Requirements

The next step is to install the Blockstream Satellite graphical user interface (GUI) and command‑line
interface (CLI) applications. Then, using either of the two interfaces, you can install the other software
applications (the dependencies) required to configure and run your receiver.

8.1 Software Installation

The user interface applications are provided within a single package called blockstream-
satellite, which is available on multiple Linux distributions. Please follow the installation
instructions according to your Linux distribution.

Ubuntu:

1 add-apt-repository ppa:blockstream/satellite
2 apt-get update
3 apt-get install blockstream-satellite

If command add-apt-repository is not available, install the software-properties-

common package.

Fedora:

1 dnf copr enable blockstream/satellite

2 dnf install blockstream-satellite

If command dnf copr enable is not available, install the dnf-plugins-core package.

Debian:

1 add-apt-repository https://aptly.blockstream.com/satellite/debian/
2 apt-key adv --keyserver keyserver.ubuntu.com \
3 --recv-keys 87D07253F69E4CD8629B0A21A94A007EC9D4458C
4 apt-get update
5 apt-get install blockstream-satellite

Install gnupg, apt-transport-https, and software-properties-common, if necessary.

Raspberry Pi OS (formerly Raspbian):

1 add-apt-repository https://aptly.blockstream.com/satellite/raspbian/
2 apt-key adv --keyserver keyserver.ubuntu.com \
3 --recv-keys 87D07253F69E4CD8629B0A21A94A007EC9D4458C
4 apt-get update
5 apt-get install blockstream-satellite

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Blockstream Satellite May 07, 2025

Install gnupg, apt-transport-https, and software-properties-common, if necessary.

Alternatively, the CLI and GUI applications can be installed as Python3 packages fetched from the
Python Package Index (PyPI). For more information, see the PyPI Python3 package installation sec‑
tion.

8.2 Receiver Configuration and Software Dependencies

Next, open the Blockstream Satellite GUI from the system applications menu or directly from the ter‑
minal by running the blocksat-gui application.
After opening it, the following home page should show up:

Note: When opening the GUI for the first time, it may ask for permission to complete some initial
configurations. Complete those first, then proceed.

Figure 6: GUI home page

Next, navigate to the “Receiver” tab at the top bar and click on “Create Receiver Configuration.” Af‑
ter that, the configuration wizard will guide you through the remainder of the installation process,
including the installation of software dependencies.

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Blockstream Satellite May 07, 2025

Figure 7: GUI Receiver Configuration

Finally, you can click on the “Run Receiver” button to start your receiver, as shown below. However,
before doing so, make sure to connect the receiver appropriately, as discussed in the next section.

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Blockstream Satellite May 07, 2025

Figure 8: GUI Receiver Run

8.3 Further Information

8.3.1 Python3 Package Installation from PyPI

You can install the CLI and GUI as Python3 packages by running the following command:

1 sudo pip3 install blocksat-cli blocksat-gui

NOTE:

1. The above command requires the Python3 package installer (pip3) application.

2. If you prefer to install the CLI and GUI on your local user directory (without sudo) instead
of installing it globally (with sudo), make sure to add ~/.local/bin/ to your path (e.g.,
with export PATH=$PATH:$HOME/.local/bin/).

8.3.2 Receiver Configuration using the CLI

The same process described above can be achieved directly on the terminal using the CLI.

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Blockstream Satellite May 07, 2025

First, run the configuration helper:

1 blocksat-cli cfg

Then, install the required software dependencies:

1 blocksat-cli deps install

Once the above command completes successfully, you can move on to the next section, which dis‑
cusses the receiver and host configuration.

9 Novra S400 Receiver

The Novra S400 is a standalone receiver. It receives a satellite signal fed via its coaxial interface and
outputs IP packets to one or multiple hosts listening to it in the local network. This section explains
how to configure both the Novra S400 modem and the host(s) of interest.

9.1 Connections

The Novra S400 can be connected as follows:

Figure 9: Novra S400 receiver connections

• Connect the LNB directly to interface RF1 of the S400 using a coaxial cable (preferably an RG6
cable).
• Connect the S400’s LAN1 interface to your computer or network.

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Blockstream Satellite May 07, 2025

9.2 Network Connection

Next, make sure the S400 receiver is reachable by the host.

First, configure your host’s network interface to the same subnet as the S400. By default, the S400
is configured with IP address 192.168.1.2 on interface LAN1 and 192.168.2.2 on LAN2. Hence, if
you connect to LAN1, make sure your host’s network interface has IP address 192.168.1.x, where “x”
could be any number higher than 2. For example, you could configure your host’s network interface
with IP address 192.168.1.3.

After that, open the browser and access 192.168.1.2 (or 192.168.2.2 if connected to LAN 2). The
web management console should open up successfully.

9.3 Software Requirements

Next, ensure all software prerequisites are installed on your host. If using the GUI, in case some depen‑
dencies are missing, click on the “Install Dependencies” button on the Receiver tab, as shown below.
If you cannot see the button, all dependencies are already installed correctly.

Figure 10: GUI Receiver Missing Dependencies

If using the CLI, run the following command to ensure all dependencies are installed:

1 blocksat-cli deps install

Note: the installation supports the apt, dnf and yum package managers.

9.4 Receiver and Host Configuration

Next, configure the Novra S400 receiver and the host. When using the GUI, the configuration starts au‑
tomatically after clicking the “Run Receiver” button on the Receiver tab (see the screenshot above).

Alternatively, if using the CLI, run the following command:

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Blockstream Satellite May 07, 2025

1 blocksat-cli standalone cfg

If you would like to review the changes before applying them, append option --dry-run to the
command.

Also, if you would like to apply the receiver configurations manually, refer to the instructions for con‑
figuration via the web UI.

Note: the above commands assume the S400 has IP address 192.168.1.2 (the default address).
You can specify another address on all blocksat-cli standalone commands by running
with option --addr [address].

9.5 Monitoring

Finally, you can monitor your receiver in real time with the GUI. After starting the receiver, the Receiver
tab shows the live status as follows:

Figure 11: GUI S400 Receiver Monitoring

If using the CLI, you can monitor the receiver by running:

1 blocksat-cli standalone monitor

9.6 Next Steps

At this point, if your dish is already correctly pointed, you should be able to start receiving data on
Bitcoin Satellite. Please follow the instructions for Bitcoin Satellite configuration. If your antenna is
not aligned yet, please follow the antenna alignment section.

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Blockstream Satellite May 07, 2025

9.7 Further Information

9.7.1 Dual‑satellite Setup

On a dual‑satellite setup, you need to configure the two RF interfaces of the S400. After configuring
the first interface as instructed earlier, configure the second by opening a second GUI instance or by
running the following CLI command:

1 blocksat-cli --cfg rx2 standalone --demod 2 cfg --rx-only

Refer to further information on the dual‑satellite setup guide.

9.7.2 S400 Configuration via the Web UI

1. Open the browser and access the IP address of the S400. By default, the address is
192.168.1.2 if connected to LAN 1 and 192.168.2.2 if connected to LAN 2.

2. Log in as admin on the top right of the page.

• Default password: password

3. Check the signal parameters that apply to your setup. Run the following command and use the
results in the next step.

1 blocksat-cli cfg show

4. Go to Interfaces > RF1 and configure as follows:

• DVB Mode: “DVB‑S2”

Next, configure the LNB parameters at the bottom of the page:

• LNB Power On: Enable.

• L.O. Frequency: your LNB’s local oscillator (LO) frequency in MHz.
• Polarization: the signal polarization (horizontal or vertical).
• Band (Tone): “Low/Off” by default. Set to “High/On” only when using a Universal LNB and re‑
ceiving from Galaxy 18 (in Ku High Band).
• Long Line Compensation: Disabled.

After that, configure the DVB Signal Parameters:

• Carrier Freq.: frequency in MHz of the satellite covering your location.

• LBand: leave it with the auto‑filled value.7

7
The L‑band frequency is automatically defined once you inform both the L.O. Frequency and the Carrier Freq.

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Blockstream Satellite May 07, 2025

• Symbol Rate: 1.0 MBaud.

• MODCOD: AUTO.
• Gold Code: 0.
• Input Stream ID: 0.

Then, click Apply.

5. Verify that the S400 is locked.

• Check the “RF 1 Lock” indicator at the top of the page or the status LED in the S400’s front panel.
It should be green (locked) if your antenna is already pointed correctly. If not, you can work on
the antenna pointing afterward.

6. Go to Services > RF1:

Scroll to “Manage MPE/ULE PIDs”:

• Enter 32 on “New PID” and click “Add”.

• Apply.

** Optional configurations:

• If you prefer to use another IP address on LAN1 or LAN2, go to Interfaces > Data (LAN1) or Inter‑
faces > M&C (LAN2) and configure the IP addresses. Note LAN 1 is the interface that will deliver
the data packets received over satellite, whereas LAN2 is optional and exclusively for manage‑
ment.
• If configuring the second RF interface on the S400 for a dual‑satellite setup, on step 2, go to
Interfaces > RF2 instead of RF1. Correspondingly, on step 3, check the “RF 2 Lock” indica‑
tor, and on step 4, go to Services > RF2.

10 TBS Linux USB Receiver

The TBS 5927 and TBS 5520SE devices are USB‑based DVB‑S2 receivers. They receive the satellite
signal fed via a coaxial interface and output data to the host over USB. They are also configured directly
over USB, and the host is responsible for setting such configurations using specific Linux tools.

The instructions that follow prepare the host for driving the TBS receiver.

10.1 Hardware Connections

The TBS 5927/5520SE should be connected as follows:

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Blockstream Satellite May 07, 2025

Figure 12: TBS5927 connections

• Connect the LNB directly to “LNB IN” interface of the TBS 5927/5520SE using a coaxial cable
(preferably an RG6 cable).
• Connect the TBS’s USB 2.0 interface to your computer.
• Power up the TBS device. For the TBS 5927 model, connect the 12V DC power supply. For the
TBS 5520SE, connect both male connectors of the dual‑male USB Y cable to your host.

10.2 TBS Drivers

Next, install the device drivers required to use the TBS 5927 or 5520SE receiver. The installation re‑
builds and rewrites the Linux Media drivers. Hence, unless you are setting up a dedicated machine to
host the TBS receiver, using a virtual machine (VM) would be safer and recommended. By doing so,
the drivers will be installed on the VM instead of your main machine.

When using the GUI, the driver installation starts automatically after clicking the “Install Dependen‑
cies” button on the Receiver tab, as shown below:

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Blockstream Satellite May 07, 2025

Figure 13: GUI Receiver Missing Dependencies

If using the CLI, run the following command on the host machine (or VM) to install the drivers:

1 blocksat-cli deps tbs-drivers

Once the script completes the installation, reboot the host.

10.3 Software Requirements

Next, ensure all software prerequisites are installed on the host. If using the GUI, in case some depen‑
dencies are still missing, click on the “Install Dependencies” button on the Receiver tab, shown above.
If you cannot see the button, all dependencies are already installed correctly.

If using the CLI, run the following command to ensure all dependencies are installed:

1 blocksat-cli deps install

Note: the installation supports the apt, dnf and yum package managers.

10.4 Configure the Host

Next, create and configure a network interface to output the IP traffic received via the TBS
5927/5520SE unit. With the GUI, this is done automatically after clicking on the “Run Receiver”
button on the Receiver tab, shown above.

With the CLI, you can do so by running the following command:

1 blocksat-cli usb config

If you would like to review the changes before applying them, append option --dry-run to the
command.

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Blockstream Satellite May 07, 2025

Note the GUI and CLI steps above will define an arbitrary IP address to the interface. However, you
could also set a specific IP address if needed.

On the GUI, you can set the specific IP address directly on the Receiver tab before running the receiver.
With the CLI, you can define the IP address using option --ip on the usb config command.

Furthermore, note the configuration is not persistent across reboots. After a reboot, you need to run
blocksat-cli usb config again. With the GUI, simply start the receiver again after a reboot, and
the GUI will repeat the configuration.

10.5 Launch

At this point, if using the GUI, the receiver will be started already. Then, you can monitor its status in
real time on the Receiver tab, as shown below:

Figure 14: GUI TBS Receiver Monitoring

If using the CLI, you need to manually start the receiver by running the following command:

1 blocksat-cli usb launch

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Blockstream Satellite May 07, 2025

10.6 Next Steps

At this point, if your antenna is already correctly pointed, you should be able to start receiving data on
Bitcoin Satellite. Please follow the Bitcoin Satellite configuration instructions. If your antenna is not
pointed yet, refer to the antenna alignment section.

10.7 Further Information

10.7.1 Docker

A Docker image is available for running the Linux USB receiver host on a container. Please refer to the
instructions in the Docker section.

10.7.2 Useful Resources

• TBS 5927 Datasheet.

• TBS 5520SE Datasheet.
• TBS Drivers Wiki.

10.7.3 Install Binary Packages Manually

The following instructions are an alternative to the automatic installation via the CLI (with command
blocksat-cli deps install).

On Ubuntu/Debian:

1 sudo apt apt update

2 sudo apt install python3 iproute2 iptables dvb-apps dvb-tools

On Fedora:

1 sudo dnf update

2 sudo dnf install python3 iproute iptables dvb-apps v4l-utils

On Fedora, package dvb-apps is not available via the main dnf repository. In this case, you can install
it from our repository by running:

1 sudo dnf copr enable blockstream/satellite

2 sudo dnf install dvb-apps

If command dnf copr enable is not available in your system, install package dnf-plugins-
core.

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10.7.4 Building dvb‑apps from Source

Alternatively, you can build dvb-apps from source by running the following commands:

1 git clone https://github.com/Blockstream/dvb-apps

2 cd dvb-apps
3 make
4 sudo make install

11 Selfsat>IP22 Sat‑IP Receiver

The Selfsat>IP22 is an all‑in‑one flat‑panel antenna with an integrated DVB‑S2 receiver and LNB. It is
the basis of the Blockstream Satellite Base Station kit available on Blockstream Store. This device
receives the satellite signal and outputs IP packets to one or more Sat‑IP clients listening to it in the
local network. This section explains how you can connect to the base station device to receive the
Blockstream Satellite traffic.

11.1 Connections

The integrated Sat‑IP antenna‑receiver can be connected as follows:

Figure 15: Sat‑IP receiver connections

• Connect the Ethernet cable from your switch or computer’s network adapter directly to the an‑
tenna’s Sat>IP port.
• If your switch/adapter does not support Power over Ethernet (PoE), insert a PoE injector in‑line
between the switch/adapter and the antenna’s Sat‑IP port. Connect the injector’s PoE‑enabled

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Blockstream Satellite May 07, 2025

port to the Sat‑IP antenna and the non‑powered (non‑PoE) port to the switch/adapter.

IMPORTANT: If using a PoE injector, make sure you are connecting the correct ports. Permanent dam‑
age may occur to your switch or network adapter otherwise.

11.2 Software Requirements

Next, ensure all software prerequisites are installed on your host. If using the GUI, in case some depen‑
dencies are missing, click on the “Install Dependencies” button on the Receiver tab, as shown below.
If you cannot see the button, all dependencies are already installed correctly.

Figure 16: GUI Receiver Missing Dependencies

If using the CLI, run the following command to ensure all dependencies are installed:

1 blocksat-cli deps install

Note: this step works with the two most recent releases of Ubuntu LTS, Fedora, Debian, and Rasp‑
bian. In case you are using another Linux distribution or version, please refer to the compilation
instructions.

11.3 Running

You should now be ready to launch the Sat‑IP client. If using the GUI, click on the “Run Receiver”
button on the Receiver tab, shown above. After that, you can monitor the receiver in real time, as
shown below:

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Blockstream Satellite May 07, 2025

Figure 17: GUI Sat‑IP Receiver Monitoring

If using the CLI, run the following command to launch the Sat‑IP client:

1 blocksat-cli sat-ip

Note: the Sat‑IP client discovers the Sat‑IP antenna (the server) via UPnP. If your network blocks
this traffic type, you can specify the Sat‑IP antenna’s IP address directly using option -a/--addr
on the CLI or the IP address field on the GUI. Alternatively, see the troubleshooting section.

11.4 Next Steps

At this point, if your antenna is already correctly pointed, you should be able to start receiving data on
Bitcoin Satellite. Please follow the Bitcoin Satellite configuration instructions. If your antenna is not
aligned yet, refer to the antenna alignment section.

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Blockstream Satellite May 07, 2025

11.5 Further Information

11.5.1 Troubleshooting the Server Discovery

When the Sat‑IP client returns the error “Could not find a Sat‑IP receiver,” it is possible that either the
network or your host is blocking the UPnP traffic used to auto‑discover the base station receiver.
To troubleshoot the problem, you can start by inspecting whether the devices in the network are reply‑
ing to the SSDP packets sent by your host. To do so, open a terminal and run the tcpdump application
as follows:

1 sudo tcpdump -i any port 1900

Typically, a reply will come from your local router, but we also need the response from the Sat‑IP
server (the base station device). If the base station is not replying, you can try changing the SSDP
source port to 1900 and recheck the results on tcpdump. To do so, if using the CLI, run the Sat‑IP
client as follows:

1 blocksat-cli sat-ip --ssdp-src-port 1900

If you see the response coming from the base station now, but the Sat‑IP client still does not connect to
it, your host’s firewall might be blocking the response. If you are on Ubuntu (using ufw), you can allow
SSDP responses by running sudo ufw allow 1900. More specifically, it is generally preferable to
configure the firewall rule with a reduced scope. For instance, you can enable only the SSDP packets
coming specifically from the base station device. If you know the base station’s IP address, you can
do so by running:

1 sudo ufw allow from [base-station-address] to any port 1900

If you don’t know the base station’s IP address at this point, you can allow SSDP packets from any
address in the local subnet. For instance, for a 192.168.1.1/24 subnet, run:

1 sudo ufw allow from 192.168.1.1/24 to any port 1900

More generally, if you are running another Linux distribution or firewall manager, make sure to allow
UDP packets sent to port 1900.

11.5.2 Direct Connection to the Base Station

A typical use case for the base station is connecting it to a switch or router and accessing it from hosts
within the same network. However, it is also possible to connect the host directly to the base station
without intermediate switches or routers. In this case, you need to pay attention to two aspects:

1. The network interface that the host shall use when attempting to discover the Sat‑IP server au‑
tomatically.

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Blockstream Satellite May 07, 2025

2. The IP address of the chosen interface.

By default, the host will send the device discovery requests via its default network interface (for in‑
stance, a WLAN interface). Meanwhile, you may have the base station connected directly to a sec‑
ondary Ethernet interface. In this case, the discovery packets would never reach the Sat‑IP antenna.
To solve the problem, specify the network interface that the Sat‑IP client should use to send SSDP
discovery packets. If using the CLI, you can do so with the --ssdp-net-if command‑line option.

Regarding the IP address configuration, note the base station typically would not receive an IP ad‑
dress via DHCP when connected directly to your host. Instead, it will fall back to a link‑local address
in the 169.254.0.0/16 subnet. Hence, to communicate with the base station, you need to configure
your host’s Ethernet interface with an arbitrary address in the 169.254.0.0/16 subnet. For instance,
assuming the Ethernet interface is named eth0, run:

1 ip addr add 169.254.100.50/16 dev eth0

Finally, if using the CLI, run the Sat‑IP client with the following command while replacing eth0 with
your interface name:

1 blocksat-cli sat-ip --ssdp-net-if eth0

11.5.3 Running on Docker

A Docker image is available for running the Sat‑IP client on a container. Please refer to the instructions
in the Docker section.

11.5.4 Compilation from Source

The Sat‑IP setup relies on the TSDuck application, which is installed by the GUI or CLI as part of the
software dependencies. However, if you would like to compile TSDuck from source and install it man‑
ually, you can do so by following the instructions below.

1 git clone https://github.com/tsduck/tsduck.git

2 cd tsduck
3 build/install-prerequisites.sh
4 make NOTELETEXT=1 NOSRT=1 NOPCSC=1 NODTAPI=1
5 sudo make NOTELETEXT=1 NOSRT=1 NOPCSC=1 NODTAPI=1 install

Refer to TSDuck’s documentation for further information.

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12 SDR Receiver

12.1 Connections

The software‑defined radio (SDR) setup is connected as follows:

Figure 18: SDR connections

• Connect the RTL‑SDR USB dongle to your host PC.

• Connect the non‑powered port of the power supply (labeled as “Signal to IRD”) to the RTL‑SDR
using an SMA cable and an SMA‑to‑F adapter.
• Connect the powered port (labeled “Signal to SWM”) of the power supply to the LNB using a
coaxial cable (an RG6 cable is recommended).

IMPORTANT: Do NOT connect the powered port of the power supply to the SDR interface. Permanent
damage may occur to your SDR and/or your computer.

12.2 Software Requirements

Next, ensure all software prerequisites are installed on your host. If using the GUI, in case some depen‑
dencies are missing, click on the “Install Dependencies” button on the Receiver tab, as shown below.
If you cannot see the button, all dependencies are already installed correctly.

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Blockstream Satellite May 07, 2025

Figure 19: GUI Receiver Missing Dependencies

If using the CLI, run the following command to ensure all dependencies are installed:

1 blocksat-cli deps install

Note: this step works with the two most recent releases of Ubuntu LTS, Fedora, Debian, and Rasp‑
bian. In case you are using another Linux distribution or version, please refer to the manual com‑
pilation and installation instructions.

12.3 Running

You should now be ready to launch the SDR receiver. If using the GUI, click on the “Run Receiver”
button on the Receiver tab, shown above. After that, you can monitor the receiver in real time as
follows:

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Blockstream Satellite May 07, 2025

Figure 20: GUI SDR Receiver Monitoring

If using the CLI, run the following command:

1 blocksat-cli sdr

More specifically, as thoroughly explained in the antenna alignment section, you likely need to run
with specific gain and de‑rotation parameters suitable to your setup. With the GUI, you can set these
in the Options panel. With the CLI, you use the --gain and --derotate command‑line parameters,
like so:

1 blocksat-cli sdr --gain [gain] --derotate [freq_offset]

where [gain] and [freq_offset] should be substituted by the appropriate values.

12.4 Next Steps

At this point, if your antenna is already correctly pointed, you should be able to start receiving data on
Bitcoin Satellite. Please follow the Bitcoin Satellite configuration instructions. If your antenna is not
aligned yet, refer to the antenna alignment section.

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12.5 Further Information

12.5.1 Docker

A Docker image is available for running the SDR host on a container. Please refer to the instructions in
the Docker section.

12.5.2 gr‑dvbs2rx Receiver

The software‑defined DVB‑S2 receiver implementation named gr‑dvbs2rx is available on the CLI start‑
ing from version 0.4.5. This application is based on the GNU Radio framework for software‑defined
radio, and it is supported on Fedora 36 and Ubuntu 22.04 or later versions only.

The GUI and CLI install gr‑dvbs2rx automatically when available. Meanwhile, in Linux distributions
other than Fedora and Ubuntu, the leandvb receiver application is used instead. You can always toggle
the implementation using CLI option --impl or the implementation field on the GUI.

12.5.3 Gqrx Configuration

The GUI and CLI generate a configuration file for Gqrx to facilitate its use during antenna pointing. The
GUI generates the file automatically on the receiver configuration wizard. Similarly, the CLI generates
the configuration file automatically, but you can regenerate it manually by running the following com‑
mand:

1 blocksat-cli gqrx-conf

Note: this command assumes you are using an RTL‑SDR dongle.

12.5.4 Manual Installation of SDR Software

You can install all applications manually if you do not wish to rely on the automatic installation han‑
dled by the GUI or the CLI.

First, enable Blockstream Satellite’s binary package repository. On Ubuntu/Debian, run:

1 add-apt-repository ppa:blockstream/satellite
2 apt-get update

If command add-apt-repository is not available in your system, install package software-

properties-common.

On Fedora, run:

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Blockstream Satellite May 07, 2025

1 dnf copr enable blockstream/satellite

If command copr enable is not available in your system, install package dnf-plugins-core.

Finally, install the applications:

1 sudo apt install rtl-sdr leandvb tsduck gqrx-sdr gr-dvbs2rx gr-osmosdr

or

1 sudo dnf install rtl-sdr leandvb tsduck gqrx gr-dvbs2rx gr-osmosdr

12.5.5 Manual Compilation of SDR Software

If one of the applications is not available as binary packages in your distribution, you can build and
install it from source, as follows:

12.5.5.1 Leandvb from source To build leandvb from source, first install the dependencies:

1 apt install git make g++ libx11-dev

or

1 dnf install git make g++ libX11-devel

Then, run:

1 git clone --recursive https://github.com/Blockstream/leansdr.git

2 cd leansdr/src/apps
3 make
4 sudo install leandvb /usr/bin

Next, build and install ldpc_tool:

1 cd ../../LDPC/
2 make CXX=g++ ldpc_tool
3 sudo install ldpc_tool /usr/bin

12.5.5.2 gr‑dvbs2rx from source Please refer to the project’s installation instructions.

12.5.5.3 TSDuck from source To build and install TSDuck from source, run:

1 git clone https://github.com/tsduck/tsduck.git

2 cd tsduck

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Blockstream Satellite May 07, 2025

3 build/install-prerequisites.sh
4 make NOTELETEXT=1 NOSRT=1 NOPCSC=1 NOCURL=1 NODTAPI=1
5 sudo make NOTELETEXT=1 NOSRT=1 NOPCSC=1 NOCURL=1 NODTAPI=1 install

Refer to TSDuck’s documentation for further information.

13 Antenna Pointing

Aligning a satellite antenna is a precise procedure. Remember that the satellites are over 35,000 km
(22,000 mi) away. A tenth of a degree of error will miss the satellite by more than 3500 km. Hence, this
is likely the most time‑consuming step of the process. This section provides a step‑by‑step guide for
antenna alignment.

13.1 Mount the Antenna

First, you should obtain the pointing angles required for your specific location using our dish align‑
ment tool.
NOTE: If your location is covered by two satellites and you only want to point to one of them, we
recommend checking which of the two has the strongest signal in your location. For that, check
the Link Analyzer tool. After inputting your coordinates and obtaining the link analysis, choose
the satellite with the highest expected carrier‑to‑noise ratio (CNR) for your chosen antenna.

After entering your address or latitude/longitude, the tool will give you the following parameters:

• Azimuth: the side‑to‑side angle of your antenna. 0 degrees refers to North, 90 degrees to East,
180 degrees to South, and 270 degrees to West.

• Elevation: the up and down adjustment of your antenna. The antenna aiming tool provides the
number of degrees above the horizon to which your antenna must point. 0 degrees represents
pointing at the horizon, and 90 degrees is pointing straight up.

• Polarity: determines the rotation of the LNB. It is the angle of the LNB within the LNB mounting
bracket (or holder). Often this is referred to also as the LNB polarization angle or LNB skew. A
positive angle means a clockwise adjustment when looking at the LNB from behind the dish
and facing forwards to the satellite in the sky.

The three angles are illustrated below:

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Azimuth Elevation Polarity

Next, visually inspect the direction in which your antenna must point. Use a compass or smartphone
app (e.g., Satellite Finder (Pro) or Satellite Pointer) to identify it. Ensure that there are no obstacles
(like trees or buildings) between your antenna and the target area in the sky. You must have a clear
line of sight to that sky area.

IMPORTANT: If using a compass app on a smartphone, make sure to configure the app to display true
north instead of the magnetic north. The azimuth angle provided by our dish alignment tool refers
to true north. Also, if using an ordinary compass or a compass‑based satellite finder, make sure to
convert the true azimuth obtained from the dish alignment tool into the magnetic azimuth. You can
get both the true and magnetic azimuth angles using a tool such as the Dish Pointer app.

Next, install the satellite antenna according to the directions accompanying it, or have it done profes‑
sionally. If you install it yourself, proceed with the following steps:

1. Certify that the pole on which the dish is mounted is entirely level.
2. Set the elevation of the antenna to the parameter provided by the antenna aiming tool (above).
Many antennas will have an elevation scale on the back of the dish that you can use to set the
approximate elevation.
3. Set the LNB polarization to the parameter provided by the antenna aiming tool. This involves
rotating the LNB. There is typically a polarization rotation scale on the LNB or the LNB mounting
bracket.
4. Set the azimuth angle to the value obtained from the aiming tool.

Note: if using an offset dish antenna (the most common dish type in Ku band), make sure to
subtract the dish offset angle from the nominal elevation. You can check the offset angle in the
dish specifications. For example, if the nominal elevation angle at your location is 20°, and your
offset reflector has an offset angle of 25°, the resulting elevation becomes ‑5°. In this case, it will
appear that the reflector is pointing down to the ground. In reality, however, the dish will be
tilted correctly to receive the low‑elevation signal at the offset focal point.

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Blockstream Satellite May 07, 2025

At this stage, you can leave the screws that control the azimuth angle slightly loose so that you can
adjust the azimuth for pointing. You can do the same for elevation and polarization. Nevertheless,
the azimuth is typically easier to sweep as an initial pointing attempt.

13.2 Find the Satellite and Lock the Signal

Assuming that the receiver is configured correctly and connected, your next step is to find the satellite.
You will adjust the antenna pointing until the receiver can lock to the Blockstream Satellite signal.
Please note that this is likely the most time‑consuming part of the setup process, especially when
doing it for the first time. As mentioned earlier, a single degree shifted on the dish represents a change
of thousands of kilometers over the geosynchronous orbit.

The process will be easier with a laptop that can be watched while moving the antenna. If you can‑
not watch the computer, you’ll need two people: one to move the antenna and one to monitor the
computer.

To start, make sure your receiver is running. Depending on your receiver type, this step involves one
of the following CLI commands:

• For the TBS 5927 or 5520SE USB receivers: blocksat-cli usb launch.

• For the Novra S400 Standalone (Pro Kit) receiver: blocksat-cli standalone monitor (see
the S400’s instructions).

• For the Sat‑IP receiver (Satellite Base Station): blocksat-cli sat-ip.

• For the SDR receiver: blocksat-cli sdr.

Alternatively, if using the GUI, you can start the receiver by clicking the “Run Receiver” button on the
Receiver tab.

Next, you should monitor the receiver logs printed to the console (CLI) or shown on the GUI. Initially,
while the antenna is not pointed correctly, the receiver will be unlocked. In this case, the CLI will print
logs like the following:

1 2020-10-23 14:26:14 Lock = False;

In this case, you should try to make adjustments to the antenna pointing. For example, keep the
elevation angle fixed and slowly move the antenna side to side (vary the azimuth angle). Alternatively,
keep the azimuth fixed and gradually change the elevation. Every time you adjust an angle, wait a few
seconds and check if the receiver has found the signal in this position. If not, try another adjustment
and so on.

Once the receiver finds the signal, it will lock and the CLI/GUI will show Lock = True. From this point
on, the application should remain locked.

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You should pay special attention to the signal‑to‑noise ratio (SNR) parameter printed to the console
(CLI) or shown on the GUI. The higher the SNR, the better. Given that the receiver is already locked, you
can infer that the antenna pointing is close to the optimal position. Hence, at this point, you should
experiment with gentle adjustments to the pointing angles until you can maximize the SNR. The next
section discusses the target SNR levels.

Note: the Sat‑IP receiver will print a Signal Quality metric instead of the SNR. Again, higher is
better.

Furthermore, you can check that the signal level is within acceptable limits. The LNB amplifies the
signal received over satellite and feeds a reasonably high signal level into the receiver. However, the
signal experiences attenuation over the coaxial cable, connectors, and adapters. The expected mini‑
mum and maximum signal levels are summarized below:

Receiver Minimum Signal Level Maximum Signal Level

TBS 5927 ‑69 dBm ‑23 dBm

Novra S400 ‑65 dBm ‑25 dBm

In the end, note that the antenna pointing procedure is entirely based on the locking indicator printed
on the console. Once you find the signal and the receiver locks, the only remaining step is to optimize
the SNR.

This approach works for all types of receivers. However, there are helpful receiver‑specific instructions
for the pointing process, listed below:

• Novra S400 Standalone receiver: you can find various receiver status metrics within the re‑
ceiver’s web interface. See the instructions.
• SDR receiver: with an SDR receiver, you can visualize the signal spectrum and point the antenna
more easily. See the SDR instructions.

Alternatively, you can try to point the antenna using a satellite finder. This approach is generally more
helpful for the Linux USB (TBS 5927 or 5520SE), standalone (Novra S400), and Sat‑IP receivers. In
contrast, for SDR‑based receivers, the SDR signal visualization tools are usually better. Refer to the
instructions in the satellite finder section.

13.3 Optimize the SNR

After the initial antenna pointing, we recommend experimenting with the pointing until you achieve
your maximum SNR. The SNR level should be at least 2.23 dB. However, we recommend trying to reach
an SNR of 8 dB or higher in clear sky conditions.

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Blockstream Satellite May 07, 2025

The SNR exceeding the minimum level determines the so‑called link margin. For example, if your
receiver operates at 8.2 dB, it has a 6 dB margin relative to the minimum SNR of roughly 2.2 dB. This
margin means that your receiver can tolerate up to 6 dB signal attenuation in case of bad weather
(such as rain).
If your receiver is already locked, try gentle adjustments around the current position and observe the
SNR on the console. Stop once you find the pointing that achieves the best SNR.
If you are using a Sat‑IP receiver, which does not print the SNR metric, you can optimize the Signal
Quality metric instead. Try to achieve 100% quality or as close as possible.

13.4 Next Steps

Well done! You are now ready to run the Bitcoin Satellite application receiving data via the Block‑
stream Satellite Network. Please refer to the Bitcoin Satellite guide for further instructions.

13.5 Further Information

13.5.1 Novra S400’s User Interface

The Novra S400 receiver features a web‑based user interface (UI), which provides several receiver met‑
rics.
At the top, the web UI has an LNB indicator, which indicates whether the S400 is supplying power to
the LNB. Furthermore, it shows whether the S400 is locked. Assuming you have connected the LNB to
input RF1, then the RF1 Lock indicator will be green when the unit is locked.

Figure 21: Novra S400 receiver searching signal

If the S400 is not locked yet, as depicted above (RF1 Lock indicator off), you should adjust the antenna
pointing.
Once the S400 finally locks, the RF1 Lock indicator looks as follows:

Figure 22: Novra S400 receiver locked

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You can also find signal quality and status metrics on page Interfaces > RF1, under RF1 Detailed
Status. For example:

Figure 23: Novra S400 receiver’s RF status

Note that the carrier‑to‑noise ratio (C/N) parameter relates to the SNR parameter that should be opti‑
mized during the antenna pointing.

13.5.2 Pointing with an SDR‑based Receiver

The SDR‑based receiver offers additional visualization tools that are very helpful for antenna pointing.
With this receiver, the pointing procedure consists of two steps:

1. Visualization using gqrx;

2. Locking using the actual receiver application.

In the first step, you should launch gqrx (check the gqrx configuration instructions). Then, click the
start icon (“Start DSP Processing”) and see if you can recognize the Blockstream Satellite signal. Ide‑
ally, you would see a flat level spanning a frequency band (in the horizontal axis) of approximately 1
MHz. Here is an example:

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Figure 24: Blockstream Satellite signal visible on Gqrx

With the recommended gqrx configuration, gqrx should be configured to the center frequency of the
signal band (in this example, of 12066.9 MHz, where the red line is). However, the observed signal
commonly is offset from the nominal center frequency, given that LNBs introduce frequency offset.
In the above example, note the signal is around 12066.6 MHz, which means a frequency offset of ‑300
kHz (to the left relative to the nominal center). If gqrx’s center frequency is re‑configured to 12066.6
MHz, then we can see the 1 MHz band well centered, like so:

Figure 25: Blockstream Satellite signal centered on Gqrx

If you cannot see the signal on gqrx, you should try to make adjustments to the antenna pointing, as
described earlier.

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NOTE:

If you see two similar signal bands near each other, try to identify which one is more likely to be
the Blockstream Satellite signal. The correct signal should span a flat level of 1 MHz, with 100
kHz of roll‑off on each side. If the two signal bands are close to 1 MHz, please take note of both
center frequencies and try both of them in the next steps until you get a lock.

Furthermore, please note that, in some cases, there can be similar signal bands among different
(but nearby) satellites. In this case, you need to adjust the pointing until you get a lock.

Once you finally find the signal in gqrx, you can proceed to run the actual SDR receiver application. As
explained in the SDR guide, you can start it via the CLI with the following command:

1 blocksat-cli sdr

For pointing, however, it is helpful to run it in GUI mode, as follows:

1 blocksat-cli sdr --gui

If you are using the GUI, you can start the receiver by clicking the “Run Receiver” button on the Receiver
tab. Select the “GUI Mode” option to run the receiver with the GUI enabled, as shown below:

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Figure 26: GUI SDR Receiver in GUI Mode

At this point, before proceeding, we recommend inspecting whether the gain is well configured. Check
the preprocessed (iq) plot. If it looks like the one below, with strongly scattered points around the two
dimensions, the gain is likely too high.

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Figure 27: Pre‑processed IQ samples

In this case, you can run with a lower gain specified on the CLI using option -g, like so:

1 blocksat-cli sdr -g [gain]

If using the GUI, set the gain field on the Receiver tab shown above.

The default gain is 40, and you can then experiment with lower values.

The IQ points should form a more compact cloud of points, such as the one below:

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Figure 28: Pre‑processed IQ with lower Rx gain

More information is available in Section 9.2 of the leandvb application’s user guide.

Next, observe the spectrum plots. The spectrum plot shows the limits of the central band in red lines.
In the example that follows, the signal presents the frequency offset of roughly ‑300 kHz that we al‑
ready knew about from our observation on gqrx:

Figure 29: Leandvb’s spectrum plot showing offset signal

NOTE: each LNB introduces a unique frequency offset, which also varies over time. The above
value of ‑300 kHz was specific to the example setup. Your frequency offset will be different.

To correct the known offset, you can run the CLI with option --derotate, as follows:

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1 blocksat-cli sdr -g [gain] --derotate [freq_offset]

where freq_offset represents the offset in kHz that you want to correct.

If using the GUI, you can set the frequency correction field on the Receiver tab.

With that, the preprocessed spectrum plot should be centered, as follows:

Figure 30: Leandvb’s spectrum plot showing centered signal

At this point, if the antenna pointing is already reasonably good, you might see the “PLS cstln” plot
showing four visible clouds:

Figure 31: Physical layer signaling (PLS) symbols

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This plot indicates that the receiver application is locked to the Blockstream Satellite signal. Note that
the more compact the four clouds of points are in this plot (around the white + marker), the better the
signal quality.

If you cannot see the “PLS cstln” plot, it means you are not locked to the signal yet. You can trou‑
bleshoot further in debug mode by running the CLI like so (with argument -d):

1 blocksat-cli sdr -g [gain] --derotate [freq_offset] --gui -d

If you see the following logs continuously printed in the console, it means you are not locked to the
signal yet:

1 DETECT
2 PROBE

When a lock is acquired, you will see the following log printed to the console:

1 LOCKED

After that, you should start seeing several underscores _ printed consecutively as indicators of suc‑
cessful data reception. The reception indicator can be one of the three below:

• _: indicates a DVB‑S2 frame received without errors.

• .: indicates an error‑corrected DVB‑S2 frame.
• !: indicates a DVB‑S2 frame with remaining errors.

If you cannot lock to the signal, you should try further adjustments to the antenna. Assuming you have
identified the signal on gqrx before, you can infer that the pointing is already very close. Therefore,
only subtle adjustments are required at this point.

Furthermore, if you cannot find the signal on gqrx, you can search for satellite beacons instead. While
the Blockstream Satellite signal is seen as a flat level spanning approximately 1 MHz, a beacon is a very
narrow signal seen as a narrow pulse (or peak) on gqrx. All you need to do is change the frequency on
gqrx to one of the beacon frequencies below:

Satellite Beacons

Galaxy 11701 MHz (Horizontal), 12195 MHz (Vertical)

18
Telstar 11199.25 MHz (Vertical), 11699.50 MHz (Vertical), 11198.25 MHz (Horizontal), 11698.50
11N MHz (Horizontal)
Telstar 3623 MHz (Vertical), 3625 MHz (Vertical), 4199 (Horizontal)
18V

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Make sure to select a beacon whose polarization matches your target signal polarization, which you
can check using the CLI by running:

1 blocksat-cli cfg show

If using the GUI, go to the Receiver tab and check the parameters on the Settings sub‑tab, as shown
below:

Figure 32: GUI Receiver Settings

Once you find the beacon signal, make gentle adjustments to the pointing until you can maximize the
observed signal level. Then, change the frequency on gqrx back to the original downlink frequency
of interest (also printed by the above command). You should be able to visualize the Blockstream
Satellite signal now.

Ultimately, once the SDR receiver locks to the signal, you can still try to improve the SNR. Observe the
SNR values printed to the console and see if you can get better values after subtle adjustments to the
pointing.

In the end, once you are satisfied with the SNR (see the target levels), you can monitor several aspects
of your SDR receiver. For example:

• To monitor the bitrate, run with option --ts-monitor-bitrate.

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• To monitor the integrity of the MPEG TS packet sequence, run with option --ts-monitor-
sequence.
• For low‑level debugging information, run with option -dd.

13.5.3 Pointing with a Satellite Finder

The antenna alignment procedure can be challenging when using a receiver other than the SDR re‑
ceiver. The main limitation is that the Linux USB (TBS 5927 or 5520SE), Novra S400, and Sat‑IP re‑
ceivers indicate the lock status as a true or false metric. As a result, you will often see the lock status
as false until you suddenly get the correct antenna direction and the lock status changes to true. In
contrast, you can observe the received power spectrum in real‑time with an SDR receiver and notice
the satellite carrier (or beacon) even before the receiver locks. Hence, the alignment process is signif‑
icantly more straightforward with an SDR receiver.

Other than using an SDR receiver, the alternative solution to obtain a gradual signal strength indicator
during the antenna alignment procedure is to use a satellite finder device. You can plug the satellite
finder into your setup and use it in conjunction with the satellite receiver. The finder can provide a
signal strength indicator to allow for the optimal antenna alignment. At the same time, the receiver
can confirm the pointing is correct when it properly locks to the signal.

A satellite finder usually has two connections: one to the LNB (typically labeled satellite) and the other
to the receiver. The receiver is supposed to provide power to the finder (just like how it powers up the
LNB), whereas the LNB feeds the signal of interest. Hence, the overall connection is as follows:

1 Receiver <---> Finder <---> LNB

Some finders also come with a dedicated power supply. And even if not, you could purchase a power
supply such as the one used in the SDR setup. In this case, it suffices to connect the finder to the power
supply instead of the receiver, as follows:

1 Power Supply <---> Finder <---> LNB

The latter case is handy when using a base station receiver. You can connect the finder inline between
the base station’s legacy coaxial output and the power supply. Otherwise, with the other receiver
types, we recommend connecting the finder inline between the receiver and LNB so that you can in‑
spect the receiver concurrently with the finder.

Satellite finders can also differ widely in their offered capabilities. For instance, some finders only
measure the signal level, such as the SF‑95DR model included on the satellite kits. Meanwhile, other
more advanced finder models can go a step further and demodulate DVB‑S2 signals. The instructions
in the sequel cover both finder categories.

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13.5.3.1 Pointing with a Level Measurement Finder This section applies to satellite finders capa‑
ble of measuring the signal level only, such as the SF‑95DR model.

To start, connect the finder as instructed earlier and enable/launch the receiver as usual to power up
the finder. You should see the finder powered on with an active display.

Next, make sure the finder has an adequate attenuation and gain configuration to observe the signal
level. Proceed with the following steps:

1. Press the left ATT button as many times as possible to increase the attenuation to the maximum.
Also, increase the dial on the side to its max and check the signal level on the finder’s display.
This step aims to prepare the finder to measure the strongest possible signal. By setting the
highest attenuation first, an eventual strong signal can still fall within the measurable range.

2. If the measured signal level is not 99%, it means the signal received by the finder is not as strong
as anticipated. Hence, reduce the attenuation to observe weaker signals. That is, press the right
ATT button until you get to a 99% level. Keep the dial on the side at its maximum throughout
this process so that you can adjust the attenuation setting first.

3. Once the finder measures 99% signal level, turn the side dial down (reduce the gain) until you get
a reasonably low signal level on the finder’s display. For example, try achieving a level between
5% and 30%.

At this point, you should be ready to start the antenna alignment process. Make sure to keep an eye on
the receiver’s lock status (refer to the lock status instructions) throughout the process and continue
with the following steps:

1. Adjust the antenna roughly in the right direction based on the azimuth, elevation, and polarity
angles obtained from the Coverage Map.
2. Choose a coordinate to optimize (azimuth, elevation, or polarity) and focus on it. For example,
start by optimizing the azimuth.
3. Make subtle adjustments to the chosen coordinate until you can observe an increase in the sig‑
nal level measured by the finder.
4. If the level increases too much and reaches 99%, turn the side dial (gain) down slightly such that
the measured signal strength comes back to a low value. If the side dial reaches its minimum
and the measured level remains at 99%, it means the signal is now too strong to be measured.
Increase the attenuation by pressing the left ATT button once and readjust the side dial to get
the measured level back at a low value.
5. Go back to step 3 and repeat the process until you can no longer observe improvements on the
measured level for the chosen coordinate.
6. Go back to step 2 and pick the next coordinate to be optimized.

If the receiver logs Lock = True on the console at any point, it means you are in the right direction.
Otherwise, if you have optimized all coordinates using the above procedure and the receiver still logs

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Lock = False, you may have pointed to the wrong satellite. In this case, inspect the final alignment
and repeat the process if necessary.

Note the main disadvantage of a level‑measurement finder is that it cannot guarantee the correctness
of the satellite. It only measures the signal level, so it may inadvertently guide you to a stronger signal
in the sky coming from an adjacent satellite. Hence, it is vital to keep an eye on the receiver’s lock
status throughout the process. Only the lock status can confirm the antenna alignment is correct.

13.5.3.2 Pointing with a DVB‑S2 Capable Finder If you are using a satellite finder that supports
DVB‑S2 demodulation, you can configure it to lock to the signal. To do so, you typically need to con‑
figure the following signal parameters:

• Downlink frequency
• LNB local oscillator (LO) frequency
• Signal polarization

You can check the appropriate values by running:

1 blocksat-cli cfg show

If using the GUI, you can find these parameters on the Settings sub‑tab of the Receiver tab.

Additionally, you will need to define:

• Symbol rate: set it to “1000 kbaud” (or “1000000 baud”, or “1 Mbaud”, depending on the units
adopted by your finder).
• 22 kHz: enable only when using a Universal LNB and pointing to Galaxy 18 (i.e., when receiving
in Ku high band). Otherwise, leave it disabled. See the notes regarding Universal LNBs.

After the configuration, the finder will typically present you with signal strength and (or) quality indi‑
cators. At this point, try aligning your antenna until you can maximize these levels.

Once you lock to the signal using the finder, check that your receiver can lock too by following the
instructions presented earlier.

14 Bitcoin Satellite

14.1 Overview

Bitcoin Satellite is a fork of FIBRE (Fast Internet Bitcoin Relay Engine) and, consequently, also a fork of
Bitcoin Core. It features a version of the bitcoind application with support for the reception of blocks
sent over satellite in UDP datagrams with multicast addressing. You can find in‑depth information
about Bitcoin Satellite on the project’s Wiki page.

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14.2 Installation

If using the GUI, go to the Receiver tab and select the Settings sub‑tab. Then, open the Bitcoin drop‑
down menu and select “Install Bitcoin Satellite,” as shown below:

Figure 33: GUI Bitcoin Satellite Installation

If using the CLI, install bitcoin‑satellite by running:

1 blocksat-cli deps install --btc

NOTE:

• This step works with the two most recent releases of Ubuntu LTS, Fedora, Debian, and Rasp‑
bian.

• bitcoin‑satellite is a fork of bitcoin core. As such, it installs applications with the same name
(i.e., bitcoind, bitcoin-cli, bitcoin-qt, and bitcoin-tx). Hence, the installation of
bitcoin-satellite will fail if you already have bitcoin core installed.

Alternatively, you can install bitcoin‑satellite manually from binary packages or from source.

14.3 Configuration

Next, you need to generate a bitcoin.conf file with configurations to receive Bitcoin data over satel‑
lite. If using the GUI, select “Create configuration file” on the Bitcoin dropdown menu shown above.
With the CLI, run the following command:

1 blocksat-cli btc

By default, the generated bitcoin.conf file is placed at ~/.bitcoin/, the default Bitcoin data di‑
rectory used by Bitcoin Satellite. However, you can specify an alternative datadir as follows:

1 blocksat-cli btc -d datadir

14.4 Running

Next, run bitcoind as usual, like so:

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1 bitcoind

Note that other Bitcoin Core options are supported and can be added to the generated bitcoin.conf
file or as arguments to the above command. For example, you can run the node based on satellite
links only (unplugged from the internet) using option connect=0 on bitcoin.conf or by running:

1 bitcoind -connect=0

Also, you can run bitcoind in daemon mode:

1 bitcoind -daemon

Once bitcoind is running, you can check the satellite interface is receiving data by running the fol‑
lowing command:

1 bitcoin-cli getudpmulticastinfo

If the receiver is correctly locked to the satellite signal, you should see a bitrate around 1.09 Mbps.
Furthermore, you can check the number of blocks being received concurrently over satellite with the
following command:

1 bitcoin-cli getchunkstats

14.5 Further Information

14.5.1 UDP Multicast Reception Option

The GUI and the CLI command described previously generate the bitcoin.conf required to process
the multicast‑addressed UDP/IPv4 stream received over satellite. The main option defined on the
generated configuration file is the udpmulticast option, explained next.
There are several ways to configure option udpmulticast, depending on your hardware setup, such
as your receiver and the satellite from which you are receiving the signal. The option should be set as
follows:

1 -udpmulticast=<if>,<dst_ip>:<port>,<src_ip>,<trusted>[,<label>]

With this command, the application listens to multicast‑addressed UDP messages sent by IP address
<src_ip> towards IP address <dst_ip>:<port> using interface <if>. When option <trusted> is
set to 1, the application assumes the sender is a trusted node. Lastly, option <label> assigns a label
to the multicast stream in order to facilitate the inspection of logs.
Consider the following example:

1 udpmulticast=dvb0_0,239.0.0.2:4434,172.16.235.9,1,blocksat

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In this case, it follows that:

• dvb0_0 is the network interface receiving multicast‑addressed UDP messages out of the re‑
ceiver.
• 239.0.0.2:4434 is the destination IP address and port of the packets sent over satellite.
• 172.16.235.9 is the IP address of the Blockstream ground station node broadcasting data
over the satellite network (each satellite has a unique source IP address).
• 1 configures this stream as coming from a trusted source, which is helpful to speed up block
reception.
• blocksat is a label used to facilitate the inspection of logs.

Please note that the bitcoin.conf file generated by the GUI or CLI already has the udpmulticast
option with the appropriate parameters for your chosen hardware and satellite, so no further action
is needed.

14.5.2 Installation from Binary Packages

We recommend using the GUI or CLI to install the Bitcoin Satellite application, as instructed previously.
However, you can also install bitcoin-satellite manually from the binary packages available for
the two most recent Ubuntu LTS, Fedora, Debian, and Raspbian releases. The manual installation
instructions are as follows:

Ubuntu:

1 add-apt-repository ppa:blockstream/satellite
2 apt-get update
3 apt-get install bitcoin-satellite

If command add-apt-repository is not available, install software-properties-common.

Debian:

1 add-apt-repository https://aptly.blockstream.com/satellite/debian/
2 apt-key adv --keyserver keyserver.ubuntu.com \
3 --recv-keys 87D07253F69E4CD8629B0A21A94A007EC9D4458C
4 apt-get update
5 apt-get install bitcoin-satellite

Install gnupg, apt-transport-https, and software-properties-common, if necessary.

Raspbian:

1 add-apt-repository https://aptly.blockstream.com/satellite/raspbian/
2 apt-key adv --keyserver keyserver.ubuntu.com \
3 --recv-keys 87D07253F69E4CD8629B0A21A94A007EC9D4458C

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4 apt-get update
5 apt-get install bitcoin-satellite

Install gnupg, apt-transport-https, and software-properties-common, if necessary.

Fedora:

1 dnf copr enable blockstream/satellite

2 dnf install bitcoin-satellite

If command dnf copr enable is not available, install dnf-plugins-core.

CentOS:

1 yum copr enable blockstream/satellite

2 yum install bitcoin-satellite

If command yum copr enable is not available, install yum-plugin-copr.

14.5.3 Compilation from Source

To build Bitcoin Satellite from source, first, clone the repository:

1 git clone https://github.com/Blockstream/bitcoinsatellite.git

2 cd bitcoinsatellite/

Then, install all build requirements listed in the project’s documentation.

Next, run:

1 ./autogen.sh
2 ./configure
3 make

This will build the bitcoind application binary within the src/‘ directory, and you can execute it
from there. Alternatively, you can install the application in your system:

1 make install

Detailed build instructions can be found within the project’s documentation.

15 Dual‑Satellite Connection

Some regions worldwide are covered by two satellites at the same time. Currently, there is exten‑
sive overlapping coverage in Asia from Telstar 18V C and Telstar 18V Ku. If you are in a region with

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overlapping coverage, you can connect to two satellites simultaneously and double the Bitcoin block
transfer speed. This section describes the hardware and host configurations required to run such a
dual‑satellite setup.

Before continuing, however, you should check if your location has overlapping coverage from two
satellites using our Coverage Map. Also, note distinct signal strengths are expected from each satellite,
given that the distance and viewing angles from your station to each satellite are different. Hence, we
recommend checking the Link Analyzer tool for more specific antenna recommendations for each
satellite.

15.1 Required Hardware

A straightforward way to connect to two satellites simultaneously is to use separate antennas pointed
to each satellite. To do so, you need two LNBs (one per dish), double the number of cables, twice
as many connectors, etc., or two separate Sat‑IP or flat‑panel antennas. Nevertheless, receiving two
satellite beams simultaneously while using a single parabolic reflector is also possible. However, this
approach requires more advanced parts and installation skills.

If your location has overlapping coverage from the Telstar 18V C band and Ku band beams, note
these are two different beams out of the same satellite. In principle, you could use a single dual‑
band (C and Ku) combo LNB if you were able to find one. However, such combo LNB models
usually select one band or the other (C or Ku) instead of outputting both bands simultaneously.
Hence, they are not sufficient for a dual‑satellite setup. Thus, we recommend installing two in‑
dependent antennas with independent LNBs instead. The Pro Kit already comes with C and Ku
band LNBs (see the parts list), so you only need to purchase two dishes (and a few cables) in
addition to the kit.

You also need two receivers for a dual‑satellite setup, each connected to an LNB. The only exception
is if your receiver is the Novra S400 of the Pro Ethernet Kit. This model supports dual satellite connec‑
tivity by offering two independent radio‑frequency (RF) channels. Otherwise, if using a Sat‑IP, USB,
or SDR‑based receiver (or combinations of them), you need two receiver units, each connected to a
different antenna/LNB. If using the Satellite Base Station (an integrated receiver‑antenna), you also
need two units, each pointing to a distinct satellite.

15.2 Host Configuration

Once you have the required hardware parts, the next step is to configure the receivers using the host
computer. To do so, regardless of the adopted hardware, you must create separate configuration files
for each receiver. Then, you can execute commands independently (for each receiver) by switching
the configuration file.

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With the GUI, you can do so by opening two GUI instances and creating or loading distinct configura‑
tions on the Settings sub‑tab of the Receiver tab, as shown below:

Figure 34: GUI Create or Load Configuration

With the CLI, you can create multiple configurations using option --cfg. For example, you can set up
a second configuration named rx2 as follows:

1 blocksat-cli --cfg rx2 cfg

After that, for every CLI command intended for the second receiver, you should specify --cfg rx2
on the command, as detailed next.

15.2.1 Novra S400 Standalone Receiver

With the Novra S400, you need to configure the two RF interfaces of the device. Each interface will be
connected to a different antenna, receiving from a different satellite.

If using the GUI, you need two instances of the GUI, one configured for Demodulator 1 (RF1) and the
other for Demodulator 2 (RF2). You can do so by configuring the option highlighted below on the
Receiver tab:

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Figure 35: GUI S400 Demodulator Option

Then, start the receiver as usual by clicking on the “Run Receiver” button.

With the CLI, the first RF interface (RF1) is configured by the following command:

1 blocksat-cli standalone cfg

Then, run the following command to configure the second RF interface:

1 blocksat-cli --cfg rx2 standalone --demod 2 cfg --rx-only

Note: The --rx-only option avoids repeating the configurations applicable to the host, which
are the same regardless of the receiver. It skips those and configures the receiver only.

After that, you can monitor the two interfaces with the following commands:

1 blocksat-cli standalone monitor

1 blocksat-cli --cfg rx2 standalone --demod 2 monitor

Lastly, see the Bitcoin Satellite configuration instructions for dual‑satellite reception.

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15.2.2 TBS USB Receiver

With TBS 5927 or 5520SE USB receivers, you need to configure and launch the two receivers sepa‑
rately.

With the GUI, you can do so by opening two GUI instances and configuring them for each USB receiver
and satellite. Then, start the receivers independently.

With the CLI, you would ordinarily run the following sequence of commands:

1 blocksat-cli usb config

2
3 blocksat-cli usb launch

To use a second TBS unit as the second receiver of a dual‑satellite setup, you need to repeat them
while including argument --cfg rx2, as follows:

1 blocksat-cli --cfg rx2 usb config

2
3 blocksat-cli --cfg rx2 usb launch

Make sure to select the second TBS 5927/5520SE unit on both steps.

Lastly, see the Bitcoin Satellite configuration instructions for dual‑satellite reception.

15.2.3 Blockstream Base Station Sat‑IP Receiver

With the Satellite Base Station Sat‑IP receiver, you need two base station devices for a dual‑satellite
setup. Also, when launching the Sat‑IP client, you need to select the correct receiver by IP address.

With the GUI, open two GUI instances and load the two Sat‑IP receiver configuration files, one for each
satellite. Then, go to the Receiver tab in each and configure the antenna (Sat‑IP server) IP address
differently. Then, start the receivers as usual.

With the CLI, run the first Sat‑IP client and select the correct receiver when prompted:

1 blocksat-cli sat-ip

Next, launch the second Sat‑IP client and, again, select the appropriate receiver:

1 blocksat-cli --cfg rx2 sat-ip

15.2.4 SDR Receiver

With the SDR setup, you need two RTL‑SDR devices to receive from two satellite beams. Additionally,
you must pick the appropriate RTL‑SDR device index when running the receivers.

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If using the GUI, open two GUI instances and load the two SDR configuration files, one for each satellite.
Then, go to the Receiver tab in each and specify the RTL‑SDR index on the option highlighted below.
Typically, you will need to set the index as 0 on one GUI instance and 1 on the other. Then, start the
receivers as usual.

Figure 36: GUI SDR RTL‑SDR Index Option

With the CLI, you can run the two receivers by switching the configuration file and the RTL‑SDR index
as follows:

1 blocksat-cli sdr --rtl-idx 0

2
3 blocksat-cli --cfg rx2 sdr --rtl-idx 1

Lastly, see the Bitcoin Satellite configuration instructions for dual‑satellite reception.

15.3 Bitcoin Satellite Configuration

Finally, you need to configure Bitcoin Satellite to receive the second satellite stream.
With the GUI, you can do so by concatenating the generated bitcoin.conf files. If you have not
generated any bitcoin.conf file yet, using the GUI instance associated with your first receiver, go to

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the Settings tab, open the Bitcoin dropdown menu, and select “Create configuration file,” as shown
below:

Figure 37: GUI Bitcoin Satellite Installation

Next, do the same on the second GUI instance (associated with the second receiver). The GUI should
identify that a bitcoin.conf file already exists. Then, select “Concatenate” on the window that pops
up.

With the CLI, you can concatenate the configuration for the second receiver by running:

1 blocksat-cli --cfg rx2 btc --concat

16 Satellite API

The Blockstream Satellite API provides developers with an easy‑to‑use RESTful API that can be used
to broadcast messages globally using the Blockstream Satellite network.

As illustrated in the diagram below, the process starts with a sender application, which requests the
transmission of a particular file or text message. The transmission order gets queued up in the API
server. Then, once the order is paid over the Bitcoin Lightning Network, the API server sends the
message to the Blockstream Satellite Teleport (ground station). From there, the message is broadcast
globally through the Blockstream Satellite network.

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Figure 38: Blockstream Satellite API architecture

The blocksat-cli command‑line interface (CLI) provides a range of commands for the interaction
with the Satellite API. This guide clarifies these commands.

To install the CLI, please refer to the installation instructions.

As of the current version, the GUI does not include the support for Satellite API commands.
Please use the CLI for such interactions.

For details regarding the RESTful API, please refer to the Satellite API’s repository.

16.1 Encryption Keys

To start, we recommend setting up a GPG key pair for the encryption of messages sent through the
satellite API. To do so, run:

1 blocksat-cli api cfg

After filling the requested information, this command will generate the key pair (public and private
keys) and create a new keyring, by default, located at the ~/.blocksat/ directory.

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16.2 Satellite API Transmission

To send a text message over the Blockstream Satellite network, run:

1 blocksat-cli api send

Alternatively, you can send a file by running:

1 blocksat-cli api send -f [file]

where [file] should be replaced with the path to the file.

The application asks for the bid in millisatoshi (msat) and suggests the minimum acceptable bid. To
accept the suggested bid, simply press enter and continue. Otherwise, if you prefer to fill in the bid
manually, make sure to satisfy the two requirements below:

1. The total bid must be greater than at least 1000 msats.

2. The ratio between the bid in msat and the number of bytes used for transmission (the so‑called
bid/byte ratio) must be at least 1 msat/byte.

After confirming the bid, get the Lightning Invoice Number printed on the console or the QR code and
pay it using Bitcoin Lightning (refer to the list of Lightning wallet apps). Once the payment is con‑
firmed, the transmission will start as soon as the transmission queue serves your message.

By default, the above commands encrypt your message or file using the GPG key you set up in the
beginning. With that, only you (the owner of the private key) can decrypt the message on reception
(see GPG’s manual for further information). Other users listening for messages broadcast over the
Blockstream Satellite network will still receive your encrypted message. However, they will not be
able to decrypt it.

16.2.1 Choosing the Recipient

You can also define a specific recipient for your transmission. To do so, use argument -r, as follows:

1 blocksat-cli api send -r [fingerprint]

where [fingerprint] is the public key fingerprint corresponding to the target recipient. In other
words, the fingerprint defines who is going to be able to decrypt the message.

In case you want to skip the validation of the recipient’s public key and assume it is fully trusted, you
can use argument --trust. For example:

1 blocksat-cli api send -r [fingerprint] --trust

These commands assume that the recipient’s public key is available on the local GPG keyring. Thus,
you need to import the public key into the keyring located at ~/.blocksat/.gnupg. Assuming the

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recipient has shared its public key with you on a file named recipient.gpg, you can do so using:

1 gpg --import recipent.gpg --homedir $HOME/.blocksat/.gnupg

16.2.2 Signing the Messages

You can also digitally sign a message so that the recipient can verify it was really generated by you and
not altered in any way. To do so, use argument --sign. For example:

1 blocksat-cli api send --sign

By default, messages will be signed using the default private key from your keyring, but you can specify
the key as follows:

1 blocksat-cli api send --sign --sign-key [fingerprint]

where [fingerprint] is the fingerprint of the private key you wish to use for signing.

16.3 Satellite API Reception

To receive messages sent over satellite through the Satellite API, first of all, you need to have your satel‑
lite receiver running. If you do not have a real receiver, you can experiment with the demo receiver
explained in the sequel.

The satellite receiver continuously receives Bitcoin data and API messages broadcast over satellite. To
listen for the API messages, run:

1 blocksat-cli api listen

Once an API message is received, this application first tries to decrypt it. If it succeeds, it then val‑
idates the integrity of the data and saves the final result into the download directory (by default at
~/.blocksat/api/downloads/).

Note that the incoming data stream multiplexes transmissions from all users of the Satellite API.
Hence, the application is expected to fail decryption in most cases except when it finds a message it
is supposed to receive.

Also, by default, this app saves both files and text messages into the download directory. You can
also configure it to print a received (successfully decrypted) text message to the console by running
with:

1 blocksat-cli api listen --echo

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16.3.1 Choosing the Sender

By default, the listener application processes any file that is successfully decrypted. In other words, it
processes any message encrypted using your public key.

You can also filter the messages by the sender, as follows:

1 blocksat-cli api listen --sender [fingerprint]

where [fingerprint] is the public key fingerprint corresponding to the target sender.

In this case, the listener application only processes the messages that are digitally signed by the spe‑
cific sender of interest.

16.4 Demo Receiver

The demo receiver application imitates the output of a real Blockstream Satellite receiver. It outputs
UDP packets containing the API messages, just like the regular receiver does. The difference is that it
fetches these messages directly through the internet, rather than receiving via satellite.

You can run the demo receiver with:

1 blocksat-cli api demo-rx

Then, on another terminal session, you can listen for API messages coming from the demo receiver by
running:

1 blocksat-cli api listen --demo

NOTE: the demo receiver sends packets with API data to the loopback interface. When the lis‑
tener application is launched with option --demo, it will correspondingly listen to the loopback
interface.

16.5 Further Information

16.5.1 Lightning Wallets

Here are some options of Lightning Wallets that can be used to pay for API transmissions:

• Bluewallet (iOS and Android)

• Breez (iOS and Android ‑ in Beta)
• Zap (iOS, Android, Windows, Mac, and Linux)

You can also set up a Lightning node and use the lightning‑cli to handle payments.

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16.5.2 Plaintext Mode

In addition to encrypted messages, you can also send and receive plaintext messages, i.e., unen‑
crypted messages. In this case, all users listening to Satellite API messages will be able to see your
message. Correspondingly, you can receive all messages sent by other users in plaintext format.
To send a plaintext message, run:

1 blocksat-cli api send --plaintext

To receive plaintext messages, run:

1 blocksat-cli api listen --plaintext

In this case, please be aware that all API transmissions will be saved to the download directory. In con‑
trast, in normal mode (with encryption), the listener application only saves the messages addressed
to you (i.e., the messages you can decrypt).
Alternatively, you can filter plaintext messages by the sender, using the --sender option explained
earlier. In this case, the application retains only the clearsigned messages sent by the specific sender
of choice.

16.5.3 Receiving Messages Sent from the Browser

If you want to receive a file uploaded directly on the Satellite Queue page, from the browser, run the
API listener application as follows:

1 blocksat-cli api listen --plaintext --save-raw

The rationale is that files uploaded to the Satellite Queue are sent in plaintext (i.e., without encryption).
Furthermore, the browser transmission tool does not encapsulate the data in the same way as the CLI
sender tool (i.e., command blocksat-cli api send). Argument --save-raw accounts for this
missing encapsulation.
The CLI can also reproduce the message transmission format used by the Satellite Queue tool on the
browser. To do so, run the sender application as follows:

1 blocksat-cli api send --plaintext --send-raw

16.5.4 Reliable Transmissions

The API messages sent over satellite are not guaranteed to be received by all satellite receivers. Each
receiver experiences a unique reception quality, depending primarily on its location, weather condi‑
tions, and the adopted receiver hardware. When the signal quality is low, it becomes more likely for
the receiver to fail on the reception of packets.

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One way to increase the chances of successful reception is to use forward error correction (FEC). In
essence, FEC adds redundancy to the transmitted data so that receivers can recover the original mes‑
sage even if some parts are missing. This is the mechanism that is used, for instance, in Bitcoin Satel‑
lite (see further details in the project’s Wiki).

To send an API message using FEC encoding, run:

1 blocksat-cli api send --fec

NOTE: the FEC feature requires the zfec dependency. You can enable it by installing the
python3-zfec package via your system’s package manager (apt or dnf). Alternatively, you
can install the zfec Python package by running pip3 install zfec.

The api listen command detects and decodes FEC‑encoded messages automatically.

In general, the higher the number of extra (redundant) pieces of data sent over satellite, the better the
protection to data loss over the satellite link. The user can tune this parameter using the command‑
line argument --fec-overhead. By default, this argument is 0.1 (equivalent to 10%), such that, for
a message that originally occupies 10 packets, the application sends one extra packet.

16.5.5 Transmission over Selected Regions

By default, API messages are broadcast worldwide through the six satellite beams currently compos‑
ing the Blockstream Satellite network. However, you can also explicitly select the regions for each
transmission.

For example, to send over regions 0 (G18) and 2 (T11N AFR) only, call the sender application as fol‑
lows:

1 blocksat-cli api send --regions 0 2

The regions are numbered from 0 to 5 according to the following mapping:

Region Satellite Beam

0 Galaxy 18 (G18)
2 Telstar 11N Africa (T11N AFR)
3 Telstar 11N Europe (T11N EU)
4 Telstar 18V C band (T18V C)
5 Telstar 18V Ku band (T18V Ku)

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16.5.6 Running on Testnet

The API commands described thus far interact with the API server that handles live broadcasting via
the Blockstream Satellite network. This server operates on Bitcoin’s Mainnet network and, therefore,
the payment requires actual bitcoins.

Nevertheless, there is an alternative API server that operates on the Bitcoin Testnet network. You can
interact with this Testnet server using argument --net test. For example:

1 blocksat-cli api --net test send

However, note that the Testnet server does not transmit data through the satellite network. It only
broadcasts the data to clients that are connected directly to the server through the internet. Thus,
you need to use the demo receiver to receive API messages sent through the Testnet server.

In this case, run the demo receiver as follows:

1 blocksat-cli api --net test demo-rx

16.5.7 Bump and Delete API orders

When users send messages to the Satellite API, these messages first go into the Satellite Queue. From
there, the satellite transmitter serves the transmission orders with the highest bid (per byte) first.

If your message is still waiting for transmission due to other messages with a higher bid per byte, you
can bump your bid by running:

1 blocksat-cli api bump

You can also delete (cancel) a transmission order by running:

1 blocksat-cli api del

Both of these commands will ask for the UUID and the authorization token of the order. These were
printed to the console when the message was first sent.

16.5.8 Password‑protected GPG keyring

By default, it is assumed that the private key in your keyring is password‑protected. In case you want
to use a private key that is not password‑protected for signing a transmission or decrypting incoming
messages, run the apps with option --no-password, as follows:

1 blocksat-cli api send --sign --no-password

1 blocksat-cli api listen --no-password

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16.5.9 Automating Lightning Payments

The command used to send API messages (blocksat-cli api send) is by default interactive. It
prompts for the bid and prints the Lightning invoice number. The user, in turn, has to choose the bid
and pay the invoice manually.

Nevertheless, there are options to automate the payment. You can specify the bid using the command‑
line argument --bid. Additionally, you can run an arbitrary command with the invoice number. For
example, you can use the lightning‑cli to pay the invoice automatically as follows:

1 blocksat-cli api send -f [file] --bid [bid] \

2 --invoice-exec "lightning-cli pay {}"

This command will send the transmission order to the server directly with the given bid. Subsequently,
it will execute the lightning-cli pay command while substituting {} with the invoice number (i.e.,
the bolt11 payment request string).

16.5.10 Executing Commands with Received Files

The API data listener application provides the command‑line option --exec, which configures an ar‑
bitrary command to be executed for each file received through the satellite API stream. For example,
the option can be used as follows:

1 blocksat-cli api listen --exec 'cat {}' --sender [fingerprint]

where [fingerprint] should be the public key fingerprint corresponding to the target sender.

In this case, the application will execute the given command (cat) for each downloaded file while
substituting {} with the path to the file in the download directory. In other words, this example will
print the contents of every incoming file on the standard output (similar to option --echo).

Due to security reasons, this option requires two safety layers:

• Encryption: it only runs the specified command for successfully decrypted messages.

• Digital signature: it requires digitally signed messages signed by a specific sender of choice
and verified.

The encryption requirement guarantees that the --exec command only gets executed for files explic‑
itly addressed to your node. In other words, the command applies to messages sent by someone who
has your public key and encrypted specifically to your node as the recipient. Meanwhile, the digital
signature guarantees that the sender is a selected (trustworthy) source and not an unintended one
(e.g., a malicious user who has your public key).

If you don’t want to specify the sender, you can still run the command with option --insecure, as
follows:

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1 blocksat-cli api listen --exec 'cat {}' --insecure

In this case, make sure to avoid unsafe commands and use at your own risk.

16.5.11 Satellite API Channels

The Satellite API messages are sent over satellite through multiple channels. Each channel is identified
by a corresponding number. For example, channel 1 is the default channel used for user transmissions.
Meanwhile, there are other active channels for applications described in the sequel.

When receiving API messages via satellite, you can tune to a specific channel. To do so, use argument
--channel on the api listen command. For example, to listen to messages coming through chan‑
nel 4 instead of the default channel 1, run the listener app as follows:

1 blocksat-cli api listen --channel 4

In most cases, however, it is not necessary to specify the channel number. The application configures
the appropriate channel automatically based on other command‑line arguments. For example, this
is the case with the Lightning Gossip and Bitcoin source code options described next.

16.5.12 Lightning Gossip Snapshots

The satellite API has a channel dedicated to Lightning gossip messages, namely messages carrying
snapshots of the gossip synchronization mechanism available for the Lightning Network. To receive
such messages, simply run the listener application using argument --gossip, as follows:

1 blocksat-cli api listen --gossip

When this argument is specified, the listener application tunes to the appropriate channel for gossip
messages (channel 4). Furthermore, it automatically applies other required configurations to receive
the gossip messages. For example, it automatically invokes the historian-clitool to load gossip
snapshots downloaded via satellite.

16.5.13 Bitcoin Source Code Messages

The satellite API also has a channel dedicated to messages carrying the Bitcoin Satellite and Bitcoin
Core source codes. To receive such messages, run the listener application using argument --btc-
src, as follows:

1 blocksat-cli api listen --btc-src

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This argument configures the listener application to tune to channel 5 and applies other required con‑
figurations.

17 Running on Docker

A Docker image is available with everything you need to interface with the supported satellite re‑
ceivers. All you need to do is run the blockstream/satellite Docker image while providing the
appropriate resources to the container, as explained next.

17.1 Standalone Receiver

There are no special requirements to communicate with the standalone receiver from a container. You
can launch the satellite image as follows:

1 docker run --rm -it \

2 -v blocksat-cfg:/root/.blocksat/ \
3 blockstream/satellite

Note the blocksat-cfg named volume provides persistent storage for the configurations created by
the GUI or CLI applications (blocksat-gui or blocksat-cli).

17.2 USB Receiver

First of all, there is an essential limitation to running a Linux USB receiver inside a container. The
USB receiver’s drivers must be installed on the Docker host, not the container. Hence, the referred
blockstream/satellite image does not contain the drivers. Instead, you will need to install the
drivers on your Docker host. Please refer to the driver installation instructions on the USB receiver
guide.

Next, after installing the drivers and connecting the USB receiver to your host, you can start the con‑
tainer. Just note you need to share the DVB network interface (visible on the Docker host) with the
container. To do so, check the DVB interface at /dev/dvb/ (typically named adapter0) and assign it
to the container using option --device as follows:

1 docker run --rm -it \

2 --device=/dev/dvb/adapter0 \
3 --network=host \
4 --cap-add=NET_ADMIN \
5 --cap-add=SYS_ADMIN \
6 -v blocksat-cfg:/root/.blocksat/ \
7 blockstream/satellite

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After that, you can start the receiver via the GUI or run the USB configuration CLI command inside the
container:

1 blocksat-cli usb config

The above step creates a network interface (typically named dvb0_0), configures the appropriate fire‑
wall rules, and assigns an IP address to the interface. Additionally, it configures the so‑called reverse‑
path filtering rule for the interface. However, the latter will not take effect when executed inside the
container, as the container does not have permission to change the reverse‑path filtering rules. Hence,
to complete the configuration, run the following CLI command directly on the container host:

1 blocksat-cli rp -i dvb0_0

Note: If your network interface is named differently (not dvb0_0), you can find its name by run‑
ning: ip link show | grep dvb.

Finally, if using the CLI, launch the receiver by running the following command inside the container:

1 blocksat-cli usb launch

17.3 SDR Receiver

To run the SDR receiver inside a container, you must share the RTL‑SDR USB device (connected to the
Docker host) with the container. To do so, run the container as follows:

1 docker run --rm -it \

2 --privileged \
3 -v /dev/bus/usb:/dev/bus/usb \
4 -v blocksat-cfg:/root/.blocksat/ \
5 blockstream/satellite

Note privileged mode is used to grant access to the RTL‑SDR USB device. Furthermore, it allows the
execution of sysctl, which the SDR application uses for changing option fs.pipe-max-size.

17.4 Sat‑IP Receiver

The essential point for running the Sat‑IP client inside a container concerns the network configuration.
By default, the Sat‑IP client discovers the Sat‑IP server via UPnP. However, the discovery mechanism
does not work if the container runs on an isolated network. To solve the problem, you need to launch
the container using option --network=host as follows:

1 docker run --rm -it \

2 --network=host \
3 -v blocksat-cfg:/root/.blocksat/ \

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4 blockstream/satellite

Alternatively, if you know the IP address of the Sat‑IP receiver, you can specify it directly on the GUI
or with option -a/--addr when running the Sat‑IP client via the CLI. In this case, you don’t need the
--network=host option when launching the container.

17.5 Bitcoin Satellite

In addition to controlling or running the satellite receivers, you can also run Bitcoin Satellite using the
satellite container image. For example, you can run the following:

1 docker run --rm -it \

2 -v ~/.bitcoin/:/root/.bitcoin/ \
3 -v blocksat-cfg:/root/.blocksat/ \
4 blockstream/satellite

NOTE: with option -v ~/.bitcoin/:/root/.bitcoin/, the bitcoind application running

inside the container will use the host’s ~/.bitcoin/ directory as its Bitcoin data directory.

Then, inside the container, run bitcoind as usual.

Also, if you have not generated your bitcoin.conf file yet, you can do so inside the container follow‑
ing the instructions in the Bitcoin configuration section.

17.6 Build the Docker Image Locally

You can also build the Docker image locally rather than pulling it from Docker Hub. To do so, run the
following from the root directory of the repository:

1 make docker

18 Frequency Guide

This section summarizes several frequencies of interest.

18.1 Signal Bands

Blockstream Satellite operates in Ku high band, Ku low band and C band, depending on the region.
Ku high band is used in North America. Ku low band is used in Africa, Europe, and Asia. C band is used
in the Asia‑Pacific region.

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Band Frequency Range

C band 3.7 GHZ ‑ 4.2 GHz

Ku low band 10.7 to 11.7 GHz
Ku high band 11.7 to 12.75 GHz

18.2 Signal Frequencies

The following table summarizes the transmission bands, frequencies, and polarizations of the signals
broadcast in each coverage region:

Satellite Band Polarization Frequency

Galaxy 18 Ku High Horizontal 11913.4 MHz

Telstar 11N Africa Ku Low Horizontal 11470.3 MHz
Telstar 11N Europe Ku Low Vertical 11494.51 MHz
Telstar 18V Ku Ku Low Horizontal 11507.9 MHz
Telstar 18V C C Vertical 4140.0 MHz

18.3 L‑band Frequencies

Next, the following table summarizes the L‑band frequencies to be used in each region based on the
typical LNB local oscillator (LO) frequencies:

LO Frequency 5150 MHz 9750 MHz 10600 MHz 10750 MHz

Galaxy 18 1313.4 MHz 1163.4 MHz

Telstar 11N Africa 1720.3 MHz
Telstar 11N Europe 1744.51 MHz
Telstar 18V Ku Band 1757.9 MHz
Telstar 18V C Band 1010.0 MHz

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19 Monitoring Server

While running your receiver, you can choose to report your receiver performance metrics to a
Blockstream‑hosted server, referred to as the satellite monitoring server. To do so, you must explicitly
enable the reporting functionality. Then, the interface application (GUI or CLI) will periodically send
reports over the Internet. By doing so, you will be helping us better plan and improve the satellite
communications service and worldwide coverage.

With the GUI, the reporting functionality can be enabled on the Receiver tab, as shown below:

Figure 39: GUI Report Option

With the CLI, the --report option can be appended to all supported receiver types, as follows:

TBS 5927 or 5520SE USB receiver:

1 blocksat-cli usb launch --report

Novra S400 standalone receiver:

1 blocksat-cli standalone monitor --report

SDR receiver:

1 blocksat-cli sdr --report

Sat‑IP receiver:

1 blocksat-cli sat-ip --report

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When enabling this functionality for the first time, an initial registration procedure will be executed
to confirm your satellite receiver is functional. The procedure involves a two‑factor authentication
mechanism over satellite, described next.

19.1 Authentication over Satellite

The registration procedure is as illustrated below and involves the following steps:

Figure 40: Two‑factor authentication procedure

1. The interface application (CLI or GUI) sends a registration request over the internet to the mon‑
itoring server. The request includes the user’s public GPG key used for API apps.
2. The monitoring server generates a random verification code, encrypts it using the user’s public
key, and sends the encrypted verification code to the Satellite API for transmission over satellite.
3. The satellite API relays the message over the satellite serving the user.
4. The interface application receives the encrypted verification code, decrypts it, and confirms the
verification code back to the monitoring server.

In the end, this process confirms that the user owns the private key associated with the informed
public key, as this is a prerequisite to decrypting the verification code. Furthermore, it verifies the user
is running a functional satellite receiver, given that the encrypted verification code is sent exclusively
over the satellite network.

19.2 Authenticated Reports

After the initial registration, the periodic reporting of the receiver status becomes enabled. Then, for
every reported metric set, a detached GPG signature is sent so that the monitoring server can validate

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its authenticity.

Since version 0.4.5, reports can also be authenticated using a lightweight password‑based mechanism
as an alternative to GPG detached signatures. The password is created automatically and saved in
ciphertext (encrypted) on your local configuration directory (~/.blocksat/ by default). From then
on, the password is used every time you launch the receiver with reporting enabled.

Note that because the interface application (CLI or GUI) needs to decrypt the local password before
starting to report, every time you launch the receiver with reporting enabled, the application will ask
for the passphrase to your local private GPG key. This passphrase is not cached, so you must always
provide it. Alternatively, with the CLI, you can specify it directly using the command‑line option --
report-passphrase.

20 Quick Reference Guide

This section contains a quick reference guide for the Blockstream Satellite receiver setup and its gen‑
eral usage via the command‑line interface (CLI). Please refer to the main guide for detailed explana‑
tions on all steps and instructions for the graphical user interface (GUI).

20.1 Installation and Upgrade

Ubuntu:

1 add-apt-repository ppa:blockstream/satellite
2 apt update && apt install blockstream-satellite

Fedora:

1 dnf copr enable blockstream/satellite

2 dnf install blockstream-satellite

Debian:

1 add-apt-repository https://aptly.blockstream.com/satellite/debian/
2 apt-key adv --keyserver keyserver.ubuntu.com \
3 --recv-keys 87D07253F69E4CD8629B0A21A94A007EC9D4458C
4 apt update && apt install blockstream-satellite

Raspberry Pi OS (formerly Raspbian):

1 add-apt-repository https://aptly.blockstream.com/satellite/raspbian/
2 apt-key adv --keyserver keyserver.ubuntu.com \
3 --recv-keys 87D07253F69E4CD8629B0A21A94A007EC9D4458C
4 apt update && apt install blockstream-satellite

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20.2 Installation and Upgrade as a Python Package

Note: Consider this method only if not using the above instructions for installing and upgrading di‑
rectly with the Linux package manager.

Install the command‑line interface (CLI) and the graphical user interface (GUI) packages:

1 sudo pip3 install blocksat-cli blocksat-gui

Alternatively, upgrade the existing installation:

1 sudo pip3 install blocksat-cli --upgrade

2 sudo pip3 install blocksat-gui --upgrade

To check your current version, run:

1 blocksat-cli -v
2 blocksat-gui -v

20.3 Common Steps

These are the commands that are applicable to all the supported types of receivers.

Set initial configurations:

1 blocksat-cli cfg

Install software dependencies:

1 blocksat-cli deps install

To update the dependencies, run:

1 blocksat-cli deps update

Get instructions:

1 blocksat-cli instructions

20.4 Receiver‑specific Configuration Steps

20.4.1 Novra S400 standalone receiver

Configure the receiver and the host by running:

1 blocksat-cli standalone cfg

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Monitor the S400 receiver:

1 blocksat-cli standalone monitor

20.4.2 TBS USB receiver

Install the drivers:

1 blocksat-cli deps tbs-drivers

Configure the host and the TBS 5927/5520SE:

1 blocksat-cli usb config

Start the USB receiver:

1 blocksat-cli usb launch

20.4.3 Sat‑IP receiver

Launch the Sat‑IP client:

1 blocksat-cli sat-ip

20.4.4 SDR receiver

Configure Gqrx:

1 blocksat-cli gqrx-conf

Run the SDR receiver:

1 blocksat-cli sdr

20.5 Receiver‑specific Antenna Alignment Steps

This is the most time‑consuming part of the process and has detailed guidance on the antenna align‑
ment section.

In summary, you will try to point your antenna until you get a signal lock on your receiver.

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20.5.1 Novra S400 standalone receiver

Monitor the S400 receiver by running:

1 blocksat-cli standalone monitor

While pointing the antenna, check the logs on the terminal until the receiver logs a Lock. Alternatively,
check the lock indicator on the S400’s web UI or front panel until it becomes green (locked).

20.5.2 TBS USB receiver

Make sure that the USB receiver is running with:

1 blocksat-cli usb launch

While pointing the antenna, check the logs on the terminal until the receiver logs a Lock.

20.5.3 Sat‑IP receiver

Launch the Sat‑IP client:

1 blocksat-cli sat-ip

While pointing the antenna, check the logs on the terminal until the receiver logs a Lock.

20.5.4 SDR receiver

Run gqrx:

1 gqrx

Point the antenna until you can visualize the Blockstream Satellite signal spanning 1.2 MHz. Take note
of the offset between the observed signal’s center frequency and the nominal center frequency (at the
center of the gqrx plot).

Run the receiver with the GUI enabled and in debug mode:

1 blocksat-cli sdr --gui -d --derotate freq_offset

where freq_offset is the offset (in units of kHz) you observed on the gqrx step.

On the plots that open up, confirm the presence of the signal. Then, wait until the receiver prints
LOCKED on the terminal.

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20.6 Bitcoin‑satellite Setup

Install bitcoin‑satellite:

1 blocksat-cli deps install --btc

To update a previous installation of bitcoin‑satellite, run:

1 blocksat-cli deps update --btc

Generate the bitcoin.conf configuration file:

1 blocksat-cli btc

Run bitcoin‑satellite:

1 bitcoind

20.7 Satellite API

Configure encryption keys:

1 blocksat-cli api cfg

Broadcast a message using the satellite API:

1 blocksat-cli api send

Bump the bid of an API transmission order:

1 blocksat-cli api bump

Delete an API transmission order:

1 blocksat-cli api del

Listen for API messages acquired by the satellite receiver:

1 blocksat-cli api listen

Run the demo receiver:

1 blocksat-cli api demo-rx

Listen to the API messages coming from the demo receiver:

1 blocksat-cli api listen -d

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