An amateur ham radio enthusiast has made one of the coolest contacts possible, talking with an astronaut aboard the International Space Station (ISS) using a homemade antenna.
The ham radio operator, Doug, made contact with the ISS as it passed overhead in July 2023.
“I’ve made numerous voice and APRS [Automatic Packet Reporting System] contacts over the FM satellites and the ISS repeater,” Doug wrote on his
Though they of course have other duties on board the space station,
NASA, ESA, CSA, and Roscosmos all take part in the Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (
“It’s pretty rare to speak to an astronaut outside of a scheduled educational contact. There are several factors that need to align for it to happen,” one ham radio operator explained to
“The ISS must be passing within LOS [Line Of Sight]… at a time that coincides with an astronauts ‘down time,’ as in they must not be working doing an official scheduled task. There must be an astronaut who is actively using the Amateur Radio equipment to make unscheduled contacts.”
Hearing the ISS is much easier, requiring only a