--- title: Ham Radio Enthusiast Makes Contact With International Space Station description: NASA confirmed on Wednesday that anyone with a ham radio could potentially make contact with the International Space Station (ISS), as one astonished user discovered earlier this month. canonical: https://time.com/3995908/international-space-station-radio/ author: Dan Kedmey article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-08-13T13:18:44.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T10:08:55.568Z article:section: Science og:title: Here's How to Chat With the International Space Station og:description: NASA confirmed on Wednesday that anyone with a ham radio could potentially make contact with the International Space Station (ISS), as one astonished user discovered earlier this month. og:url: https://time.com/3995908/international-space-station-radio/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Here's How to Chat With the International Space Station twitter:description: NASA confirmed on Wednesday that anyone with a ham radio could potentially make contact with the International Space Station (ISS), as one astonished user discovered earlier this month. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Here's How to Chat With the International Space Station  by [Dan Kedmey](https://time.com/author/dan-kedmey/)  ## Dan Kedmey Aug 13, 2015 1:18 PM UTC  by [Dan Kedmey](https://time.com/author/dan-kedmey/)  ## Dan Kedmey Aug 13, 2015 1:18 PM UTC NASA [confirmed](http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/projects/cp/summer-of-science-2015/latest/calling-the-international-space-station) on Wednesday that anyone with a ham radio could potentially make contact with the International Space Station (ISS), as one astonished user discovered earlier this month. Adrian Lane, a ham radio enthusiast in Coleford, England, was stunned to receive a reply from an astronaut aboard the ISS, after spending nearly a month in his backyard shed attempting to make contact. “They came back to me and said, ‘Receiving you – welcome aboard the International Space Station,'” Lane [told](https://www.google.com/maps/place/Coleford,+Gloucestershire+GL16,+UK/@51.966052,-1.7846188,8z/data=!4m2!3m1!1s0x4871b082a918c3af:0x843e001054bf2592) the BBC. And technically speaking, anyone with similar radio expertise can do the same thing. A NASA spokesperson [told](http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/projects/cp/summer-of-science-2015/latest/calling-the-international-space-station) the New York _Times_ that the space station is equipped with a ham radio, which is [set](http://www.ariss.org/contact-the-iss.html) to a public frequency. Astronauts can use the radio to strike up an idle chat at will, usually during their break hours. \[[BBC](http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-gloucestershire-33806298)\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3995908/international-space-station-radio/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3995908/international-space-station-radio/"},"headline":"Here's How to Chat With the International Space Station","datePublished":"2015-08-13T13:18:44.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T10:08:55.568Z","description":"You'll need a Ham radio","url":"https://time.com/3995908/international-space-station-radio/","keywords":["A Year In Space","Space"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Dan Kedmey","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/dan-kedmey/"}],"articleSection":"Science","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/science/","name":"Science"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/a-year-in-space/","name":"A Year In Space"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3995908/international-space-station-radio/","name":"Here's How to Chat With the International Space Station"}}]}] ```