January 2, 2026
Space phones, Earth memes
Contact the ISS
Astronauts are taking surprise radio calls—Earthlings scramble to say hi
TLDR: Astronauts sometimes chat with licensed ham radio users during downtime, and the community is fired up with first-hand bragging, etiquette debates, and jokes. Fans swap tracking tips and argue about lasers vs. radios, but everyone agrees: talking to space from your backyard is delightfully real and accessible.
Space just slid into your DMs—kind of. The International Space Station’s crew sometimes hop on ham radios during downtime, tossing out casual “hello Earth!” calls, and the community is buzzing. Yes, you can literally chat with astronauts if you’ve got a basic ham radio license, the right frequencies, and catch a pass overhead. Cue the drama: newbies like fevercell are stunned that “any amateur…can contact the ISS,” while veterans flex first-hand logs—exitnode even shared a proud contact story with proof. Weekend windows? People say it turns into a cosmic call-in show.
The mood swings from wholesome to hilarious. wortelefant joked about getting “space evangelized” mid-orbit. Others are pushing the envelope—GistNoesis lobbed the spicy “Or use lasers” take, igniting a mini debate about what counts as cool vs. ridiculous. Etiquette police chimed in too: don’t transmit on the downlink, listen first, and don’t spam the channel. Tools like AMSAT’s tracker and an antenna that can point at the sky help, but people brag that even simple setups have worked.
There’s nostalgic lore—a 2018 thread resurfaces—and a fresh wave of “is this real?” excitement. Verdict from the crowd: this is the most wholesome flex in tech—contacting space without a billionaire rocket, just vibes and radio waves.
Key Points
- •ISS crew members occasionally make unscheduled amateur radio voice contacts during personal time, typically around 0730–1930 UTC and often on weekends.
- •Available ISS amateur modes include crossband voice repeater, packet radio (VHF/UHF), and SSTV image reception, depending on active onboard equipment.
- •Current frequencies include 145.80 MHz downlink (voice/SSTV), voice uplinks of 144.49 MHz (ITU Regions 2/3) and 145.20 MHz (ITU Region 1), VHF packet 145.825 MHz, UHF packet 437.550 MHz, and repeater 145.99 MHz (PL 67 Hz) uplink/437.80 MHz downlink.
- •Operations are split-frequency; earth stations should listen on the downlink and transmit on the uplink only when the ISS is in range, and must not transmit on the downlink frequency.
- •ISS amateur radios include Kenwood D710E and TM-D710GA (in the Columbus Module, up to 25 W, FM and packet), with QSL cards available and AMSAT tools provided for pass prediction and tracking.