Credits: ARISS
ARISS Contact is Scheduled with Member Scouts of
1st Radford Semele Scout Group, Radford Semele, United Kingdom
October 16, 2025—Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) has received schedule confirmation for an ARISS radio contact between an astronaut aboard the International Space Station (ISS) and the Scout Groups in the County of Warwickshire, UK. ARISS conducts 60-100 of these special amateur radio contacts each year between students around the globe and crew members with ham radio licenses aboard the ISS.
Involved in this ARISS contact are three Scout Groups based in the south of the town of Royal Leamington Spa in the County of Warwickshire; 1st Radford Semele, 1st Sydenham and 1st/6th Leamington and Explorer Unit, called Trident. These groups include about 150 young people, 40 adult volunteers and a dozen Charity Trustees.
Participants range in age from 6-8 years (Beavers), 8-10.5 years (Cubs), 10.5-14 years (Scouts) and 14-18 years (Explorers). Scouting activities include camping, hiking, kayaking, climbing, and working on community projects. Over the last 10 months, their activities have focused on space and the ISS. They have also been building electronic circuit boards, and using stars or the sun to navigate and gauge direction.
This will be a direct contact via Amateur Radio allowing students to ask their questions of astronaut Jonathan (Jonny) Kim, amateur radio call sign KJ5HKP. The downlink frequency for this contact is 145.800 MHz and may be heard by listeners that are within the ISS-footprint that also encompasses the relay ground station.
The amateur radio ground station for this contact is south of the town of Royal Leamington Spa, UK. Amateur radio operators using call sign GB4RSS, will operate the ground station to establish and maintain the ISS connection.
The ARISS radio contact is scheduled for October 18, 2025 at 10:49:40 am BST (United Kingdom) (9:49:40 UTC, 5:49 am EDT, 4:49 am CDT, 3:49 am MDT, 2:49 am PDT).
The space and ground teams will attempt to use the recently reinstalled HamTV device during this contact.
If successful, this will represent another step in recommissioning the HamTV system that was returned to Earth and repaired after a failure in orbit in 2018.
Watch at https://live.ariss.org/hamtv/
HamTV’s DATV frequency is 2395 MHz
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As time allows, students will ask these questions:
- Is being on the ISS like living on Mars
- Can you see the Milky Way from there?
- Do plants still grow towards the sun on the ISS?
- What’s the funniest thing that has happened to you in space
- What happens if you drop something in space, does it float forever?
- Have you ever seen a space storm or shooting star from the ISS
- Have you ever had to fix something important in space, and what happened?
- Do you ever play tricks or jokes on each other
- What do you eat for breakfast in space? Cereal would float away
- How does a space walk feel?
- Does food taste different in space? Better or worse?
- What’s the coolest experiment you’ve done in space?
- Do you feel dizzy when you get back to Earth
- With Halloween coming up, do you hear creepy sounds on the ISS?
- Do you play board games on the ISS? Which ones?
- What’s the most difficult challenge you’ve faced while living on the space station?
- Do you have bedtime stories or teddy bears in space?
- How many months can you stay in space for?
- How do you prepare your body and mind to live in space for so long?
- Can you drink hot chocolate in space
- How do you stay clean without a shower in space?
- What training do you have to do to be an astronaut?
About ARISS:
Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) is a cooperative venture of international amateur radio societies and the space agencies that support the ISS. In the United States, sponsors are the American Radio Relay League (ARRL), Amateur Radio Digital Communications (ARDC), Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation (AMSAT), NASA’s Space Communications and Navigation program (SCaN) and the ISS National Lab—Space Station Explorers. The primary goal of ARISS is to promote exploration of science, technology, engineering, the arts, and mathematics topics. ARISS does this by organizing scheduled contacts via amateur radio between crew members aboard the ISS and students. Before and during these radio contacts, students, educators, parents, and communities take part in hands-on learning activities tied to space, space technologies, and amateur radio. For more information, see http://www.ariss.org.
Media Contact:
Dave Jordan, AA4KN
ARISS PR
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