You never know who you might hear on HF!

Colonel Doug Wheelock, KF5BOC

I was tuning around HF today and heard an American accent on 14.275MHz. This was odd as conditions had been really bad because of a geomagnetic storm, complete with a K index of six.

I didn't think there would be much propagation to the US.

Listening carefully it turned out to be Keith RA/WD9GET in Star City, Russia. Keith is a flight surgeon with NASA and was operating the amateur radio station at the cosmonaut/astronaut training centre in Russia.

Before I had a chance to call him he said he was taking a break. That was a shame, but I left the rig running on 14.275.

Ten minutes later RA/KF5BOC came up on the frequency and was calling, so I replied. He was a good 59 on my 40-10m EFHW antenna at about 25feet.

It turned out to be Colonel Doug Wheelock KF5BOC, the International Space Station commander, who is in Russia at the Gagarin Space Centre to help with training. Blow me down!

So Doug and I were able to have a quick chat and I mentioned how I had been involved in the ISS schools contact with UK ESA astronaut Tim Peake. When we finished the pile-up started - big time!

Just shows you never know what you going to come across on HF.

• Norfolk Amateur Radio Club and Abacus TV produced a video of the Norfolk schools' contact with Tim Peake on the ISS, which I presented and is available on YouTube.