Angus Young, of Meadow Drive, used a homemade aerial on his radio to connect with a man in Ohio after bouncing the signal off the moon.

Mr Young, 42, a postal worker for Royal Mail, used the lowest amount of power ever recorded to achieve the communication – just 25 watts.

Overall, Mr Young estimates his signal covered more than 500,000 miles.

He said: “I made my own aerial for my radio and if you point the antenna towards the moon one per cent will bounce back.

“If someone else does it as well they can sometimes detect the signal.

“When I communicated with the man in Ohio, who was called Gary, I was using a very low powered antenna. I was really shocked when I picked up the signal, it was brilliant.”

When Mr Young communicated he sent several messages to Gary with each sending five messages.

Mr Young said: “The radio is connected to a computer which shows the messages. We told each other where we were and he sent me a message saying 73 s which means best wishes and regards.”

Mr Young’s long-distance communication is the new record for the least amount of power for a UK moon-bounce.

The previous UK record was 50 times what he used – 1,250 watts.

Mr Young added: “I am thrilled to have made the new record. Twenty-five watts is a very small amount of power, the same amount which is needed to light up a car tail-lamp.”

Checks are currently being made to see whether Mr Young’s contact broke any international records.