A random access technique for one way channels. With the apparatus and method of this system, each user sends an initial message of stated length to a central receiver. The message is then retransmitted a specified number of times in a pre-determined interval reserved for the retransmission process. The time interval between each successive retransmission of a given message is randomly generated. The random access protocol with retransmissions improves the probability of successful message transmission in a one way communication environment where observation (retransmission) periods for all users do not overlap.