A ranging system for a communications spacecraft (14) overlays a Gaussian noise signal over a broadband channel which also carries information or traffic signals. The noise is used to establish the range between a ground station (12) and the spacecraft (14). The range is determined by delaying the Gaussian noise in a controllable delay (32), and autocorrelating the delayed noise with the noise returned over the communications channel from the spacecraft. The ranging system (FIG. 4) reduces the bandwidth of the noise in a filter (18) during initial acquisition, to color the noise and broaden the autocorrelation peak (FIG. 3a). The broad peak shortens the initial search time. Once the peak is initially found, the noise bandwidth is progressively broadened to narrow the autocorrelation peak (FIG. 3c) and to give a more accurate indication of range.