SRAL Kesäleiri 2007

OH5Z by OH5NQ

About us

We span an age distribution from about 25 to 70. Some of us have known each other for some 40 years.
We represent well the diversity of the Finnish society, from farmers to merchants and from musicians to engineers.
Many of us have many other hobbies, including fishing and boating on Finland’s 120 thousand lakes, hiking and skiing, reading and writing, enjoying music from jazz to classics.
Also within ham radio we span nearly everything from top band to the magic six and VHF. Some of us love CW others do best on SSB. Some hunt countries others enjoy long QSOs and new acquaintances.
Our QTH Mustila is well known in Finland. The first radio signals went on the air from here about 1910 when Peter’s uncle Eric sparked the air and began building the first vacuum tubes some years later. Mustila is also known world-wide for its collection of trees and other plants around the northern hemisphere planted in the Arboretum Mustila, exactly the forested hill where OH5Z is located in what used to be an old hen-house. Now different sounds come out of there!

A brief history of OH5Z

It all began as Peter, OH5NQ, entered WWDX contest, AM-phone in 1952. Peter was then a schoolboy, age 16. He remembers even callsigns of stations worked in that contest: ZC6JM, ZC7DO, MD2AM, I1SM, F9RM, G2PU, and VQ4AQ just to mention a few. Peter made 98 QSO’s that contest weekend – an absolutely astonishing score!
Peter’s older brother Axel, OH5NW, then took up the contesting and made some world-top scores, particularly on 10 meters in the late 1950ies. Gradually plans began to develop to form a multi-multi-team using Carola’s callsign OH5SM in the mid 1960ies. This happened simultaneously with the development of the OH2AM-group consisting nearly exclusively of teenagers in the Helsinki region. The fierce competition between OH5SM and OH2AM really forms the foundation of Finland’s prominence in contesting and generally DX-ing.
Teams of this kind do not live forever. So it was with these two groups in Finland. People went to education, married, had new second op’s and new personal interests. But the core persons continued to enjoy ham-radio and contesting.
Also new groups were formed, one of them being the Broby-group (OH5TQ, 5XT, 5LF, 5KS) using the local water-tower as a ham-shack and antenna-tower. Their signal was impressive, particularly on 20 having a 4el 204BA on top of the tower. They were active 1979-83.
What was left of the OH5SM-team continued in the 1980ies with a new addition in 1982 of the first 42 meter rotatable tower at OH5NQ. Several visiting operators came to work this station: OH1WZ, OH6EI, OH6LI and others using Peter’s call OH5NQ.
The Water-Tower-Group had to move out of the tower in 1983 and they were greeted welcome by Peter at OH5NQ, bringing with them a most impressive linear amplifier and two 204BA’s which are still stacked on the 42 meter rotatable.
The 1980ies and 1990ies were continued in the same general mode; visiting operators at OH5NQ and ad hoc groups formed each year. Eventually Peter retired from his regular job in 2000 and started to think more seriously about the future. In the meantime many of us were approaching “full grown-age” and had more time to spare for this lifetime hobby. But we needed young new operators that know the new data-technology and can handle difficult integrated systems. It has become absolutely clear, that an efficient new team must have persons with special knowledge and ability; computers, interference, electronics, antennas, rotatable towers, tower climbing, band conditions, CW-skill, phone-skill and long-time experience.
In 2005 we finally got our second rotatable mast, 62 meters up and had it finally decorated for the 2006 games: 40: 2 over 2 over 2, 20 and 15: 3-o-3-o-3-o-3-o-3, 10: 4-o-4-o-4-o-4-o-4. Low bands have also been entirely restructured: 160: 2 full-seized loops, 80: 2 full-seized double-loops.
The old 42 meter rotatable is now mostly a multiplier device, but works particularly well with its 6 element monobanders on 10 and 15, its 4-over-4 on 20 and its 3 element on 40.
Both rotatable towers now have extra rotors on top, enabling us to rotate two tribanders independently on the two masts.
Thus in the new millennium we have now established a team that can handle most of it. By scratching the bottoms of all previous groups; OH5SM-team, Broby-group, OH5NQ-guests, OH5Z-club members and by actively looking for new skills the OH5Z-team is now ready to go.
We would also like to introduce an international visitor’s category, negotiating at the moment with our friends in Estonia, Sweden, Russia and the USA about operator exchange.
OH5Z is prepared for the new sunspot cycle!