In the early 1960's, in our remote farming community we were 3 boys who had electrical things as a hobby and interest: working with old telephones and pulling private phone lines between our houses, dismantling old radios, and that sort of things that young boys come up with to occupy their little free time. Of us three, one stayed in the village as a farmer, and two went into the 'city' to study electrical things.

The writings and publications about building your own radios by Osmo A. Wiio OH2TK,  the Honorary Chairman of SRAL (now SK), were the motivators for many new hams and radio hobbyists in Finland at that time, including me. My first home-built radio was a 3-tube receiver for 80m and 40m bands, an OH2TK design.

The radio amateur's novice class certificate required completing technical, regulations and slow radio telegraphy tests. In January 1965 I had that coveted piece of paper in my hands and started building my own station. A receiver was constructed around a Geloso coil set and a BC453 surplus radio. The transmitter was built from two radio tubes, and the amateur radio station OH1ZQ - based on my home district of that time - was on the air. Later, an NC100XA receiver from a surplus auction complemented the station set-up.

One year was enough to collect the required first 300 CW QSOs and to pass the general class exam. A new transmitter was built around another Geloso coil set, giving phone contact capability in DSB, and a whopping 30 W of output power. The antenna was a Windom wire hanging between the house and a tree. A cubical quad antenna on the roof was catching the attention of passers-by.

Studies in electrical engineering (what else...) meant a decline in radio activity. The faculty ham station OH3TR was available to fight the worst withdrawal symptoms, but student life with everything that comes with it kept the ham activity at a low level. In the new town, my call changed to OH3ZQ.

Out of the uni and into the work life, family life, and downtown housing. Add work travel to that, and there just was not time to get to the radios. However, in 1981 I was on a work assignment in W2 land  when I saw a small ad in the local newspaper: a Drake 2C receiver and 2NT novice transmitter for sale - the station of my dreams back at the time when I got my first license. I bought the Drakes. The landlord had nothing against hanging an antenna to the trees in the backyard, as he was a ham himself, too.  (hello, Ken-Ichi san !)

8 years later I was working in the W/VE area again. Now I carried home a TS940 transceiver which was - and for most part still is - a very good radio and meets my requirements for casual hamming. Recently, it has gotten company of the little brother TS50 which will gradually move into my boat as a ' /mm' station.

Returning from that trip, I relocated to our current '/OH2' QTH. Several high trees around the house made a good support for an 80m sky loop antenna, and a grown-up man climbing those trees provided an excellent opportunity to get to know all the new neighbours. My work still included a lot of travel and little of on-the-air time.

Later, the forest around our house was cut down and more houses built there; the loop antenna came down and a longer quiet period started.(As  you can see, ham radio as a hobby is not at such a pathological level as something else in my life; it comes and goes in cycles, much the same way the sun spots do...)

The spark never dies, however: In '05 Xmas, Santa had found a genuine Vibroplex bug for me, a pleasant gift indeed, as I mainly work casual cw, and again in '07, an Elecraft K1 transceiver kit. After a number of years, the kit got put together and is now there, next to the Heathkit and a JuMa trx-1.

As it happens, I now have some more personal time available; so finally, on Xmas day 2012, I  hung a 13 m vertical wire up from a remote tuner to the top of the lonely tree in the back yard, to test a backstay antenna for my boat, and OH3ZQ is on the air again.

And the year 2015 was the 50th anniversary of this hobby !


So; I still take casual cw contacts, mostly with other Eu stations whose signals happen to exceed the noise level in my down-town housing environment. I still keep a paper log by pencil and send qsl cards for all my contacts because I like receiving qsl cards. A 7" tablet, retired from navigation duty in my boat, is now occasionally used just to check call sign info at qrz.com. And I thoroughly enjoy the activities at the local club OH2AP.

The lonely tree in the backyard was cut down, so that the antenna now is a resistor-terminated vertical loop at lowly 7 m height; on a good day,even that works..