This is how the whole thing started. In spring 1995 I, Toob and Andy started dreaming of the Magic Band - 6m. As all of us just had got the technical licence, with permission for 50MHz and up, it felt as 6m was a very exciting band. Nobody but Roland OH0AZX had station equipped for SIX here on the islands. So we talked a little with OM OH0AZZ Harry about possibilities for building a beam, got some descriptions from -0AZX, and started building a 5 element beam. In May 1995 i we had a new and shiny beam made out of an old channel 3 TV antenna. We borrowed Toob's dad's old Volvo "kamel", grabbed a 6m long 38mm tube for mast, ripped Harry's ICOM IC-726 from his shack, and raced up to a hill called Riddarklint (90 m.a.s.l. JP90XI). With only 10 W we were QRV on SIX! Callsign used was OH0JFB.

VHF - The conquest to beat the club station...

After we had worked several DX in the IARU region 1 test that summer, many other HAM's around got "anxious" and quickly began to build up 6m stations (HI). Well, now that we were in the business, we felt that 2m also seemed to be interesting to conquer. The club station OH0AA was already well equipped with big antennas and big power, and we felt the pressure to get them down to the ground (HI). In July -95 we were for the first time participating in the monthly VHF activity contest (NAC). Equipment was: Rig - IC-726 with SSB Electronics transverter (20W), Antenna - 10 ele. Teleste borrowed from OH0JGY Micke, Feeder - 15m RG213, Mast - 6m 38mm tube, Rotator - Arm-Strong (OH0JFB, HI), Power supply - Lousy old car battery. Callsign used on 2m was OH0JET. 2m seemed fun but to make results we needed more power and more antenna, that was a fact! As Harry already got a 150W SSB Electronics PA we only had one big problem - we needed about 20-30 A 12VDC! Then we got the crazy idea of building a power supply out of a B&S lawnmower motor and a Bosch car generator. After a few hours of welding and cutting the only female member (to this date) in the team was ready - "Svarta Bettan" or Black Betty in English (HI). About the same time we constructed the huge antenna that appeared to be a real winner. The concept for the beam was taken out of Dubus magazine. It is basically a 17 element DJ9BV with a couple of extra elements added. Since the antenna had to be light but at the same time hi-gained it was constructed of very thin Al-profiles. This was a little mistake because the boom-length is about 12m and when it's getting windy the beam is not so accurate anymore (HI).

Getting cold…

Results in VHF contest did get better and better that summer. Harry's always says that at least one improvement (no matter how big it is) must be done to the station between every contest, and so far this "treaty" hasn't been broken. In the late summer Harry's son, Anders, constructed a pneumatic tower which is 6m long and made out of light aluminium tubing. When air pressure is applied it extends to 12m. This made it a lot more comfortable to raise the antennas. Everything worked quite well during all contest expeditions up to the hill, except for some critical moments when assembling the station. I'd rather not write about that (HI). In October it began to be a little too cold to work portable as not everyone could be inside the car at one time, and the poor operator of the Arm-Strong rotator also began to freeze. In December I, Andy, my father Sven and Toob began constructing a small (2 x 2,5m) cabin inside a magazine at my father's farm.

New QTH!

In March 1996 we transported our brand new cabin by tractor to our new QTH in JP90XI. The reason for choosing this new QTH was that the land-owner of the hill where we had been working earlier was somewhat hard to make business with and we wanted to have a little freedom. Even though this new QTH was a little bit lower (abt 75 m.a.s.l) we still had tremendous take-off in every direction.

New call sign!

In 1995 we worked with our own callsigns (-JET on 2m and -JFB on 6m) but for 1996 we wanted to work with only one call in all sections. Luckily we knew OH0RJ Lasse who's one of only a few members in the OH0AB (Club Zero) club. He agreed with us to be members and to use the club call in contest. 1996 was a very successful contest year and it resulted in a 1st place in the 6m section and 3rd place in the 2m phone section of the Finnish part of NAC.

New QTH again!

Although we had much freedom at our new QTH there were troubles. The road up to the hill ended about 100m from the cabin and we had to carry all our stuff through very bad terrain. In wintertime we had big trouble keeping the road free from snow. Another problem was that we in the future wanted a power connection, and there was no such things available in maybe 1-2 km range = expensive. So in December 1996 my father came up with an idea of moving the cabin to a hill on his land, not far from home. We discussed this in the team and even though this meant that we were getting even lower we decided that it would be the smartest to move as we were constantly building up our station. There we had road all the way up (my father, and I built it in one day!), possibilities for power line connection and full freedom to do whatever we want. On December 22nd 1996 the transportation took place and we said goodbye to our beloved QTH.

No more Arm-Strong…

Our new QTH still was in the same locator JP90XI so we didn't have to re-learn this again (HI). Up to this time we had been using Arm-Strong rotator but it was getting really boring and cold so we installed a Ham-M rotator at the base of the pneumatic tower (to this date we are still using it!). In 1997 we participated in some other contest except for NAC and one of the most successful was the IARU region 1 50MHz test in which we came 3rd (multiope. section). Personally I also tried meteorscatter work out, and I think it bit me (HI).

New antennas

In June 1997 we began constructing the antennas that we are going to put in the new tower, which lies horizontally on the rocks beside the cabin just "screaming" to get up in the air (HI). Two 2m DJ9BV 4.0 lambda (15 ele.) and two 70cm 25 ele DJ9BV were built during the summer.

AC power connection

In August 1997 our brand new PA for 2m arrived and we got an immediate need for more 230VAC power. As the little Eisemann generator hardly pumped out 500W we had to borrow a bigger one for a couple of months. In September we began building a 230V power line from my fathers farm up to the cabin. It was a lot of work and the line wasn't ready until late November. Most of the material (poles and cable) we got sponsored from local power distributors. The cable was mounted in a very rough area and we had to get it down ourselves.

Early June 1998 the new 25m tower with 2x15 element yagis for 2m and 2x26 element yagis for 70cm was raised. In the images section you can watch yourself what it's like. The antennas and rotator were tested and everything worked just excellent!
In the summer of '98 we also started our cooperation with Radio Sporting Team, a group consisting of three finnish guys who are very into HF contesting. We helped them building up their magnificent contest station right next to ours on the hill. They are working the major HF contests and they are using callsigns OH0AW and OH0Z.
In the year of 1998 we also formed our own club and we got registered. We also got our very own callsign OH0AZ.
 

Due to work and other interests we have nowadays limited our activities to only work the monthly national contest in 2m and 70 cm. 
 

Peter Löfman OH0JFB, 16/7 2002