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ROMPPAINEN.NET CONNECTING DX’ERS, HISTORIANS AND GENEALOGISTS

HANNU’s SUMMARY FOR THE NON-FINNISH SPEAKERS

DX-LISTENING - international radio hobby

is being explained at http://www.dxing.info/introduction.dx

my QSL statistics over 2200 reception reports during 27 years

my QSLs 2005-2007

my QSLs 2008 -

my virtual QSL-collection

my North American QSLs

North American AM-stations heard in Kainuu region 1975-2006

radio stations in Kainuu (Kajaani area), Northeastern Finland

other DX-links

the Finnish Amateurs Listeners homepage: http://koti.phnet.fi/oh3swl/english.html

I started this great radio hobby as a schoolkid in 1979. At that time Suomen Yleisradio (state owned Radio Finland) had monopoly in the airwaves in Finland. First I used a Russian made portable receiver Selena B212 without digital frequency display. My first QSL came from Radio Finland 6120 kHz. BBC, Radio Polonia (Poland), Radio Moscow, HCJB Quito, IBRA Radio (Portugal), Radio Vaticana and Radio Petrozavodsk were all broadcasting some programs in Finnish at that time. In 1982 I bought my first communications receiver, Japanese made Yaesu FRG-7700. Nowadays I am using JRC NRD 535 HF receiver and Yaesu FRG-100 with antenna tuner FRT-7700. My listening location in Paltamo has become very interferenced by all kinds of electrical equipments and machines in the neighbourhood. The only way to catch new radio stations is to participate in DX-peditions in the countryside.

So far I have collected QSL-verifications from 192 different countries and over 1000 different radio stations from all over the world. The farthest stations are Radio Nacional Arcangel San Gabriel from the Antarctis and Radio France d’outre Mer, Tahiti, Society Islands. All these countries and radio stations are heard below the Arctic Circle, mainly in Paltamo, Kainuu. I have also done some DX-peditions to Southwest Finland. In the future it would be nice to go to a DX-pedition in Lapland.

Our cat listening with communications receiver Yaesu FRG-100 and antenna tuner FRT-7700.

Listening night has been so hard that she has fallen in sleep.

I do not favour any special continents or countries when listening to the world. My part of Finland, Kainuu is ideal place to catch Asian and Oceanian radio stations. We have a DX-club called Kainuun DX-Kuuntelijat (KaiDX) in Kajaani area. This club was founded on 4^th June 1983. Before that there has been also another DX-club, Paltamon DX-Kuuntelijat (PaDXKu) in this area. In the 1980’s there were about 50 DX-listeners in Kainuu area and 2500 DX-listeners in Finland. The internet and the collapse of the Finnish radio monopoly in 1983 made DX-listening not so interesting among the youth anymore. Today we have only few active members in this region. In the past we even published our local DX-magazines “PADXKU” and “KAIDX”. Both of these clubs are local clubs under the umbrella organisation called Finnish DX-Association (Suomen DX-Liitto). Nowadays I am a member of the Medium Wave Circle too. I have also done some SWL with the call OH8-826.

RADIO ELVI

has own webpages at http://www.kainuunelvi.fi/viestintaleiri/?s=radio%20elvi and www.paltamo.fi/~oh8uv/radioelv.html

Radio Elvi is owned and operated by Kainuun Elokuva- ja Videoyhdistys, a local film and video society. It was founded in 1990. The idea of a local radio station operated by schoolkids and young people was born in a sauna in Sonkajärvi, Northern Savo already in 1984. Arvi Auvinen, Kalle Holmberg, Rauni Molberg and Veli-Matti Karppinen got an idea to build up a media camp for the youth.

The first media camp was held in a school in Iijärvi, Paltamo in summer 1990. In the beginning there was no transmitter yet. In 1991 the first radio programs were heard only in the camping area by a local net. The young DJs had to play LPs and cassette tapes when we did not have CDs and DVDs. In 1995 Radio Elvi started to use airwaves in Iijärvi for the first time. The FM transmitter had just 20 watts of power. The power was raised up to 150 watts in 1996. The new transmitter was heard even in Kuhmo close to the Russian border.

Radio Elvi moved from Paltamo to Vuolijoki in 1997. The new camp was located in an empty school in Kuusiranta on the southern shores of Lake Oulujärvi. The power was raised up to 225 watts in the year 2000. At that time the listening radius was around 50 kilometers (30 miles). In 2002 Radio Elvi moved from Vuolijoki back to Kainuun Opisto, Mieslahti, Paltamo. The new location is a people’s college owned by a pietist movement Herättäjä-Yhdistys. In 2008 the media camp was held in an old school in Saviranta south of Mieslahti.

Radio Elvi can be heard on 90,0 MHz every summer in the first week of June. The transmitter power has varied a lot, from 20 watts to 225 watts. The programs are made by young people from 7 to 14 years of age. The programs contain mainly Finnish music and talk. There is the news every hour. Some station announcements can be heard also in English. Occasional there have been Russian visitors who have played their own programs even in Russian language. The program will start every morning around 8 – 9 am local time. The sign off will be after midnight, sometimes the programs can be heard as late as 2 am local time.

The main operators are hams OH8UV Markku Korhonen and OH8HDL Tanja Kemppainen.

All reception reports are welcomed to: Radio Elvi, c/o Tanja Kemppainen, Rinnetie 12, 88300 Paltamo, Finland.

All correct reports will be verified with a nice QSL card.

GENEALOGY

is very popular and growing hobby in Finland nowadays,

more general information about the genealogy can be found at: www.genealogia.fi/indexe.htm

Information and links about the emigration from Finland and Scandinavia

More links about the genealogy

A project for digitizing archived materials in Finland: http://www.digiarkisto.org/sshy/index_eng.htm (digitalized Church records)

Finland Genealogy Forum to search Finnish roots in English

The first Finnish settlers in Kainuu “Lake Oulujärvi “Wilds” in 1552 (Map)

The monument for the first Finnish settlers in Kainuu 1552-1952

The Land Records of Kainuu “Lake Oulujärvi Wilds” in 1605

The Land Records of Kainuu “Lake Oulujärvi Wilds” in 1611

The Personal Taxation in Paltamo in 1683

The Lutheran parishes in Kainuu (map)

Wanted Kalle Jaakko Romppainen somewhere in the USA

Photographs from historical sites in Paltamo

The Raate road battles in Winter War 1939 - 1940

Paltamo villages

Finnish parishes

von Falckenberg Genealogy

I have searched my family roots from the archives since 1994. The first known Romppainens in Kainuu were Simo Romppainen and Lauri Romppainen.

They moved to the huge wilderness of Kainuu in 1609. Russians burned most of the houses in the border area in 1611. After that Simo Romppainen moved to Miesmäki (nowadays Härmänmäki), Paltamo. Lauri Romppainen became the progenitor of the Romppainen family. He was born around 1577 somewhere in Finland. Lauri Romppainen moved from Paltamo to eastern Hyrynsalmi in 1622. After that Hyrynsalmi became the home of all Romppainens in Finland.

Lauri Romppainen, the progenitor of the Romppainen family lived by Lake Luvanjärvi in eastern Hyrynsalmi, Finland from 1622 to 1650. Some of his descendants are still living in the area.

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The surname Romppainen propably comes from a Swedish word trompare meaning a drummer in the Swedish army in the 1500’s. The native place of the Romppainens has not been found. It is likely that Romppainens came from Savo area (Mikkeli – Kuopio) in Eastern Finland. The Swedish state tried to conquer more land from the Russians and Novgorod, so The King Gustaf Wasa gave tax reliefs for all the settlers who moved to the North. However, the old archives do not know any Romppainens living in Savo in the 1500’s. Kainuu was settled by the people from Savo after 1552. Some settlers came to Kainuu from Northern Ostrobothnia. It may be possible that Simo and Lauri Romppainen came from Oulu area.

The living was hard in the wilderness in the 1600’s and in the 1700’s. The border was not secure as Russians and Karelians made attacks and counter-attacks to Finland. During the Great Northern War (1700 – 1721) between Sweden and Russia all the Romppainen farms were burned by the Russian troops. They even exploded the Kajaani fortress in 1716. The other problems were epidemics and famines. The climate was unfavourable for cultivation in the end of the 1600’s. Every third Finn died in the famine between 1696 and 1697.

Romppainens lived in Hyrynsalmi and Suomussalmi in the 1700’s. After the Finnish War (1808 – 1809) between Russia and Sweden, Romppainens had to move away from their farm in Niemelänniemi, Hyrynsalmi. The family spread to other parts of Kainuu and also to Northern Savo (Iisalmi area) and Northern Ostrobothnia (Oulu area). In the end of the 1800’s some Romppainens moved from Kainuu to Kalajoki – Pyhäjoki dales, Orivesi (near Tampere) and even Karelian Isthmus. Today there are over 920 Romppainens living in Finland. Most of them do live in Kainuu and Northern Ostrobothnia.

Around 40 Romppainens moved from Finland to North America in 1892 - 1913. Most of them were young men who wanted to avoid the enrolment for the Russian Armed Forces in 1902. However, there were also families with smaöö children among the emigrants. Even today there are Romppainens living in several places in the new continent. In Canada they have cut the ending -nen. So they just use the surname Romppai in Thunder Bay area. Joel Romppainen’s descendants still live in Seattle, Washington. Most of the American Romppainens have settled in Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota areas. For instance Heikki Romppainen (1864 - 1920) from Puolanka moved to Hancock in 1901, and his wife and kids followed next year.

KUNGLIGA KAJANA BATALJON 1788 – 1809

Finland was part of Sweden from 1100’s to 1809. During the Swedish rule in Finland there was a local frontier guard company and later a bataillion in Kainuu. The King of Sweden Carl XI made an agreement with the locals in 1681 to defend and maintain Kajaani castle with 150 men. In 1788 Kajaani company (Kajana kompani) became Kajaani bataillion (Kungliga Kajana bataljon). The bataillion had four companies: Paltamo company, Hyrynsalmi company, Sotkamo company and Kuusamo company. Kungliga Kajana bataljon took part in the Gustaf III War 1788 - 1790 and the Finnish War 1808 - 1809. I have collected a database of all the 300 soldiers in the bataillion. About 90% of these soldiers were local, 5% came from Northern Ostrobothnia (Pohjois-Pohjanmaa) and the rest 5% from other parts of Finland and two men even from Russia. The results are being published in a book in 2008.

Statistik på svenska

THE FINNISH CIVIL GUARD 1917 – 1944 (Suojeluskuntajärjestö)

I have been interested in the Finnish Civil Guard which was a voluntary base defence organisation between 1918 and 1944 in Finland. After the victory of the Whites in the bloody civil war in 1918 the winners established a new military organisation to guard the independence of the young state. The communist Soviet Union was a threat to the independence of Finland. The Whites were afraid of a new uprise by the Finnish communists supported by Kremlin.

The left-wing Finns feeled that the Civil Guard was a violent right-wing movement against the labour class. In the end of 1930’s there were over 110 000 men in the Civil Guard. In Kainuu around 3000 men were joined in the organisation. The Civil Guard gave military and physical training to reservists who voluntarily joined to the organisation. The guardists have their weapons (mainly rifles) and uniforms in their homes, so the mobilization would be easy in war time. There were 22 Civil Guard Districts (suojeluskuntapiiri) and 659 local guards (suojeluskunta) in Finland before the winter war broke out. Boys aged 12 - 16 years could also join to the guard. Boys took part in their own camps which did not include any military training. Around 28 000 boys (suojeluskuntapoika) were members in the organisation before the winter war.

In the wartimes 1939 – 1940 and again 1941 – 1944 the Civil Guards proved to be important part of the national security. In Moscow peace treaty 1944 the Russians demanded Finland to shut down anti-Soviet movements and organizations in Finland. That is why the Civil Guard as well as Lotta Svärd movement were abolished after the war.

Links to the Military Archives of Finland.

The sign “S” in the arm with the colours blue and white stand for Suojeluskuntajärjestö (the Civil Guard) in Kainuu region. The members in the Civil Guard had their guns, cartridge-belts and uniforms in their homes. They had to practise their military skills regularly. In winter war 1939 – 1940 the guardists stand out clearly from the other reservist because they had better weapons and equipments in the battlefield.

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