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ROMPPAINEN.NET CONNECTING
DX’ERS, HISTORIANS AND GENEALOGISTS
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 30 years
Kainuun DX-Kuuntelijat local DX-club in Kajaani area
North American AM-stations
heard in Kainuu region 1975-2006
radio stations in Kainuu (Kajaani area), Northeastern Finland
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.
So far I have collected QSL-verifications from 193 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 Kajaani and Oulu areas. 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.
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 4th
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
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 and OH8HDL Tanja.
All reception reports are welcomed to: Radio Elvi, c/o Tanja Korhonen, 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
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 small 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.
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.
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.
© Hannu Romppainen, last update 28 December 2011