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. 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 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
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
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 Jan 8th,
2010