Talking about hams we often classify us in two categories – operators, also called communicators, and tweakers. The first group of hams is almost obsessed in making QSOs, the more the better, the faster or longer the better, the rarer the better. Often these hams are engaged in DXing or contesting but they could as well enjoy ragchewing for hours. The second group of hams are the quiet type possessing enormous ability to focus their attention to a technical problem as long as needed to solve it. There is a frequent rumour that a third type exists – a combination of the two types described above – but I strongly suspect that this is an anomaly or exception from the general rule. Well, enough joking around!

It is quite easy to detect to which group a school class of youth belongs. After the introduction or presentation of Amateur Radio we usually have three positions which may be freely chosen by the pupils to participate: electronics constructing position, CW key with a training oscillator and a working radio station. The result: the class will be divided into three equally sized groups. Obviously the first group is formed by tweakers and the two other groups are made of communicators. It is also true that CW attracts musically talented youths. Especially young female violin players have shown remarkable success in quickly mastering the correct way to send with a straight key. To have a fist like that underlines that CW is music.

In Finland we have several national contests organised by SRAL or local clubs. The easiest to participate is the monthly Basic Contest aimed at newcomers. It only lasts one hour both on phone and CW. The contest rules favour the Basic class licensees in such a way that they are entitled to free use both segments of the 80 metre CW or phone sub-band while the Extra class licensees can call CQ only in the upper segment. In the lower segment the latter can only call the Basic class licensees running the pileup on their own frequencies. This makes it easy for a newcomer to choose an unoccupied frequency in the lower sub-band and enjoy a nice pileup without reverting to making QSOs in the Search-and-Pounce mode.

I have made several tests with youths showing some interest in Amateur Radio by introducing the Basic contest to them. As a rule, they have liked the contest very much. After a slow start they have been taken by the flow of adrenalin in their veins so that the typical expression after the contest is “Hey, this is really cool!”

Some young operators have found contesting to answer their need to compete in order to be the winners among the peers. There are several young contesters in Finland today as witnessed by the popularity of contest stations like OH8X www​.radioarcala​.com or OH0Z www​.qsl​.net/​o​h​0z/ among youth. Many young OH hams want to be part of a top contest team but in order to reach their goal they have to start from the bottom, i.e. Basic contest, and progress through smaller international contests until they are ready to be invited to join a top team.

Contesting is a suitable challenge for competitive types of young hams. It gives them ample opportunities to develop their operating talent to a level where the deep feeling for an accomplishment is the best reward. In Finland, many contest stations welcome young operators and guide them through the process of building their skills into perfection.

My most frequent and reliable partner in the school presentation team has been Arska, OH2EC. He has been a constructor all his life. He retired from Nokia Mobile Phones some years ago after having installed dozens of mobile networks around the globe. Arska and I share devotion in youth training. It is a happy coincidence that his experience and skills in the art of electronics construction add to my assets in operating and DXing. We strongly feel that together we can cover different aspects of Amateur Radio much better in our presentations than doing it separately.

Arska lives in a small town Järvenpää about 40 km NE from Helsinki. There is an active club OH2AP. After more than a year of visiting schools in different towns we decided to try to establish an electronics construction and Amateur radio club in a school quite near of Arska´s home. His son had been a pupil of that school so he knew it quite well. In May 2010, I sent an email to the headmaster and to our delight she took very positive stand to our proposal. The vice-headmaster, who also was a teacher of technical work (wood and metal crafting), assumed the responsibility to contact the parents and get their permission to allow the kids to participate in the club. He sent out the inquiries in October after the school building had been repaired. Serious damages to the roof were found as a result of heavy snow load during the winter, hence the delay in starting the club.

We were quite astonished when the vice-headmaster told that he had received 19 applications from parents asking their children to be admitted in the club. It was good that Esa, OH2AWG, who lives very close to the school, joined our team. Now we had three instructors which was a reallygood thing. Nevertheless, the sheer number of pupils was quite frightening – how could we maintain discipline in the class with 19 kids asking for our attention to their needs and problems?

The club started after the autumn holidays and 11 pupils showed up. We had agreed to have the club open every Wednesday from 3 to 5 pm, right after school day. First I showed the interesting RSGB video “What is Amateur Radio?” and showed what it really is by letting every pupil make at least one QSO on the radio. Some were very brave and we could see that we had potential radio operators in the club. Others were not so brave at the radio but they came forward when we asked everybody about earlier experience in electronics constructing. There were several who had got electronics kits as Christmas gifts but had experienced some problems in getting them working properly.

Now we had the stage ready for serious club meetings. Arska and Esa took care of the electronics part of our programme while I told about Amateur Radio in general terms. I had received lots of colourful QSL cards from different countries from some older hams who did not collect QSLs anymore. The cards instantly became much sought-after items among the young members of the club.

After some months, in February 2011, I organized an intensive training course at the local club OH2AP during the skiing holiday. The most active member of the school club, 9‑year old Oliver, joined the course. After five long days of studying he was ready to take the Basic class exam and yes, he became the youngest ham in Finland as OH2FYA his call sign – quite a feat! The school club continued till the end of May and another 10-year member of the club, Tommi, had passed the Radio Law, Amateur Radio Regulations and Traffic module of the Basic class exam while having a break in electronics kit assembling. The fifth SRAL youth training camp was organized right after school ended and we were pleased to have three members of the club — Oliver, Tommi and Joona — joining the camp. Tommi became OH2FYY in the end of the camp and Oliver did it again – he passed the Amateur Extra exam and became the youngest Extra class ham in Finland.

There is an explanation behind this success: both Oliver and Tommi are students of SRAL youth instructor Mari, OH2FPK, who devotes her time also to teaching young boys the martial art of taido. They all share the principle of doing everything in their life at the highest possible level. This quality of character is called determination and may be found among people whatever their age is. Welcome Oliver and Tommi in our ranks!

My first student Esko, OH2GTS, soon became the chairman of newly founded youth committee of SRAL. The committee consisted of enthusiastic boys and girls wanting to widen their Amateur Radio hobby to new areas never visited before. One of them was going on a DX-pedition. In year 2006 we felt that we were ready for some serious action.

A suitable time for this kind of activity off home base was in the middle of August, just before the schools started again. The International Lighthouse Lightship Weekend offered several possibilities to sail to the seas and see the old buildings built on faraway cliffs. Radio activity would be inspired by the salty water around the QTH ensuring good propagation.

My first young ham team of six operators decided to opt for Bengtskär way out in the Baltic Sea. This magnificent lighthouse once so important for seafarers had been renovated for tourists wanting to have a taste of salt water and to be embraced by the wild beauty of the sea while enjoying the luxury of hotel services.

The 52 metres high tower, highest of its kind in Finland, suited well to serve as a support for our Windom antenna. We also had the lecture room at our disposal for the radio station as well as to conduct a training course for some new team members. Successful exams proved that the students found the exceptional environment inspiring.

For our operation we loaned the special event call sign OH3W belonging to the club station OH3AA of Hämeenlinna and added the abbreviation /LH denoting our status as a lighthouse station. We stayed on the rocky islet for four days and enjoyed working with our radio station, going to sauna, swimming and admiring the silent beauty of the calm sea. Just before our arrival there had been a storm – we were so lucky!

Some years later another youth DXpedition was made, this time to a much bigger island, the main island of the Aland group. Again we had a special call sign, OH0/OH2DXF, which actually belonged to our sponsor OH DX Foundation. This was the first operation with the brand new call OH2DXF.

Eight young operators with three adults as a support team made almost two thousand QSOs in three days from the contest station OH0Z with a fine location 90 metres above sea level and serious antenna arsenal. Some of these operators continued their DX quest next year at the superstation OH8X in Arcala near Arctic Circle.

OH8X team was established not only to satisfy the competitive needs of seasoned gentlemen in their seventies but also to give younger operators a chance to sit in the driver´s seat of a world-class station and make a serious effort in major contests. SRAL youth team was happy to enjoy the hospitality of OH8X and in August 2009 stay at this dedicated SO2R station to familiarize themselves with modern amateur radio technology.

These DX-peditions were possible thanks to SRAL support which will continue next year. OH youth goes this time a step further, to Market Reef OJ0. One more year in the quest of becoming a mature DXpeditioner means a lot – just wait and see!

It all started suddenly and unexpectedly around 8 years ago. A 14-year old schoolboy, Esko Mattila, sent me an email asking where he could learn Morse code. Later it appeared that he had got the spark from his father who had been serving in the legendary Signal Regiment in Riihimäki about 70 km north from Helsinki and learnt the code there. Naturally, he had told his son about the army time and how fascinating Morse code was.

At that time, I had been already working in Finnish Amateur Radio League SRAL for two years as General Manager. It was a good moment for me to hear from a young boy in the same age as I was when I got interested in Amateur Radio and Morse code in 1959. Naturally, I invited Esko to come to meet me in the office. I told that on Saturday noon I would be on the roof of the office building with my colleague taking some old coax down and he could join us if he liked. I was quite astonished when while we were working on the roof, I suddenly saw Esko´s head pop up from the ladder coming to the roof. He had climbed all five stories using the ladder rather than taking the elevator. Esko explained that he had been active in the youth fire brigade so climbing and winding hoses was no new thing to him. And yes, he started to coil those old coax cables like a pro.

When we returned to the office, we thanked Esko and gave him some ham literature including the study guide. In no time Esko had passed his Basic license and earned the call sign OH2GTS.

Esko and I started SRAL youth activities by visiting his old elementary school making a presentation to the whole school. That means that we had some 400 pupils sitting on the gym floor and watching the RSGB video “What is Amateur Radio?” which I had received from my colleagues in RSGB. We let the kids try their hand on the two-meter radios. They had lots of fun talking to each other.

The teachers were standing around the gym watching the show. They were extremely delighted to see that their pupils were so interested to learn about a new hobby or, should I say, a passion. At least Esko and I had a passion towards Amateur Radio and that must have been visible to all present.

Esko had asked his grandfather to join us with his video camera and he did. As a result, we had a video of our very first youth activity. This was the first of some 50 schools I would later make presentations, to the whole school or one class at a time.

It was a great day in SRAL youth activities – the very first presentation at school to enthusiastic schoolboys and girls. That day will stay in my memory as a turning point in my ham career. From that day on I was working more often with youth trying to find new ways to reach them with the good news that there exists a wonderful hobby without boundaries – Amateur Radio.

Born in 1993, Mari OH2FPK, daughter of OH2BEA and Sister of OH2FDE, earned her first license at the SRAL 2009 youth training camp and the her Extra class in 2010 at the SUOMEN RADIOAMATOORILIITTO ry (SRAL) youth training camp where she also served as assistant camp leader and then became SRAL youth instructor the same year.

Mentored by Jukka OH2BR, Mari is very active on the air and has so far participated in three main contests: SAC 2010, CQWW 2010 and IARU HF contest 2011. She has also participated in the Aland Island OH0/OH2DXF DX-pedition and OH8X events. She is very competent in CW (175 ch/min) and an avid DXer with a country total of 157.

Mari is a smart, positive and reliable person with perseverance and solid goal-orientation. She is teaching taido to the young boys and now two of her pupils are hams. Mari enjoys taido, astronomy and meteorology, bicycling and running. Quite an impressive track record in such a short time. Congratulations.