Meet a full-fledged contest station, meet OH2U!

About 55 km west of Helsinki, in the southern part of Finland - right in the middle of the auroral zone - is the location of this superb ham radio station. The landmark of the station is a 61 m (200 ft) high rotatable tower, equipped with stacked 3 over 3 element yagis for the 40 meter band plus some other stacks. But that's just the crown jewel.On a closer look, you'll find lots of additional towers and aluminum there, too.

That's OH2U - Ready to crack the skies!

OH2U in brief

OH2U - a.k.a. OH2HE - is the creation of the station master and our host Pekka Mikkilä. The story began a good ten years ago when Pekka, apparently suffering from yet another lapse of ham-madness, decided to erect a tower of an unforeseen magnitude and to equip it with such an amount of hardware that it would simply sweep competitors from their feet. And so it did! And even though today we know one tower won't suffice, thanks to Pekka, a group of eager, dedicated contest-operators got a head start into building a top-notch station.

Today, the station is beyond the wildest dreams of any one of us ten years ago, yet we're still constructing. Most importantly, however, what once was just a handful of enthusiasts, has grown into a group which might well be called a team organisation. For 'Team Paksalo', the key to happiness is contesting. That's what turns us on.

OH2U is mostly active in major contests only, participating in multi operator categories. The focus of the team's activities is always on the fall season, particularly on the months of October and November, when contesters around the world clash with each other in the most prominent contests of all, the CQ World Wide DX Contests. But OH2U is always there in the Scandinavian Activity Contest and almost always in the WPX and the CQ 160 m contests, as well.

So, take a moment and have a look at what we have done to enjoy contesting from the not-always-so-rewarding Northern latitudes of Scandinavia.

And HEY! - don't forget to call us when the heat is on! Meet the OH to you - OH2U!