ES5TV Tonno Vahk
Team: Northern Europe 1 (Team Leader)
Country: Estonia
Age: 36
Occupation: Private equity investments manager
ES5TV Tonno Vahk
I was brought into ham radio by my late father ES5JH at the age of 13 in 1991. Got my own license in 1992 as ES5RTV and upgraded to A category a year later as ES5TV. Started out with homemade UW3DI type of radio (ca 50 watts output) and a horizontal delta loop between two 5-story houses in my hometown of Jogeva. In the late nineties I started my contesting career taking part in operations from ES5Q/ES6Q station. At the same time I started to build my station in the countryside close to Jogeva. The antenna farm has grown to include five large rotating towers and full size 4-squares on 80 and 160 meters. Several great single op and multi op results have been made from there during the last 10 years. I have had great opportunities of guest operating from the marvelous stations of Pekka, EA8AH; Bernie, ZS4TX; Arcala, OH8X and Ranko, 4O3A.
Being member of VP6DX expedition in 2008 was an experience of a life time, so were the previous two WRTCs in Brazil and Russia. Our silver medal in Russia was a positive surprise to many including ourselves. I live in Tallinn, Estonia with my wife and two young boys still not licensed as hams.
WRTC events have surely been among the highlights of my ham life; in Finland as a coach and in Brazil/Russia as a competitor. It is a true party of the best contesters in the world with so much effort put in by the organizers and I am very glad to be part of it attempting our best as a team while enjoying it to the fullest.