Hmm, not sure about doing a PPL(H) on a 109, but you can certainly fly one as a PPL(H) holder, provided you do a mini-CPL(H) course with a long title
Continuing the lateral thinking theme of my article, if you know someone with a 109, it may be beneficial for them to give you cheap flying because they may otherwise pay much more in tax - I'm not an accountant so get advice on this (maybe whirls knows something about it). It would appear that larger helicopters can only be written down over shorter periods if they do lots of flying (say over 600 hours per year). For some reason, the taxman thinks they don't need so much maintenance (yeah, I know, go figure).
Similarly, a helicopter that doesn't fly a lot still needs maintenance every 60 days or so - and it goes unserviceable more often. You may know such an owner who would be willing to help out with hour building in return for a small contribution.
I know of at least 2 people who have bought their own helicopter and built their own hours - one even set up his own AOC and hired his own pilots. He was doing so well, he nearly didn't bother finishing his licence. He's now flying a 76.
Phil