[Hallicrafters] FPM 200 Question

[Mike Everette]

Here is another puzzler for the FPM-200 followers:

A couple of days ago I spotted a listing for three QSL
cards from Danny Weil, of YASME DXpedition fame, on
the e-place.  They may still be listed.  Anyway, they
were from 1958 or 1959, and on at least one card
Danny's rig was noted as an FPM-200.

I didn't record the item number for these cards but do
a search for "QSL cards" and you should spot them if
they are still up.

The seller's description poses an interesting
question.

If the FPM-200 did not hit the marketplace till late
1960 or maybe 1961 -- what was Danny doing with one
aboard YASME II?

A prototype being tested?  Hmm....

The YASME expeditions were before my time, but...

If you've read the ARRL-published book about the
Colvin and Weil DXpeditions, you note that there was a
point about this time that relations between Danny
Weil and Hallicrafters were strained.  Hallicrafters
had given Danny a lot of support through providing
gear, but Danny's carelessness -- asleep at the helm
-- resulted in the loss of one YASME boat with some
quite expensive stuff aboard.  The book quotes a
letter from Bill Halligan himself, I believe, on this
subject.

That incident in itself is quite a remarkable tale.
Danny claimed to have been able to get his SX-101 and
HT-32 off the boat, which had run aground on rocks and
was taking on water, with a pronounced list; and broke
his ankle AND injured his back before finishing the
salvage of the radios.  

Can you imagine horsing either of these rigs ashore
under such circumstances?  Those of us who have
experience with them (including myself) know these as
"ungawa" radios -- pick one up and yell "UNGAWAAAAAA!"

A sea story, or the truth?  But, in desperate times,
desperate men often do desperate things.

73

Mike
WA4DLF



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