Published by the ARRL, 225 Main Street, Newington, CT 06111.

Reviewed by H. Ward Silver, N0AX

When I first started DXing in the early 1970s, Danny Weil, VP2VB, and his YASME sailboats had been off the air for 10 years. A certain Lloyd, W6KG, and Iris, W6QL, were gallivanting around the globe on journeys far and wide. Arguments about a mysterious "Don Miller, W9WNV," were still simmering over events a half-dozen years before. I had read in the old QST, CQ, and 73 magazines about the exploits of these expeditioners and others, including Gus Browning, W4BPD. Who were these people, really?

At the time, I didn't "get it" or understand the relationships and the competitiveness of these seminal DXers. If I scratched a "Niner" (my term for the crop of hams who experienced the 1959 peak of solar Cycle 19 and the glory years of DXing in the 1960s) I would certainly get strong opinions and vivid recollections. But, I also found a lot of disagreement among Niners. After years of confusion, I figured that it was just one of those things that I would never get to the bottom of. That is, until the YASME Foundation and Jim Cain, K1TN, got together to produce YASME.

When you consider the strong personalities involved, a conflagration was inevitable. With the skill of a nuclear physicist, Cain teases apart the tracks of the protagonists, their collisions, and the subsequent chaos in the aftermath. Remnants of DXing's Big Bang echo across the HF bands even today.

Read this book and learn the whole twisted and turning tale from which the legends are made. You'll meet in their protean form every character present on the modern stage, giving DXing today's shape. Danny Weil, VP2VB, died in October 2003, Iris Colvin in 1998, and Lloyd Colvin in 1993 during an expedition to Turkey, leaving only Don Miller, now AE6IY, on the scene in 2004, released from his long prison term in 2002. Budding DXers should read this fascinating history better to understand their pursuits. Veterans of the DX pileups will want to relive those fabled days and reminisce about friends and enemies long gone.

YASME is a 12 course meal of detail, blended with the seasoned touch of a master chef. When the bands are closed and the clock is striking a late hour, this is the book to open while you wait for the watery signals of the latest expedition to surface in the sea of receiver hiss.

The buzz about YASME....

Jim Cain's YASME book is must reading for casual and serious DXers of all ages. This 40-year slice of DX history makes you feel like you were actually there with Danny Weil and the Colvins as they tackled the many human and natural obstacles to putting rare countries on the amateur bands. These three pioneers did much to shape and mold our facet of amateur radio from 1953 to 1993. They all are gone now, but their accomplishments and memory will live on in this richly illustrated and carefully documented chronicle of their adventures. I found myself searching through my old paper log books to see just when my QSOs took place in relation to the storms, shipwrecks, generator failures, and other events our heroes endured. This is a book you will find hard to put down!

-- Bob Eshleman, W4DR, holder of the first DeSoto Challenge Cup and member of the CQ DX Hall of Fame

Danny Weil and Lloyd and Iris Colvin could hardly have been more different. But Danny, a 30-something Englishman who sailed the world solo in small sailboats, and the Colvins, millionaire semi-retired California building contractors, shared a passion for traveling to exotic distant locales - and for ham radio.

Danny Weil was a pioneer of what is now known as the "DXpedition." While not the first to DXpedition, Danny was one of the first to travel to more than one location to operate, and to travel from place to place - often solo in a sailboat and lugging hundreds of pounds of radio equipment - specifically to provide DXers with a "new one." The Colvins perfected the DXpedition and took it into the modern age in the 1970s and 1980s, with operations from more than 100 countries, using modern transport methods and state-of-the-art radio equipment. YASME was both the name of Danny Weil's boat, and the name of the not-for-profit foundation that was created in 1959 to provide financial and logistical support for the travels of Weil, and later the Colvins in their world travels, and others.

Jim Cain, K1TN, a career writer and editor and an active DXer of more than 40 years experience, conducted extensive interviews to provide this first-time glimpse into what created and sustained the YASME Foundation and, through the efforts of Weil and the Colvins, changed the face of amateur radio DXing forever. It's a story of amateur radio, but even more a story of people and their determination and drive to achieve - and to achieve goals with no pecuniary interest, only the satisfaction of a job well done.

-- Scott Robbins, W4PA

The ARRL DXCC Program, born in the 1930s, remains one of the best programs and facets of amateur radio. It has fueled the passion of many hams, both those who travel to foreign countries to "activate" them and those who stay at home chasing the traveling DXers.

This book tells the story of three intrepid DXers who traveled the globe to give DXers worldwide a new country. The story interleaves human success, failure and even controversy with the history of the DXCC program, in travelogue style. The fact that Danny Weil and the Colvins traveled the world with heavy tube radios is quite amazing, and they did this in a rapidly changing political world. It's a great story about a fascinating era and interesting people. A must read for those interested in the history of the DXCC program and what it takes to be "behind the pileups, in a tent, in a rare, remote location."

-- Rich Holoch, KY6R

About the Author

The author, James D. Cain, K1TN, has been a licensed radio amateur since 1961 and has written professionally since 1973. He achieved DXCC Top of the Honor Roll in 1994, then "retired" from the chase. From 1979 to 1986 he was editor and publisher of The DX Bulletin. This is his first book.