My New-in-Box Yaesu FT-101 Story

A One-of-a-kind Rig

For the skeptical among you, I get it. It seems practically impossible. A 1970 Yaesu FT-101 used once, new in the box HF transceiver. How could this be?

I was in the market for a Yaesu FT-101, and I got a lead on a local Craigslist ad, advertising a seemingly new-in-the-box original Yaesu FT-101.

I contacted the seller to see if he would be willing to ship it, and he was. The seller tells me his uncle bought it to get into ham radio decades ago, but put it away in the box with the plastic and never used it. He shipped it to me in the original box and packing mater and clear plastic bag. It wasn't double-boxed, but the original box, fortunately, held up well. Here's a video I recorded showing the rig. Note the bright metal, esp the PA cage and PC boards. This is like a time capsule:

I powered up the rig and the only snafu was one electrolytic capacitor. Once I replaced it, it was completely operational at full specs. This week, I found someone selling a NOS Yaesu UD-844 Microphone in the box. I bought it also.