Japanese "boatanchor"

[Hue Miller]

In a message dated 98-07-05 07:42:04 EDT, sb at ZIP.COM.AU writes:

> The topic of Japanese gear has cropped up so I wonder if anyone can
>  throw any light on a tiny WWII AM/CW transceiver I acquired last year.
>  It is 7" x 5" x 3" (not much bigger than modern gear), has 1 type 19 6
>  pin double triode which, through elaborate switching, is used for tx and
>  rx.
>
>  Coverage is 25 - 45 mhz. It is beautifully constructed with every
>  component specially made and numbered with a tiny circuit in the cover.

---type 94-6.
if i recall correctly, 94 = year of inception = 1934. about the time the
same circuit was appearing in USA ham magazines and collections
of "5-meter transceiver" plans.
CQ magazine ( USA ) had a pretty good article on this set several
years back, by i believe, Dick Rollema of the Netherlands.
the US military published a TB-E manual on "how to use it if you
had to" which is much better than the original manual ! this manual
included cut-out paper  labels in english to glue on the radio. i have
seen one set that actually had these.
accessories are not common to find: battery bag, headset-throatmic (2),
handcrank generator, antenna connector, ground plane ( ! ) antenna.
( the antenna seems *rather* ill-suited for a run thru the jungle ).
the cw-button is of course for A2, tone telegraphy.
this btw is one "hot set". plenty of radium on the front panel !

Tony Grogan of the Carolina Signal Corps Museum told me an
interesting story about 2 GIs on their way back to the states on
separate troopships in a convoy right after the war; each had one
of these sets and they used them to talk to each other.
73
hue

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