Military Collectors Group Post, Oct.16/97

 

Index;

 

Type 94-3 A Japanese radio; by Bill Howard

 

PAMPANITO TROUBLES;

 

TOM NEEDS;

 

WA4OID NEEDS;

 

HUMOR;

 

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WW II JAPANESE TYPE 94 - 3 A WIRELESS STATION

By: LTC William L. Howard

A reasonably rare Japanese Wireless set is the Type 94 - 3 A Wireless Station.  There are three known examples in the United States and one in England.  While there may be others, they have not surfaced.  I was fortunate to obtain a complete set, in the transport case as well as an accessory chest.  Of the known sets, mine is probably the most complete. Several of the WW II Japanese sets became the subject of Technical Bulletins designed to show the American troops how to use the set if captured.  Unfortunately the Type 94-3 A set was not one of them so there is very little known about this set.
 
The set was first written about in the WW II TME 11-227 A on Japanese Radios. This was a cursory description, designed more as an identification guide than a technical study. It is officially designated as the Type 94 - 3 A Wireless set, Mark 36 Transmitter, Mark 36 Receiver and another set is identified as having a Mark 36 Type D Transmitter and a Mark 36 Type D Receiver.  The Data Plate also has the designation SP 3 in English and the set is sometimes called the SP 3. The Type 94-3 A set with the Mark 36 Transmitter and Receiver is listed as CW only.  The set with the  Mark 36 D Transmitter and receiver is listed as Voice and CW.
 
The set is transportable by pack animal, being loaded on two pack horses or on a Class C transport wagon.  The set, at wars end came in three transport chests, although the Army TM indicates two chests..  Chest No2, which I have never actually seen, must be the chest shown in TM -E-30-480" Handbook on Japanese Military Forces@ and  contained the Model 29 E hand cranked generator, power cables, a pull out drawer which contained the transmitter coils, a compartment with spare tubes and a compartment which probably contained headsets and keys as well as antenna wires.. 
 
Chest No 1, which is shown in the photograph housed the transmitter, the receiver and the receiver battery box on the left side.  On the right side was a drawer which when pulled out revealed three compartments. Four of the receiver coils were stored in two green felt padded spaces. The center compartment contained other accessories.  Above the drawer was a small area which was probably used to store the technical manual and possibly message pads. Above this space was a compartment with a removable front panel. The set shown in the book, APearl Harbor and the War in the Pacific@ shows spare tubes in this compartment. The inventory chart inside the chest cover was for the No. 2 chest so it was of no help in identifying what was supposed to be in there. The compartment was probably designed to hold the key, and the headset. It may have housed the remote control unit for remote keying.

The Army TM on Japanese Communication Equipment shows a small chest housing the four transmitter coils, with an empty center compartment.  This small chest was the drawer from Chest No. 2. The contents list for Chest No 2 indicates four  coils which were the transmitter coils.

Chest number 3 which is designated as the Accessory Chest,   It  has an open space at the top and three drawers which pull out.  The bottom right drawer was designed to hold spare batteries for the receiver and for the flashlight.  The center drawer was for a variety of small parts such as resistors, capacitors and screws as well as oil can, cleaning cloths , spare bulbs and neon indicator bulbs. The drawer on the left was to hold solder, wire, friction tape and hemp yarn.  The open upper compartment was to hold a No 7 repair kit, more batteries, a Type 92 flashlight, although this is not confirmed and more receiver filament batteries.  It also held an item that was translated by Mr. Takashi Doi as CANDOL@ which I originally  assumed was a holder for a candle or perhaps an alcohol burner used to heat the soldering iron in the tool kit. Later information was that a blow torch was used to heat the soldering iron. The candle container was most probably the leather case that contained a  candle lamp that was collapsible.

The tool kit held a soldering iron, a screwdriver, a pair of tweezers, a pair of pliers  and a combination wrench set of three wrenches joined at the center. I was able to come up with this repair kit but it  was missing the screwdriver The soldering iron cleaned up nicely but the other tools were so badly pitted that I had them re-chromed..

In addition to the items in the chest, the inventory list also had a note that the antenna pole sections were to be in a canvas case fastened to the chest.  The antenna was a flexible, single strand wire, 66 feet long, light yellow in color suspended between two jointed poles of alloy pipe that were 23 feet high.  There must have been 16 of these poles.  In addition, there were also two ground wires, a black one 33 feet long and a brown one 66 feet long.

The radio proper is housed in a metal case inside the No 1 transport chest.  The front cover has three catches which must be released to allow removal of the cover.  Inside the cover are the schematic diagrams protected by an isenglass cover.  There are also two calibration charts which can be removed, from the metal frame holder.

The radio set with the Mark 36 Transmitter and receiver is  a 15 watt transmitter capable of CW  used for medium range communication. The Army TM states that it is ideally suited for guerilla warfare, since it can be used for months without replacements or battery charging. Chromium plated surfaces make it suitable for use in the tropics.  It was used between divisions and regiments. The No 3 platoon of the Division signal company was issued ten of these sets.  Each section consisted of one NCO and 6 men.
 
These sections were then dispatched to the various regiments and division troops as needed. In the same fashion, the regimental signal company sent sections down to the battalions and to regimental gun battalions.  It uses a UZ 510 B tube in the transmitter which can be replaced by a US 807. The transmitter requires 500 volts for the plate supply and 7 volts for the filament supply . This is provided by a hand cranked generator.
 
The army TM shows a power cable with a solid plug that plugs into a socket.  The actual power connection strip is capable of accepting both a plug and a cable with  spade lugs. This may have been done so the set could be powered by both the hand cranked generator and a power supply run from an AC line. One would assume that a division headquarters would have a large generator producing AC to operate all the devices that would have been there.

Transmitter

The transmitter covers 0.4 MC to 5.7 MC. There are  5 transmitter coils, 1 through 4 are simple plug in coils.  Number 5 coil has a switch marked 1 or 2. Four coils stored in a chest and the fifth was plugged in to the set. The transmitter has a built in key and provision for connecting an external key, as well as connecting to a remote control. Keying is in the negative high voltage lead, which with 500 volts can lead to a nasty shock if using the front panel key. The transmitter is crystal controlled and by removing the crystal, the master oscillator is connected and tuning is accomplished manually.

To the best of my knowledge, no examples of the remote control box exist. The schematic diagram shows a patch cord with plugs on both ends.  I have the patch cord but not the remote control.  Maybe some day a sample of this device will surface.

Receiver

The receiver is a five tube six stage superheterodyne. Rf circuits are trimmed by adjusting  circuit inductances and capacitance.  Inductances can be reached from the top when the set is removed from the case.  The detector has a Rheinartz type  regeneration controlled from the front panel.  The receiver covers 0.35 MC to 6.0 MC and is capable of voice and CW reception. The receiver is powered by four Mark 18 B dry cells, 22.5 volts each and One Mark 3 square model dry cell for the filaments and a Mark 129 C cell for bias supply.  The batteries are kept in a drawer at the bottom of the set and wired to a socket that mates with a plug on the back wall of the case. The battery compartment has a cover, probably fibre board with a wiring diagram for the batteries, which was missing from the set which I obtained.

In this article I have given only superficial coverage to the transmitter and receiver because Ken Lakin has one of these sets, has it operational and is writing a more detailed article on the set, its circuitry and its performance.  Since he is better qualified to discuss the electronics than I am, I leave the readers to await his article.

As a collectors item this set is very desirable and scarce. This set had serial number 3524 The date of manufacture in Japanese is shown as 2 1 and 6 1, which means the set was made in December 1941.  Ken Lakin has the set with the transmitter serial number 3984 which was made in October of 1937, so it can be inferred that there must have been at least 3984 sets made prior to 1938.  This however is doubtful as these sets were issued on the basis of 10 per Division Signal company. It is more likely that several different serial number blocks were issued, possibly to different assembly points.

In the No. 1 transport chest and with the No 2 Chest and the No 3 Accessory Chest this is a very rare set.  I have hopes that some day the No 2 chest will turn up, maybe even with a generator! And maybe I will find the correct front cover for the NO. 1 Chest!  In the meantime, I am looking for a Number 3 receiver coil and the Number 3 and 4 ransmitter coils.  If anyone has additional information on the set and would like to share it, contact me by mail or e-mail at wlhoward@gte.net .

Japanese Type 94 - 3 A Wireless Set, Contents of Chest No 1

This chest housed the Transmitter, receiver, battery drawer and the receiver coils.  I have the set in the chest but somewhere the covers of the No 1 and No 2 chests were switched..

The following  accessories  have not been listed in some other chest so it can be assumed that they were kept in this chest. They include:
 
I received a letter from Mr. Takashi Doi, who has been in contact with a former member of the Japanese Army who used this set in China.  The old soldier said he only used the  remote control unit, once in China on a large military exercise.  For the most part, the remote unit was used with larger high power ground transmitters.

Japanese Type 94-3 A Wireless Station Accessory Chest No 2 contents

  This is based upon a translation of the contents list inside the front cover   It is also based upon an examination of several pictures. The chest appears to be the same size as the No 1 Chest which contains the receiver, transmitter, battery box and receiver coils. The approximate dimensions are 24 ? wide, 20 ? high and 8 ? deep.  (The front cover of the No 2 chest fits the No. 1 Chest so they must both be the same size.

The chest is divided into two halfs. Presumably each is about 11 ? wide. The right side is open.  At the bottom the Type 29 E hand cranked generator is stored.  In the upper compartment spare tubes were shown in a picture.
 
Japanese tube boxes are 2 1/4 inches square on the end and there were three rows. The compartment must have been at least  7 inches high. The compartment for the generator must have been 12 ? high, as the generator dimensions are given as 9 by 5 by 10 ins..

The compartment on the left had three sections.  The top section was a pull out drawer and I assume the others were also pull out drawers. The top drawer was used to store the four transmitter coils that were not in use.There were two coils on each side in their own compartment. The coils are 2 1/2 ? in diameter and are 3 1/2 ? high when stored. By default the center section was 7 ? wide and was divided into two smaller compartments.  The drawer then must have been  6? to 8? deep. 11 + ? wide and  3 1/2 ? high.  The remaining two drawers then would have been 16 ? high or 8? high per drawer.

Accessories that were listed on the contents list

Japanese Type 94-3A Wireless Station Accessory Chest No 3 contents.

Translated by: T. Doi
 
The chest  has three drawers and an open upper space divided in to two compartments. The upper left compartment contains a No 7 repair Kit. 

The upper right compartment contains  the following items:
The bottom left drawer contained the following items:  
The right side upper drawer contained  the following items:
Bottom right drawer

 

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PAMPANITO TROUBLES;

 
Below is a message I received from Rich Pekelny, representing the Pampanito WW-II submarine resteration project, & my response. If you have any comments at all, please respond to both me & Rich. Maybe we can find out what the problem is.
 
Dennis
 
-------------------------------------------------------------------
 
Dennis,
 
I have been told that some negative comments have been made about me, specificaly that I am ungrateful.  This surprises me as both as an individual and as a representative of USS Pampanito I am very gratefull to all the people that have donated, traded and sold the equipment that we have needed to restore the boat.  If I have offended you please let me know so I can make amends.

rich
 
--
 
Richard Pekelney
Internet: pekelney@rspeng.com
Phone: USA 1-415-563-5928
Fax: USA 1-415-563-5787
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
Rich,
 
     I recieved your message on my machine this morning. Sorrily I am almost completely deaf so I couldn't get all what you were saying do to the complexity & length of the message.
 
     Please note, I have never accused you of the several  things you mension. Nor in fact have I ever had any contact with you other than to answer some of your request for information & or the location of materials, to wit no response has ever been received.
 
     I do however know of one person that has gone to extremes to supply you with the historical & technical information needed to assist in your restoration project. He did indeed feel slighted after his efforts, went either unoticed or acknowledged. As he is a close freind of long time aquantance, I have no reason to dought his words. I don't name him now because I dought he'd appreciate an embarassing phone call.
 
     Myself, upon receipt of your propaganda a couple months ago I sent you an Email message offering some advice, sources, & my help & that of this collector group(which is international & includes other orginizations envolved in marine, aircraft & vehical restoration). This message too went unanswered. I was surprised at that, because in this message I had offered the location of a COMPLETE shipboard radar system wich was mensioned in your extensive wanted material.
 
     To close, judging by the experianse of my friend, & my own attempts to aid your group, you are experiancing a public relations problem, I sugjest you look a little closer to home, as I am not the cause. Weither or not it is you, or some one else in your group is unknown to me, but your boat has been identifiad.
 
 
 
Dennis Starks; MILITARY RADIO COLLECTOR/HISTORIAN
 
military-radio-guy@juno.com
 
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TOM NEEDS;
 
Hi Dennis,
 
I am looking for a modulator shock mount for the SCR-274N or ARC-5.  I could
 
also use a mount for an ARC-2.
 
Tom
 
tbryan@nova.org
 
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WA4OID NEEDS;
 
     An old friend, Sweetwater Bob, is building one of those little death trap, single seater aircraft in his garage(whoops we call it a HANGER now).
 
He's got much of the stuff, & construction is well under way. Still needs a motor & asso crap, one of those handheld aircraft band radios, & an aircaft GPS. Anybody got any ideas? He's got some stuff to trade, & like everybody, some money.
 
     In regard to the motor, I offerd him a JATO pack I have, but he didn't seem to interested. It's not all that well suited for it's current capacity as an ashtray.
 
Dennis
 
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HUMOR;
 
REAL STORIES OF THE NON-TECHNICALLY INCLINED
 
=======================================================
 
I worked with an individual who plugged their power strip back
 
into itself and for the life of  them could not understand why
 
their computer would not turn on.
 
 -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -
 
1st Person:  "Do you know anything about this fax-machine?"
 
2nd Person:  "A little.  What's wrong?"
 
1st Person:  "Well, I sent a fax, and the recipient called back
 
to say all she received was a cover-sheet and a blank page.
 
I tried it again, and the same thing happened."
 
2nd Person:  "How did you load the sheet?"
 
1st Person:  "It's a pretty sensitive memo, and I didn't want
 
anyone else to read it by accident, so I folded it so only
 
the recipient would open it and read it."
 
 -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -
 
I recently saw a distraught young lady weeping beside her car.
 
"Do you need some help?" I asked.  She replied, "I knew I should
 
have replaced the battery in this remote door unlocker.  Now I
 
can't get into my car. Do you think they (pointing to a distant
 
convenience store)  would have a battery for this?"
 
"Hmmm, I dunno.  Do you have an alarm, too?" I asked.  "No, just
 
this remote 'thingy,'" she answered, handing it and the car keys
 
to me.
 
 
 
As I took the key and manually unlocked the door, I replied,
 
"Why don't you drive over there and check about the
 
batteries...it's a long walk."
 
 -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -
 
Tech Support:  "What does the screen say now."
 
Person: "It says, 'Hit ENTER when ready'."
 
Tech Support:  "Well?"
 
Person:   "How do I know when it's ready?"
 
 -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -
 
My friend called his car insurance company to tell them to
 
change his address from Texas to Vermont.  The woman
 
who took the call asked where Vermont was.  As he tried to
 
explain, she interrupted and said, "Look, I'm not stupid or
 
anything, but what state is it in?"
 
 -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -
 
Several years ago we had an intern who was none too swift.  One
 
day he was typing and turned to a secretary and said, "I'm almost
 
out of typing paper. What do I do?"  "Just use copier machine
 
paper,"
 
she told him.
 
With that, the intern took his last remaining blank piece of
 
paper, put it on the photocopier and proceeded to make
 
five blank copies.
 
   -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -
 
I was working the help desk.  One day one of the computer
 
operators called me and asked if anything "bad" would happen if
 
she dropped coins into the openings of her PC.  I asked her if this
 
was something she was thinking of doing.  She said, "never mind"
 
and hung up. So I got out my trusty tool kit and paid her a visit.
 
 
 
I opened her CPU case and sure enough, there was 40 cents.
 
  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -
 
One of our servers crashed.  I was watching our new system
 
administrator trying to restore it.  He inserted a CD and needed
 
to type a path name to a directory named "i386." He started
 
to type it and  paused, asking me, "Where's the key for that
 
line thing?"
 
 
 
I asked what he was talking about, and he said, "You know, that
 
one that looks like an upside-down exclamation mark."
 
I replied, "You mean the letter "i"?" and he said, "Yeah,
 
that's it!"
 
 -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -
 
This person had a broken lamp which he wanted to discard.
 
Unfortunately, the power cord ran under his refrigerator, making
 
it impossible to move the lamp while the cord was attached.
 
He decided to cut the  cord, since the lamp was unusable anyway.
 
He didn't remember to unplug  it first. I found him in the hallway
 
rolling back and forth.
 
 -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -
 
I was in a car dealership a while ago when a large motor home
 
was towed into the garage. The front of the vehicle was in dire
 
need of repair and the whole thing generally looked like an extra
 
in "Twister."  I  asked the manager what had happened.  He told
 
me that the driver had set the cruise control, then went in back
 
to make a sandwich.
 
 -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -
 
I called a company and asked to speak to Bob.  The person who
 
answered said, "Bob is on vacation.  Would you like to hold?"
 
 -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -
 
I rented a movie from Blockbuster.  Before the movie begins a
 
message comes on the screen saying, "This movie has been
 
altered to fit your television screen." Comment from person: "How
 
 
 
 do they know what size screen I have?"
 

 

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