Pictures of My Type 94-6 Portable Field Radio

This is a compact, one-tube Japanese field radio transceiver made in June 1942. The Japanese designate this radio as Type 94-6, the 6 is a model number and the 94 means this was designed in the Japanese year of 2594 or 1934 in the Western calendar. It was carried in a leather case with a shoulder strap and designed to be operated while walking. The receiver is powered by a battery and the transmitter is powered by a hand-cranked generator. The top lid gives access to most of the dials, connectors and the amperage gauge. Inside the lid are two removable paper inserts, one for frequency calibration for the 3 bands and the other is a wiring diagram and parts list.

There are two data plates on the top lid, which is fortunate since many captured radios did not retain their data plates. The US soldiers bringing home these radios were asked to send the plates to Washington DC for analysis in what was called the Japlate program. The top plate with red lettering translates to "top secret for the Army". The bottom plate has 8 lines which translates as follows:

1) Type 94 number 6 wireless machine
2) number [with blank space]
3) Mark 23 goes through machine
4) Serial number 14205
5) Showa year 17 month 6 date of manufacture
6) Tokyo
7) Yamanaka Electric Company
8) Number [two blank spaces]

One side of the case has 2 toggle switches. The top switch toggles between tone and talk and the bottom switch toggles between send and receive. To the right of these switches is a morse code key button, which can be used through the leather case. This button also doubles as the latch to hold the radio inside the metal case.

Click on thumbnail for screen-size picture, then click on button on lower right for mega-size picture