[Milsurplus] TB-SIG-E Enemy Equipment Bulletins

[Hue Miller]

Jim, thanks indeed for the  TB-SIG-E Receiver 94-5 file.
That certainly saved me a bunch of work! And - I assumed the rec filaments 
were 1.5 volt, not the 1-volt specified, and that would not have
been good.
I was pretty certain there was a TB-SIG-E on this set out there, as it is 
one of the most common Japanese radios, after the one-tube
walkie talkie, the most common.
I think in some cases the US manual on Axis equipment is better than the 
original issue. Most of the German radio manuals I have seen
have been VERY disappointing, more poorly done in terms of actual data, than 
a Hallicrafters S-38 manual.
Now also, on these TB-SIG booklets, my thinking is, preparing these must 
have been great fun and a swell job to have during the war,
but that realistically, it contributed about zero to the war effort. Only 
the USA had the manpower and resources to devote to such an
unrewarding effort. The booklets typically inform US troops how to use an 
enemy set. But can you imagine, for example, U.S. Marines
in some jungle front line, bothering to figure out how to use some 
quirky-seeming enemy radio set? They might put some bullets thru
it or pull off pieces for souvenirs, but they dont' have time or inclination 
to figure out some enemy radio set. Why the advice in the
booklet that even if the radio fails, or we can't get the enemy's batteries 
for it, we can send it back to rear echelons for parts for our
sets? What nonsense. And the english-language labels to be cut out and 
pasted on the equipment? Maybe the operations instructions
and technical explanation 'might' be used in some military training role 
back in the states, but using the equipment operationally?
Nor is this information useful to the intercept units: you know the Japanese 
are going to use 2 - 10 MHz or so, no matter what
equipment they use.
Yes, I know the accounts about Japanese transmitters captured at Guadalcanal 
being put to use by Americans. These were large
transmitters, captured intact, and this was very exceptional.
Now, I like having access to the information from these TB-SIG-E booklets, 
but I have to say, in the context of wartime, they were useless.
Maybe they were only really intended for the aftermarket!
BTW, I'd be interested in hearing whether your bring-back radios are marked 
with "EEIS" anywhere - "Enemy Equipment Intelligence
Service".  If we could only know the provenance - wouldn't that be 
interesting. The bring-back rules varied in their enforcement
and in those rules' avoidance. One fellow told me he brought back a fighter 
aircraft propeller on his ship, but that MPs in the
California port seized it. No doubt about it, the USA was a safer place 
because that propeller was confiscated.
-Hue Miller