A mobile radio facsimile machine mounted on an automobile is powered by a battery of the automobile. The facsimile machine has a receiving unit for receiving data transmitted from a transmitter at a remote station, a memory for storing the received data and a recording unit for recording the received data. The facsimile machine also includes a first switch which allows power to be supplied from the battery to the receiving unit when turned on so that the receiving unit is set in an automatic reception mode. The facsimile machine also includes a second switch which allows power to be supplied from the battery to the recording unit when turned on. In one embodiment, both of the first and second switches are manually operable. Thus, only the first switch is turned on when the facsimile machine is left unattended to receive data automatically with only a small amount of power consumption. When the second switch is turned on, power is also supplied to the recording unit which normally requires a relatively large amount of power consumption. However, the engine of the automobile may also be started to run at the same time when the second switch is turned on so that the battery is prevented from loosing too much power.