clansman radios

[spindrift]

ahh the trusty Clansman.

Did all my training on that kit back when i wore green.

[TheOldHObbit]

ahh the trusty Clansman.

Did all my training on that kit back when i wore green.

Had a couple of years with the clansman, most of my time was spent lugging around an A41 (Larkspur) and spare battery, damn heavy thing

[PreparedKent]

I used the clansman 349 back in my army cadet days. Many many moons ago... I remember having to carry a BATCO pad around my neck and decode messages.

All digital and encrypted now so no BATCO required

[Hamradioop]

Just passed mine over to the local air cadet unit as it was gathering dust and not used. will make do with my FT 897 for portable ops.

[TheOldHObbit]

The Clansman PRC320 now sits in the boot of my car and goes everywhere with me. I use it whenever I can and despite being limited in its power settings and no LSB, I have had some fantastic contacts using just the battle whip let alone the other antenna configurations available for this very versatile radio.

Its very heavy, very robust, very reliable and it is now my goto radio for day to day messing about. I love field radio QRP using my FT817D or FT957D, but for nostalgic reason, the good old 320 holds pride of place.

[QUAID]

Yes, a 320 would be my choice over all other in the Clansman range. An excellent and robust bit of kit.

[rik_uk3]

I sold mine back in 2016 went on to an FT817 and then last year got a Xiegu G90. Issues with the Clansman for me were weight and power supply. The 817 and better still the G90 will happily run off a 12v gel battery, the G90 is full SDR, has an ATU that will tune a damp lettuce leaf and can be used in full digital mode plus the rig, battery, key and dipole fit happily in a day sack.

So I still love the Clansman rigs from a nostalgic point of view but not as an everyday rig.

[TheOldHObbit]

Just to keep the thread alive, I am still using the Clansman 320 and it goes on every field trip with me. It is a great draw for other HAMS on NFD and other events and its so different from the shop bought black box. Yes you have to work it hard to scan around the bands, but I never get tired of using it. I have not modded mine as I want to keep it original, but have replaced the usual failing caps with new ones. Great radio and still able to get spares but slowly getting a little harder.

[Smudge]

I worked with them for 3yrs, hated the bloody things, still have my training books somewhere.

I'm surprised to hear people are using them today (20+yrs on) when there are so many other options but horses for courses I guess.

[rik_uk3]

They fetch good money these days. When I was introduced to ham radio by my step father in 1966 he gave me a WW2 No19 set, that was fun too. They were popular with hams post WW2 as an easy modded set you could buy dirt cheap.