Sunday 24 November 2013

2 more additions to my Clansman collection, one a surprise!!

I recently bought a 12-14V DC charger for my Clansman, I already have the bigger ones that can be either plugged into the mains or 12V DC, those ones will charge 2 batteries at a time and can work as a power supply to run one of the Clansman's.
These are great but a bit too bulky for mobile use.

Clansman 2 battery charger/power supply.

12-14V DC Rapid Charger.

The latest battery charger only works from 12-14V DC and can only charge one battery at a time, the reason I bought this is that I can charge the battery from the cigar plug in the car. The Clansman Fast Battery Charger (D.C. 14V, NSN 6130-99-620-2114) charges 24 volt batteries from 12-14 Volt DC input. Features include a shorter charging time, automatic termination of charging when the batteries are fully charged and a fully charged battery indicator. 

Now for the "SURPRISE" that I mentioned in the heading......
When I purchased the Rapid Charger I got chatting to the guy who was selling it, he had a few extra Clansman pieces on eBay and was selling everything as he need the space, I sent him a link to the Blog and he had a little read...
When I picked up the package it seemed a little bigger and heavier than I thought it would be and when I opened it I found the following:

Hand Cranker Charger.
Clansman Hand Generator for use with the Clansman radios PRC-344, PRC-351, PRC-352, PRC-320. 
Clips on between the radio and the battery and by turning the hand crank it generates 24 Volt DC for charging a standard Clansman 24 Volt battery to operate the radio. 
Charge lamp lights up to indicate when the hand crank is being turned at the right speed.
What a surprise that was!!!!!

Hand Cranker/Generator added to one of my Clansman Radios.


Thursday 21 November 2013

Another Clansman Antenna Idea for 4m!!

It is a cold day out today and I needed something to occupy my mind, I was thinking about the antennas that I already have for the Clansman.
The one I made up to use with the amplifier works very well and the original 2, the Telescopic Whip and the Battlefield antenna are a bit of a compromise.
I decided that what I need is a pre-tuned flexible antenna that will connect into the Clansman antenna socket so that I can change from one antenna to another quickly.

Quick release antenna base on SURF.


I asked Pat (EI2HX) what whips he had that would suit 4m, he brought over a few and with a bit of negotiations and a lot of tea I picked a few antenna whips,  one similar to the one I use on my car with a base loading coil would be called into service.

Bottom of black steel whip antenna.

This base has a 6mm thread so I would need something to use as an adaptor that will fit onto the Clansman antenna base, with a quick look on eBay I spotted spare bases for the bottom of the Battlefield Antennas, so I bought 2 of them.

Base showing 6mm thread.

One of the connectors bought on eBay.

The Battlefield antenna base has an 8mm thread so a bit of work needed to be done….So out came the files and Die Set.

Collection of files.
Different Die sizes.
Firstly I filed off the existing 8mm threads from the antenna base, then used a 7mm Die, when the new 7mm threads were done I then filed them off as well…. Then the 6mm Die was used, with the new 6mm threads done the Battlefield Antenna base screwed up nicely to the new 4m whip antenna.


Antenna with new fitting added.

The antenna is approx. 32 Inches long and very flexible, being black it suits the Clansman very well, on air testing with locals has showed that it is an improvement over the telescopic and battlefield antennas.

New antenna fitted on radio via SURF.

This antenna I made up primarily to be used on the radio with or without the SURF and on the 4w power.

Sunday 3 November 2013

Clansman "Loudspeaker"

Recently I got my hands on a Clansman extension speaker for my Clansman 351, it is a very heavy duty speaker made to take the most abuse that can be thrown at it.

Front of speaker with 7 pin plug.

It came with a short lead with a 7 pin plug on each side.There is a socket on one side with a pair of connectors so that the speaker can be connected to the radio with twin speaker cable, there is a volume control on the top.

Top of speaker, volume control.
The speaker can be directly connected to the radio with the short 7 pin lead that came with it, the handset/headset can be then connected to the speaker.

Side view with connections.
This would be a great way to operate the radio/speaker/handset but with only one “small” issue… one I overlooked when buying the speaker was the fact that the Clansman radio does not have any audio amplification circuitry built into it so I will need to buy an external audio amplifier or build one (thinking of using the audio circuit from old computer extension speakers).

Audio amplifier.
The reason why I got the speaker was so that I can set up portable and have lots of sound rather than using an earpiece.
When I buy the Clansman audio amplifier I will use it in the shack as they run from either 12v or 24v and this would be too much to bring with me.
The audio amp I plan to build will work off either 6 x 1.5v AA or a 9v PP3 battery enclosed in a waterproof small box “Velcro” to the back of the speaker.

Back of speaker.