MLU FORUM - Turnip Helmets Info Please

This is part of the British Clansman coms system that replaced Larkspur in British service. If you search 'Clansman Radio' on ebay you should find plenty of it, at least in the UK. The seven pin connectors are refered to as seven pin connectors (!) and are used throught the intercom/audio circuit to plug headsets, pressels, loudspeakers and morse keys into the various boxes. The boxes have the switches to select between intercom, Aset and Bset. The exception to this is the commander's headset which is interchangeable with the others except it plugs into a unit that hangs round his neck and has the selector switch and volume control on it. That then connects to the Commanders box via a ten pin lead. The various crew and commander's boxes are connected together in any order with 12 pin leads that form a ring main so that a single fault does not shut down the system. There are also three pin leads for power supply and other functions. All the connectors are of similar designs but different sizes. They are made by a number of different manufacturers but that does not affect interchangability. Later headsets/pressels/crew boxes have noise reduction/ canceling (ANR) which is excellent but needs the correct combination of components. ANR boxes have gold colour data plates and the ANR pressels are black not green. The ANR headsets have a whole lot of electronics and extra microphones built into them but are well worth having if you can find them.

David