Clansman represented a considerable advance over existing Larkspur radio system, and proved to be more flexible, reliable and far lighter.

The technological advances in the design of Clansman allowed the introduction of Single SideBand (SSB) operation and NarrowBand Frequency Modulation (NBFM) to forward area combat net radio for the first time.

Clansman continued to be used by the UK Cadet Forces until 2016 when it was finally withdrawn and replaced with a more modern system.

A late introduction to the Larkspur range, its original designation was A16 Lightweight HF Radio Station.

Another reason cited for its retention was that it was relatively easy to operate and was inter-operable with the other HF Radios in the Clansman family.

Features include key-pad entry of frequency, mode and data with digital LCD display; 10 pairs of pre-programmable channels; half-duplex operation with the option of transmitting and receiving on different channels; the option of using the removable pocket-sized BA-1304 electronic message unit (EMU) to transmit and receive short data communications; fully automatic antenna tuner which can be remoted up to 50m from the set using standard co-ax cable; self-test facility.

The set together with its ancillaries (batteries, cables, audio gear and antenna parts) together make up the complete equipment schedule (CES).

A vehicle-borne high-frequency (HF) transmitter-receiver used for inter-company communications outside of the normal working range of the VHF forward area nets; it can also be used dismounted from a vehicle as a ground station with an external power supply or batteries and antenna system.

It was manufactured by MEL at Crawley in Sussex and replaced the Larkspur SR C13 and C11 R210 HF Vehicle Stations.

Units supplied to the British Army operate in the 37–46.975 MHz range, voice (FM) transmission Mode and 25 kHz channel separation.

The PRC 351 has 4 watt RF power output, and operates in the 30–75.975 MHz range with a possible 1840 channels spaced 25 kHz apart.

The VRC 353 was notable as the only set in the Clansman family to partially employ thermionic valves - a single conduction-cooled tetrode as the transmitter power amplifier which is always in use even at the minimum 100mW power output, and two wired-in pentodes as RF amplifiers in the receiver section.

It is often asserted that this was done to provide protection against Electro Magnetic Pulse (EMP) damage arising from a nuclear weapon strike, but was in fact necessary (at the time of design) in order to meet the required specification for dynamic range and adjacent channel performance.

With the exception of the PRC 349 and UK RT 350 which are 12 Volt (nominal), The Manpack and Portable sets and their chargers were almost all nominally rated 24V DC (Direct Current) to match the British Army's choice of 24 Volts to power its vehicle systems.

(A clip-in kit locked the radio in a convenient frame for rapid deployment when dismounting, and had the charger as part of the installation.)

There were a few exceptions where 24 Volts was not used in vehicles, such as in the General Service (GS) Land Rover where a 12v system was used for example.

All of these chargers worked in the same manner, basically providing an appropriate charging current while sensing the battery temperature to detect when charging was complete, achieved by measuring the voltage across two sets of a series pair of silicon diodes in the battery itself.

In extreme cases batteries left on charge exploded due to internal gas generation.

The PRC 350 had its own 14V 4Ah NICAD and a battery cassette holding 14 primary Alkaline or Dry Cells giving a nominal rated voltage of 21V.

Later, yellow faced boxes were introduced that supported Automatic Noise Reduction (ANR) functionality.

A range of audio gear for use in various roles are commonly provided such as the Lightweight 'B' Vehicle and Infantry Headset (Headset BV and I), the Clansman Handset, a Pressel (Press to Talk or PTT) switch and the Audio Gear Staff User (AGS).

This quasi repeater function allows two or more networks, on different frequencies, to be combined, effectively increasing the ground size of the net.

The SURF is an electrical filter, designed to reject unwanted interference from other radios when operating in close proximity to each other.

The SURF is tuned using a manual control on the front of the unit, so that only the frequency in use, and those close to it, are accepted by the set.

The TURF 25 Watt (a separate unit to the radio) is considered mandatory when using the VRC321: it tunes both unbalanced, end fed wires and whips and also balanced antennas such as the dipole.

The TUAAM automatically tunes the antenna, and artificially shortens it rather than lengthening it, but essentially it performs the same function as a TURF.

The TUAAM was a commercial product of Racal-BCC (BCC 543) and was adopted after the original SRDE design failed trials testing.