Welcome to 3rd Planet Solar & the shack of KC9ON

*** EU Countries – VAT collection rules change July 1st.  Please see our store info page for more information.

 

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Kanga UK Kits	CWMorse Keys	Fox Hunting
Crystals	CW Kits	QRP Accessory Kits
Components	DIY Homebrew	CCK Kits

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*** What’s New ***

2021-06-18	*** BACK IN STOCK *** Fox hunt offset attenuator V6 Now with choices of BNC or SMA connectors
2021-06-18	*** KANGA UK KITS ARE STILL AVAILABLE *** We still have FOXX-3,  OXO, 2-Tone, and Regen kits in stock
2021-03-31	*** BACK IN STOCK *** Fox hunt offset attenuator V5 Kits and Assembled
2021-03-21	CW Morse Scout Key Available assembled or easy to build kit.
2021-02-02	HW-8-TR solid state T/R relay replacement board
2020-09-28	NEW HC49/U Crystal Frequencies 3.530MHz 14.040MHz

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What’s 3rd Planet Solar all about?  Check it out in the About section.

 

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A few pictures of the shack:

 

Once in a lifetime event – The bench is clean!	2016 Shack Upgrade	The happy trio – HW-8, CALF, and 3CPO

The gear consists of an Icom IC-725 and MFJ 949D tuner/meter as the primary HF station with a Bencher and 3CPO for CW.  The old TRAC keyer still works but mostly retired now.  The main antenna is a simple 40M bowtie dipole which works pretty good on all bands.  Lately my Heathkit HW-8 has taken center stage pretty much replacing the IC-725.  Since my first HW-8 there is now a HW-7 and another HW-8 for camping.

 

The 2M primary station is an IC-251H with killer audio and RF output.  For Satellite and ISS work a Yaesu FT-290RII and Kantronics KAM fills the bill.  Yes, you can work the Space Station on just a watt or two and a simple vertical antenna!

 

When home-brewing and repairing we also use some fairly older equipment.  Heathkit IG-1271 signal generator, B&K 512MHz frequency counter, Philips 100MHz scope, Autek WM-1 RF/SWR meter, Heathkit IM-1210 DMM, Ramsey COM3 service monitor, Bird Wattmeter (that I always want more slugs for!), a few handheld DMM’s, my Digital Dummy Load, bench vise, and of course a Tenma solder reworks station.

 

Not pictured of more old equipment I pull off the shelf from time to time to play with.  A Kenwood TS-520 (under restoration), TS-530, Heathkit HW-16, HW-7, 2nd HW-8, HW-101 (under restoration), and my first rig an old Hallicrafters HT-17 (also under restoration).

 

Thanks for stopping by and 73!

John kc9on