Welcome to 3rd Planet Solar & the shack of KC9ON

	U.S. Distributor for Kanga UK Click HERE for Kanga US stock
	CW Morse keys and paddles

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2020-03-23	*** We are closed until April 15th **** Due to COVID-19 and the State of Michigan closing all non-essential business we will be closed until the ban has been lifted.  Feel free to visit the site, we are still available to answer questions.  In the interim you can RESERVE inventory by contacting us or placing an order and selecting “CHECK PAYMENTS”.  Please DO NOT send checks or money orders at this time as we will not be processing them!  When the ban is lifted we will be in contact with you to begin processing orders and accepting payments. Stay Safe!  Duck and Cover!!  73  John kc9on
2020-02-15	We now carry select CW Morse keys and paddles
2020-02-15	SMD Dummy Load SMA style kits are back in stock
2020-01-20	Kanga UK Foxx-3 kits in 20M, 30M, 40M, and 80M are back in stock.
2020-01-10	*** NEW *** Mini-Yack 2 Iambic Keyer/Trainer Our re-designed Mini-Yack in an enclosure with negative grid keying!
2020-01-08	***NEW *** Magnet Wire in 16-22 gauge
2019-12-11	*** NEW *** Kanga UK OXO kits are here!
2019-12-11	HW-8-LM386 Audio Replacement Kits are back in stock
2019-12-11	HW-8-TR QSK Relay Replacement is back in stock
2019-12-02	*** NEW *** Kanga Sudden-2 40M SMD Receiver
2019-09-27	NEW Kanga sized Prototoids boards
2019-09-13	Our Component Testers now include an SMD adapter!
2019-08-26	The Yack is Back! Mini-Yack kits are back in stock
2019-06-15	Back in Stock…… CCK Tracing Car Kits
2019-05-06	Back in Stock…… Kanga UK two tone audio generator kits
2019-03-25	NEW SMB & N Chassis Connectors
2019-03-23	Looking for an RF filter for your next project? We have over 500+++ filters ranging from 5.6KHz to 300+MHz, bandwidths of 50Hz to 100MHz, in Band-Pass, Band-Reject, Low-Pass,and High-Pass configurations.
2018-07-10	Ceramic, SMD, And Air Trimmer Capacitors 18+ Varieties
2018-6-07	Magnet Wire Bifilar Magnet Wire Litz Wire Starting as low as $.04/ft
2018-05-27	NPO and Temperature Compensated Capacitors (High Quality Commercial and Military Spec)
2018-05-12	We are now stocking various toroids

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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