Updated 10/16/06

 

Currently, I am living in Petaluma, CA which is located about 60 miles north of San Francisco. I am living there with my wonderful wife, our two kids, Alexandra and Xavier.

 

I work for Cisco Systems and am a Network Consulting Engineer for the America’s International (everything south of the USA border) and work in the fiber optics field, specifically, SDH/SONET/DWDM and am deploying Next Generation Optical + IP networks with MPLS, Ethernet, Gig-E, 10Gig-E, SAN, VoIP and Video.  I am now more into Metro Ethernet with the Cisco core group of Routing and Switching and a CCNA, CCNP and currently studying for my CCIE written exam, then the lab portion, eventually.  Working for Cisco’s Americas International group, gives me MANY opportunities to travel within the America’s and build super networks and operate from remote locations, when time permits of course, if not, I sit back and enjoy the local attractions!

 

My former employers include Harris Communications, Ericsson Cables, NOKIA Transmission Systems, and while working for those companies, I traveled extensively.  I specialized in Central Office Switching Systems, PABX, GSM, SS7, ISDN, BRI, Call Centers, Outside Plant, Fiber Splicing & Cabling etc.  This experience in soo many fields gave me the opportunity to travel all over the world and operate ham radio as can be seen in the table of DXpeditions and operations found at the bottom of this web page.  You can say I saw the world "for free" while working and enjoying the hobby and meeting many great hams and their families in my worldly travels.

 

For those of you wondering how I got into the king of job I am in and what helped me have the skills to be so "multi-talented," it is because I went to   Cal Poly State University and studied Electrical Engineering-Telecomm and did a six month student internship at NOKIA transmission systems in Haukipudas, Finland.  I enjoyed being "away" from the US, in a foreign country, having to learn the language and upon returning to complete my degree at Cal Poly, I didn't want to have a typical engineering job right out of college. I also received an ASEET at Heald Institute of Technology in San Francisco prior to entering Cal Poly.  I enjoyed doing "system work/network design & installation" and trouble shooting on a system level rather than at a component level.  I graduated from Cal Poly in 1994 and I am currently 34 years old and have been in the telecomm industry since 1993 when I first got my feet wet at Nokia.

 

My father, Javier Sr, left this earth on November 9, 2004, a few hours before his first male grandson was to be born.  The XYL’s water bag broke at the moment of his flat line, and she was 50 miles away not at the bedside and didn’t know until she called me about the water bag breaking—what are the odds?

 

As far as Amateur Radio is concerned, here's the scoop.

Elmer: W6KDK Steve, SK 1986
Year First Licensed: 1986 with the help from the San Francisco Amateur Radio Club-W6PW  novice class.
First Call Sign: KB6MYS

Current Call:     NM6E
Previous Calls:   AH6MM, KJ6BK

Favorite Modes: SSB 50% & CW 50%
Favorite Ragchew mode: SSB

I enjoy contesting and chasing DX but would rather "Be the DX."  If I had the choice, I would prefer to be on the other end of the pile up. It's much more exciting and gratifying as all the operators working you "push you" to new operating limits (increase CW speed, pile up handling techniques improve etc), thus making you a better operator, DX'er and contest operator.

 

Clubs I am a member of:
           Northern California DX Foundation
           Redwood Empire DX Association
           Northern California Contest Club

            

Current Main Station Equipment:

· HF ICOM IC-7800

· Amplifier Alpha 87A, 1.5Kw  10-160m

HF Antennas:

· CDE T2X Heavy Duty Rotor

· Rohn 25G 10' Top section on the roof, total antenna height 39'. (20' of house height + 10' of roof tower + 9' mast)

· M2 40M1-LA 40m & 17m. 50 foot rotatable dipole @ 39 feet.

· M2 KT-36XA 10m-15m-20m 6 Element Beam @ 35' 

· 80m Shortened Dipole @  30'  for SSB

· Butternut HF-2V and lots of radials for 30/40/80

· Ameritron RCS-10 8-Position Antenna Switch

· MicroHam Band Decoder   

 

Miscellaneous Stuff

· VHF Radio                Icom-281H 2m transceiver

· VHF Antennas         Diamond X50A 2m/440 vertical

· UHF                          Yaesu FT-50RD, Icom W32AT

· Data Modes             Kantronics KAM-98, MMTTY, WriteLog, DigiPan,

· Heil Mics                  Heil Pro-Set/Pro-Set Plus, HC4/HC-5 elements , Heil PR-780

· Keyer                       Bencher Iambic Paddle and a Vibroplex Deluxe Iambic Keyer with paddle conversion kit

· Software                  WriteLog Version 10.61E, TRX-Manager, LOGic 8

· PC-Radio                 Micro-Ham USB-Radio Interface (CW and PTT), MicroHam Micro Keyer

 

Remote Controlled Station (added as of 10/25/05) Currently Not Functioning

· HF Radio                  Kenwood TS-480HX

· PC                             Intel Celeron 2.81Ghz, 80Gb HD, 512Mb Ram

· Software                  TRX-Manager, Kenwood Freeware, SKYPE, all loaded on Host PC and LapTop

· Antenna Control     Ameritron RCS-12C (switching to a MicroHam Band Decoder)

· Remote Mic             Heil Pro-Set Multi-Media Headset for IBM-T43P laptop

· Amplifier                  Alpha 87-A running Alpha-Remote via Lantronix Serial Server

· Rotor Control          IDIOM Press Rotor-EZ (CDE T2X to RS-232 via Lantronix Serial Server)

· Antennas                 Same HF Antennas mentioned above

 

QRP/Portable Station Equipment (added as of  10/14/06)

· Elecraft K2 SN# 4409 (All options installed except DSP, KX60V, KPA-100)

· Elecraft KX1 SN#813  20m, 30m, 40m, 80m KX1AT, KPD1 powered with a LiPo 12VDC, 2000mAh  battery (tiny!)

· Elecraft K1 SN#1103 15m, 17m, 20m, 30m. 40m, 80m KAT1, Back Light, KNB1,  powered with LiPo battery above

· ICOM IC-703

· Vibroplex Code Warrior Jr Keyer

· A&A Engineering QRP Smart Charger custom made switchable 120/220VAC, switchable  250mA/1Amp DC output,

· Heil Proset HC-5 Headset,

· Super Antenna MP-1 10-80m, Par Gain End-Fed 10/20/40m and Various Home Brew Wire Antennas, 4:1 Balun, 

· All radios Interfaced to WriteLog for CW Keying

· PC Interfacing:    MicroHam USB-Radio Interface

 

Note: Don W3FPR has built my K2 and my KX1, and will be upgrading my K1, (I don’t have time!) and has done an excellent job. If you want an Elecraft but don’t have time to build it or uncertain of your skill level, contact Don, I recommend him without a doubt.

 

HF Station Shack Information as of October 2006:
The shack has been completely remodeled and it now is  my full time telecommuting office/ham shack and spare bed room/contest room.
Installation of Industrial Communication Engineers (ICE) grounding bulkhead and protection equipment as listed below:

· ICE Model 421 Low Pass Filter I

· ICE Model 402X Broadcast Interference filter

· ICE Model 303U Coax Impulse Suppressor

· ICE Equipment Ground Buss Bar

· ICE Coaxial Grounding Blocks

 

All antennas are fed with LMR-400 coax to the Ameritron RCS-10 switch box at the base of the roof tower. From the switch box mounted on the tower to the antennas, the feed line is LMR-400 Ultraflex to handle to the rotational aspect and it's easier to work with.  Much of the decision for selecting the HF antennas was based on extensive feedback from N6ED who has done extensive contests at top rated west coast stations K6NA and at home.

 

I am in Petaluma, located in Sonoma County and actively operate for the following contests:

· California QSO Party—Favorite Contest!

· CQWW DX CW/SSB

· CQWPX

· ARRL DX

· ARRL 10m Contest from the San Francisco section

· ARRL Sweep Stakes CW & SSB—turning into my favorite contests because these contests push your operating abilities and teach you to maximize use of your current station equipment!

· ARCI QRP Contest (Like to do these in the field or as DX)

· Elecraft QSO Party

 

A special thanks for Jim W6WR, Chuck N6OJ and Chris NT6D for their help in getting the antennas installed

 

Also a super special thank you to  my father, Javier, SK 2004, for all the things you have taught and helped me with.

 

The sources for all of the equipment installed are the following:
M2 Anetnnas were purchased from  SSB USA Electronics They offer the best pricing on all M2 products. Jerry is great to deal with.

MicroHam USA is a pleasure to work with. Joe is great and so is Jozef’s technical support, bar none. I am a MicroHam fanatic.  Now, I just need to practice doing SO2R to acquire the SO2R box! Visit their web site  at

 

ICE (Industrial Communication Engineers) grounding equipment was purchased directly from them. They don't have an active web site but can be reached at 1-800-423-2666. They offer excellent products and quality workmanship.

The following equipment was purchased from  Ham Radio Outlet :

1.  Ameritron RCS-10 Coax Switch
2.  Alpha Delta DX-B
The LMR-400 and heavy duty rotor cable were purchased from Davis RF and they offer excellent pricing on all types of coax, rotor cable and antennas/tower projects. They also offer good prices on I.C.E. (Industrial Communication Engineers) equipment and drop ship them to your location.

 

I enjoy DX’ing and love to travel, fortunately for free because I work for a multinational company, Cisco Systems and my previous employer include Harris Corporation, Ericsson Cables, NOKIA.

 

The following is a list of my past DX-peditions and Operations around the world. You may be wondering how do I get on the air from these places, I typically meet people in the DX contests and let them know I am coming and I also operate from the locations with my QRP rigs from the hotels. My signal may not be that strong but the prefix gives me a 20dB boost to those worthy individuals on the other end of a pile up...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks for visiting my Web Page!  73 and I hope to work you on the bands!

 

Email: nm6e @ sbcglobal.net

 

Web Page Updated 16-October-2006 @ 18:30hrs