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Hello visitor. Thank you for visiting. My name is John and my QTH is Leander, Texas located about 20 miles north of Austin. I have been a ham for over 37 years. I took my novice test back in March of 1988 with my good friend Steve KB6VQV where we both passed the written but, I failed the code. The test was administered by Willy, W6CKV and his wife Jacquelyn, W6YKU. The following week I got back up at there again and passed my code and received my Novice license KB6VRS. After a couple weeks Steve and I upgrade to Technician. About 1990 I upgraded to General with good friend Mike KC6YMF in Chico with the Golden Empire Amateur Radio Society (GEARS). 1994 I upgraded to Advance in Chico with GEARS again. After moving to Texas in March 1996 I soon applied for the vanity call KE5RS. Upgraded to Amateur Extra in Austin with WCARC in 2002

Current & Archive log's with my 1st original callsign:

• KE5RS Logbook 2000 - 2025 Current
• KB6VRS in Leander Logbook 1996 - 2000
• KB6VRS in Cohasset Logbook 1988 - 1996

My Career with 3M Company:

I began my career with Chabin Corp. on Aug 12, 1981, a 4 year old company in a small building located at 260 Ryan Ave. at the Chico airport. I started on the manufacturing floor soldering connectors and little ribbon wires to PCB's. over time I eventually became the go-to guy for custom cable builds requiring special modifications, masking tape molds for epoxy and machine work whatever it took to get custom working samples to the customer.

3M acquired Chabin Corp about 1986. I soon was drafted into the Product Development Lab with 3M Interconnects where we design build, and test new cable assemblies and connectors. Moved to Texas February of 1996 after I heard they were closing the manufacturing plant in the next couple years in Chico. Been in Texas 29 years now

In Texas I operated the SEM for about 3 years capturing high magnification images of inkjet nozzles after rigorous tests.

Around 1999 I returned to the cables and connectors lab with more designing, development and testing of new cable, connectors and assemblies.

Retired from 3M over 4 years now. Almost 40 years total with 15 years in Chico and over 24 years in Austin.

Patents, Copyrights & Articles:

• US5900588 3M 93101 Pleated Foil Cable
• US10090612 3M 7700 Series Cable Digi-Key Ad
• US10498059 3M 7700 Series Cable
• WO2013151608A1 3M Conductive Face Connector
• TXu000994727 KE5RS FTP Widget Copyright
• FTP Widget in QST
• KE5RS in the News

Alan Padgett short stories: N6RNP

Arrow DF Antenna Element Assembly Tip:

Problem with elements on your Arrow DF Antenna coming loose or can't get them loose? Wet the inside of your hand with IPA (Isopropyl Alcohol) and while wet, grip the elements to tighten. This technique works great with gripping many things.

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