BE36 PLT AND A CESSNA HAD AN NMAC IN SJC CLASS E UNDER NCT CTL.

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A LITTLE AFTER XA00 LCL TIME (XH00Z) I DEPARTED HOLLISTER (307) ENRTE FOR SAN JOSE (SJC). AFTER LISTENING TO ATIS AT SJC; I MADE MY INITIAL CALL TO NORCAL APCH APPROX 8 NM WNW OF 307 ON 120.1. I WAS GIVEN A XPONDER CODE OF XXXX AND TOLD TO IDENT. WITHIN A MIN; THE CTLR CAME BACK WITH 'RADAR CONTACT' WITH A POS RELATIVE TO SJC AND TOLD ME TO 'PROCEED DIRECT TO PRUNEYARD 2500 FT FOR SEQUENCING.' THIS IS THE USUAL CLRNC WHEN APCHING SJC FROM THIS LOCATION. THE PRUNEYARD IS A VFR WAYPOINT A FEW MI SSE OF SJC. FLYING INBOUND TO THE PRUNEYARD; I CONTINUED TO MONITOR ATC; BUT HEARD NO OTHER XMISSION DIRECTED TO ME. THERE WERE SEVERAL OTHER ACFT ON FREQ; SO THIS DIDN'T SURPRISE ME. I PROCEEDED TOWARDS THE PRUNEYARD VIA THE FOOTHILLS W OF THE RWY 30L FINAL APCH CORRIDOR. I INITIALLY CLBED TO 4500 FT MSL; BUT ALMOST IMMEDIATELY STARTED A VFR DSCNT. AT SOME POINT BTWN RECEIVING MY LAST CALL AND ARRIVING OVER THE GREATER SAN JOSE CITY AREA; I BELIEVE THERE WAS A CHANGE IN CTLRS. SOMETIME BEFORE THE INCIDENT; I HEARD A CALL FOR A CESSNA (ACFT #2). I DON'T REMEMBER HIS N-NUMBER OR DEST; BUT HIS DESIRED HEADING WAS 120 DEGS. DUE TO THE CLOUD COVER; HE ASKED TO STAY AT 3500 FT. THE CTLR ACKNOWLEDGED AND GAVE HIM A HEADING OF 140 DEGS. AFTER THIS; I HEARD A CALL TO HIS ACFT THAT INCLUDED 'TFC 12 O'CLOCK POS; LESS THAN 1 MI; TYPE UNKNOWN; ALT 3500 FT.' HE ACKNOWLEDGED I THINK THAT HE WOULD TURN R. ALMOST IMMEDIATELY; I SAW A CESSNA AT MY 1 O'CLOCK POS ROUGHLY 200 FT ABOVE ME. I WATCHED AS THE CESSNA FLEW OVER ME AFTER WHICH IT STARTED A TURN TO THE R WHEN AT MY 7-8 O'CLOCK POS. AT THAT POINT; I FIGURED THAT THE 'TYPE UNKNOWN' TFC WAS PROBABLY ME. IN A SHORT AMOUNT OF TIME; SAY 1 OR 2 MINS; I ARRIVED OVER THE PRUNEYARD. I WAS EXPECTING THAT AT OR BEFORE MY ARR OVER THE PRUNEYARD I WOULD GET A HDOF TO SJC TWR (124.0). WHEN I ARRIVED AT THE PRUNEYARD; I CALLED NORCAL APCH INFORMING THEM THAT I WAS AT THE PRUNEYARD. THEY REPLIED BACK WITH SOMETHING LIKE 'WHO IS AT THE PRUNEYARD?' I REPEATED MY CALL SIGN AND WAS ASKED TO STANDBY. I INFORMED THEM THAT I WOULD CIRCLE TO THE S. THEY CAME BACK WITH A NEW XPONDER CODE YYYY AND THEN HANDED ME OFF TO SJC TWR WHERE I LANDED. I ACCEPT THAT UNDER VFR FLT RULES I AM RESPONSIBLE TO SEE AND AVOID. I DID NOTICE THE OTHER TFC; BUT BY THAT TIME; IT WAS PROBABLY NO MORE THAN .75 MI AWAY. GIVEN THAT THE CESSNA WAS ABOVE ME AND I WAS ALREADY DSNDING; I DIDN'T TAKE ANY ADDITIONAL MEASURES. I BELIEVE THAT THE APCH CTLR LOST TRACK OF ME; POSSIBLY DURING A CTLR HDOF. THE CTLR DID NOT CALL OUT ANY TA'S AND SEEMED SURPRISED WHEN I CALLED UP OVER THE PRUNEYARD. ALSO; THE ASSIGNMENT OF A NEW XPONDER CODE LEADS ME TO BELIEVE THAT HE NEEDED TO 'GET ME BACK INTO THE SYS.'