Background:
Most of this site and the related content is updated by me, John Hoaglun. I am married and have three sons that sometimes appear in the website too. (Someday maybe they might also contribute content.)
Amateur Radio:
I tend to be more of a "builder" than "operator" over the past few years. This QSL card is pretty reflective of my tendency to want to tinker. I am an active "home-brewer" and spend time designing and building my own gear. I also like to operate while camping and I am venturing into Summits on the Air (SOTA) activations. When/where possible I like to share my hobby with my family. My wife and 2 of our 3 kids are also licensed. Occasionally you might hear my kids sharing my callsign on HF.
My shack supports 1.8MHz --> 1296MHz. We have old school rigs like the IC-756 and TS2000, an Elecraft K2, and an Elecraft KX3, several tranverters, and lots of kits.
I look forward to chatting with you on the air. (73 de NG0R)
Photography:
My interest in photography goes back to Middle School. I had a great graphics arts teacher for several years at the Middle School and High School who was an "enabler." My interest in graphic arts, computers, and photography opened the door to employment in cable tv, commercial production, and eventually the broadcast news world. During my photojournalism career I eventually became Chief Photojournalist and Operations Manager. (I worked at KBJR, KSFY, KSLA, WFTV, KOKH)
My interest in photography continues even though I have moved on to a different career. I am still an active photographer primarily focused on still images but I do occasionally dabble in a video project once in a while. I shoot primarily Canon EOS gear in the digital world having formerly been a Nikon guy in the film world. (I also used to shoot 120mm [645 & 2 1/4"] and 4x5 sheet film.) In the past year or so I have been working with more HDR and Infrared images as I try to extend my perspective on how the world looks.
Camping:
Our family spends many weekends (spring, summer, and fall) camping. The vast majority of those trips utilize our 23' Rockwood Roo trailer. It is a hybrid camper; aka: hard sides & fold out bunk ends with canvas. The tents do occasionally (very occasionally) get taken out in addition to the option of sleeping under the truck topper. Most of the trips are focused on the state campgrounds located around Minnesota. Occasionally there are to trips to Wisconsin & South Dakota and longer trips like Washington, Montana, and Idaho.
Career:
I am IT Architect / Director for a large health insurance company. At this point in my career I am largely platform agnostic as everything is building block. Most of my projects tend to focus on large Unix & Mainframe platforms in recent years. Geo-diverse hosting, disaster recovery, and "private cloud computing" provide a continually evolving set of requirements and challenges to help keep things extremely interesting.
I enjoy going to work everyday and the intellectual challenge that my position presents. I am privileged to work for a great company, have a great boss, and a fabulous supporting team around me. Every year I close by saying that I have worked on the largest project that I have ever been a part of only to see each new year bring along a bigger & more challenging project. I can't imagine a day in my life when I won't be working in some capacity either personally or professionally.
Thanks, John