Meet the Field Technicians: Charles Blackburn

This week, we sat down with Earth Networks Field Technician Charles Blackburn to learn more about him and his contributions to our operations. Charles has been with Earth Networks for two years now and uses a lot of recreational technology in his free time as well.

As a field technician here at Earth Networks, Charles looks after our lightning and weather stations, cameras, and Sferic Siren systems along the eastern seaboard of Florida and across to the Orlando/Central Florida area. Maintenance clients know they can call or email Charles at any time and he’ll get back to the as quickly as possible. Charles recalls visiting equipment in Volusia County on a Saturday to help his customers make sure everything was up and running before Hurricane Irma arrived. “I also try to maintain a good working relationship with my non-maintenance customers by checking up on their sites on a regular basis if I am nearby.”

Hard Work That’s Worth It

Charles, as well as the rest of the Earth Networks field tech crew, spends long hours driving, repairing, and installing throughout the week. He doesn’t mind, though, because he likes seeing different places and meeting different people. Especially when those places and people are along the beach. “I love working at the beach however it can be a maintenance nightmare due to salt and corrosion!”

While beach installs are some of his favorites because of the environment and the challenge, Charles concedes that any install that will be useful to a customer is important to him. “If our product, like an Outdoor Alerting System, saves just a single life, then I feel I have been successful.”

Fun Tech

In his free time, Charles is an avid RC modeler raining from cars to planes. On the weekends, you can find Charles racing quadcopters and drones. Back in November, Charles volunteered at a local flying event. More related to his career, Charles also enjoys taking pictures of weather. “I am an avid photo and videographer and can be found on days off chasing storms and trying to get lightning photos.”

Charles also is the photographer, video director, and camera operator at his local church. He loves volunteering his technological know-how for his community. “I bring the same philosophy to work as I do there: Work hard and be helpful and responsible for your own decisions.”

Why Our Clients Need Field Technicians, like Charles

While we offer the most advanced weather tools, there is always the chance that something could go wrong. When our hardware is out in the elements, anything can happen. And that’s why we’re so lucky to have great field technicians like Charles and the rest of the team.

If you’ve had a great experience with Charles that you’d like to tell us about, please let us know in the comments below! If you’d like to learn more about our field technicians, get to know Bill Angel. We’ll have a new field technician interview for you on our blog next week.