A little about me.

I am 68 years of age.  Have been interested in anything technical since I can remember.  At 8 years old I distinctly remember the announcement of the transistor by the folks at Bell Lab.  By that time I was well into Vacuum tube radios (Having built more then one from a Boy Scout hand book) and I could see the promise of the solid state world.  Just think, No filaments, WOW.  My father noticed my keen interest in electronics and bought me a Allied Radio Ten in One kit for my birthday.  Now that really started something.  I built the code practice Oscillator and proceeded to learn the Morse code.  By 12 Years old I acquired my first Amateur Radio License.  I let it drop a year later as I was going to school out of state and didn't have time for Ham radio.  When I was in college I again re-licensed and have held my license ever since.

I have been involved with the repeaters here in Maine since the beginning having built some of the first Repeater.  Along with Radio, Repeater and anything RF I have a keen interest in the digital world.  I obtained my college scholarships through my digital abilities and worked at MIT's Lincoln Lab programming on the first SAGE computer while attending college.  I can read machine hex code almost as good as reading a news paper and still enjoy the challenge of deciphering what it is doing.  But today with all the code being assembled by C, C+ or some other assembler it has become very difficult in most cases to unscramble large programs.

I am a licensed Professional Engineer, and a licensed Master Electrician.  I have Certificates in Computer Science, EE, CNE, MCNE, BOC and Armor and hold a General Radio Telephone License having been first licensed as a First Class Radio Telephone Engineer with CW and Radar endorsements.  Belong to many professional originations and lodges as well as active in computer, radio and other clubs.

I have been retired since 2003 but took on the job of bringing Kennebec County's computer technology into the 21 century.  I am now serving as Kennebec County Directory of IT. 

Family is my first priority.  I am engaged to Brenda.   I have one Son and a great daughter-in-law and three grand children.   I enjoy music, having played Guitar since I was 12.  I like wood working and have built more then one house.  I enjoy riding my Harley Davidson Motorcycle and the fun that comes with it riding through out Maine, NH, Vermont etc.  I like  outdoor actives such a hunting, fishing or riding 4 wheelers or going for a day with my Son Lobster fishing.  

About the APRS Station and Web Server

The KQ1L APRS Station is a Kenwood TM-D710 running 5 Watts into a Diamond 3db Gain Antenna up 35 Feet from Ground level.  The site location is 265 feet AMSL.

The APRS PC is a DELL Optiplex GX240 running Windows 2000 Professional and UI-View 32.  

The APRS maps are created on a Dell Latitude PC running SuSE Linux 10.x. 

The Weather Station PC is a DELL Latitude CS portable running Windows 2000 Professional and Weather Display.  The Weather data is from a Davis Weather Monitor II system.

All PC are networked via Ethernet to a Novell 5.1 Web Server.  UI-View, the Mapping PC and Weather station all download files to the Novell server to supports the Web page.  My email server is a Dell Optiplex GX260 running Windows 2003 server and Mercury32 Mail server.  My email address dhawke@dhawke.com.

Connection to the Internet is through a 3Mbit SDSL line.  

All station radios are powered from a station battery which is kept charged by a constant current regulated power supply.

All computer equipment power is back up with APC uninterruptible power supplies and a generator backup everything in the event of loss of commercial power.