LYNN wagner K7WGR
“Lynn is always up on the latest, and he reads instruction books!” said Dave WA7YFF, Lynn’s former co-worker, as conversation at a Saturday coffee turned to Lynn’s knack for the electronic. His curiosity about all things electric/electronic got its start when he was in junior high school in Normal, Illinois. While the shop class was learning electricity basics, young Lynn was making his own project: a buzzer-shocker he could use for pranks. However, this same shop teacher made it possible for Lynn and others to earn the Boy Scout Merit Badge in electricity while in class.
The principal of the junior high school was a ham who sponsored an amateur radio club. They had a station in a classroom with a receiver and an AM transmitter. Lynn helped install an 80-meter dipole antenna on the roof of the school. Lynn also listened to shortwave on a Heathkit he got for Christmas. In junior college Lynn took physics and math and then moved on to sell Monroe programmable calculators with the old Nixie tube type display and punch cards. Next Lynn worked for IBM as a service technician for their office products division. He trained on the Selectric, electronic, and the executive typewriters. IBM sent him to school to learn copiers and magnetic card typewriters. He was with IBM when they brought out the first ink jet printer. When IBM closed their service branch, Lynn and others like him were thrown into a changing job market. Some ex-senior IBM techs knew what he could do, and they brought him on board when they started up their own business. Then Lynn’s brother Dale, who is Assistant Police Chief at the VA hospital, convinced Lynn to move to Montana. Dale wanted to be a ham and encouraged Lynn to get his Technician license. They studied together and hoped that by taking the exam together they would have sequential call signs. However, Lynn was sick on exam day and passed his test a month later. He added the General license a couple of years after that. As time went by, Lynn and a few other members of CCARC all wanted to earn the Amateur Extra ticket. They asked John KS7R to conduct an Amateur Extra class. John together with Don W7MRI did teach the class, and all the participants including Don earned their Extra ticket in May of 2015. Furthering his education, Lynn took the Cisco certification at Helena College, also learning programming and web programming languages such as C++, PHP, JAVA, and SQL. His facility with the electronic and the digital found a home at Montana Internet Corporation, where he worked from 2008 until he retired. Lynn’s favorite amateur radio activity is emergency response, and he participates in ARES, MARS, and SHARES. In early spring 2018 he helped fill and distribute sandbags during a flood event. Lynn also enjoys digital modes and usually has the latest gadget, such as the dual-band 2-meter/DMR handheld pictured with this article. His antenna by N6BT is a Bravo 5A 5-band dipole for 20-10 meters. He also has several wire antennas, including 80-10 meter end-fed and center-fed dipoles used for emergency backup. Come good weather or bad, Lynn can be counted on to support any club event, especially those with the Boy Scouts. He also is the ARRL Emergency Coordinator for Lewis & Clark County. Usually the first one to arrive at Saturday coffee, he likes to set up the tables for everyone. As he joins in the morning conversations, Lynn can be seen working with and explaining his latest radio. August 2018 |
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Lynn's analog/DMR dualbander
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Lynn at coffee
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Early Monroe programmable calculator
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Field Day 2018, raining at 9 am. Rex KI0BJ, Don W7MRI, and Lynn K7WGR
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Ken AF7QP, Lynn K&WGR, and Fred KD0HBA ready to fill sandbags for flood control
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