PRESIDENT
Rusty Welsh
KG4HIR
Rusty grew up with a father who was dedicated to his broadcast electronics career. With being constantly on-call to remedy off the air emergencies as well performing routine maintenance after hours, Rusty came to understand the importance of organization and coordination as well as receiving a first hand/on the job training at a very young age of electronic troubleshooting and repair.
Growing up in Columbia County Rusty graduated from Evans High School and soon after started working for Columbia County in 1999 as a communications officer in 9-1-1. In 2002 he accepted the position of Deputy Director of Emergency Management in Columbia County until early 2017. Both of these positions paralleled working in broadcast as an engineer building several studios and transmitter sites as well as performing routine maintenance. With many certifications and his vast experience in communications, electronics and public safety, Rusty continues to provide emergency management, communications and electronics expertise to those in need as well as volunteering his knowledge to further others in their abilities in the amateur radio hobby.
Rusty enjoys many aspects of amateur radio to include but is not limited to fox hunting, operation footprint, repeater maintenance, field day operations, frequency coordination along with radio programming and standardization.
VICE PRESIDENT
Dan Marshall
N4MI
Dan grew up in Columbia County, and graduated from Harlem High School in 1980. Shortly afterward, he joined the U.S. Air Force, and spent 20 years serving as an Intelligence Analyst in overseas assignments in England, Greece, and South Korea. His last Air Force assignment was to Fort Gordon, and after retiring from active duty in 2003, he remained in Columbia County, and moved to his home in Grovetown in 2015.
Dan has always been interested in electronics, computers and radios, but did not get his amateur radio license until 2016. He found a ham radio family and home in the Amateur Radio Club of Columbia County, and has served on several club committees. He enjoys all aspects of ham radio, but he especially enjoys DXing on the HF bands.
N4MI’s QRZ page
N4MI’s personal web page
SECRETARY
Shannon Welsh
KK4MED
Shannon was born in June 1982 and grew up in Grovetown, Georgia where she graduated from Harlem High School in 2000. Shannon graduated in 2001 from Augusta Technical College with horticultural degree. Subsequently, she grew to like the medical field and graduated from Augusta Technical College in 2007 with her CNA (Certified Nursing Assistant) degree and received her CNA license in June of 2008. Following receiving her CNA license Shannon started working for Georgia War Veterans Nursing Home.
In 2011 Shannon transferred to Augusta State Medical Prison and began working as a Telemedicine Technician. Currently, Shannon works as a Patient Care Technician at Augusta University where she enjoys taking care of mothers and newborn babies. Shannon was introduced to amateur radio by several friends and received her Technician Class license in October of 2012. She enjoyed the hobby so much she quickly received her General Class license in October 2013 and then received her Extra Class license in November of 2013.
Since becoming involved in the amateur radio hobby she became a Volunteer Examiner and thoroughly enjoys giving back to the amateur radio hobby by leading the Columbia County VE Team. Shannon is a member of the Columbia County Amateur Radio Club. She was voted in as the Columbia County Amateur Radio Club Secretary in April 2014 and continued for two consecutive terms ending in 2018. Shannon has been elected to a second term as Secretary in 2023.
Shannon enjoys kit building, DXing at Field Day events and loves to participate in all types of other amateur radio related activities.
TREASURER
Steve Clayborn
KJ4FSX
Steve grew up as an Army brat then joined the Army after high school. In addition to several CONUS assignments, he also had overseas assignments in Korea and Panama. While in Panama, he served as the first Army “Contingency Contracting Officer” traveling to various Central and South American countries to provide support to various U.S. Army military and disaster support operations. However, Steve has called Columbia County and Grovetown home for more than 50 years. Steve graduated from Harlem High School in 1969 prior to joining the military.
Steve did not become interested in amateur radio until around 2004 after taking early retirement from the Savannah River Site. He enjoys talking to others about ham radio and especially how it can be incorporated into a family’s emergency management plans. Steve previously served as the club’s Treasurer from 2019 to 2020.
BOARD MEMBER AT LARGE
Eric Cagle
KK4ZHT
Originally from the mountains of western North Carolina, Eric has traveled around the world a couple of times. He retired in 2014 after 21 years in the Navy working in the information dominance field as a foreign language analyst. After retirement, Eric did a short tour as a garden sales associate at The Home Depot in Evans, GA. Currently, he is a full-time student at Augusta Technical College in the Horticulture program.
Licensed in March 2014, he upgraded to General in January 2017. He enjoys field day, fox hunting, amateur satellite communications, tinkering, helping with repeater maintenance, and exploring the lesser known segments of communications.