It’s time to give recognition of a newly established Amateur Radio Club in Cherokee County.
There is a new ham radio club in Cherokee County. Established and created in November of 2024, the new club officially sought and received their first official recognition from the FCC as an Amateur Radio Club beginning Nov. 11 with the assigned call sign of KQ4ZFD.
The five founding members had all agreed that they wanted to apply for a unique to the club vanity call sign and completed the required application with it becoming finalized by the FCC issuing our club the requested call sign for the club call sign NC4HH (November Charlie 4 Hotel Hotel). Club members officially announced their club to the public on Dec. 20, 2024, and held their first park activation on Dec. 23 with all five founding members gathering at the Lake Chatuge Dam located in Clay County, N.C., designated by the Parks on the Air organization as US-10398.
Although the club is listed as private, they do have a public Facebook page for individuals who are interested in following the activities the club will be involved with.
In recognition for the individual operators and club as well as operators across the great state of North Carolina, it was requested by the PIO, Shannon Greathead, to contact our local and state leaders to put in the requests and any further information needed to assist those leaders in determining the approval or denial of said requests.
We would like to individually say thank you to both the Town of Andrews Mayor James Reid and Town of Murphy Mayor Tim Radford and their entire working board and office staff in putting for their resolution to us.
Secondly, a request was made to the Cherokee County Manager’s Office, in which Maria Hass took care getting the request to Chairman Dan Eichenbaum and members of the Cherokee County Board of Commissioners to also sign the proclamation of recognition of ham radio operators.
Lastly, received June 28, the club received a signed and seal proclamation from N.C. Sen. Kevin Corbin from District 50 and our state representative for District 120, Karl Gillespie.
It is a great honor to receive all these Proclamations in respect and appreciation to not only the Hillbilly Hams ARC but to recognize all the ham operators in the great state of North Carolina.
Again, our heartfelt and sincere appreciation for all individuals who have had a hand in getting these proclamations signed, sealed and delivered.
When all else fails, there is ham radio.
(KU4GZ) Luis Edwards, president,
(AA4AT) Shaun Greathead, vice president
(W4MAE) Amy Taylor, treasurer
(K1LY) Shannon Greathead, PIO/secretary
(KE4MM) Doug Taylor, board member/quartermaster
Members of the Hillbilly Hams
Editor’s note: The Hillbilly Hams Amateur Radio Club is known by their call sign NC4HH (November Charlie 4 Hotel Hotel) when used in the correct phonetics for operations of amateur radio.