Tribute to Richard King

Tribute to Richard L. King K5PFL, K5NA
August 4, 1942 - April 12, 2023

K5NA, Richard L. King, died April 12th in a "terrible accident" as he was helping a friend take down a 40 meter Yagi and was electrocuted. Richard jumped in at the last minute to try and keep the antenna from getting caught on a guy wire. The antenna hit a powerline. Two local neighborhood nurses arrived within a few minutes and began CPR continuing until EMS arrived. Richard died on the way to the hospital or shortly thereafter.

Richard was a longtime DXer and Contester and one of the best at both! K5NA had 340/374 (current/total) confirmed in the ARRL DXCC Mixed Standings. He had 3167 confirmed in the ARRL DXCC Challenge of which 321 were on 160 meters.

Richard was also a 6 meter EME operator. He had a large 4X6 H-frame array that got damaged last winter (2022) in a storm. It was always great to see Richard and his wife Susan K5DU at the Dayton Hamvention. You will be missed my friend. RIP. K8CX

I first met Richard about 20 years ago. He picked me up from at the airport. I was a speaker for a DX convention. He introduced me to Texas BBQ and drove me to a few of the Big Guns in the Austin, Texas area, including a visit to K5NA. From that point on Richard and I had a wonderful kindship always comparing our Topband, Challenge numbers and talk about BBQ! He always had a smile on his face and was always with his wife K5DU, Susan. My sincere condolences to Susan, another serious DXer and Contester. W3UR

Dayton 2000