I looked up KC4VGA on http://wm7d.net and clicked the button for 'more detail'. Here's part of what came back:

County: Wythe County

Grid Square: EM96lw
   Latitude:  36 deg 57 min  3 sec N
  Longitude:  81 deg  4 min 36 sec W

When someone on Six asks "Where you at?" just say "Echo-Mike-Niner-Six-Lima-Whiskey". That's your grid square and sub-square within the square.

Now you're squared away.

This may be old news for some of you, but I think it's cool enough to be worth posting...

On the BAMA site it's not unusual to find a service manual comprised of a series of .GIF files. One file per page straight off a flatbed scanner. Anyone can make this handier to store on a local drive by crunching the set into a .ZIP file, but Linux users have another option.

Download the .GIF's to your desktop, start a new document in OpenOffice, then drag & drop the first .GIF into the document. Click the first page to home the cursor then insert a page break. Drag & drop the second .GIF as Page 2. Lather, rinse, repeat until you have a document that looks very much like a complete service manual.

Export the file as a .PDF and set the .PDF display properties for page width, thumbnails, start page, whatever your preferences are.

Now you have a series of files merged into one file that's in a standard format for Mac or PC.

Cool Beans, and it's a standard feature in OpenOffice for Linux.

Wikipedia says: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walkie-talkie

...and that would be something like the SCR-536:

http://www.olive-drab.com/od_electronics_scr536.php

Note that you did not specify Ham equipment nor define the concept of 'portable'. One could argue that given enough time, trucks and explosives the Rocky Mountains are 'portable' but I wouldn't go so far as to consider the Grand Canyon 'portable'... Even if it needed to move three feet to resolve a zoning issue.

As a rule of thumb flat top dipoles will tend to have a feedpoint impedance around 70-ish ohms, but this can vary somewhat. 50 ohm coax is close enough for a dipole and the choke balun described in the instructions is a good idea.

Yes, you can get fancy with matching stubs and transformers - but - everything you add to a feed line has some loss associated with it and every extra connection has the potential for water intrusion and corrosion.

I'd follow the K.I.S.S. principle on this one...

For many moon the wallpaper from the 'C was "The License" but an argument can be made that if you're legal here: http://wireless2.fcc.gov/UlsApp/UlsSearch/searchLicense.jsp

You're legal... With or without the paper.

(but it's still good form to keep a copy of the lower section in your wallet just in case the question comes up)

Flip the fan.

You want to pull heat out of the case and the way it is now the finals are acting like heaters for the rest of the innards.

Add one more vote for the car radio idea... Last bastion of a decent AM section and often can be found dirt cheap at thrift shops. The biggest catch today is 'Theft Guard' as even some factory stock units need an unlock code after a power interruption. The code is generally on a sticker inside the glovebox of the car (which you don't have) or can be referenced by the parts guy at a car dealer. Take the radio with you and be sure to smile when you ask.

And... Speaking of thrift shops... A few months back I picked up a Panasonic RF-1200 for something like $3.00. Medium large AC / Battery desktop portable with AM / FM plus VHF (148-174 MHz), WX and SW (1.6-4.5 MHz). Looks exactly like something a casual boater would appreciate as the handle on top is marked with directional arrows for DF on AM stations and it RX's both the old and new marine bands.

The internal ferrite rod antenna is something like 8" long, has excellent directional properties, and the AM reception is about as good as I've heard. About 30 years old, rare bird, needs a good cleaning and plays just fine once you figure out that the bandswitch needs a jiggle or two after the click. Should be an easy restore.

If you ever see something like that, jump on it just for grins...

Crystals running on their fundamental frequency have a bit of give to them, typically from a 30pf padder cap in series or parallel. On a harmonic they're pretty much where they are.

But... They do drift slightly with age and for all you know the xtal is 40 years and a kc or two closer to where you want it.

Most of the CRC 2-26 will evaporate in a few weeks but there will be a very light oil residue that can persist for months. As said previously, check for loose connectors.

It wouldn't hurt to leave the lid off for a week or so and put the radio near a fan, or some place with plenty of moving air to help dry it out.

Bearcat manuals are hard to find, but it's possible all you need is a crystal vendor like this one:

http://www.kenselectronics.com/lists/scanxtal.htm

Looks like the Electra-Bearcat models of that era used a 10.8 MHz IF with high side LO injection via a third overtone crystal. Other sites I've visited also mention that Bearcat's used a 10.8 MHz IF.

So... What does this mean to you? Order third overtone crystals that are 10.8 MHz higher than the intended RX frequency. If you want to hear 200 MHz you'll need a 210.8 MHz crystal. 146.88 would require a 157.68 MHz crystal, etc.

Disclaimer: I'm not Ken. Or his brother.

Standard practice on most stuff I've worked on is to locate the fan near the hottest component(s) so it can draw air out of the enclosure. Do the reverse and you're essentially blowing heat into the case.

WWVB is on 60 kHz and is the time sync signal used by 'atomic' clocks. I can copy it in Tulsa both day and night at approximately the same signal level, which is kinda' spooky for ground wave considering I'm ~500 miles out. I have several atomic clocks and they sync reliably in about two minutes unless there's a thunderboomer in the 'hood.

Tune 60 kHz straight up either FSK or CW and you should hear what sounds like very slooooooow CW. Visit this site for more:

http://tf.nist.gov/timefreq/stations/wwvb.htm

Elmer's with a small strip of paper towel as insurance against the tear spreading. Make the paper towel part a bit larger than the tear so it 'anchors' on solid material.

Note to W3END: A 16 hour trickle charger typically doesn't care if it's a NiCd on NiMh battery at the other end of the wire but a 'fast' or 'smart' charger can be faked out by the difference in charge rate / current draw by a battery upgrade.

I've also seen claims that newer NiCd's are far less prone to developing a memory than the original goods, but I still run 'em down before charging. Tend to do the same on NiMh parts as well. But... I have a cordless drill that taught me not to run 'em down completely. Apparently the 'smart' charger can't tell the difference between almost dead and truly dead so it bails out with a battery error.

This doesn't exactly answer the question, either, but earlier this year I picked up a NOS 4.8v AA NiCd battery pack intended for cordless phone use. Date code read as 1994 but the package looked too good for 13 years of hanging on a peg. But... Could have been a back room item that never made it to the floor.

In any case, split the pack in two and re-celled a pair of Norelco shavers with 'em. Both work fine. One old pack that came out was dated 1992, the other had no code.

Off the top of my head I'd have said a NiCd is good for maybe 5-7 years on the shelf or ~300 recharges. Either the internal charging circuit Norelco uses has some pixie dust in the chip or NiCd's are more durable than I suspected.

BTW: Not unusual at all to find orphaned NiCd and NiMh battery packs dirt cheap at thrift shops, typically from camcorders and cell phones. They crack open easily and sometimes you can cherry pick the strongest cells into a decent re-batt job on the cheap.