Just received my PRC-351 last night. Haven't had time to get it out in the field to try it out but will do so this weekend. Definitely a solid little rig. I'm going to look into get a PRC-350 as well. I can see the 351 being a camp radio and the 350  being a patrol radio. Played around a bit and hooked up a field telephone to the 351 using Intercom mode. Pretty slick setup.

The battery was shot when I received the radio (no surprise) Bought a Duracell Ultra SLAB 6vdc 3.3Ah. Unsoldered the positive and negative wires to battery holder and gutted the battery box. As a note, there are 2 little C-clips holding the positive and negative terminals in place. Remove those and push the terminals up through the plastic cell holder. I just crimped and soldered on F1 spade lugs. I centered the SLAB in the battery box and used 2 pieces of foam to hold the battery in place. I carefully connected the battery lid onto the battery box and installed the unit onto the radio. It powered on and I ran through a functional check before trying to make a contact. Set frequency to 52.025MHz and made contact with a friend who was waiting. Audio was surprisingly good. Distance was about 1 mile.  I have a fondness for "Greenies" even though modern stuff is better and more compact. I've been pretty impressed with this little radio despite it's limitations and functionality. In fact, I bought a PRC-351 which will arrive next week. This should be fun!

Very good. Sounds like a great class. I've read a lot of his stuff and he sounds like a good guy.

I decided to take a chance and bought one from Coleman's. It should be here early next week. I will perform a functional check soon after unboxing. Hopefully it will be fine. I'm planning on running a 6V SLAB in it. After watching Gil's videos on military radios, I liked the durability of them. If all goes well I will buy a second. Still considering the Clansman PRC-352 as well.

No, but I would love too. Going to add it my Things to Do List for 2019. Would like to hear about your experience after you attend. Cheers, Jeff.