On Thursday, June 2, 2016 at 11:03:09 PM UTC-5, Terry S. wrote:
Never thought about sanding the ends of the batteries....does anybody think there could be a downside to doing that?

The radio was made to use Ni-Mh batteries and that's what I have.

The ends would corrode, and you'd lose contact. You could try squeezing each one slightly in a vise. The positive end should compress some...