A portable battery-operated optical particle counter/multichannel analyzer system has been developed for the number size distribution and number concentration measurement of light-absorbing irregular-shaped dust particles. An inertial impactor technique has been used to obtain calibration curves by relating the magnitude of the optical counter's signal to the particle's aerodynamic or Stokes' diameter. These calibrations have been made for aerosols of coal, potash, silica, rock (copper ore), and Arizona road dust particles.