A class of nonparametric estimators of the ratio of scale parameters is proposed. The estimators are based on the distribution-free rank-like test suggested by Fligner and Killeen (1976). An explicit form of the estimator is the median of the ratios of absolute deviations from the combined sample median. A small-sample Monte Carlo study shows that the proposed estimator is more efficient than the Bhattacharyya (1977) estimator. The proposed estimator is is reasonably insensitive to small failures in the assumption of equal medians. A modified estimator is also considered when the meidans are unequal.