[TowerTalk] Tuners

[Bill Hawkins]

I have always been a bit confused about antenna tuners. I contend that it is a box inserted into  a feedline to fool the transmitter or amplifier into think it is feeding power into a "perfect" load.  There are other theories.  This is not the point of my question.

I place my SWR/power  meter after my tuner and tune for minumum reflected power indicated on the meter. This makes the amp think it is seeing a very good load. Or, if the amp is not on, the transceiver sees a good load.  

I recently saw a couple of diagrams that placed the SWR  meter prior to the antenna tuner. I don't remember what the articles were about but it has bothered me ever since I saw them.

Is this an accepted method of SWR measurement? Can it indicate a properly tuned antenna/feedline? Or was it a drawing error?

Bill W5EC