Well, I had a tech come out and check out my system. M-802 with the
automatic antenna tuner. He said that the radio is only putting out about 50
watts, and should be putting out 100-150 watts, so he thinks something is
wrong with the radio (new, right outta the box...)

He also mentioned that the automatic antenna tuner should be closer to the
ground plate. In the Icom manuals, they said to mount it as close to the
antenna as possible, so it's on the flying bridge, and the conductor from
the tuner to the antenna is about 3'. I can move it about halfway between
the antenna and the ground plate in the engine room. Who's right?

The final thing is that I ran a 2" ground foil strip from the radio to the
ground plate as well, as required by the ICOM manual... he said this isn't
necessary and should be disconnected. I'm really confused now.

Help!

At this point, I'm going to take the radio in to the dealer and have it
checked out and anything corrected as needed, then see how things work
before I start moving the tuner around.