major snip
How many Marine Radiomen still alive remember using an RF Ammeter....
Old Chief Lynn??? maybe........

Oh, yeah! When voltage fed 600 ohm open wire feeders were tuned by
drawing a pencil arc to current fed antennas were tuned with a series light
bulb!
The old BC-375 had an 8 amp thermocouple ammeter with a logarithmic
scale that wasn't much use with anything short of a quarter wave whip
starting right at the transmitter. Then there was a lower range model that
most of us carried, from the ARC 5 antenna relay box. (wasn't it a 3 or 4
amp?) I'll have to go out in the shop (storage room) and look today.
Heck, a good, well tuned, re-tubed N-550 could kick up almost 2 amps
with a good long whistle!
Of course, since the current node of a vertical did most of the
radiating, you had to get that current node out of the pilothouse (or radio
room) and out into the clear. (where, pray tell, is that on a well rigged
fishboat?)
Auto tuners are for wimps.
Old Chief Lynn