On Monday, February 22, 2016 at 9:41:30 AM UTC-8, gareth wrote:
ATU setting up seems to be a matter of suck-it-and-see, even
on the part of the auto ATUs (which are made for for
CBers-masquerading-as-radio-amateurs
because _REAL_ radio amateurs have no qualms about twiddling knobs
themselves)

I wonder if anyone takes a more scientifc approach by measurement and then
calculation, such as by Smith Chartification?

Sure, I use a nice Smith chart program (unfortunately no longer available) to figure out optimized matching networks for antennas and other things. I'd add, there's an old "Ham Radio" article (actually two articles), "The Antenna-Transmission Line Analog," from April+May, 1977, that can help you understand what's going on in wire antennas (if you can manage to digest the article, anyway). Some people pooh-pooh Smith charts, perhaps saying that computers can figure all that out for you, but I find the visualization quite helpful.

73, Tom