I'm pretty new to all of this, so if this is a silly question forgive
me

I thought I'd go ahead and make a 2m Yagi antenna so I can give
transmitter hunting a try. (The plan I'm using is made of PVC pipe
and 1" tape measures ... simple enough.)

The other thing you usually need is an attenuator, to cut the power
when you get close. I've got instructions for one of these too, and
it's pretty simple -- just a bunch of resistors and double throw
switches to activate each stage, all in a shielded box.

The values of the resistor are given without explanation, but I'm sure
those values were chosen to 1) attenuate the signal by the desired
amount and 2) maintain the antenna/radio's impedance of 50 ohms. (I
guess I could verify this with a little math if I felt the need ...)
With about 5 stages, the total cost of parts is $30-$40 at Radio
Shack.

Since you're not going to be transmitting through this attenuator
anyways (it would just release the magic smoke) then why is it
important to keep a good SWR ratio? Couldn't you just take a variable
resistor (with an audio/logarithmic taper) and put it in series or
parallel (which exactly depends on it's value) with the antenna input,
and then adjust as needed until you have a sutiable signal level
again?

Or would the messed up SWR ratios actually make the antenna not
directional anymore or something like that?

(http://members.aol.com/homingin/index.html has lots of stuff on
transmitter hunting, but no answers to this question. The offset
attenuator seems good, however

--
Doug McLaren,
"Can of worms? The can is open... the worms are everywhere."