"CHEAP-n-EASY" TUNER Parts List: One 4-8" long ferrite rod (cylindrical), Two variable capacitors of matching values (mine are 365 picofarads) preferably air spaced....you can usually find these in any old tube operated radio. 4 feet of insulated bell wire. One 4-10  position rotary switch (mine came out of an old stereo tuner) A roll of plastic electrical tape. Solder. Two antenna connectors. Construction: The "Cheap-n-Easy" tuner assembly has one very rigid instruction...have fun!  Since this is a real home-brew project that encourgaes the builder to experiment you will find that there is no 'right' or 'wrong' way to build the tuner. Begin by covering your ferrite rod with a layer of electrical tape (shrink tubing if you want to be fancy. Next, trim app 1/2 inch of insulation from one end of the bell wire,.  Measure down the wire an additional 3 inches and then begin winding 10 turns of your bell wire onto the ferrite rod, space the windings apart by sliding the edge of a dime between each turn.  At the end of ten turns, without cutting the wire, carefully remove about 1/2 inch of insulation from the wire.  Twist the wire once or twice, forming a "tap" on the wire.  Continue by tightly winding (no spacing) 15 turns of the wire on the rod.  Trim away the insulation and make another "tap" here.  Now wind 20 tight turns and again make a "tap". Finally wind 25 turns of wire.  At the end of your last winding measure out 3 1/2 inches, trim the wire here and remove 1/2 inch of the insulation from the end of the wire. You will notice that your variable capacitor is made up of a series of metal plates. Observe how roughly half of these plates move when you turn the knob and the rest remain still.  The moveable plates are known as the "rotor" plates and the stationary plates are called "stator" plates. Each of your capacitors will have either a solder lug or a screw connector for both sets of plates.  Solder or screw connect a wire from the "rotor" of one capacitor to the "rotor" of the second capacitor.  Attach the wire at the beginning of your tuning coil to the lug on the "stator" of your first capacitor. Now locate the common lug on your rotary switch and connect a wire from this lug to the "stator" of the second capacitor.   Locate the wire that ends your tuning coil and solder this wire to the #4 position lug on your rotary switch. Solder a piece a wire on the first tap of your coil and attach this to the lug for the #1 position on your rotary switch.  Repeat this for taps #2 and #3 connecting them to switch lugs #2 and #3 repectively. You may use any type of antenna connector you wish.  For simplicity sake we will use surface mounted female coax connectors.  Solder a wire to the ground side of one coax connector and attach it to the "rotator" lug of capacitor #2.  Next, solder a wire from the center of your coax connector to the "stator" lug of the same capacitor.  Label this connector as "To Antenna" .  Now repeat this proceedure for the other capacitor (#1) Run a wire from capacitor #1's "rotator" lug to the ground side of  another female connector.  Then run a wire from the coax center to the "stator" lug of capacitor #1.  Label this connector as "To Radio."  That's it....mount it all in some kind of small enclosue and you just made yourself a "Cheap-n-Easy"  PI network antenna tuner! Operation: Select a band.  The rotary switch will coarse tune your antenna.  Find a relatively weak signal and turn the rotary switch for the best signal.  Next slowly tune the first capacitor and then the second for maximum received signal. Your tuner will exhibit the greatest capacitance when the "rotator" plates are in the recessed or "in" position.  The least capacitance will be reached when the "rotator" plates are exposed or in the "full out" position.  The higher you tune in frequency the less capacitance you will need for your tuner to become resonate.  So..."rotator" plates in for low frequencies..."rotator" plates out for high frequencies. You might want to fabricate  some analog faceplates for your knobs.  A blank label on the bottom can serve as a log to record the best dial settings for your favorite freqs......saving you a lot of time wihen changing bands. Experiment: Make this tuner your own...experiment..use whatever you have laying around.   Add more or less turns on your coils....change the spacing....add a few more taps and positions on your switch. You have the basics, play around and see what works best for you.