[frizzen]

Ok, first off the extra wire stuck on the ant. is incomplete advice. Antennas work by wavelengths. Just sticking more wire on it won't help unless you have it properly tuned.

Yes, a tuning inductor looks like a pot. But instead of being a way to divert power between 3 sources, it has a ferric core, inside of a wire coil. By turning that in or out, it changes the amount of power inducted. (in electricity, coils are just magic!)

The resistor removal *might* not be the best idea. You might be able to blow out your Tx that way, I'm not quite sure how the stuff applies to these yet