Grant xl help.

I finally got around to mostly hooking up my radio. Power straight from the battery and ground from my seat bolt.

I was trying to squelch it out and with the squelch all the way down I can't get the meter to move at all, on the radio or my swr meter. If I start turning up the squelch the meter will start moving in relation to how much I turn the dial, is this normal?
I'll take some pics of the inside and try and post them.